LUNA: The Invisible Princess

[Luna]

While the others were having fun downstairs, I was in my room staring into the space at nothing in particular. I was lost as I listened to the sad voices and silent cries I heard in my head. I hear them every day and I can’t understand myself, but I always rely on those voices. Somehow, those voices are oddly familiar, like they are etched in my heart and mind.

Suddenly, vivid images flashed in my head.

My memories…!

A tear escaped from my eyes. How did I forget them? All of them...

I grunted when my head hurt excruciatingly at all the memories flooding my head all at once. But I chose to endure the pain just to remember my past.

How did we end up here?

Gradually, all my memories returned just like a movie played nonstop.

When I fluttered my eyes, I only thought of one thing. We need to go back... We need to get out of here.

I wiped off my tears as I got out of bed and hurried out of the room to go to Leena.

"Luna!" I smiled when I bump into Leena in the hallway. But there was something strange about her.

"Luna..." she suddenly sobbed.

"Leena, do you remember our past, too?" she nodded and burst into tears and then hugged me tightly. I couldn’t help but cry.

"We need to go back. They need us..." I said after we pulled apart.

"But how can we get back? We don't know how we got stuck here."

We fell silent and stared at each other.

"Ingrith! Maybe she knows something!" Leena blurted out and our hearts filled with hope.

We immediately descended downstairs to the vast hall, where everyone was having fun. But when we got there, our shoulders slumped down because we couldn’t get close to Ingrith. She’s at the front while watching the showcases of skills. We can't go through because our presence would distract everyone.

Leena and I could only wait for the celebration to end before talking to Ingrith. Today is Ingrith's birthday celebration. We couldn’t bring ourselves to ruin everyone's propitious time. In the end, we socialized with everyone and decided to talk to Ingrith later.

~~~~

[Third Person POV]

Being caught wasn’t their plan. The three magic users groaned in distress. The merman guards arrested them and imprisoned them in their dungeons. Now they’re stuck.

"Aish, what about now?" said the princess as she frowned deeply.

"Sh*t, we can’t even get out of here that easily. This jail is very sturdy," said Bryle, who was still brooding about a way to get out of the creepy cell.

Joaquin also lost deep in thought. However, his plans were all futile and could make their situation worse.

"I have an idea!" Bryle exclaimed. Princess Aira and Joaquin looked at him with a questioning look.

"What?" Princess Aira asked, still annoyed about getting imprisoned.

"Use the air stone to make us invisible. When the guards see no one is inside, they will open the door in a panic, and then we will come out without them knowing!" Bryle said. Joaquin and Princess Aira’s faces suddenly lit up at Bryle’s brilliant idea.

Princess Aira immediately nodded without a second thought.

"Hold on to me. And don't stay away from me lest the effect of invisibility wears off."

Joaquin and Bryle nodded and held Princess Aira’s arm while maintaining some distance. Princess Aira quickly released the glowing air stone and Aira cast a spell to make them invisible.

Just like the plan, the guards panicked to see no one inside the cell. The guard left the door open, so they took that opportunity to get out. They didn’t make any noise and remained clinging to each other as they swam away from the dungeon.

They saw many guards patrolling to look for them. When they noticed something, they hid in the big rock enough to cover them. They saw the merman with the golden tail that had captured them earlier. The merman was talking to an older merman with a crown on his head—-the King of the Mermaiden Kingdom.

"How did they get out of that dungeon?! It’s impossible! They can't get out unless someone helps them from outside!" the King let out and the guards just bowed down in fear.

"Find them all at once! Bring them alive!" the King commanded and the guards immediately obeyed and scattered to look for the intruders.

The three looked at each other. Princess Aira motioned for them to continue swimming away.

They immediately hid in the boulder.

"Joaquin, did you feel the energy of the water stone?" Bryle asked in a hushed tone, and Joaquin shook his head no.

"Looks like the stone isn't here," Joaquin said seriously.

"What if Aloquita has the stone?" Aira whispered, and the two looked at her, a little convinced.

A little while later, they notice someone swimming in their direction. Their eyes widened at the sight of the merman who caught them earlier. It was the prince of the Mermaiden Kingdom!

"I know you're there! Get out right at this instant!" the merman uttered in a cold tone and looked around fiercely.

They didn’t move because the merman might feel the change in the current. But they were so shocked when the merman raised his trident and struck them without warning. They did not expect the trident to have power, so they pulled apart to avoid the sudden attack and immediately lost the effect of invisibility.

The prince smirked when he saw the three intruders.

"Wait! We're not bad people. We didn't come here to cause trouble!" Princess Aira quickly reacted to defend themselves. Joaquin and Bryle swam towards the princess.

The merman prince just stared at them with a creased forehead but was still vigilant.

"She was right. We were looking for something, so we ended up in this place. We are not Mermaids but we are magic users from above." Bryle said, and the information surprised the merman prince.

"What are you looking for?" the prince asked and hesitantly lowered the trident, which made the three magic users sigh in relief because, as much as possible, they didn’t want to be hit by the power of the trident. It’s too strong and dangerous.

"An important stone," Joaquin replied and the merman prince frowned deeply.

"Stone?"

"Yes, it's a stone of life. We won’t beat around the bush. The stones of life are the key to awaken our unconscious princesses in the Faraway Kingdom... because only the princesses can return the entire Moondrous back to normal." Bryle said. And it surprised the merman prince when they mentioned the kingdom above.

"So the rumors are true that the situation above is not good. And in fact, our situation here is not that good either. Many fish are already dying and other corals are also slowly dying..." the merman prince let out a sigh and looked at them with a serious expression. The matter is not as simple as he thought. The entire world was at stake at this moment. Any time the situation could be worse.

"Father needs to know this, so follow me." the prince added and the three nodded without hesitation.

"May I know your name?" said Princess Aira as she followed the prince and a smile plastered on her lips. In fact, she had been staring at the prince for a while now. She found him interesting.

Bryle nudged Joaquin on the side while smirking. Joaquin looked at him with a frown and questioning eyes. Bryle pouted his lips and pointed to the princess and the prince in front of them. Joaquin wore a poker face and just shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm Isagani." the merman prince replied and Princess Aira smiled broadly.

"My name is Aira!" said the princess. "And these two are Joaquin and Bryle!" she added and pointed to the two, who just quietly followed and watched their interaction.

The guards saw them, but they immediately retreated when they saw the prince with them.

When they came before the king, the three paid respect.

"Father, they are the captives." Prince Isagani informed.

"Good, Isagani. You are indeed a prince of Mermaiden!" the King said proudly.

"But father, we misjudged them. The intruders are the magic users who came from the Faraway Kingdom looking for a magical stone here under the sea." Prince Isagani explained.

"Magical Stone?" they all nodded at the King's question.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Please forgive our audacity for disrupting your Kingdom. But we are only here to find the water stone. We need the stone to awaken our princesses... and to restore the beauty of the entire Moondrous." Joaquin explained.

The King was surprised at the information. "I heard what happened above. In that case, I allow you to search for the stone all over the ocean. And bring Prince Isagani to help with the search." The three rejoiced at what they heard. While Prince Isagani just shrugged his shoulders.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty..." they said, and then looked at Prince Isagani. The latter nodded and then swam first. They followed suit.

"What does the stone look like?" Prince Isagani asked after a while as they swam away from the palace.

"It's a round stone that glows. It's like this..." said Princess Aira and then summoned the air stone.

The prince was amazed. "How can we find it?"

"Through Joaquin because he has the power of water element. He can detect the aura of the stone." Bryle explained, and the prince nodded.

It took them about two hours to swim in different directions of the sea, but they felt no energy from the water stone.

"It only means one thing, Joaquin," Bryle exclaimed. "It's possible that Aloquita has the stone..."

Prince Isagani gasped. "What?! Aloquita?" he let out, dumbfounded.

The three nodded. "Yes. Do you know where to find Aloquita?" Joaquin asked.

Prince Isagani suddenly became serious and alert. "Yes, but it's dangerous if we disturb her slumber. Aloquita was too strong and we couldn’t defeat her easily. And what I was afraid of is that the ocean might be destroyed if she went ballistic." Prince Isagani uttered, frowning deeply.

"But there is no other way, Prince Isagani. We will fight Aloquita no matter what, even if we will risk our lives. The future is in our hands so we can’t give up now." said Joaquin and looked seriously at Prince Isagani. Bryle and Princess Aira remained silent.

"All right. If that's the only way..." the three sighed in relief.

Prince Isagani immediately swam to the darkest part of the ocean. The three of them looked at each other and then followed the prince.

They felt the strange temperature of the water. They couldn’t help but shiver because it was too cold. It was too dark and they could barely see the entire place. They are at the bottom of the ocean. They entered a cave with only a small opening. One by one, they entered the narrow opening and gasped to see many seaweeds along with some slimy transparent thing blocking the narrow path. When they came out of the narrow opening, Princess Aira covered her mouth when she saw thousands of water snakes lurking everywhere. She immediately grabbed Bryle’s arm and clung tightly with fear. She is afraid and hates snakes!

They hid in the large leaf of an unknown plant enough to cover them, and Bryle peeked out to see the snakes. Prince Isagani, who was hiding on the other leaf, signaled to them. But their eyes widened when they saw Joaquin launch an attack on the snakes without an ounce of fear. Their jaws dropped, dumbfounded, and stared at Joaquin unbelievably.

"Woah, Woah,"

They have no choice but to help Joaquin dispose of all the snakes. Joaquin released a small whirlwind and hurled them at the snakes.

Princess Aira couldn't fight, so she stayed behind Bryle while Isagani gave her a dagger for protection. They were amazed when Prince Isagani used his trident and electricity struck the snakes. The snakes squirmed and died right away, falling into the depths of the cave.

Meanwhile, Princess Aira suddenly laughed when she remembered that she had another power upon seeing Isagani’s trident releasing the electric current. Bryle and Isagani looked at her like she’s gone crazy. She smirked and let go of Bryle, which shocked Bryle and Isagani.

"Princess!" Bryle was terrified of what the stubborn princess was about to do.

Princess Aira ignored them and created an electricity ball instead. She quickly releases the electricity ball into the snakes.

Joaquin, Bryle, and Isagani stopped attacking the snakes when they saw what the princess had done. And their eyes widened because they didn't know that the princess also had another ability. They couldn’t believe their eyes.

Princess Aira throws an electricity ball nonstop at the snakes and it is effective because they die immediately. When all the snakes disappeared, Princess Aira grinned at her bravery and victory. And she saw the three companions staring at her while gaping in disbelief. She just laughed at their reaction.

Suddenly, the ground shakes tremendously. A lot of the cave fragments fell from above continuously. They immediately put a protective barrier between themselves.

"We need to get out of here!" Isagani shouted in panic, and they quickly nodded without hesitation. They must prioritize their safety. They swam quickly towards the narrow opening.

"Hurry! The opening may close any minute!" Isagani shouted in haste while swimming faster.

They immediately sped up like a flash. One by one, they slipped through the narrow opening and they sighed in relief when they successfully got out alive. But they were immediately on high alert and swam away when the water current was raging like a storm. The pressure is strong and with the help of Joaquin and Prince Isagani; they didn’t sweep away by the current.

"It looks like Aloquita has woken up..." said Prince Isagani. They prepared themselves for Aloquita's wrath as the entire cave still shook nonstop.

The sudden earthquake sends alerts all over the ocean and the land. The King of the Mermaiden, Ukmad, was worried about his son. All the mermen and mermaids were scared because they knew why the earth shook. King Ukmad immediately ordered the warriors to help his son and their guests in the fight. They heard the creature's loud growl so everyone covered their ears.

It surprised Joaquin and the others when the monster came out from her lair. It is a gigantic half-mermaid, half-octopus with sixteen long tentacles and a mermaid tail. They covered their ears as the monster growled loudly, almost ruining their hearing.

"Blasphemous!" Aloquita shouted in rage.

When the sea monster bellowed and attacked them with its tentacles in anger, they were quickly on high alert. Fortunately, they avoided the tentacles.

Joaquin noticed the glowing object around Aloquita’s neck. He also felt the energy coming from it.

"Bryle! The water stone is in her neck!" Joaquin shouted and Bryle saw the glowing stone. He nodded to Joaquin and prepared to launch an attack.

The four of them surrounded Aloquita. However, a lot of small octopuses came out of Aloquita’s mouth and surrounded them. They drew their weapons. Isagani has his trident, Joaquin has the water sword, Bryle has an earth dagger and Aira has an arrow made of electricity. They are ready to fight the perilous monster.

“You’re going to pay for disrupting my slumber! My babies, attack!” Aloquita’s loud voice rang in their heads, and they grunted in pain. Such mental power is too strong.

Suddenly, small octopuses attacked them all at once, and at the same time, they avoided Aloquita's tentacles. Joaquin swam quickly and was almost hit by Aloquita's tentacles.

They couldn’t get rid of the tiny octopuses all at once because they kept coming out of Aloquita's mouth. There were thousands of them and some managed to hurt them. When the tiny octopus made contact with their skin, their little tentacles burned like fire.

They were a little relieved to hear the sound of a trumpet. They saw a multitude of mermaiden warriors rushing at the tiny octopuses. The four of them looked at each other and attacked Aloquita at the same time. Aloquita’s tentacles struck them and they were caught off guard when it swiftly circled them tightly and they couldn’t escape, no matter how much they struggled to break free.

On the other hand, Aloquita laughed because, in her mind, she could eat mermaids again and increase her strength. It’s been so long since she’s eaten one.

But Aloquita immediately screamed when Joaquin cut her tentacle, causing the four of them to escape.

Aloquita growled loudly when one of her tentacles was cut off, causing another earthquake and a change in the water's flow current.

“I’m going to kill you!” Aloquita was seething with rage. It took her decades to strengthen her tentacles and yet it was cut off easily by a mere merman. She couldn’t accept it.

The sudden light of the object on Aloquita’s neck dazzled everyone. The four of them look at each other because Aloquita uses the water stone!