Spirits of the Sea(Dominic) Spirits of the Sea

By Dominic Herrmann




Chapter 1
Hunter’s Folly


Atlas swam slowly and calmly just below the glimmering surface. Above the surface only his broad, white-tipped fin was visible. A warm breeze could be felt above, it felt nice on his dorsal fin. After all the hunting he had done over the past few days, it felt nice to just go for a relaxing swim. Especially since this was around the time of year when humans flocked to the sea, and rarely let Atlas and the other sharks get a good hunt in. They’d either catch or steal all the prey they were trying to catch.
He always tried to avoid humans, not wanting to accidently hurt them. Especially smaller humans or the elderly ones.
He was an Oceanic White Tip, a species that had a very checkered past with humans.
His kind were known for being quite aggressive, especially towards humans. But he was always different. Some sharks thought of him as a good omen, knowing he could show humans that whitetips aren’t as bad as some would lead them to believe.
He paused.
A familiar scent met his nostrils.
He sniffed again and looked around.
Nearby, a large red shape could be seen swimming a few yards below the surface. It was using its eight legs to propel itself forward.
A squid.
Score! Atlas thought.
Squids were considered delicacies by most sharks, their soft flesh was very filling and delicious.
The only problem was that squid the size of this one rarely went down without a fight. When he was a pup he was told stories of Great Whites and Tigers who fought squid and were crippled for the rest of their lives.
Thankfully this one didn’t seem too…
It was a Humboldt.
Well now he’d have to rethink his whole hunting strategy.
Humboldts were incredibly aggressive, and very deadly.
Even humans were known to be deathly afraid of-
WHAM!
The long slender appendage of a tentacle slammed into his face.
Without really thinking, Altas lunged forward and bared his teeth. Chomping down on two tentacles.
The spikes on the tentacles dug into his lower jaw, he could taste his blood. Atlas pulled back, severing one of the tentacles.
Suddenly a large black cloud of ink covered his field of vision, and in less than a second, the humboldt had disappeared.
Atleast he got one tentacle, he quickly scarfed it down. It was good, but not as good as the main body.
Suddenly Atlas heard a snicker come from behind him.
“Hunter’s Folly at its finest!” said a female voice.
It was Rose, a Thresher Shark and one of Atlas’ best friends.
“Yeah no thanks to you. My head hurts, I could’ve used a fin back there!” Atlas retorted. “Crazed conehead nearly sent me to the Crystal Reef!”
“And risk having all my fins torn off? Or worse yet my tail? A thresher without their tail is essentially a dead fish swimming! And seriously? A headache? T’is but a scratch compared to what he could’ve done,” she said. She was right. Humboldts never screwed around in a fight.
“ANY shark without a tail is a dead fish swimming! Anyway, want to hunt some sardines? I’m actually feeling a bit hungrier”, Atlas suggested.
“Oh yeah! I’m always down for a good sardine hunt! Speaking of hunts… oh kelp”, Rose trailed off.
“What?”
“Nothing, I just realized my mom wanted me to take Kara hunting tonight, I already had to pupsit that little twerp a few days ago”.
Kara was Rose’s baby sister, and a far more inexperienced hunter than her older sibling.
“Sheesh, I feel terrible for you! She probably doesn’t even like sardines; she probably enjoys eating urchins!” Atlas joked. No one enjoyed eating urchins.
“That is disgusting, not another word! Now let's catch some sardines!”
“Hey look! A giant angler fish!” Atlas exclaimed.
“WHAT!? Where!?” Rose frantically turned around.
Atlas couldn’t hold back the laughter. She’d always been scared of anglerfish.
“Jerk! Anyways, let's go fishing!”
The two friends swam towards the open ocean where sardines usually hung out.


Chapter 2
A most unusual fish


“Hit them again!” Atlas shouted.
The massive bait ball of sardines pulsed and fluctuated into several different sizes. The living mass continued to swell and pulsate in all directions and different shapes as hundreds of frightened fish tried to escape the two sharks. A bait ball this size would attract predators from all over. Almost as much as a whale fall.
Rose turned her body and slammed her tail into the living mass.
Several stunned sardines floated in their direction.
The two sharks quickly snapped them up with their jaws.
“Atlas! Catch this!” Rose said.
She whipped her tail at a particularly plump fish and flung it towards the surface. Atlas swam towards it, breaching out of the water and spinning as he caught it.
“Not bad,” Rose whispered.
“How’s the hunt?” came a voice from behind them.
They turned to see a massive great Hammerhead shark and a small Epaulette shark observing the bait ball.
They were Bone and Midas. Two more of Atlas’ friends.
“Mind if we join you? Lots of sardines for two sharks!” Midas said.
“No, the two of us could definitely eat all of these… of course you guys can! As long as the old dogfish can keep up with us!” Atlas joked. Bone was the oldest of the four by quite a few years.
Bone scoffed.
“Yeah, it's gonna be embarrassing when the old dogfish kicks both your tails! Now let's eat some fish!”
Rose whipped her tail two more times, causing the bait ball to completely disintegrate as the sardines panicked.
Bone swam forward and with a single snap of his jaws, grabbed four sardines at once.
“Not bad”, Rose murmured.
Midas, the smallest of the four, could manage two sardines at a time. Epaulette sharks didn’t have massive appetites, so he didn’t want to eat that many sardines-
He paused.
One sardine stuck out amongst all the others.
It wasn’t dead, atleast not yet.
It was stunned and almost floating vertically due to Roses’ tail whips, and in stature it was no different than any other fish.
But it’s eyes.
That was what stuck out.
The beady, somewhat dimwitted eyes were replaced by a bright red.
A fiery red.
Its eyes glowed like hot coals.
Midas curiously swam towards it, and bit into it.
It tasted no different than any other sardine.
Curiousity fading into calmness, he continued eating.



“I’m telling you guys, nothing beats the hunt of a bait ball!” Atlas said.
“Few things are as thrilling, that’s for sure”, Bone added.
“True that, I’m absolutely stuffed!” Rose said.
They glanced back at what remained of the bait ball for a moment.
Several other sharks, great whites, bulls, makos and even a few tigers were darting back and forth snapping up sardines.
Midas thought, and wondered if he should tell them about the strange fish.
Atlas picked up on Midas’ silence, he was usually very chatty after hunts.
“Everything alright Midas?” he asked.
“Did any of those sardines look strange to you guys?”
Atlas shook his head.
“No. Why?”
“One of them looked odd to me. Its eyes were, glowing”, he hesitated.
Bone and Rose picked up on the conversation.
“Glowing eyes?” Rose repeated.
“Yeah, almost like fire,” Midas said.
Bone chimed in.
“I’ve been swimming all over this ocean. I’ve never seen a fish with fire coming from its eyes''.
He didn’t even try to hide his skepticism.
“We live in water, that wouldn’t be physically possible,” Rose added.
“I don’t think it was on fire, it just glowed like fire. Probably shouldn’t have ate it, I could’ve shown you guys. Oh well”, Midas sighed.
“It’s alright, I can tell you seem a little tired after that hunt. How we just go to the reef and get some rest”, Atlas suggested.
Everyone agreed.
“I still have to take Kara hunt-”
A pair of larger thresher sharks swam up to them.
Rose’s parents.
“Where have you been? You were supposed to teach your sister how to hunt!” Her father bellowed.
Atlas, Midas and Bone swam to the side, knowing full well where this was going.
“I got held up hunting sardines”, Rose said. There was no point in saying anything else. Her parents could always detect a lie.
“Really? You could’ve taken her with you!” Her mother said.
“And risk her hitting her face with her own tail again?” Rose said.
“Did that actually happen?” Midas whispered.
Bone turned away, suppressing a laugh.
“Yes. Somehow she pulled that off, and when she did a part of her sister's soul died”, Atlas said.
Midas swam back in disbelief.
“I think a piece of EVERY thresher's soul died”.
“Now tomorrow, you will take her out hunting and you WILL teach her! No excuses!” her father said.
“Yes sir”, Rose said through clenched teeth.
They swam away.
“Let’s go to the reef,” she said.


Midas swam above the colorful pieces of coral.
The reef was always neutral ground for predator and prey, a place most fish went to rest.
He swam lower and closer to the red and yellow clusters of coral, past the crevices where the Port Jackson Sharks layed and tended to their eggs-
“Can you hear me? “
He stopped.
Who said that?
“What was that?” he said outloud.
“Please, I’m trapped! I can’t leave!”
This voice, where was it coming from?
He stuck his head in the crevice, maybe a shark was stuck down there.
Nothing. Just a handful of spiral shaped eggs.
“You have to help me!”
Even stranger, it sounded like it was coming from everywhere and nowhere.
“Who are you? Where are you?” Midas said.
“You ate the sardine”.
Midas froze.
Was he talking about the sardine with the glowing eyes?
“Oh God! He’s coming back! Please! Help me!”
An ear-splitting scream filled his head.
A scream of agony.
A scream of pain.

Chapter 3
Message Recieved

“Explain this to us again?” Bone said.
Midas had told them about the voice. Naturally, none of them believed him.
“I was swimming by the reef, and I heard a voice. It sounded like it was in my head! Like it was coming from everywhere but no one else heard it!”
“Look Midas calm down!” Rose said. “What did the voice say?”
“It said it was trapped, that it couldn’t leave but it didn’t tell me where it was”.
Atlas swam forward. The whitetip was usually very trusting and believing of his friends, but this sounded stranger and stranger the more Midas explained it.
“What else did it say?”
“It asked me if I ate that sardine I told you guys about earlier. But before I could respond, it freaked out saying someone was coming for him”.
Atlas thought.
“Soooo… eating a sardine caused you to start hearing voices in your head? Huh”.
“Yeah Midas I love ya, but, this is just way too far fetched. You’re starting to sound a little craz-” Bone began.
“I’M NOT CRAZY!” he shouted. “I’m telling you what happened! I heard a voice asking for help! That’s it!”
The other three sharks swam back, stunned. Midas was never one to have outbursts about something like this. He hardly had outbursts to begin with.
“Midas I’m sorry, but you’re starting to freak us out. I’m serious now, you need help”, Rose said, a hint of sadness in her voice.
Midas didn’t respond.
His face became blank.
Suddenly his back began to arch.
“Midas?”
His eyes widened and his small mouth hung open.
“Midas are you ok?” Atlas asked.
He began trembling, then screaming.
“AHHH!!! IT BURNS! IT BURNS! AAHHHH! IT HURTS! LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE!” Midas began shaking violently.
He screamed again.
“Midas what’s happening?” Bone said.
His eyes were squeezed shut.
“STOP! ATLAS! BONE! ROSE! HELP ME!” Midas sounded on the verge of tears.
Then silence.
Midas’s eyes snapped open.
His mouth closed.
And he slowly sank to the sand.
“MIDAS!” Rose shouted.
His eyes began to glow.
Glowing red.
Then the screaming began again, but it didn’t sound like Midas at all. It sounded unnatural.
The Midas exhaled deeply.
The glowing stopped.
The three sharks stayed there, stunned.
He was right.
Atlas set one of his broad pectoral fins on Midas.
“It’s okay buddy you're safe now,” he said.
“Wha… What happened?” Midas said.
“You really scared us there kiddo. We thought you-” Bone began.
He stopped.
There was something on Midas’ stomach.
They looked like scratch marks.
Very tiny scratch marks that formed… letters?
His sight wasn’t what it used to be, he had a hard time reading them.
Eventually his vision focused.
His heart fell into his tail when he read them.
ESCAPING IS A TERRIBLE SIN


Chapter 4
Sea of Darkness

Midas moaned as he opened his eyes.
He was in a cave of sorts. A cave that was illuminated by light coming in through several holes in the ceiling.
He jolted his head up.
“Where am I?!” Midas said aloud.
“Sssshhhh… child. You’ve had quite the afternoon”.
Midas saw a pair of golden eyes staring back at him from the darkness.
It was Ludwig. An elderly octopus that offered help to any injured fish. His crimson colored form edged closer to Midas, his yellow eyes adjusting to meet the Epaulette’s.
“Atlasssss,” Ludwig said. “He’s awake”.
Atlas swam through the cave entrance with a look of concern on his face.
“Come, my boy, come here”, Bolt began waving a tentacle towards himself.
“Thanks for helping him, Ludwig. We didn’t know what else to do”.
Ludwig laughed softly.
“Not a problem. I’ll leave you two be”.
The elderly cephalopod swam to the cave entrance.
Midas glanced at his stomach. The scratch message was a bit faded, but still visible.
“Oh no it wasn’t a dream”, Midas said, sounding defeated.
“Unfortunately”, Atlas added.
“Where’re Bone and Rose?”
“They’re outside, worried. I’m worried too,” Atlas said.
Suddenly Midas’ eyes briefly flashed red, and he yelled.
“Ludwig! Come back!” Atlas cried.
The octopus quickly darted into the cave.
Midas began breathing heavily.
“Whhhaaattt happened?”
“W-where’d it go?” Midas asked.
Atlas and Ludwig glanced around the cave.
“Where’d what go?”Atlas asked.
“I saw something. It looked like a human made of stone”.
Ludwig became intrigued.
“Did you see any finer details?”
“It seemed to be a male human. A gold aura came off of him. Atleast it started as gold, but then it turned to orange and I heard the scream again!”
Ludwig thought.
“Anything else?”
“I think he was carrying a long stick or something with a golden head. Speaking of heads, his was bizarre. It looked like the head of a, oh what are they called? They’re skins soft, they act like sharks but they live on land and live with humans, have four legs…” Midas began talking fast.
“Are you talking about dogs?” Atlas said.
“Yes! That’s it! It looked like the head of a dog, he was wearing what looked like a cloth around his midsection, and several jewels around his neck and arms. There was also a slab of stone under his feet with a word, Oh what was it? Anbus? Airbus? Anubis? I can’t remember”, Midas sighed.
Ludwig’s eyes widened.
“Anubis!” he repeated.
Atlas turned his head.
“You know about the human he saw?”
“When I was merely a Fry, I heard stories of a dog headed human named Anubis. He was said to guide the souls of dead humans to a place called the Duat. The human version of the Crystal Reef”, Ludwig said.
“Who would guide his soul when he dies?” Atlas said, narrowing his eyes.
“Don’t give me technicallities!” Ludwig yelled.
“Swim… Nortttthhhhh”.
Midas gasped.
“Guys, I heard it again, but…”
“But what?” Atlas inquired.
“It sounded weaker”, Midas replied. “And it told me to swim north”.
Ludwig overheard.
“North of the Reef? Into the Dark Sands?”
The Dark Sands were essentially what they sounded like. A very dark, deep area near the reef that was known for being incredibly barren. Very few sealife was said to live there, only parasites and maybe a few eels.
“I can release you if you do as I assskkk. Swim north, find U 5…5…1.”
“What’s U-551?” Midas asked aloud.
Suddenly Midas was no longer in a cave.
He was in a sea of darkness, ahead of him was a long, dark cylindrical shape with a separate square shape on top of it. It looked human-made, and in the darkness it was reduced to nothing more than a silhoutte.
Then he was back with Atlas and Ludwig.
“I saw something else! It looked like a shipwreck, a bizarre shipwreck in the Dark Sands. The voice sounded like it wanted us to find it”, Midas said.
Atlas could already tell where this was going.
“So this voice wants us to go on a wreckdive in the Dark Sands? Really?”
“The stone Anubis might also have something to do with it”, Ludwig added.


Atlas, Midas and Ludwig swam out of the cave and met up with Rose and Bone.
“How you holding up?” Rose asked.
“Feeling better. This might sound a bit ridiculous, but the voice wants us to go on a wreck dive, and maybe find a dog headed human made of stone”, Midas explained.
Rose blinked, wearing a face of confusion.
“Dog-headed human?” Bone repeated.
“Trust me it looked even stranger than it sounds, and it sounds even weirder when you say it”, Midas said.
“Where’s this wreck?” Rose asked. Hoping for a semi-normal answer.
“In the Dark Sands,” Midas answered.
“Well, if we’re going…” Bone began.
“Not much of a choice, we need to help our friend out,” Atlas said. “You coming with us Ludwig?”
He laughed softly.
“Oh no, I’ve grown too old for wreck dives”.
Atlas looked slightly disappointed.
“Alright, just tell our families they probably won’t see us for a while. I doubt they’ll believe us”.
Ludwig led the four to the edge of the reef, and watched as they swam over the coral, and into the darkness beyond.
“Good Luck”.

Chapter 5
Wenn Wir Marschieren


It was strange to move from the reef, the shimmering surface and the endless color palettes of coral and tropical fish…
Into the dark, cool emptiness of the open ocean.
They swam in silence for close to an hour.
“Heard anything?” Bone asked.
Midas shook his head.
Rose swam up to Atlas.
“I can see the skepticism in your eyes,” she said.
Atlas sighed.
“Do I think a stone human can fix this? Not really. Is it atleast worth investigating to get a better idea of what’s happening to our friend? Yes. I mean, something straight up engraved a warning into his stomach for us”.
Atlas shivered.
“Just the thought of that makes my denticles crawl”.
“Normally I’d look for a logical explanation, but I don't think the word logic could be used to describe anything that’s happened today”.
“Let's just keep going”, Atlas said.
They continued swimming in silence.


Bone returned from the surface.
“It’s night now,” he said.
They’d been swimming for close to two hours and still nothing.
Everywhere was empty.
No fish.
Nothing on the seafloor.
The only food they managed to find were a few lobsters who were already dead when they found them.
“My parents are not gonna be happy,” Rose said.
“I don't think anyone would be happy with us doing this,” Bone said.
Eventually they came to a massive underwater rockscape.
They became intrigued.
“Wow, I never knew this was here,” Bone said.
The Hammerhead swam closer to the now rocky bottom.
“Does this look familiar Midas?”
“The wreck did look like it was in a rocky area, hopefully this is it, if not I’m sorry I dragged you guys out here”.
None of them responded. They were all positioned behind one large rock, looking around the edge.
“Guys?”
Rose moved her tailfin and gestured for Midas to join them.
“Look at this,” Rose said.
Midas’ jaw dropped.
Laying before them was a massive shipwreck, just like what Midas had seen. They didn’t know it, but they were looking at a sunken WW2 German Submarine.
The long, cigar shaped vessel sat upright, looking almost jet black in the darkness of the deep.
It had clearly been down here for a while. The underwater pressure, parasites and deep sea coral had turned this once deadly warship into a rusting, rotten, derelict shell of its former self.
It looked like a portion of the metal on its front bow had been sheared off, and a massive crack had formed in the center of the hull, nearly splitting the thing in half.
They stared at it in silence.
“Inside the sub you will find the Guider of the Dead. He will set us free”.
“Guider of the Dead? Do you mean this Anubis human?” Midas asked.
“Not human. More than human…”
Then there was silence again.
“What’d it say this time?” Atlas asked.
“We have to go inside that thing, find this ‘Guider of the Dead’”, Midas explained.
“Uhhh, guys? There’s another shipwreck down here,” Rose said.
She was right.
Only about 20 yards away from the U-boat, was a much larger wreck.
It was a more traditional type of ship, it looked like one of the large ships humans used to go on what they called ‘cruises,’ but like the U-boat it looked incredibly old. They’d likely been down here for the same time.
“Well, which do we go to first?” Bone asked.
“The voice said the Guider was in the sub, which I think is the first one we found. Let’s start there,” Midas said.
“Sub? Humans give things the weirdest names. Anyways, let’s find a way inside”, Atlas said.


They reached the hole at the front of the sub.
It was dark but it seemed to lead into a small room containing several large rusted cylinders with rounded tops, several large panels with small dials, many broken or rusty pipes and a door at the back.
“What otherworldly sea did we land on here?” Bone said.
Atlas nervously swam through the hole.
With all the piping and debris it was incredibly cramped, and he figured only one of them could fit in there at a time.
How humans were able to live here was beyond him.
“Midas the rest of this wreck better not be like this. I can barely move my fins,” Atlas said, trying to squeeze his way to the door.
“You sure that’s not because your fins are massive?” Midas asked sarcastically.
“My fins are just the right size, so relax”.
Atlas reached the door. Like everything else it was heavily rusted, only one hinge was still attached, and a small glass window at the top center.
“Okay I reached a way out! Looks like a moving wall of somekind”.
“Can you move it?” Rose asked.
“Might take a bit but I think I can”.
Atlas knew he was lying through his teeth. This door looked very heavy, even though it was leaning forward and was only connected by one hinge, it would take a bit.
Atlas rammed into the hinge. It barely did anything, and the pain on his snout was agonzing just from this one hit.
“Atlas that sounded bad, what happened there?” Rose asked, worried.
“Just trying to get this moving wall open! Shouldn’t be too long!” He started sounding a bit mad.
This time he instead pressed his whole body against the thing, and began pushing. It was moving!
“Any progress?” Rose asked.
“Almost…there!” He sounded even angrier.
“I don’t think he can open it”, Rose said. “He sounds mad”.
“I’M NOT MAD!”
“Mad ‘cause bad,” Rose whispered.
“Oh for sure”, Midas replied.
A loud crash came from inside. Atlas stuck his head through the hole, he looked exhausted already.
“It's open,” he said, wheezing. A small bruise had formed on his nose.


The door led to a long metallic hallway. A hallway also full of rusty pipes and large valves.
“How will we know this Guider, when we see him?” Bone asked.
“Maybe he’ll see us,” Midas said nervously.
Suddenly a sound cut through the water.
It was that of a rusty, creaking sound.
From behind them.
Atlas quickly scanned the room, looking for something that could make the sound.
He paused.
One of the valves was turning.
They stopped.
It just kept turning, and creaking.
Then it stopped.
The sharks breathed sighs of relief.
Until the valve began shaking violently and spinning incredibly fast.
They swam back, shocked.
Then abruptly, it stopped again.
Bone nervously swam forward and set a pectoral fin on the valve.
“GAHH!!! It’s freezing cold!” the Hammerhead cringed as he swam away from it.
They lived in relatively cool waters that weren’t too cold, but the valve was freezing.
Suddenly a sharp, crackling sound came from the other end of the hall.
The room at the other end of the hall contained several large metal gray boxes with several small black dials and gauges on them.
The crackling sound came again.
It was from one of the boxes.
“There’s no way anything down here is still functional after being here for Megalodon knows how long,” Bone said, shaking his head.
Without really thinking, Midas touched one of the dials.
It clicked, and the crackling sound got louder.
“Guys? Can you also hear this?” Midas said, leaning into the box.
“I thought only you could hear the voice,” Atlas said.
“No wait, I can hear something too,” Rose said.
“Wenn wir marschieren… ziehn wir zum.." Deutsch…"Tor hinaus…"
“It sounds like singing,” Midas said.
It was, and they were singing a very strange song.
“Hello?” Atlas asked.
“Schwarzbraunes Madel"… "Du bleibst… zuhause!"
It was getting faster.
A series of thuds could be heard from outside the room.
They came in fours.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Darum mein Madel… Madel Wink, wink, wink unter einer grunen Lialind!”
“I don’t like this, at all”, Rose said.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Stitz, ein kleiner Fink, Fink, Fink, signt nur immer: Madel: wink!”
It wasn’t coming from just the box.
Others started singing. The sounds echoing across the vessel.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Wenn wir Heimkehren, ziehn wir durchs deutsche Tor herien!”
Chills ran down their cartilage spines as the song no longer came from just the boxes…
But from everywhere.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Schwarzbraune Madel!!" " Du bliest zuhause!!!”
The sharks swam closer together. The chills running down their spines were now doing sprints.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
“Darum mein Madel, Madel wink, wink, wink unter einer grunen Lialind!”
“SITZT EIN KLEINER FINK! FINK! FINK! SIGNT NUR IMMER; MADEL WINK!”
“STIZT EIN KLEINER FINK! FINK! FINK! SIGNT NUR IMMER; MADEL WINK!”
“STIZT EIN KLEINER FINK! FINK! FINK! SIGNT NUR IMMER; MADEL WINK!”
As abruptly as it started, it stopped.
And then there was silence.
No thuds, no singing.
Not a creak of the structure.
Nothing.

Chapter 6
The Stolen God


They were afraid to speak.
They didn’t know what they were dealing with.
They didn’t know who else was down here.
They didn’t know what to think.
They didn’t know what to do.
They just didn’t know.
Eventually, Atlas broke the silence.
“Let's, let’s find this guider and get out of here!”
They didn’t respond. They were glancing over his flank.
Atlas slowly turned around.
It was a human. Standing in the hallway.
But it looked strange.
It looked like he was wearing somekind of uniform and a naval hat, but he couldn’t tell.
It was pitch black.
No eyes.
No facial features.
No details on his clothing.
Just black, like a shadow.
Atlas froze.
“H-hello?”
The shadow tilted its head.
It reached its arm to its side, grabbing a small, L-shaped object and pointing it at Atlas.
Before Atlas could think of anything, Bone knocked him to the side as a loud bang echoed through the structure. Causing it to shake violently, before eventually settling back to its dormant state.
Atlas looked back to the hallway.
The shadow was gone.


“What was that all about?” Atlas asserted.
“It had a gun!” Bone yelled. “Humans use them to kill”.
“Guys look! There’s an opening in the wall”, Rose said.
A small hole leading into another room was beneath one of the boxes.
“Follow it. You’ll find him. You’re very close.”
Midas blinked.
“We have to go down there, I don’t wanna spend another second in this room”, he said quickly swimming into the hole.
“I second that,” Rose said, following him.
Getting through the hole was a bit difficult, particularly for Atlas and Bone. The two biggest sharks in the group.
“Again, how in the ocean were humans able to live like this?” Atlas said.
This room was more open than the previous two, but it was in much the same condition.
Several metal and wooden boxes were piled up and scattered all over the room. Some were cracked open, others were completely shattered. Several shiny pieces of gold and silver were visible causing many glares.
“He has to be in here. Look,” Midas said.
He was looking at a statue of a female human. It was covered in green algae and mold, she looked like she was wearing a cloak and was holding what looked like a necklace. Back when it was first built it must’ve looked incredible. But time had been very unkind to it.
“Wer ist da?!” Bellowed an angry voice from the other side of the room.
A pair of bright lights shone from the other side of the room. The sound of thudding footsteps returned to their ears.
“Hide!” Atlas whispered.
The four sharks scattered.
Midas ducked behind the female human statue.
The footsteps sounded like they were right on top of him.
“Durchsuchen Sie den Raum!" A second voice shouted.
Midas peeked from behind the statue.
It was a human.
But no ordinary human.
He was tall, wearing a dark black uniform with several gold insignia on it. A black and gold naval hat was on his head.
But other features stood out.
The uniform seemed to be deteriorating.
Seaweed had been draped on his shoulders and legs.
His body was semi-transparent, half of his face was rotting, several sections of skin were missing, and he seemed to have only one clouded eye.
He waved the light in his hand around the room.
Midas must’ve been leaning on the statue too hard, as a small section of it broke off and made an audible cracking sound.
With the speed of a dolphin and motion of an owl, the man's head swiveled around.
He stepped towards the statue, glanced around for a bit, then left.
Midas exhaled deeply.
Silence returned to the room.
He regrouped with the other four.
“How are humans able to survive down here?” Rose said, bewildered.
Bone swam forward.
“I don’t think they were humans. Anymore”.
Rose tilted her head.
“What do you mean?”
“When you, Atlas and Midas were younger, do you remember those stories I told? Of fish and other sea dwellers who couldn’t go to either the Crystal Reef or Undersands?” Bone said.
Rose thought for a second, then her jaw flung open like a trapdoor.
“You-?! You mean they were-?!”
Bone slowly nodded his hammer-shaped head.
“The shadow we saw?!” Atlas asked.
He nodded again.
“The voice?!” Midas asked.
He nodded again.
“Do they even know they’ve died? The human I saw didn’t even have a hand! But he was still waving his arm to the other one like it was still there!” Atlas said.
“Yeah! The other one had half of his face falling off, but he didn’t seem to notice or feel any pain!”
“Correct”.
A deep voice filled the room.
“Oh great! Another voice from nowhere!” Rose said, angrily whipping her tail at a pile of gold objects.
“Not Exactly”.
A golden, pulsating light came from the other side of the room.
It was a large wooden crate, the lighting was shining through several cracks in the wood.
Rose pressed her nose against it. It was softer than normal wood.
She whipped her tail against it, turning it into splinters.
It was the Anubis statue!
The golden light emminated from its eyes and mouth.
Oddly, it seemed unaffected by age unlike the other items.
It looked brand new.
“I am Anubis. Once ruler of the Underworld, protector of graves, and guide of the dead”.
The sharks immediately perked up.
“We’ve been searching for you! W-we really need your help!” Atlas said.
“And I have seen you Midas. And you have seen this idol of me”.
“Wait, so you aren’t a statue?” Midas said.
Anubis laughed sofly, or as soft as his deep voice would allow.
“Oh no! There are many statues and idols of me and several other gods from many cultures. I can only use this statue to communicate with the living. Though I rarely do this, I found it necessary due to your predicament”.
“Yeah. One of the spirits here… this is gonna sound weird. One of the spirits here, somehow got into a sardine, and then I ate the sardine, and now I can hear the spirit talk”, Midas said. “Come to think of it, I haven’t heard from him in a while. He also, left this on me”.
He swam almost vertically to show Anubis the scars.
“Hmm. I didn’t think the spirit had this tight a hold on you. I know who is attached to you, but he is not from this shipwreck.”
The shark's relief was replaced with concern.
“Wait, so there's two shipwrecks with spirits in them?” Atlas asked.
Suddenly a section of the light began creeping up the side of the wall. Outlining a square before it cut through the wall and gave them a view of the larger ship.
“Oh.”
“Many years ago, the human world found itself in its greatest conflict; a second world war. This vessel fought in that war. The other vessel was not intended for battle, it was used to detain prisoners of war, deserters, and those planning to betray or defect to hostile forces. It was commandiered by the American side. The ones trying to end the war. This vessel was commandiered by the German side of that war. The hostile side. They called themselves ‘Nazis'’”.
“Did you come from this, German place?” Bone asked.
“My many images did not, nor did this statue. I’m from a faraway land known as Egypt. This statue was kept in a place called a museum”.
“This’ll be the last question, I promise. How did this statue end up on this, submarine, at the bottom of the ocean?” Atlas asked.
“It wasn’t just this statue. You already noticed the Virgin Mary over there, but there were countless others. They stole this statue, silver and gold objects from prisoners, paintings and many other sacred objects from talented artists, museums and different cultures and religons.”
Suddenly a dark, smoke-like substance began filling the room.
“Oh no. The Captain.”
“Who’s The Captain?” Rose asked.
Through the cloud, a large slendrical shape began to take form, then several small lights appeared.
Then the cloud wrapped itself into the slendrical shape, the lights shined brighter, then the cloud dispersed.
Revealing a massive, octopus-like tentacle that was covered in scars.
The sharks swam back, stunned.
The golden light from the Anubis statue dimmed.
“Do. Not. Move”, Bone whispered.
The tentacle then shined all the lights into the room. Each one moving in a different direction.
“Get out of there!!!”
Midas and the others were distracted by all the lights coming from the tentacle suckers.
They were moving oddly, and blinking. Almost like…
Eyes.
The lights quickly locked on Midas.
“YOU!!!” A voice bellowed.
The tentacle darted towards Midas, but Atlas quickly knocked him aside, resulting in it knocking him in the gills.
Atlas howled in pain as the tentacle slowly wrapped itself around his body.
Then everything around him descended into blackness.


Atlas woke.
He was lying on a cold, metal surface of somekind. It hurt to breathe after being knocked in the gills.
“Ah! It hurts… wait. Guys?! Rose! Midas! Bone! Anubis! Where are you?!”
He tried to swim upward, but everything on the right side of his body hurt.
Suddenly a pair of bright, cat-like eyes snapped open in front of him.
“What are you?! Where’re my friends?!” Atlas angrily yelled.
A smaller tentacle with equally bright lights emerged and scanned his stomach.
“Hmmmm. Wrong one. No matter. They’ll come for you. In the meantime, if you wish to keep swimming with the living and blessed, you must serve your time with the dead and the damned!”


Chapter 7
Ship of Sinners


“Where have you taken me?!” Atlas shouted.
No response.
The eyes just stayed there.
“Where sinners go”.
Now he was confused.
The darkness lifted, revealing he was in a very small room. The front was covered in iron bars, there was a small, soft slab on the right and a strange bowl shaped object on the left.
Much like the sub everything was in a state of neglect. Mold and algae were growing on everything, and the walls and bars were completely rusted.
Without thinking he rammed into the bars, thinking they would be brittle.
They weren’t.
Atlas opened his mouth and clamped his jaws around the bars.
This also had no effect.
Suddenly a loud bang came from in front of him.
“Knock it off!” Yelled a voice.
Atlas swam back in horror at what was in front of him.
It was a human wearing a similar uniform to the ones on the sub, but it was blue and had different insignia.
His rib bones were completely exposed, several patches of skin and clothing were missing, he was holding a wooden rod, his eyes glowed red, and his jaw hung loosely from his head.
What’s more was that he seemed to be hovering above the ground.
It turned.
Atlas almost screamed.
It was an Anglerfish. A massive, dark Anglerfish.
It was using the human corpse as it’s light!
The fish wasn’t in much better shape. It’s eyes were completely gray, its skin was a a dark orange, and several parts of its skeleton were exposed.
It hovered there for a moment.
Then it swam off. The human corpse kept slapping the rod against his hand as it hung from its head stalk.
Atlas looked around and realized he was in a massive corridor with several rooms like this one. At the end of it was a sign that said: Cell Row B
“First time in the slammer?” said someone in the cell next to his.
“What’s a slammer?”
He laughed.
“I’d call that a big yes”.
“Is this the prison ship?”
“Yep. Been down here since the war. Get this boys! We got a first timer with us!”
An array of ghostly laughter followed this last statement.
“What’re you in for?”
“A giant tentacle monster tried to take my friend. I got in its way and it took me here”, Atlas said.
The laughter stopped.
“You saw the captain?” The voice sounded nervous.
A second anglerfish swam by, and even it seemed shaken by what he’d said.
“That’s the second time I’ve heard that. Who is this captain?”
“He was in charge of this ship. He was, and still is, a massive piece a’ work! When he was alive he began studyin’ up on all this crazy cult stuff. Learning about demons, ghosts, a life after death real spooky stuff”.
“Is he what kept you down here?”
“When we rammed with the sub, we took on heavy amounts of water. I-I tried to get out, make to a lifeboat. But he kept going on about how ‘we must repent’ and he…”
The voice trailed off.
“He went to the chairs. He was yelling ‘I’ll come back! You’ll be damned forever!’ And he flipped the switch. Electrocuting everyone on board. I can still hear the screams sometimes.”
Atlas didn’t know what to say. How could someone do such a thing? Was the captain the tentacle monster?
Would he ever see his friends again?



Rose frantically swam in circles, unsure of what to do.
“What do we do? What do we do?” She kept saying over and over again.
Bone set a fin on her head.
“Calm down. We’ll figure this out”.
“How? We can’t fight that monster! You saw the size of that tentacle, imagine what the rest of it looks like!”
“Your friend is with me. He’s safe for the moment”.
“Guys! It’s the voice! It said Atlas was with him”, Midas said.
Rose relaxed a bit.
The statue started glowing again.
“It appears your encounter with the captain wasn’t without consequence”.
“Where were you?! We could’ve used some help!” Rose said.
“I was busy dealing with other things! New people die everyday! Anyway, your friend is more than likely on the prison ship. You need to get him out of there now!”
“How and why?” Bone asked.
The captain enjoys his prey live”.


Atlas started to feel weaker, he thought the injuries on his gills would heal quicker. But he was getting dizzy and lightheaded.
The eyes and the darkness returned.
“What do want now?” Atlas said, lying on the floor.
“I look forward to this. I always loved seafood in my previous life”.
“Wh-what?”
“Won’t be long now. Soon your delicious body as you know it will be mine, and your soul will belong to me, and trapped here forever!”.
The darkness retreated.
“Hold out as long as you can!” It was the voice from the other room.
Atlas noticed a lot of the spirits in the rooms across from his were in various states of distress.
“What did he do to you? And them?” Atlas asked.
There was a sigh.
“We were all sinners in our previous lives. Some of us were fighting for the wrong sides, like the Japs or the Germans. Some of us wanted out, through desertion, like me. Others wanted to fight for the wrong sides”, He said. “I regret my sins, I wish that was enough to let me free but its not. I can barely remember my name. Al. That’s what they call me”.
“See that guy across from you?”
Atlas saw a transparent human with a gray outline sitting on his bed. He was covered in burn marks and had several tears in his shirt. He was holding a strange, circle shaped instrument with a stick on it. He plucked its strings melodically, playing a nice little song.
“We call him Strings. He used to play and sing for me and the other boys in the barracks, he was gonna get a good record contract after the war and he probably coulda rivaled Gene Autry had he not joined the forces. But the captain hates singing, so he stole his voice. Now he can’t sing or speak at all. Can’t even hear the pretty melodies, ‘cause his ears are gone too”.
Next to Strings was a Japanese man running in circles, seeming on the brink of tears. There were several large cuts in his stomach and chest, and he was missing several fingers.
Atlas couldn’t be sure, but he thought he could hear the sound of children laughing near his room.
“That’s Yamato. He always misses his family. He was so reluctant to join the army, but he had to or he’d dishonor his family. Big family man, Yamato. The captain made illusions of his family. Sounds of his parents, wife and children, laughing, crying, begging for him always seeming so near. But nowhere near”.
Eventually Yamato collapsed to the floor, openly sobbing.
“What about you Al?” Atlas asked. “What did he take from you?”
There was a long pause.
“Being a writer was a dream of mine. Since I was a little kid. I was planning on publishing a novel way back in grade school. Then President Roosevelt told us about Pearl Harbor, and I’m headin’ to war. Go ahead a few years and I’m down here. There’re books all around me, full of blank pages, he filled my head with all these story ideas, but I can’t write in them. He took my ability to read and to write. Didn’t even keep my hands.”
“I’m desperate to get out of here, that’s why I put part of myself in a sardine so someone could hear our cries for help”.
Atlas’ mood changed immediately.
“Some shark, I think he’s named Midas or something…”
“YOU hurt my friend?!” Atlas angrily swam into the wall.
“Hurt him? I would never I was just… wait you know him?”
“He’s my friend. We came down here to get YOU out of HIM! You’re the sicko who wrote a message on him?”
“That wasn’t me! The Captain found out about what I was doing and took control of me! I would never do something like that!”
Atlas relaxed slightly.
“Okay. Can you talk with them now?”
“Give me a moment”.

“You need to hurry! The Captain’s already trying to take control of him!”
“Take control of him?” Midas asked.
“He turned into a monster… ate up our bodies and lives”.
The voice started fading out.
“We’ll get him out! Just tell us where!” Midas said, nervousness rising.
“Deck 2… Cell block… B”.
“We’re on our way!” Midas said.
“We’re going after Atlas?” Rose asked.
“Sounds like it. Don’t worry, Atlas is tough to break, and he’s smart. Remember when his parents tried to ground him?” Bone said.
“You’ll be needing this”.
A bright gold cloud began to form in front of them, revealing a golden bracelet covered in rubies.
“This will repel any hostile spirits”.
It went to Rose’s left pectoral fin, then shrunk and stretched to meet the right size.
“Was machst du hier unten?!”
The German spirits were back, and there was way more than two of them this time.
Bone wanted to through up at the sight of them.
They had foggy gray auras, their skin and flesh were beyond rotten, many bones were exposed, their uniforms ranged from semi clean to barely clinging to their bodies, and the gold insignias were the only things relatively intact.
“Wer bist du?!” Shouted the most intact one.
They edged towards the hole in the hull.
The germans quickly whipped out their guns, clicking them.
“BLEIB WO DU BIST!!!” Shouted the intact one. Presumably that one was their leader.
“Are you sending someone?”
“We are. Rose, you have this spirit repeller, necklace thing. So you go to the other ship while Bone and I distract these guys!”
“But I-”
“Look for a place called Cell Block B!”
Before she finished, Bone pushed her through the hole as many loud bangs filled her ears.




Chapter 8
Fear Itself


Atlas found it getting harder and harder to breathe. He could barely move his tail or dorsal fin.
“Stay with me! Stay with me!” Al kept saying.
“Hold on, Midas said someone’s coming for you!”
“Oh?”
“Who? Thresher Shark? What’s her name? Rose? Pretty name… anyway I’ll tell him”.
Atlas spoke with the little energy he had.
“They’re sending Rose?”
“Yeah that’s her name. What? She an old girlfriend or somethin’?”
“What? No gross! Just… this’ll be interesting”.
“Why?”
“She HATES Anglerfish”.
“Aaahhhhh. Probably wasn’t the best choice. Oh no”.
“What now?”
“It’s Midas. I can’t hear him no more!”
Atlas suddenly noticed a glowing red substance on his tialfin.
Glowing and growing.

Rose nervously turned back towards the sub.
She couldn’t see Bone or Midas from here.
She prayed they were still alright.
As she got closer to the other ship, she could see the name on the side of the hull. It was a bit rusty, but it seemed to read-
Excalibur
“Interesting”.
She swam onto the bow of the ship. It was mostly wood, rotten wood. Several chains and an anchor hung from the side.
Rose turned toward the bridge.
It was in much the same shape as the rooms on the sub. Except the wheel humans used to control it, often called the helm, was still relatively intact.
Something strange was on the floor though.
It looked like a star within a circle, and it had been carved into the floor. It was surrounded by open books which oddly, were completely intact.
Not a page was torn.
No wear on the cover or spine.
Nothing.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the small text in one of them.
The Rituals MUst endure!
Rituals? What rituals?
At that very moment, each book snapped shut.
They hovered in the water above the star-circle.
They had very ominous titles.
Death.
Life after Death.
The Gateway.
Path of the Demon.
How to Appease.
Each settled itself on a point of the star and glowed red.
Rose left, not wanting to know what-
Until a human swang at her with a wooden rod.
It burst through the door way of the bridge, shattering it.
And Rose saw the Anglerfish it was attached to.
It had skeletal fins, no eyes, and a massive gash widening its mouth.
Rose almost threw up at the sight of it.
It reached for a lever on the far wall and pulled it.
Sounding an alarm.


The glowing red substance had now consumed all of Atlas’ tailfin. He couldn’t feel it anymore.
The alarm loudly blared alerted all the Anlgerfish/human guards in the cell block, causing all but two of them to swim towards the bridge.
“What’s that?” Atlas asked, sounding even weaker.
“Somebody triggered the alarm! Coulda been your friend!”
“Rose is gonna have a heart attack when she sees all of them”.
“Why is she so scared of Anglerfish anyways?”
“I think what happened was when she was a pup she swam far away from our home reef and nearly got eaten by one I think, she doesn’t like to talk about it. Also a prank I pulled on her when we were younger using an oyster pearl, a lanternfish and a strangely shaped rock couldn’tve helped”.
“Jeez! Way too soon man!”


Rose remembered the bracelet.
She moved her fin in the direction of the anglerfish.
They and the humans growled demonically at it.
It glowed.
With the added light, Rose did a quick count.
Oh Megalodon.
There was close to 20 of them converging on the bow!
Each one had its own grotesque appearance.
Oddly, the one on the bridge had yet to move.
They really can’t touch me. She thought.
Rose started swimming down a stairwell she hoped led to a cell block. She could hear the anglerfish behind her. She could see the reflection of their lights (albeit dimly) and she could still hear the pounding of the wooden rods and see the human lights shaking violently.
Eventually the stairwell ended, revealing a dark hallway.
“Why do humans make these things so big!?”
A map hung loosely from the left wall.
She scanned it quickly, learning she was on the deck just above the cell block.
Motivation refueled, Rose backed away from the map.
“Hang in there Atlas. I’m coming!”
The remaining Anglerfish regrouped, and approached her quietly.

The red essence had now covered nearly half of Atlas’ body.
“What’s happening to me?” he said, on the verge of tears.
“The captains nearly done with you. When that red stuff covers the rest of ya, you’ll be his, and you’ll be like us”.
Atlas began flopping across the floor to the cell door, and started to shout for help.


Rose was surrounded.
Completely surrounded.
She prayed the bracelet would be enough.
She slowly swam closer to one.
It spread its fins and growled. The human portion leaned backward with its hands above its head.
“Try it!” she shouted, waving her fin at them.
She swam further down the hall, another stairwell was in sight. Then the anglerfish spread apart, creating a pathway for her.
Rose had never felt so scared.
She remembered her first encounter with an anglerfish. She could still hear its raspy voice in the back of her mind.
“I can seeee yooouuu.”
That raspy, sing songy voice burned in her ears.



It was a near endless corridor of glassy gray eyes, rotten flesh and tortured souls.
They followed her, moving slowly in their sockets. Everytime one looked like it wanted to attack, she paused and waved the bracelet at them.
She could hear moaning coming from within the walls.
Pounding.
Shouting.
Praying?
“He made me serve my time!”
“When do we go home?!”
“I want to see my family again!”
“I want to be whole again!”
Eventually Rose reached the stairwell, and exhaled a massive sigh of relief.
Cell Block B.
The anglerfish started to turn around…
“Wretched guards!” A voice boomed.
A small, red tentacle with no lights wrapped around Rose’s fin…
And shattered the bracelet.
Roses’ heart sank into her stomach.
“Feast on her flesh!”
They rushed forward.
Without thinking Rose dove down the stairs and into the cell block. The anglerfish, with their large masses had trouble getting through the door.
“ROSE!”
“ATLAS!”
She quickly swam around the jailcells, following his voice.
Eventually, she found him.
He was lying on the floor, the red essence swallowing his gills.
“What’s happening?!” she said trying to push down the bars.
“Captains… trying to… make me one of… them!” He could barely speak at this point.
“How do I get you out of here?!”
“One of the two guards that stayed down here instead of chasing you has the key!”
“Thanks..uhhh…”
“Al.”
Atlas screamed again, the whitetip was in agony.
“Which one has the key?!”
Al just shrugged.
The two anglerfish arrived. Cutting off both ends of the hallway.
They huffed and growled at the thresher.
“You will join your whitetipped friend soon enough!”
They rushed forward.
Rose ducked out the way, causing one to bite the others human light with a loud crunch. It growled angrily as red hues rose from the corpse and he shoved the other out of the way into a set of bars.
The prisoners cheered.
“How’s it taste?” Rose asked smugly.
It didn’t appreciate the joke.
It roared loudly, explosively at Rose. The sound echoing throughout the ship like a gunshot.
It charged again.
Rose swam out of the way and around the corner. As she glanced back, she saw something small and rusty clinging to the humans waist.
The key!
She then noticed a pitch black cell, with no one inside and the door open.
Quickly thinking, she swam inside and shut the door.


The anglerfish quickly scanned the room. She couldnt’ve gone far.
The prisoners all stepped back at the sight of him. Some cowered away in the corner. Others covered their eyes.
“AHHH!! OHH!!”
A groaning sound came from one of the cells.
Wasn’t this cell empty?
It was dark and hard to see.
“Who’s there?”
“You have to get the, get the… DOCTOR! You have to get the doctor! AHH!”
The human reached for the key and unlocked the door.
Rose darted out of the cell and bit down on the head stalk with a loud crunch. The human freely floated in front of her, and the anglerfish frantically looked around unsure of what to do.
She swatted the human away with her tail and grabbed the key.

Rose inserted the key into Atlas’ cell door.
“How does this work?” she asked Al.
“If its in the lock turn it counterclockwise!”
“What’s a counterclockwise?!”
Al sighed.
“Turn it right! RIGHT!”
She twisted her jaws as the lock clicked.
The door opened.
The red essence had consumed all but Atlas’ head.
Rose dragged him out of the cell, causing the essence to crystalize, and slowly peel off of his body.
He opened his eyes.
“R-rose?”
“You’re alright!” she said excitedly.
“The cells drain your life force. Another one of the captain’s filthy tricks”.
Atlas looked at the wounded anglerfish.
“I take back that prank I pulled on you when we were pups, with the pearl, lanterfish-”
“I KNEW THAT WAS YOU!” she shouted, while also laughing slightly.
Suddenly the angler fish and the human began to violently shake and groan. Then they began to shrink and wilt, then they glowed a bright blue, releasing the spirits within. Who began wandering aimlessly through the cell block.
As the two sharks turned, the remaining anglerfish began filling the hallway.
“Naughty naughty. Good fish must be kept in there tanks!”


Chapter 9
Reich of Death


Bone and Midas slowly opened their eyes.
They were unharmed. The bullets did nothing!
The humans looked at their guns, confused.
“Listen. We don’t want to fight, we just-”
“Then why are you here?!”
“Oh finally! One of you that speaks shark! Listen we-”
“He saw you trying to sabotage our communications! Are you American spies?!”
He pointed to the shadow from the radio room.
“What’re Americans?” Midas asked.
“Oh you thnk you’re smart ya?”
“Look our friend is trapped on the that ship, another friend went to rescue him”.
“Why are YOU here?”
Midas sighed.
“This is the last time I’m explaining this. I ate a possessed fish, we came here to undo the possession”.
The germans laughed.
“The Americans must be getting desperate for new men!”
“Whoever these americans are, they aren’t here! Megalodon’s sake, we aren’t even humans! We’re sharks!!!” Bone said angrily.
The laughter stopped.
The spirits looked around curiously. Slowly, their faces morphed from confused to nervous.
“Anubis was right. They don’t know they’re trapped”, Midas whispered.
The shark speaking human suddenly dropped to his hands and knees.
After a deep breathe, the old Hammerhead swam forward.
“You fought in something called a World War, right?”
The german nodded.
“That World War ended decades ago. And you, and everyone else here died decades ago”.
What followed was a slow rollercoaster of emotion.
First, their eyes widened. Then they began stuttering incoherently, and shouting in German.
The one handed German looked at his arm, and where his hand used to be. Confusion and sadness enveloped his face.
The mood on the shark speaking one quickly changed. He regained his calmness and began to speak.
“I remember now! We saw that ship, thought it was a cargo ship and thought it was much further away. We went too fast and hit it. We sank bow first”.
“Now that you’ve calmed yourself can you help us?” Midas asked impatiently.
“Easy kiddo”. Bone said. “Give them a moment. How would you feel if you’ve been dead for years without knowing and someone all of the sudden reminded you you were dead?”
Midas relaxed.
“The captain’s got both your friends!”
It was Al!
“He got Rose too?”
Bone overheard.
“He’s taking them to him!”
“We’re coming after them!”
“Don’t! You two will get minced!”
The shark speaking german walked up to them.
“We might know how to get you guys out of here. That ship and the spirits in it are ruled over by someone called ‘The Captain’. He’s probably keeping you guys down here too uhh…”
“Hans”.
“Hans. We really need your help. If you help us take down the captain, we can help you get out of this realm!” Bone said, trying to negotiate.
Hans thought.
“Listen up! We have a way out! These sharks need our help, and in exchange they will get us out of this prison! We will be rejoining our friends and our families if we help them.”
The germans cheered.
He reached out his hand to Bone. Not knowing what to do, he reached a fin forward causing Hans to slowly shake his hand.
“Oh right! You’re a shark!”
“Ok. Do you have any more weapons on board this thing? I don’t think those guns will be enough”.
A smile crept across what remained of Hans’ face.
“Oh we have PLENTY…”


The silence.
That was the worst part.
Neither Atlas or Rose had the courage to speak.
The Anglerfish led them through endless corridors of death and pain.
They didn’t know what was about to happen, or what they were about to do.
Not a word.
Suddenly the Anglerfish stopped.
They were in front of a tunnel. A tunnel covered in the red essence that had tried taking over Atlas’ body.
Above it was a sign.
Execution.
Only fragments of the original hallway remained. There were holes in the floor and ceiling where the essence was pouring through.
The guards backed off.
“COME TO ME! NOW!”
Rose and Atlas swam into the tunnel.
Immediately a large red wall formed over the entrance.
No turning back now.
Atlas placed his fin on Rose.
“Thanks for getting me out of there”.
“You're welcome, but, I think I just delayed the inevitable. For both of us”.
The long tunnel eventually opened into a wide room.
An oddly tidy room.
The two sharks swam closer together.
There were several tentacles sticking out of the floor, each with its own horrible mutation.
One was covered in hooks, another was wrapped in rusty chains.
At the other end of the room, there was three chairs covered in wires and made of rotten wood.
Above them was a message.
THIS IS WHERE SINNERS GO
“There they go again mentioning sin. Whatever that means,” Atlas said.
There was someone sitting in the center chair.
He was wearing a black uniform with a white hat.
An outfit that looked presteen.
He had black hair and his eyes were closed.
“Is he dead?” Rose whispered.
“I don’t know”.
His eyes suddenly snapped open.
“You’re the two sea dogs trying to vainly help your friend?”
“Yes.”
He chuckled.
“I thought my previous warning could not have been more clear. Al was a fool to think he could get help” .
“Well obviously it worked ‘cause we’re here!” Rose said.
“A pair of overgrown minnows is nothing compared to my power. I spent years learning about the life after death, all you have to go off of is the word of an Epaulette shark” .
“A SMART Epaulette shark!” Atlas retorted.
“How long will this go on before one of us looses our patience and guts the others like fish? Heheh.”
“Not only is this guy full of himself, he can’t even tell a decent joke”, Rose whispered.
“I am full of power. Something you lack quite a bit of.”
“Then get out of that chair and fight us both if have that much power!” Atlas yelled.
“Yeah! If you can enslave a bunch of ghosts, surely you can kill a pair of, overgrown minnows! Whatever they are”, Rose added.
He chuckled again.
“Such a pathetic abuse of power.”
“That is the worst excuse I’ve ever heard”, Atlas said.
Suddenly all the tentacles retreated back into the floor. And reemerged out from underneath the two sharks, forming a living cage of sorts.
He stood up and began walking towards the encaged sharks.
“What endless speech about power do you have prepared for us now?” Rose said through clenched teeth.
“Do not fear.”
“Thank Megalodon! You’re back!” Atlas exclaimed.
“Yes. I will offer help against the false God”.
“You really need help from a literal God to defeat me? Al must’ve been more desperate than I thought”.
“YOU ARE TINY! A mere grain of sand compared to the strength of a true God”.
“I still have your little erandfish. If you’re a so called ‘God’ you’d come down here and free them yourself”.
A whirlwind of golden sand began to form in the center of the room. Out from it emerged Anubis himself, no longer in statue form.
He swung his staff at the cage, slicing the tentacles with little to no effort.
“That was insane!” Atlas whispered.
“A pointless effort. God of death”.
“That would be your attempt at capturing them. No you will see an example of a fruitfull effort. BONE! NOW!”
The ceiling exploded with a large fireball.
Bone, Midas, Hans and the other spirits came through the hole in the ceiling.
“GUARDS!”
The anglerfish filed into the room.
“Looks we’re in for a fight”, Rose said.


Chapter 10
Battle between Gods


The execution chamber erupted into a typhoon of chaos. The Germans were shouting and blasting rockets from panzers, while the four sharks used their natural advantages.
Bone could see several guards coming at once due to his hammerhead shape.
Roses’ tail could stun them temporarily.
Midas’ size could allow him to sneak around them.
Atlas’ strength could easily overpower them.
Anubis was spearing them easily with his staff.
“Guys! Bite their headstalks! That’s one of their weakpoints!” Rose yelled.
Midas swam up to the headstalk of one and bite down hard. His jaws were small, but he held on tight.
Bone took several bites out of one, nearly severing its tail.
“Bone! You got that one?” Atlas yelled.
“Heh! I’m done with this one! Give me another!”
Rose swatted her tail against a slightly smaller one and sent it flying in Bone’s direction.
“As ordered!”
“Wretched guards! They’re nothing! Minnows egged on by a so called God! PURGE THEM!!!”
“You will do no such thing!” Hans yelled as he fired a rocket at an angelfish, enveloping it in an explosion.
Several germans unloaded machine gun fire into them, filling the room with large red clouds and the sound of overjoyed sprits.
Eventually only one remained.
It was covered in bullet holes, all but one of its fins was torn off, its human half missing, and struggling to swim.
With one swing of his staff, Anubis cut its head off of its body at the gills, causing the two halves to sink to the ground.
“You have lost”.
“Maybe for the moment. But you brought me such delicious spirits. One is all I need and yes, I will do such a thing!”
A tentacle burst from the floor and grabbed Hans. Crystalizing his form with the strange red essence.
“HANS!” Bone yelled.
“No need to fear, you’ll be with him soon enough!”
The whole ship began to shake. Streaks of red lightning began zapping through the room. Then the star circle and books from the bridge appeared in front of them. It glowed brighter than the sun!”
“I can’t see!” Midas said, covering his eyes with his fins.
The germans swam through the hole frantically, as the four sharks found themselves swept up by an unknown force.


“What happened?!” Atlas screamed. They were in a small, enclosed space, almost like a tide pool.
They swam to the surface.
Anubis had grown huge! He’d picked up them with some water in his hands!
They swam to the surface of the tiny pool.
“This isn’t good! If we don’t stop-”
A red pulsating light came from all the Excaliburs windows and holes in the hull. Then the entire wreck shattered into scrap metal as a large being formed in front of Anubis who stood in the water.
The being spread its arms, causing the water to suddenly part and form a rift. A massive canyon made of water that made the seafloor bone dry.
“Come on then! God versus God!”
The being revealed itself. It was wearing a giant version of the captain’s uniform, but it looked like a massive human crossed with a squid! It had crimson red skin, long muscular arms and legs, octopus like eyes, a black beak on its face and several spikes on its neck and shoulders. It’s fingers also looked like tentacles.
“You wouldn’t risk your immortal life for four fish would you?”
Anubis set the sharks on the edge of the rift.
“Those fish risked their mortal lives for one of their own!” Anubis shouted as he drove his staff into the captains chest.
It did almost nothing!
Even Anubis looked stunned.
A massive tentacle grabbed the golden staff, and split it in two.
The spirits of both the german sub and the Excalibur reconvened on the edge with the sharks.
“What do we do?!” Rose frantically asked.
“Do you still have those rockets?” Atlas asked the germans.
“Some but not all!”
“Lets hope its enough!”
The germans fired the remaining rockets at will, hitting the captain on the left side of his face, scorching it slightly.
He didn’t even notice! How strong was he?!
Anubis grabbed one of the tentacle hands and twisted it. The other landed a punch in his face. He used his jackal jaws to bit on the hand. Finally doing a bit of damage.
“Jackals! Filthy scavengers!”
He knocked Anubis on his side, sending tidal waves that swept the sharks further away.
“Do you have any stronger weapons?” Midas asked.
“No! Just these rockets! Wait, the torpedos!”
“What in the undersands is a torpedo?!” Midas yelled.
“It’s like a rocket, but it sinks ships!”
“Even though he’s the size of a hundred ships, we could use them! Where are they?”
“In the remnants of the bow-”
Before he finished speaking the four sharks swam for the sub.



The fight raged on outside. Each deity threw many blows, but it was clear Anubis had taken more.
Atlas swam back through the hole in the front of the sub, before remembering a key detail.
“We should’ve asked him what torpedoes looked like!”
“Seriously?! Just grab something that looks like one of those rockets!” Midas asked.
Atlas frantically looked around through the twisted, rusted metal. Until a label caught his eye.
Torpedoes.
It was long and cylindrical, like most of the other stuff in the sub.
He dragged it out of the hole with his teeth, with the others pushing it forward.
“What do we do with it now?” Rose asked.
“Could this thing even still explode after being down here for so many years?” Bone asked.
“We’ll have to gamble a bit. Push as hard as you can and swim as fast as you can!” Midas yelled, forcing his small body against the torpedo.


The last of the rockets had been fired.
The captain was covered in burns. Sections of his crimson skin were now black.
But he still fought on!
Anubis opened his fisted hand, unleashing a golden beam of light that hit the captains chest. He grunted as it burned through his skin.
Finally giving Anubis a chance.
“It will take more than a puny beam of the sun to hurt me! Give up! You’re just an ancient relic from a dead religon!”
Anubis said nothing and stepped forward.
“Oh I get it! You’re not talking because you know I’m right!”
He glanced down and saw the sharks fins on the edge of the rift pushing the torpedo.
“I mean pyramids, judging their hearts…”
Anubis just focused on the fight.
The captain then released a massive red lightning bolt that knocked Anubis to the ground. The captain placed a scaly foot on his chest as he groaned.
“Hey Ra! I hope you’re watchin, ‘cause you and the rest of you animal headed freaks are next!”
Then as he was about to stomp, a loud bam came from behind him as the captain visibly cringed.
As he was disoriented, all the spirits from both the sub and the Excalibur, including the angelfish, grabbed his wrists an ankles.
“Told you it would work! After today Rose, I don’t wanna hear the words ‘Hunter’s Folly’ come out of your mouth again!”
“I promise nothing!”
Anubis smiled at hearing their voices.
The captain was struggling to hold back the dozens of spirits on his wrists and ankles.
Anubis stood up as he was pulled to the seafloor, his burnt and bruised body was clearly in a state of weakness.
Without hesitation, he grabbed one half of his broken staff and drove it into his heart.
Everything seemed to stop.
The captain’s body glowed, and withered. His body slowly shrunk and wrinkled as the tentacles began folding back on themselves. Then exploded into a cloud of red ashes that Anubis clapped his hands on.
“Osirus will decide the rest. Monster.”
The rift filled with water covering the remnants of the shipwrecks.
The spirits gathered around where the rift was, and let out a cheer that shook the sky.


The sharks watched from the surface as a large, bright hole opened in the sky.
Two spirits floated down to them, one was Hans, the other was one they hadn’t seen before who walked up to Midas. He looked like a withered old man. His hands were missing and clothes tattered.
He reached out his arm, and a section of the red essence came out of his eyes and into his hands.
“You’ve got good friends. I can’t thank you enough”.
It was Al.
“I’m sorry for the pain I caused you. You saved us”.
“I’m glad the four of you are safe. We owe you a great debt”.
“We were just doing the right thing”, Bone said.
Hans shook his head.
“You did more than that. After all these years, I can see my family again! I don’t even remember the last time I saw a sunrise”, Hans said as he pointed east.
The sun was slowly creeping up from the horizon.
“Until our next lives”, the two spirits said as they moved towards the light in the sky.
A separate hole, this one colored silver, opened near the sharks.
The anglerfish swam towards it.
“It-it’s the crystal reef!” Midas said.
It was exactly how it sounded. Endless rows of shiny crystal coral, with bright white fish happily swimming throughout them.
As quickly as it had appeared, it vanished.
Suddenly they could hear singing.
“Nearer my God to thee, nearer to me…. Ein though it be cross, that raseth me! Still all my song shall be, nearer my God to thee! Nearer my God to thee, nearer to me!”
“It’s beautiful”, Rose said.
“Listen to how they sing, they’ve been set free!” Atlas said, smiling.
“From this world, they have”.
They turned to see Anubis standing on the surface of the water with a newly formed staff.
“They’re no longer under the captains control, but they still must face judgement. Fair judgement this time”.
“Then what?” Atlas asked.
“They will be guided to the Duat. Then they will be judged, and we will see if they are worthy enough. Now back to you four, you’ve done quite a lot this night. I usually don’t spend this much time with mortal beings but you have, proven yourselves more worthy than most. I will take you home, your families must be worried about you”, he said outstretching his hand.
Without thinking, the four sharks touched it.


Chapter 11
Tranquility

Rose lay at the edge of her parents' cave.
A tiny voice was speaking in her ear.
“Wake up! Sis! Wake up!”
It was Kara. The tiny thresher was nudging her older sister awake.
“W-what happened?”
“Ludwig told us you were going to a shipwreck to help your friend and that you’d be there for a while, but you were only gone for about ten minutes so, I think his age is catching up to him”.
Ten minutes? It seemed like they were gone all night.
“What?” Rose was fully awake.
“There you are!” Rose’s parents swam up to her.
Rose immediately embraced her family with her fins.
“Woah, what’s this for?” Her father asked.
“It just feels good to be alive”.
“Whatever that’spose to mean. Can we go hunting now? I know I can be a pain but-”
“Trust me, hunting with you will be the most tame thing I’ve done all night!”
“Be careful around that reckless white-tip!” her father ordered.
“Sure”, she said, winking.


Rose watched her sister snatch a small crab from the sand.
“How’s the show?”
It was Atlas.
“Oh no! The reckless white-tip! Whatever will I do?” She said in a fake helpless voice.
“Reckless? That’s a new one”, Atlas chuckled.
“I’d prefer slow thinker!”
It was Midas.
“Nah, the folliest hunter is my vote!”
It was Bone.
“Kelp! Should’ve made you two promise to stop saying that too!” Atlas muttered.
“I nevered promised exactly”, Rose smirked.
“After last night, I don’t feel like doing anything for like a month!” Atlas said.
“Hey guys! You need to see this!” Kara said as she joined a group of reef fish swimming towards the kelp forest.


In the center of the forest was a large, stone statue. Wrasses were already cleaning the algae and other muck from the stone.
“What is this thing?” Kara asked.
It was tall and it held a staff, above its shoulders-
Was the head of a dog.
The four bigger sharks were stunned.
At the base of a statue was a message carved into it.
Thank you.
Atlas, Bone, Rose and Midas smiled as they turned back towards the reef.


The End.

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