Ever Deeper
The reddish rays of the Great Bright passed into the right, brown eye of Valiria as she looked out on the setting orb. It would soon begin its descent into the ocean and around the Circle of the Great Seas. She blinked her eyes a final time watching the beauty of that most common and mysterious of objects, and then adjusted her head slightly. With a pivot of her flukes, she left the summit and began to dive.
Without conscious consent, she adjusted the set of her jaw, her snout, and her torso. Better to take a moment now to prevent pain and irritation later. Down she went as the rays of the Great Bright receded above her. Unusual as it was, the little ones were swimming deep this cycle. Hopefully, … she had seen them first.
Through her true eyes, she used her eksight to look out on the waters, but in the depth below they would quickly become useless. She closed her ears and listened with her jaw, trying to attune her hearsight. She tried to attune her mind to the sundry ambient sounds that came from all directions.
Her companions many tailings away and above now were boisterous. Their conversations, motions, and activity came clearly across the waters. She considered making a quick call for silence but suspected that they would only increase their volume in good humor. There were a few pranksters in the clan, and it would be best not to present a situation adaptable to their manipulation.
The pressure began to build on her jaw and torso. She adjusted the set of her mouth and wiggled slightly to make the transition less sharp. The rays of the Great Bright had dwindled until all around had turned a uniform gray murk. As she descended, bits of detritus drifted by her eyes.
\ Please let this not be Omagog’s mid-cycle bowel release. \
That female member of her current clan although pleasant in temperament, had the most disagreeable bowel irritation. Fortunately, this cloud was not marked by her unique stench but that did not prevent Valiria from adjusting her nasal passages.
Down she went …
At her eyes, she felt it.
.. Down …
At her torso, she felt it.
…. Down …
At her jaw, she felt it.
The unrelenting pressure.
Lamorians were not Mandurians. Their bodies were not adjusted to the Zone of Chills and Pressure, as was natural since their prey rarely moved through waters of such depth. The Madurians, their distant cousins, were far better adjusted to the dark and chill, and it was entirely commonplace to find a member of that race at these depths hunting culari.
As the pressure built, there was also a mild sense of euphoria. A giddiness and relaxation of mental tension that Valiria guarded against. The faster one dove, the more quickly the euphoria could wash across the mind until reality was altered. Many younger Lamorians dove simply to feel the descender’s euphoria enthrall them, … some going so far as to commit fatal errors.
The pressure pushed equally at her sense of joy as her sides began to ache. She adjusted her ribs and wiggled her flukes to offset the increasing force. If anything, it was a trick of the mind, … a mental game played to make the water less heavy. No game could hold that constant squeezing at bay for long.
Down …
Only the slightest diffusion of rays from the Great Bright reached here and her eyes saw nothing but a uniform dark haze. If it had not been for her hearsight, another Val-Lamorian could have passed at flipper’s length unnoticed.
With her hearsight, she heard-saw around herself clearly to quite a far distance. Plenty of her clan above but none at this level. No other members of the greater races, the Val-Lamorians, currently swam at this depth either. That did not mean that this volume of the ocean was empty, … far from it. Although Valiria was only beginning to make them out clearly, there were an almost infinity of small forms making their way through the dark waters down below. Including the prize she sought.
And now the pain at her jaw began to blossom. No more adjustments would suffice to throw off that alarm of slow implosion. Her eyes hurt and her tail ached. Her ribs were fully contracted in a grimace of agony. She would not be able to continue her dive for much longer unless she wished to lose thought and join the Crushing Depths.
Ahead and to her right, she heard-saw them, … the ny-heewal. The little ones who normally swam so close to the summit. Mysteriously they had moved down here. Perhaps some predator had forced them to this depth.
\ A messenger of Nemahotas passing by? \
Her giddiness was rising, and she rotated slightly to ralisu. It was a warning sign to her to watch her descent but the lightheadedness made joy and humor come easily. The descender’s euphoria demanded a delaying of concerns. What pressure? … I feel no pain. … Ignore it, it said. If she had dived even more quickly, she might have begun the hallucinations that others had described to her countless times before.
The pain was a constant sharpness now and yet Valiria found herself in elir. She could anticipate their taste now, and she lowered her jaw as she swept along. The little ones detected her oncoming presence and attempted to dart, but it was too late.
An infinity of the small creatures fell into her maw and caught on the tendrils of her upper mouth. So many that she closed her mouth slowly to push out the water leaving behind only the wondrous taste.
A tangy flavor that she could distantly remember only once or twice before. The infinity of tiny ones wiggled across her tongue hoping for escape increasing the flavor. Despite the pain across her body, she undulated her tongue slightly and swallowed several large gulps.
She opened her eyelids to see nothing but blackness. Occasionally a small one would dart by so close to her eyes that she sensed it despite the uniform void which absorbed all effort to see through it. It was then that she noticed a flash of light off to her right and then another. As her eyes continued to adjust, she began to notice small flashes of light all around her.
\ To live in the seas and yet know so little about them. \
For a small passing of the Great Bright, Valiria fed on the cluster of ny-heewal, making a pass from one direction and then reversing. She had been lucky to find this cluster when so many other aunties had passed it by. Or perhaps some of them had seen it but its depth had presented too large an irritant.
Valiria continued her meal until most of the cluster had been consumed and the pain could no longer be held off. Every Lamorian of good sense knew their limit. Knew the abilities of their body and what was allowed within that form. That limit came clearly now ringing into Valiria’s mind.
Up she went, … slowly, … kicking her flukes gently to the song of released pressure. Across her skin, her jaw, her flukes, and even her eyes, she felt the pressure lifting. The glorious release of the sea’s grasp made her spirits return, and she began a low hum. As she swam, the murk ever so slowly receded, and her real eyes began to register more of the incoming light.
Rise too quickly, and she risked setting her skin to itching. Continue past that limit and pain would emanate throughout the body. So much pain if the ascent rate was too quick, cessation of thought would follow. Valiria had known the itching but thankfully, never the deep pain that a few others had described. She remembered all too well the lessons passed from her mother as a youngling.
Up she went slowly, at times moving only horizontally for a small measure until she was sure the itching would not begin. Then slowly up again. All the while watching the gray haze turn lighter. The wondrous light perfusing the Zone of Warmth’s upper volume was now dissipating as the revolving Great Bright would soon cast the seas into darkness, but she broke the summit to see its nacarat orb now touching the ocean.
\ Worth the pain. \