"The Grey Mysitc" / Matthew Garcia

                Cortaa slithered through the clear blue water, trident in her right hand, gunny sack in the left. She was currently tracking a large kingfish, a delicacy in her small village.

She always loved the feeling she felt as the saltwater glided across her bright dark blue eyes, and her long brown hair flowing through the water open and free.

Today was different though, her mind wasn’t on fishing. She already had a decent catch, yet she was satisfied. But something inside her made her follow that last fish, something involuntary. She followed it for what seemed like forever, through kelp forests, through large coral, even through jellyfish schools. But then the fish reached a cliff that led down into a deep trench, what she saw frightened her. It was one of the lost’s vessels, gripped with fear she stood at the edge and watched the large fish she was previously chasing swim silently down into the trench.

She stared at the strange vessel; it was almost entirely covered in sea weed except for one part that had strange markings on it, they read “USS GREY MYSTIC”.

She had heard stories of the lost; her village’s elders spoke of them as if gods. But she remembered these ‘gods’ had one enormous flaw: their need for conflict. Her elders also spoke of how the lost carved up their world into huge villages called ‘cun-trees’. She learned all the villages believed their way of life was the only way and they’d enforce their way through divine intervention, or as the lost called it ‘waging war’.

But then something caught her eye, it was another girl from her village, she couldn’t remember her name but she was aware of her. She had large black eyes, and short dark hair, but it was her long blue scaly tail that Cortaa really noticed. She was quietly watching from a kelp forest not too far from Cortaa. In a moment she quickly slithered to Cortaa’s side. “Hi” she said in a soft voice. “Hey, what’s your name?” Cortaa replied, allowing the water to carry her voice. The girl was shy; she looked down at the sand and began to pick at a loose scale on her waist. “My name’s Rhula.” She continued, “I was hoping maybe you would like to explore that thing down there with me.” Rhula’s confidence quickly grew and her brown eyes darted to and from the lost’s vessel. “Hm,” Cortaa began, “I don’t know, the elders don’t like us messing with stuff like this.” Rhula giggled, “Oh come on. With your trident I think we’ll be fine.” Cortaa thought for a moment, looked down at her dull green tail, and frowned. Rhula grabbed Cortaa’s right wrist and pulled her. Through a smile Rhula said, “Let’s go!” Cortaa shrugged, she tied her gunny sack around her small waist and swam after Rhula.

            As they approached the vessel they noticed something, it was badly scratched and beaten, it quickly became apparent to the girls that this was a weapon of ‘war’. “I love learning about the lost.” Rhula said through a slight smirk, “Apparently they were so advanced, but all that was gone in an instant.” Cortaa stopped for a minute, just outside the vessel, Rhula did too. “What do you mean?” Cortaa asked. Rhula replied, “Well the lost were surface dwellers, they had enormous villages, and great lifestyles. I believe this thing here in front of us,” she pointed toward the vessel, “was a type of ship used to sail on the surface of the water. But then a large conflict ended their civilization. Some people believe they’re still some surviving lost out there, but I don’t know.” Cortaa laughed, “To me it seems they loved killing each other. I wouldn’t want to meet one.” Rhula shrugged and continued into the vessel.

Inside everything was very disorganized and dirty. Everything was cold and hard as rock, they were weird objects in the vessel that Cortaa had never seen before. Rhula however seemed right at home, she skillfully maneuvered her way around the vessel. Until a figure cut her off.

It was a large outlandish fish, its skin was black, its face was glassy, and it had a light on its head like a fish Cortaa had once seen in the deep. It didn’t have a tail; instead it had too elongated flippers. Instantly Rhula grabbed Cortaa’s hand and rushed out the way they came, but there were even more of the strange fish. Instinctively Cortaa plunged her trident deep into one of the fish, pulled back, and pushed it out of their way. The next moment the two girls were out of the vessel and back at the edge where they first met.

“What were those?” Cortaa asked quite calmly. Rhula was scared and out of breath, “Those were the lost!” Cortaa had a surprised look on her face, “Hm, well they seemed weak to me.” Rhula was confused, “Don’t you realize how big of a deal this is? There are still Hugh-mans out there!” Cortaa looked to the surface of the water where the star studded sky resided, she smiled and said, “I love the stars.”

Rhula burst out into laughter and gave Cortaa a big hug, “You’re so clueless.” Rhula said through a huge grin.