Turoon - Michael Kerawalla - E-Book

Turoon E-Book

Michael Kerawalla

4,8

Beschreibung

A fantastic journey through the bizarre and strange world in the deep of the ocean on a foreign planet. The first great deep sea fantasy epic, full of magic and mysticism, suspense and action, plots and ambushes, emotion and passion! For the first time, this novel describes a hidden world full of new, fantastic creatures and landscapes, as they have never been mentioned before! But there is more to it than that. The story not only depicts the deep sea habitat, but also the different creatures that live down there. It explains their biology, and the way they communicate and orientate themselves in this dark world that remains largely unknown to us to this day. So the book is more than just a thrilling and fascinating fantasy-story, but also a factual account of the environment and life in the oceans. The story also exposes the current problems of our oceans, like overfishing, coral-bleaching because of water warming, pollution, destruction of the seabed by trawl nets and the changing of ocean-streams.

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For Sabine

Content

The Book

Preface

What happened before

The abduction

In a strange world

Slave

A brief friendship

Escape

Dangerous encounters

Betrayal

In the polar sea

In the dome of the sea-elves

Natural forces

In the empire of the Qails

Return

Crystal thieves

Good friends

The Fire-Crystal

Liberation

Home again

A visitor from Turoon

Life

Acknowledgement

Turoon and its inhabitants

Explanation of the term „cavitation“

The Book

The Velbe-girl Saira lives a happy and carefree life on planet Wuun. She is about to graduate as a magician and is already her master’s best apprentice. But one day she gets abducted from her home planet to the waterworld Turoon. After being transformed to a deep-sea creature, she is supposed to work as a slave in a mine for the rest of her life. For the first time, she experiences the horrors of slavery: the dull, harsh physical work, the daily oppression and humiliation by her overseers and the cruelty and coldness of her masters. But Saira is not willing to simply accept her fate. She finally manages to escape with her instructor Cherou, and a long, adventurous and mostly dangerous chase across the ocean takes place. During their escape, the two refugees are drawn deeper and deeper into a network of plots, betrayal, war and destruction, and finally, the destruction of the entire planet seems imminent! Will they be able to change the seemingly inevitable fate of their world, free the slaves and bring peace back to their home? And which part does the mighty Fire-Crystal with its awesome magic power play?

The first great deep-sea fantasy epic, full of suspense and action, plots and ambushes, emotion and passion, magic and mysticism!

Preface

Michael Kerawalla has written an exciting fantasy novel entitled “Turoon”, a mystery thriller that has it all: suspense and action, plots and ambushes, emotion and passion, magic and mysticism. Out of these ingredients he weaves a colourful epic, which can easily compete with the great bestsellers of this popular genre. But with “Turoon” he enters completely new territory. At the beginning of the third millennium after Christ, the moon seems more familiar to us than a huge part of our terrestrial world: the largely unexplored depths of our planet’s oceans. We are ready to step into space, and yet we do not really know our own oceans.

The Velbe girl Saira is dragged out of her carefree life on planet Wuun, and abducted to the waterworld Turoon. After transformation into a deep-sea creature, she is supposed to work for the rest of her life as a slave in a mine. She is terrified by the mind-numbing daily work of the slaves and their frequent oppression by their cruel, horribly sadistic guardians, for whom having power means that they can revel in the humiliation of the weaker ones at their mercy. Saira rebels against her seemingly unavoidable fate. She succeeds in escaping with her instructor Cherou. Will she ultimately be rescued, or does she flee towards an even worse, even harder future, which may culminate in an apocalypse, the end of the world?

Michael Kerawalla has the perfect skill of a mystery writer. He takes us to Saira’s home. We follow the apprentice girl magician into the strange world to which she is abducted, into a hell seemingly without escape. We sympathize with Saira, we share her worries and her hopes. Is it Michael Kerawalla’s art of storytelling that fascinates us, that makes us rush from page to page? The author has, without doubt, a great talent to enable us to experience Saira’s adventures so very intensely.

But that is not the only reason why we cannot stop reading “Turoon”. As exotic and strange as Turoon’s world may be, it is somehow familiar to us. In the broadest sense, our blue planet is a waterworld too. Life developed in water before it stepped onto the land. Our earliest ancestors lived in the “primeval ocean”. In the thrilling description of this far world, we recognize over and over our own planet of origin. Like never before, the real-life problems of our oceans (and with that, life on planet Earth), are described so thrillingly and, in the best sense of the word, so enjoyably: over-fishing, the dying of the corals, the destruction of the seabed by trawl-nets, water-pollution, the warming and changing of the ocean-streams.

Michael Kerawalla’s opus does not point a cautionary finger or deliver a moralizing lecture. It offers thrilling entertainment in a unique underwater mystery novel, a perfect mental movie, which should absolutely make its way onto the big screen. It takes us to distant worlds and confronts us again and again with the destruction of the former terrestrial paradise known as “planet Earth”. And there is more. His book describes – as a modern mystery tale set in a time of utopian science fiction – the seemingly hopeless fight of men against an overwhelming fate. But is the battle against adversity and appalling destiny truly hopeless? Or does a spark of hope still glow, for freedom and for peace?

Michael Kerawalla has not written a long theoretical discourse about burning needs and crushing problems, but a thrilling novel that takes our breath away. The crescendo at the end makes “Turoon” a supremely memorable reading experience.

Walter-Jörg Langbein

What happened before

Peace reigns once again on Wuun. According to legend, the Gods of the Light once hurled a piece of Wuuns sun onto the planet. Since then, the Sunstone guards this world and controls its development. It preserves life against all influences of the dark side, and so a paradisiacal world came into existence, whose inhabitants live in total harmony with nature. For millions of years the sun dedicated its power to the stone, but gradually its light grew dimmer. One night the dark side invaded unnoticed this world of beauty and peace. It put the Craggots, one of the peoples of Wuun, under its spell, and with their help established an unrivalled reign of terror. A prophecy foretold that one far-away day a Velbe would terminate this reign. So the Velbs, one meter tall, human-like inhabitants of the forests, were mercilessly hunted, caught, or killed. But two Velbe mothers in two different villages succeeded in hiding their children during an attack. The first child, a boy named Keh, was later found by the Guardians of the Light, the servants of the Sunstone, and was raised under their care. The second child, a girl named Hri, was discovered and raised by the Toddles, another race of small, human-like forest dwellers. Both lived a secret life and did not know about each other for a long time, while no other free living Velbs existed for many a year. One day the Guardians of the Light sent Keh on a long journey. He was the chosen one, the one who would end the terror reign of the darkness and bring back peace to Wuun. During that journey he met Hri, whose village was raided and destroyed some time later. She followed Keh and became his constant companion through many dangers and adventures. Both of them finally fulfilled the prophecy and put an end to the reign of darkness. Because all the peoples of Wuun were helpful to each other, the original sense of harmony soon prevailed again and the wounds of the past were quick to heal. Today the inhabitants of Wuun again live together in peace, and nothing reminds them of the awful times they lived through before. These times only live on in the memories and stories of the people, stories that are told over and over again as a constant reminder to all. Keh and Hri live in a village with other Velbs. Their daughter Saira is almost grown up now, and has decided to be a great magician one day. This is why she works as an apprentice to Torem nearly every day. Torem is the master magician of the Velbs, and Saira has become his best student.

The abduction

Keh loved this long walks in the endless forests of Wuun. It had taken a long time for him and Hri to become used to the fact that no danger threatened them here any longer, now that the terror reign of the darkness had ended. Before, they could only move through the forests with utmost caution, for they were in constant fear of being discovered and killed by Craggot patrols. But this awful era had been over for a long time, thanks to their own involvement, and they finally lived a happy life after that long time of deprivation and danger. Now, as their daughter was almost grown up and mostly went her own way, they had more time for themselves again and they enjoyed, among other things, these long walks in their world’s beautiful forests. Hri once got stabbed down by a Craggot during the fulfilment of the prophecy. But the Gods of the Light had compassion and gave her back her life. The pain that Keh had felt during this short time had been so unbearable that he had taken even greater care of Hri ever since. Both of them thoroughly enjoyed the time they spent together. Their daughter had grown into a splendid and beautiful young girl who enjoyed the same love and affection, that Keh and Hri had for each other. Saira was supposed to have lessons with Torem today, but when Keh and Hri returned to their cottage, Saira was still there.

“Oh, we thought you had already gone to Torem!” Hri said surprised.

“Yes, I know I’m late!” Saira admitted and packed her utensils. “What will we eat today?” she asked inquisitively.

“Your favourite meal,” Hri answered and smiled.

“Oh, great!” Saira said with enthusiasm.

“But only if you are back in time, otherwise I’ll have eaten it all,” Keh teased his daughter, grinning.

“Mama, you can’t allow that!” Saira became indignant and turned to Keh. “Paps won’t fit into his clothes any more!” she giggled.

“Don’t you get insolent, young lady!” Keh scolded in feigned annoyance and threatened her jokingly with his fist, after which Saira hurried to reach the door.

“You’ll leave me some of it, in any case,” she grumbled.

“Only if you are back in time,” Hri grinned and winked at Keh conspiratorially.

“Oooh, you are mean!” Saira scolded, pretending to be annoyed.

“You just go, we’ll certainly leave enough for you!” Hri called laughingly, and Saira ran out waving briefly. Hri looked after her with an amused shake of her head.

“Do you really want to leave her some of that good meal?” Keh asked with a grin, which earned him a disapproving look from Hri.

*

Saira hurried to reach the prophet hall. Slightly out of breath she finally opened the door and nearly ran into Torem.

“Please excuse me, Master, for being late!” she stammered breathing hard.

“That’s all right,” Torem answered with a smile. “The day is still long, just recover your breath first.”

Saira put down her utensils and gave her master a thankful glance, while she took a moment’s rest. After her breathing had calmed down, she stepped closer to the big round platform in the centre of the hall. Above it rose a tall crystal dome, through which one could observe the stars by night. Complex magic symbols were engraved in the walls of the spacious hall. Numerous shelves were arranged beneath them, carrying many different herbs and tinctures as well as many types of tools and containers for all kinds of purposes. Every time she looked around the big hall, Saira was impressed anew. Torem was busy with the adjustment of an astronomy tool and did not pay any attention to Saira. At that very moment a bluish fluorescent pane suddenly appeared directly beside her, which quickly grew large, while crackling flashes shot through it.

Torem’s head jerked around and he wanted to shout a warning to Saira, but it was too late! The flashes enfolded Saira who was much too surprised to react. She only gawped at the shining disc while she was being drawn right into it and disappeared. Then the strange phenomenon simply dissolved. Horrified, Torem stared at the point where Saira had just stood. Then he raised his magic powers, but he could not bring back the shining disc. The magic phenomenon had not left any traces behind so that he could not pursue it. After some time, he gave up trying and called the Guardians of the Light in the Temple of Lights for help. The tall, solid figures were shaped like Velbs, but they were more than twice their size. Deep wrinkles on their faces bore witness to the fact that they were very old. They immediately contacted the Sunstone. It had observed the phenomenon too, but had not been able to detain it either. The Guardians of the Light promised to do everything within their power to bring Saira back. But even the Sunstone did not succeed in pursuing the spell. They only discovered that it was some type of portal through which Saira had probably been hurled into another world. But they could not determine for the moment where this world was located and what type of world it was. So the guardians of the light and Torem were left extremely concerned, damned to inactivity. How could Torem explain this to Keh and Hri? What would await Saira in that foreign world? She had gained some experience as a magician already, and so was not completely helpless. Torem had taught her how to behave in an emergency. But would these skills help her in the other world? Would she be able to survive there? In despair, Torem conjured up a demon who appeared a short time later above the big, round platform of the prophet hall. It was Tarul, whose solid figure hovered above the platform. His long drawn-out body with the mighty head nearly reached the top of the crystal dome. The metallic blue shimmering skin was covered with protuberances, which were moving constantly. His three big, yellow eyes offered a strong contrast to his dark body. After a short welcome, Torem described to him what had happened. The demon could not help him either, but promised to assist with the search. Demons had much better chances of finding the origin of the portal, because they moved between the dimensions. The shape of the demon dissolved a short time later, as he started the search. So Torem finally remained alone in the big hall. Full of anger about his helplessness he walked up and down restlessly. He was highly concerned about Saira. He could not imagine what might happen to her now. He was ultimately responsible for her. At first, panic rose in him, but finally rationality prevailed. He had to stay calm and continue to try to do everything within his power to find Saira. Again, he raised all his magic powers. But whatever he did was in vain, the Velbe girl remained lost for the time being.

In a strange world

It was always the same! They just abducted some being from its world of origin, transformed its body, and afterwards he had to take care of the rest of it. This time they had brought him a land-dweller. That would make things even more complicated. Now he would first have to teach it how to swim with its new body and practise the echo location with the aid of the body’s own sonar system. In addition, the shock would turn out to be significantly worse, when his new protégé realized that it now lived in the sea and its body was similar to that of a deep-sea creature. Many had not survived this shock or had gone mad after a short time. Well, he just had to wait, until his new protégé woke up. It was a female being, that much he could make out at least, because the head and the upper body had barely undergone a transformation. She seemed to be quite young, which obviously increased her ability to adequately overcome the shock. Furthermore, she had a really pretty face, and her slender body would make it easier for her to swim. She was lying on her back in front of him with her eyes still closed, breathing a little clumsily, but regularly. It could not take much longer for her to awaken. But that was all right. It meant that for the moment, he did not have to work in the fire-stone mines with all the other abducted creatures. If everything went well, she would soon be able to start her compulsory labour with the other slaves. The Masters disliked it very much if new slaves took too much time before they could start working. He just hoped that she was not too squeamish, otherwise, right from the start, her chances of survival would be few. She finally stirred. The typical twitches flashed through her body, which she had not properly under control yet. Her luminous organs began to flicker, and then she opened her eyes and looked at him in puzzlement. She wanted to rise up, but did not succeed. He placed a hand on her upper body and pushed her gently back onto the bed. “Lie still,” he said to her in a friendly tone of voice. “Have no fear, I won’t harm you.” With his other hand he patted her head tenderly, which pacified her a little bit. “Can you understand me?” he asked gently. She nodded and uttered a throaty sound. “Well, listen to me carefully! You have been abducted from your world to this place, called Turoon. This planet is a waterworld. There is no dry land, so they have transformed your body to enable you to live here. You look almost like me, only your head and parts of your upper body have retained their original shape.” He got up and began to hover beside her with light movements of his fins, so she could see him clearly. His strong upper body carried a hairless head with big, dark eyes and a narrow mouth. Two strong arms arose from the upper edge of his body. His long-drawn abdomen tapered markedly and carried at its end a short tail fin, while the legs were missing all together. But the most impressive parts of his body were the broad, triangular wing fins, which reached from his shoulders to almost the end of the abdomen. They were mostly transparent and carried many luminous oval organs, which emitted a steady, blue-purple light. She looked at him with the utmost surprise, while he continued his explanation. “You will at first have some problems in controlling your new body, and it will be difficult for you to speak, but that will cease after a while. You are breathing water now, which will cause you some difficulty at first, but you will soon become familiar with that too. I will teach you everything you need to know, and will train you to control your body quickly. By the way, my name is Cherou. After a few days, you will have become familiar with everything. Then you will work in the fire-stone mines, just like all the others. The work is very heavy, we are constantly watched, and we are not treated well, but at least we get enough to eat. We are nothing more than working slaves for the Duumars, but you will learn about this some time later. Now it is most important that you learn to control your body as quickly as possible. Do you understand?” he asked emphatically. The girl nodded hesitantly while she looked at him horrified. “Yes,” she managed to verbalize huskily. It looked as if she had overcome the initial shock quite well.

“Don’t be afraid, you are still under my protection during the first few days, so nothing can harm you. You will quickly become familiar with life here, for it always passes the same way: working, eating, sleeping – day after day.” He looked at her sadly. It just was not right to destroy such a young life, to simply misuse it for the arrogant wishes of others. But what could he do? He was a slave too, the only difference being that he had been born on this world and had gathered much experience, which was why he had been assigned to train the new slaves. He wished that he could describe for her a more pleasant future, instead of explaining to her that she would never return home and would work as a slave for the rest of her days. But that was the cruel reality! He could clearly see in her eyes that she had understood his words, and like so many times before, this nearly broke his heart. But he had to fulfil his duty, so once again he suppressed his pity and began to teach her to speak. Luckily she learned very quickly and coped quite well with the new situation. After a short time she could say her name. She was called Saira.

*

For the first time in her life, Saira was utterly terrified. She had lived a carefree and happy life on Wuun up until now. Could all that really be gone? Would she really never see her homeland again and would she really have to work here as a slave for the rest of her life? Stuck in another body, trapped forever on this world? Surely this could not yet be true, but Cherou’s words permitted no doubt. “Is there really no chance of returning?” she asked desperately.

“I’m sorry,” Cherou answered. “So far, none of the abducted ones has ever returned to his planet of origin. This good fortune is not permitted to any of us. The Duumars are merciless. They force us to work until we finally die in the mines. Some have indeed tried to escape from the imprisonment, but they have all paid with their lives. So banish that from your mind immediately and try to put up with the new situation. The quicker you do that, the better for you.”

His hard words hurt her even more. So it was true. She would never see Wuun again, or her parents or any of the other lovely people. The idea was too hard to bear. Memories of her happy childhood appeared in her mind again. She saw her parents’ faces of, worried and frightened and unable to comprehend that their daughter would never return. She saw the children of the village, with whom she had always played and cooked up tricks, now completely distraught and unable to understand that she was not there any more. It was just too much! She started to sob quietly on her bed and put her face in her hands. Desperation finally overcame her, and she cried inconsolably.

*

Cherou sank down beside her and caressed her head tenderly. He knew what was happening. He had witnessed it much too often, but it nearly broke his heart while he helplessly had to watch as the sorrow and horror broke out of the defenceless victims, when they finally realized the whole truth and with it the hopelessness of their situation. Now it would become apparent whether the new slave would overcome this shock or perish. Cherou just let her have her way. He had previously tried to comfort the desperate victims with some friendly words, but that induced aversion rather than thanks in the end. The reality was just too cruel, and pleasant words could not help. Saira’s body was shaking while her tears flowed and streaked upwards between her fingers. It took a long time for her to calm down again, but finally she moved her hands away from her face and looked desperately at Cherou. This time he could not suppress a compassionate look. “Chin up, girl, you will surely make it,” he tried to encourage her. “Don’t worry, I will take care of you until you have settled in here.” She gave him a thankful look, but kept an embittered silence. “You should first try to get used to your new body,” he distracted her finally. “Just try to rise up.” She turned her head to him, and her gaze seemed to return from far away, but the twitching of her body and the flickers of her luminous organs showed that she tried to comply with his request. She only managed to move her rear fin, but did not succeed in raising up. “You’d better try with your wing fins,” Cherou advised and showed her what she should do. But this attempt failed too at first until Cherou pinched the rim of her wing fin. She instinctively pulled back her fins with a slight outcry and looked at him reproachfully. “I’m sorry, but this way you’ll learn more quickly,” he apologized. “Now you know what you have to do to use your fins.” Indeed she managed to move her wing fins in a coordinated manner after a short time, and finally she could rise up. “Well done, you really learn pretty fast,” he praised her. They continued the training for a while, and soon she was able to swim moderately well. Cherou also taught her to control her luminous organs, which she learned quickly too. She seemed to have overcome the shock quite well so far. The coming days would show how well she would manage to get by, but everything looked quite hopeful. Saira was soon exhausted, so Cherou ended the practice for today. Then he disappeared for a short while, and returned with a bundle of long, yellow leaves, the surface of which was covered with many growths. “This is our food down here,” he explained. “We call it plopkelp.”

“Looks unappetizing,” Saira replied. “What’s the name of this stuff again?”

“Plopkelp,” Cherou repeated with a grin and mashed one of the growths on a leaf. It burst with a gentle plop, and a bubble of air ascended out of it. “That’s how the plant got its name,” he explained still grinning. Then he took some of the leaves and gave the rest to Saira, who carefully began to nibble. The leaves barely tasted of anything, but at least they were filling. “Tastes rather dull,” she grumbled. “Is there nothing else to eat?”

“Unfortunately not in the empire of the Duumars,” Cherou answered. “There are some quite delicious things out there in the ocean, but here they feed us only with this stuff. It may not be very tasty, but plopkelp contains all that we need to survive. You better get used to it right now, there’s nothing else.”

“Really great!” Saira scolded. “Not even anything good to eat around here!”

“Still so demanding,” Cherou growled with amusement, which earned him an angry look from Saira. “Now take a rest. I have to report to the Duumars and must deal with some other things, meanwhile you won’t be bothered by me,” he said, winking. As he caught her worried look, he said soothingly: “Don’t worry, I will look after you later. You don’t get rid of me so quickly!” He saw a brief smile flitting across her face. She seemed to put up quite well with the situation. It gave him hope that she would be able to endure the mines too. Then he swam towards a big, round mark on the opposite wall. When he had nearly reached it, an opening appeared with a quiet hum, showing an illuminated corridor behind. Cherou quickly passed through the opening and waved to Saira. A moment later the wall closed as silently as it had opened.

*

The Duumar stared at Cherou with his big, yellow eyes, while the Lingit told him of his first experiences with Saira. At the end of his report Cherou briefly looked up at the octopus-like creature, who was at least five times taller than himself. He still could not stand that cold, emotionless stare. As usual, the Duumar let some time pass while he enjoyed Cherou’s discomfort, until he finally gave a satisfied growl. “How long until she can work in the mines?” Thurgun asked impatiently, while he nervously drummed one of his eight arms on the floor. He was the first leader of the mine and always anxious that enough fire-stone should be dug. Some days ago, he had lost a slave in a deadly accident and he wanted to replace him as quickly as possible, so that his deliveries would reach the previous level again. His superiors would not like it at all if he produced less than the owners of other mines. He might even lose his job, but he would never let it come to that!

“She will be ready within the next three light phases,” Cherou hurried to answer. “As I already told to you, she learns very quickly and she is young and strong.”

“I hope so for your sake,” the Duumar growled menacingly and finally turned around, so that Cherou was no longer exposed to his harsh stare. “You may leave!”

Cherou bowed down in relief and hastily left the mine’s control centre. The most unpleasant part of his work was done for today. Now he could finally look after himself, relax a little bit, before he had to return to Saira and accompany her through the dark phase.

*

Saira had watched the opening and closing of the wall with amazement and now carefully swam closer. But as she stopped directly in front of it, nothing happened. The wall stayed closed. Astonished, she swam up and down in front of the mark, but the wall did not move. She stretched out an arm and quickly touched the wall. It felt completely flat and hard, but did not move. Saira also felt no magic signature, which showed that the wall was not controlled by any type of magic. It had however simply let Cherou pass through, but remained closed for her. The only thing she noticed was a weak flow of energy passing through the mark. At first this confused her. From her lessons she knew that some forms of magic existed, that she could not yet observe because of her lack of experience. But every form of magic left a clear signature behind, which even an inexperienced magician would notice immediately. So this was something completely different. She made no use of her magic skills for now, as she did not know whether she was secretly being watched. Torem had urged her to hide her capabilities in such a situation, for one could never know what might happen. So she finally moved away from the wall and began to examine her surroundings more carefully. She now noticed that the side-walls showed a slight bend, as they were forming a kind of tube. They consisted of a hard, completely flat material, the likes of which Saira had never seen before. But the most peculiar thing about the walls was that they themselves seemed to emit the diffuse bluish light that filled the room without emitting heat. Only the elves of Wuun, her world of origin, were capable of producing something similar with their magic crystals. But these walls were neither made of crystal, nor did they contain a magic spell that caused them to shine. Saira again noticed this weak stream of energy that she had noticed before at the strange opening in the wall. The room itself was divided in two by a wall. A broad, oval opening gaped in its centre. The rear part of the room, in which she had woken up earlier, contained two soft beds affixed to the sidewall, and a reflective surface, in which Saira could see herself. She was fascinated. She wore no clothing whatsoever. Her head and upper body had barely changed except for her skin and hair, which were extremely pale. And she no longer had any legs. The long stretched-out lower part of the body tapered markedly and ended in a short tail fin. Like Cherou, she now carried two big, triangular wing fins, which reached from the base of the tail fin to her shoulders. Their rims were covered with numerous luminous oval organs. She slowly sank to the ground while looking at herself, so that she had to propel herself upwards with light strokes of her tail fin again and again. She could not yet manage to simply hover in the water with slight movements of her wing fins. But in due course she would learn this too. Saira was just glad that she was able to move in a chosen direction, and already could control her new body quite well. She watched the flickering play of colours of her luminous organs with amusement, letting them light up and fade out at will. It was not clear to her for the moment why she had these luminous organs. But nature created nothing in vain. So they surely had a function, which she would likely get to know later. She finally lay down exhaustedly on the bed, and began to analyze her memories. How had she come here? She remembered the bluish disc that had suddenly appeared beside her. She had been pulled in there and finally woken up here in this new body, as a prisoner in a foreign world where she was destined to work as a slave in the future. In a world where nothing was familiar to her. She did not even breathe air any more, but water, did not walk around any longer, but moved by swimming. Water as a medium was of course not entirely unknown to her. Her world of origin had some lakes in which she had swum and dived many a time. There were big oceans on Wuun, which she had never seen, for they were much too far from the big forests where she had lived. But she had heard many stories and legends about them, which were told among the people. Fascinating stories of strange creatures and even stranger habitats. If just some of these stories were true, a completely new world waited for her out there. On the one hand, this knowledge fascinated her. On the other, it started to frighten her. Cherou had told her that he would take care of her until she had settled in, but Master Torem had shared with her a lot about other worlds, about wars, lies and plots. So Saira rather mistrusted her new instructor in this new world. She had no other choice for the moment but to be as wakeful as possible and to watch everything around her very closely. She had to learn very quickly to get around in this world. Saira was certainly not defenceless. Though she was not a fully trained magician yet, she already knew many ways of protecting herself and could well defend herself in case of emergency. It was very clear to her that those who had abducted her to this place were mighty and had great magic powers. Enormous forces were needed for the creation of such a big magic portal! Since she was still on her own for the moment, she had to be very careful, and not reveal herself too soon. She was no match for magicians with such powers. Nothing remained for her than to wait and see how the situation would develop. While she still pondered, she suddenly heard the wall opening again. It startled her out of her thoughts, while Cherou slowly swam in.

“Ah, you have already made yourself comfortable,” he said smilingly. Then he sank to the floor next to her. “How are you?” he asked a little bit worried.

“I’m still quite confused,” Saira confessed. “In a new body and in completely strange surroundings, I still don’t know and can’t understand so much here ...”

“You will find your way in due course,” Cherou replied understandingly. “I will try to explain most of it to you, as far as I can. The Duumars unfortunately don’t leave us much time, for you are supposed to start working in the mine in just a few light phases. But don’t worry, you’ll have understood most of the things by then, I promise you.” He winked at her mischievously. “Now just rest, the dark phase starts soon.”

“What dark phase?” Saira asked confused.

“Naturally, you can’t know that, for you have never lived in the deep sea,” Cherou said. “We are so deep down in the ocean here that the light from the surface can’t be seen. So we use self-made sources of light, which light up or darken to the rhythm of the surface light. You must have noticed that the walls here in this room are shining. Their brightness corresponds to the light at the surface. They will slowly darken until they emit no more light. That is the dark phase. When it’s getting bright again at the surface, the light phase begins.”

Saira nodded knowingly. “That’s why you have these luminous organs on your body, because it is constantly dark out there.”

“That’s right,” Cherou answered impressed. “You learn really quickly,” he praised her. “Here in the city of the Duumars it is, for safety reasons, never completely dark outside. Only the open ocean is dark,” Cherou explained. “Tomorrow I will show you part of this site. You will be impressed,” he promised smilingly. “But now it’s time to retire. Would you prefer to sleep alone tonight, or should I stay with you?” he asked in a friendly manner.

Saira briefly thought about it. She still did not trust Cherou, but the thought of spending the night here all alone made her shudder.

His presence somehow seemed soothing, and if he wanted to harm her she would teach him a suitable lesson. So she finally answered: “If you don’t mind, I should be glad if you stayed with me.”

“All right,” Cherou said, moved to the bed on the opposite wall and lay down on it. “Try to sleep now, tomorrow we’ll have to face a tiring day.”

“It’s easy for you to talk!” Saira answered, a little reproachfully. “You haven’t been put into an unknown body, infinitely far from home in a completely alien environment!”

Cherou turned to her. “Believe me, I know how you feel. You are certainly not the first slave whom I take care of and help to get settled in,” he replied understandingly. “I don’t know how many slaves I have prepared for their life here. I myself was born here, but I have experienced enough to know how you feel.” He briefly stopped talking, then he continued: “You will need all your strength if you want to survive here. So it’s really important that you make good use of the rest breaks in future. The earlier you familiarize yourself with that, the better for you.”

His harsh words hit her again, but finally she realized that he was right. Only if she was well rested and fully awake would she be able to avoid mistakes, comprehend everything around her in good time and react quickly. “Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to be impolite,” she said quietly.

“That’s all right,” he replied. “I would feel the same way in your place.” He hoped that this dark phase would at least pass calmly. Many slaves had not survived the first dark phase or had gone mad from sheer fear. Several times Cherou had to get out of harm’s way fast, when the slaves had attacked him in rage, desperation or panic. Often, he had barely escaped alive! He would not be able to fulfil this duty much longer, because his increasing age gradually demanded its tribute. The bad experiences he had endured during this time, also had not gone by without a trace, had depleted him and dissipated much of his strength. But if he could not fulfil his duty any longer, he would be of no further use to the Duumars, which meant his certain end. He could only hope that this moment would not come too soon.

“Is there really no way I can return home?” Saira asked into his thoughts.

“I’ve already explained to you that it’s pointless to give yourself such hopes,” he grumbled annoyed. “Put that right out of your mind, this place is now your home!” Saira looked at him with a mixture of anger and despair, and he felt sorry that he had griped at her. “At least nobody has ever managed to return to his original home so far,” he said conciliatory.

Saira let herself sink back and fought against the rising tears. She swallowed hard several times and managed for the moment to get her despair under control. But while she lay there, many beautiful memories came back into her mind. Her life had been so happy and so completely carefree. Now all this was supposed to be just gone, and she was supposed to spend the rest of her life here, as a slave! She knew from many of her parents’ stories what that meant. Despair came upon her again, but she was not prepared to simply accept this fate. Somehow there had to be a possibility of returning home again. She lay awake for a long time, with her thoughts racing around inside of her head. But finally she came to the conclusion that her only chance was to wait until she knew her way around sufficiently. Her magic skills would surely be of great advantage here. But for the moment she only dared to use them with the utmost caution, so that no one would be able to detect her special skills too early. Then maybe she would have a chance to escape from here. These thoughts gave her a kind of pleasure, and she finally fell into a restless sleep.

*

Sometime in the night, Saira woke up out of her tangled dreams. The walls had darkened completely, although there was a bit of light that originated from her and Cherou’s luminous organs. Saira was surprised that despite of the dim light she could see everything around her almost as clearly as during the light phase. Apparently, the eyes of deep-sea inhabitants were extremely sensitive and still worked well at very low light levels. Cherou was fast asleep, as far as she could make out from his steady, deep breathing. His luminous organs glowed only dimly, sometimes flickering briefly. Saira avoided intensifying the light of her own luminous organs for fear of waking Cherou. She let herself sink back on her bed and tried to relax. Now she was glad that she had asked Cherou to stay the night. His closeness gave her a certain safety, and the fact that he just calmly slept beside her proved that for the moment she had nothing to fear from him. If he had not been by her side when she woke up in the darkness in this completely alien place, she would have probably been extremely frightened by now. She often had spent the night outside at her parental home, but had always woken up in familiar surroundings, quite different to this night. Cherou’s steady breathing, and the certainty that nobody would harm her, let her finally slide down again into a calmer sleep.

*

Saira opened her eyes as she was slightly shaken by something. She gave a start and looked into Cherou’s grinning face.

“Wake up, young fin!” he said smilingly and held a bunch of plopkelp in front of her face.

Saira looked at him in confusion until she finally woke up completely and noticed that the light phase had already begun. She briefly rubbed her eyes and then rose up.

“Did you at least get some sleep?” Cherou asked in a friendly manner and handed her some plopkelp.

“I slept little uneasily, but fairly well,” Saira answered a bit sleepily and stretched her stiff body. Then she grasped the seaweed, bit into it and crossly pulled a face. Cherou looked at her and smiled, while she unenthusiastically chewed about on the leaves, and gulped the first morsels. Saira noticed his amused look. “Don’t you look at me this way, this stuff really tastes completely dull!” she scolded in feigned annoyance, which caused Cherou to break into an even wider grin. “Is there really nothing better to eat here?” she grumbled seemingly desperate.

“I’m sorry, I can’t offer you anything better,” Cherou answered shrugging his shoulders. “Better finish it, even if it doesn’t taste good, you have to remain strong,” he told to her.

“Will you show me around afterwards?” Saira asked hopefully. “This room is slowly becoming too small,” she confessed.

“With pleasure, but first I have to teach you some things, so that you can get along better outside,” Cherou answered.

“What a pity,” Saira said disappointedly. “I had hoped we could go out right after the meal.”

“It won’t take long,” Cherou promised. “But now just finish your seaweed!”

“All right,” Saira stuffed the last bunch of plopkelp into her mouth.

After she had finally finished eating, Cherou began with his instructions. “I have told you that outside in the ocean it’s often completely dark. With our luminous organs we can light up our immediate surroundings, but that’s not enough to get an overview. For that we use our sonar.” When he noticed Saira’s expression of incomprehension, he explained it to her. “We use sound to scan our wider surroundings.” Then he uttered a short, steady whistle. Saira still looked at him uncomprehendingly. “Close your eyes and try to produce such a sound, too,” he invited her.

Saira at first did not know what he meant, but then she did as she was told, and after some effort she indeed succeeded in producing a similar sound. The next moment she “saw” a somewhat indistinct, colourless image of her surroundings, although her eyes were closed. Her eyes popped open, and she stared perplexedly at Cherou.

“And it seems that you have just seen your surroundings,” Cherou said, amused.

“Yes, indeed I have!” Saira acknowledged in surprise.

“A picture is made in your head from the sound that your surroundings reflect,” he explained. “Just try it once more, while you slowly turn around, so that you also scan the other parts of the room.”

Saira closed her eyes again and, after every whistle, turned a bit further, until she had turned around completely. “This is great, I could see the entire room,” she said enthusiastically. “Although the images were in part quite vague.”

“That will get better in time when you have gained more experience,” Cherou said. “But the picture will never be completely distinct, therefore we need to use an additional method, the clicks,” he explained, and Saira again looked at him with bewilderment. He uttered a sequence of loud clicking sounds at closer and closer intervals, until the sounds merged and caused a strange squeaky noise. “We have a special organ, which produces these clicks,” Cherou explained and swam closer to Saira. “It is located about here.” With an outstretched finger, he touched a point at the base of her throat. “Just try to concentrate on that point and will it to click.”

Saira felt with her fingers for the point and noticed a bulge beneath the skin. Then, she closed her eyes to concentrate harder. After a short while she felt contact with the organ and tried to produce some sounds. It took quite a long time but finally Saira managed to produce a whole volley of loud clicking sounds. The next moment she again saw a colourless image of her surroundings. This time the section was smaller, but much more detailed and defined.

“Well done!” Cherou praised her. “I guess this time the image was clearer.“

“Oh yes, much more precise and sharp.” Saira confirmed enthusiastically.

“With a little bit of practice, you will soon be able to produce single clicks and exactly control their loudness and speed. It’s very important that you can control this, because only then you can orientate yourself in complete darkness. Your eyes can deal quite well with very little light, but when it’s completely dark they are useless for you. Your luminous organs can only lighten up your immediate surroundings. That won’t help you in the open ocean where there’s only water in the vast space around you. If you swim fast, you will never recognize any obstacles in time. You’ll only manage that by using your sonar!”

Saira nodded. “Then it’s probably better if I practice for a while, so that I quickly learn to use the sonar.”

“That I would advice,” Cherou confirmed. They remained in the room for a while longer, until Saira could at least control the loudness of her whistles and clicks. There would be enough opportunity later, when they were out there, to learn about orientation using the sonar. Then finally Saira was allowed to leave her quarters for the first time. She was able to pass through the opening in the wall with Cherou without problems, and found herself in a tube-like corridor. Luminaries were installed in its walls in regular intervals. Saira observed several further openings in the wall while she swam beside Cherou. Numerous junctions made orientation more difficult for Saira until they suddenly reached the end of the tube. The view that presented itself to her took her breath away. As far as Saira could see, they were above a wide plateau, which was covered with a variety of buildings, some of which were enormous and bizarrely shaped. Each building was covered with numerous bluish luminaries, which gave the area a ghostly appearance. A strange background noise of rising and falling whirring, roaring, stomping and thundering could be heard, which originated from the edge of the plateau. Very big buildings stood there with tall, tower-like outcrops, from which long, dark clouds ascended. The water flickered because of its high temperature, and the surroundings appeared indistinct. The dreadful beauty of what she saw caused Saira to feel a mixture of emotions. The strange surroundings fascinated her, but they frightened her, too.

On her world of origin, people lived as simple forest dwellers in total harmony with nature. Aside from some simple tools for metal and woodworking, they did not have technology or industry, or factories. This was the first time Saira was confronted with these things.