The next morning, the trio find themselves invited to breakfast in the dining hall of the castle. They swim into the dining hall, the doorways are guarded by two merpeople armed with spears, one of which is Brine. The long table and chairs match the ivory walls of the castle and appear to be crafted from smooth stone. The table is lined with food they had never experienced before including cooked jellyfish of varieties unknown to them, and salads made from kelp. At the table they’re joined by queen Athena, king Mahail and princess Kali; already enjoying the bountiful meal before them. Seraphim is also there, staring at the trio grudgingly from where he sat. “Zed! Trace! And Psy! My new human friends! Please enjoy what Oahantis has to offer!” exclaimed King Mahail with open arms.

“Don’t have to ask me twice”, responded Zed as he reaches over grabbing jellyfish after jellyfish and puts them on his plate. Trace watches with unease as the king and Zed slurp down jellyfish tentacles.

“I don’t know how Zed can just adjust his diet to something so… unusual”, questions Trace. “Wouldn’t you agree Psy?” Psy turns to Trace, jellyfish tentacles dangling from his mouth.

“We’re not picky eaters”, responded Psy after swallowing. “You know. Abandoned town diets and junk.” Trace grossed out, sighs and turns back to her plate, twirling her jellyfish tentacles around with her utensil half-heartedly.

Queen Athena chuckles as she watches the men chow down, Zed is matching the pace of her husband’s appetite. “It’s good to have company that can compete with my husband’s appetite”, she said. “You’re all more than welcome to stay here as long as you need to”. Seraphim’s face distorts slightly by the queen’s remark.

“I agree!” Kali said excitedly. “I wish to talk to Trace more about what the surface of Unitia is like presently”. Seraphim’s face distorts even more so.

“We would love to stay here!” exclaims Trace with a smile. “However-“

“However”, Zed interjects through a mouth full of jellyfish. Zed swallows, “This is only a pitstop. We need to get back to travelling. Our parents are trapped under the rule of that mad man, doing who knows what.” Zed puts his hand on Psy’s shoulder.

“Agreed”, said Psy.

“Well… with that being said, we thank you very much for your hospitality”, responded Trace. “But after grabbing a few provisions we’ll be on our way.”

“That is unfortunate”, responded king Mahail with sadness. “We understand your plight and wish you well on your travels. In the meantime, please make yourselves at home! You’re the first human visitors we’ve had in years and we wish to leave you with a good impression!”

“Says you”, Seraphim said with dismay. “We’ve been fine here without humans intervening with our lives and I prefer that be the case.”

“Advisor!” exclaimed the king. “Humanity has never done anything that would be considered harmful to the merpeople from previous experiences. We often traded goods with them in the past and this is the opportunity to rekindle that friendship.”

“Have you not been listening to them my liege?!” angrily responded Seraphim, slamming his hands onto the table. “It’s a travesty up there! All caused by humanity itself!” Seraphim closes his eyes and collects himself. “What I’m trying to say is humanity poses a risk to our prosperous civilization and I only want what’s best for our people. Just by inviting these three here into the castle-”, Seraphim turns his gaze to Brine. Brine stiffens up nervously, feeling the gaze like daggers. “-we may be getting involved into a trouble that otherwise would be unnecessary. Especially-“, Seraphim once again shifts his gaze to a hunched over Psy. “-That pale one.”

“You got a problem with me, fin head?” asked Psy. Seraphim’s gaze intensifies in reaction to Psy’s rude comment. Princess Kali chuckles

“Your parents may be unable, but I know you can see it too Princess Kali”, Seraphim said. “Yet you let this nasty aura into the castle. The sooner the humans leave the better.”

“I base people by their actions, not their auras”, responds princess Kali with her eyes closed and chin in the air.

“You got a problem with my brother, you got a problem with me fin head”, said Zed. A vein bulged in Serpahim’s forehead as he grits his teeth in response to the rude nickname Psy and Zed have given him.

“Now, now let us please maintain a healthy relationship here and enjoy our meal”, said queen Athena with gentle hand gestures.

“As if I could enjoy a meal with such disgusting auras at the table!” yelled Seraphim. He then grabs his fork and the patterns on Seraphim’s body begin to glow. A dark, golden aura extends out from the fork that can be seen by everyone. This aura extends out from the fork’s prongs by two feet. An enraged Seraphim lunges his aura coated weapon right at Psy from across the ivory table. Brine and another guard accompanying him at the closest doorway are quick to react and intercepted Seraphim’s attempted assault on Psy, blocking the aura coated utensil with their own blue aura coated spears. Brine and the other guard quickly maneuver their spears as to flick the fork out of Seraphim’s hand. King Mahail rises from his seat, now concerned for his guests’ safety.

“Guards!” exclaimed king Mahail. “Seize the advisor at once!” All guards positioned at the doorways rapidly begin to surround Seraphim. Brine being the closest has his aura coated spear pointed right at Seraphim’s throat.

“Don’t make me do anything crazy, advisor”, said Brine confidently. Seraphim snickered.

“You think you can hurt me, one gifted by magic, by an aura as weak as this?” asked Seraphim. He then grabs Brine’s spear; his dark golden aura envelops and erases Brine’s own aura that covered the spear. As Seraphim’s aura reaches Brine’s hands, Brine winces in pain and let’s go of the spear without thinking. The spear now in Seraphim’s hands becomes covered in Seraphim’s aura, extending the spear’s point even more so than Brine’s aura had. “Now to rid Oahantis of this evil presence”. He points the spear at Psy and attempts a second lunge attack with his much more powerful weapon. Psy begins to rise from his chair, his hands and fingers splayed out. But before Psy can react to his oncoming threat, Zed swims in between them. “Out of the way striped one!”

“I don’t think so fin head!” yelled Zed as he reels back his robotic arm and lunges at Seraphim. Seraphim attempts to stab Zed with the spear, but only his aura is able to graze Zed’s jacket as he closes in on him. Zed’s robotic arm sucks up the surrounding saltwater before Zed then lands a pressurized punch right into Seraphim’s stomach. Water gushes out of Zed’s robotic arm, sending Seraphim crashing into the ivory wall behind him, the spear falls from his hand. Seraphim’s coughs up a bluish blood which floats around his face.

“Curse you human!” exclaimed Seraphim. Seraphim regains his composure and spots a nearby window. He swiftly but quickly glides through the water and breaks through the window, making his getaway.

“Halt!” yelled the guards as they pursue Seraphim out the window.

“It’s no use”, said Kali floating up to Zed and Psy. “Seraphim is very gifted in magic. Our guards will be unable to catch up to him.”

“We apologize profusely for our advisor’s actions!” exclaimed king Mahail cuffing his hands together, as if praying for forgiveness. Queen Athena sighs.

“Yes, we are deeply sorry for Seraphim’s aggressive actions”, said queen Athena. “We’ve always known of his distrust in other races but being that he is gifted like our daughter, and with so much time passing by since our last human visitors we were hoping that he had changed. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case it appears. Again, we give our deepest apologies and hope this doesn’t impact our future relations.” Psy mumbles to himself, not fully accepting of the apology. Zed notices his brother’s disgruntled face and slaps his brother on the back with his left arm as his robotic arm dangles from his chest.

“No worries there, royals”, said Zed. “Nobody’s perfect on the surface either haha!” The king and queen in unison sigh in relief. “But I’m very curious as to what Seraphim and the guards were doing with their weapons. What was that light coming from them?”

“I can explain that”, interjected Brine, who had stayed back to continue guarding the royal family. “We merpeople can take our own aura, condense it, and apply it to objects or weaponry to extend their reach or sharpen their edge.” Brine picks up his spear that was left behind from the escaping seraphim. The pattern dotting his body glows as he pours his aura into the spear, coating it in a light blue aura. “The more talented the merperson is in magic, the more they can alter their aura’s shape surrounding the weapon.” Saying that, Brine’s aura extends the tips of the spear.

“Yes”, responded Kali. “And as you saw Seraphim was born more gifted than others in magic. More so, he’s learned to manipulate that aura to higher levels. Yet you were able to send him flying with a single punch!” Kali lifts up Zed’s robotic arm. “What kind of magic does this metal arm give you to be able to perform such a feat?”

“Oh this?” Zed proudly said. “No magic at all! Just good ol’ fashioned Shima engineering at its best!” Trace rolls her eyes at the cocky Zed showing off his handiwork. Kali stares at Zed’s limp robotic arm in astonishment and curiosity. Brine as well as the king and queen join in looking at Zed’s handiwork with curiosity, not hearing Zed continue talking. “Ya it’s a great piece of Shima work alright. Too bad I just broke it.” The usually quiet Psy looks up at his brother with a poker face, clearly the only one who actually heard that last part of Zed’s exclamation.

“Eh?”, went a stone eyed Psy, mouth ajar.

“Yes! What a fine piece of whatever it is!” exclaimed the king.

“It’s technology, and I broke it”, responded Zed.

“So, this is that ‘technology’ we’ve always heard of”, said the queen.

“Yup, and I broke it.”

“Maybe we should look into this stuff for our guards haha!” joked Brine.

“Not waterproof, it’s broken.”

“Yes!” jokingly responded Trace. “And Zed’s even said how it’s waterproo- … wait what was the last part Zed?” Trace said kind of annoyed.

“I said earlier that the outside of my arm is waterproof, ya”, responded Zed. “I just used my ‘pressurized punch’ which normally sucks in air, condenses it, and fires it at my opponent with a powerful punch. However, we’re currently underwater so instead of air, it sucked in water. And as you can see the water that has entered my arm has fried its circuitry, leaving it useless.” Zed waves his limp robotic arm at his side, showing to his audience he has no control over it. Trace’s face mirrors Psy’s stone eyed poker face, their eyes following Zed’s dangling arm. Trace quickly swims over to Zed, grabs him by the collar and begins shaking him back and forth.

“How do you expect to fight Cyber Tech soldiers with a busted arm nimrod!?” exclaimed Trace angrily, still shaking Zed.

“I. can. Fix. It!” responded Zed in between shakes. Trace stops shaking him and brings his eyes up to hers.

“Can you fix it, Zed?” asked an unconvinced Trace.

“Of course, I can fix it!” a confidently grinned Zed responded. “I’m a Shima mechanic! We can fix everything! It’s in our nature.”

“Alright…”, Trace said while slowly dropping Zed from his collar. Zed turns his attention to the royal family.

“Do you guys have anything like a workshop around here?” asked Zed.

“We do have a place where the guards can gather and repair their damaged equipment”, responded Kali. “I’m not sure if there’s anything there that can help you with that ‘technology’ of yours.”

“Not an issue!” said Zed. “Just show me what you got and my Shima ingenuity will take care of the rest… probably.”

“I’m sorry, what was that?!” asked a perturbed Trace. Psy sighs, pushing his hand into his forehead.

“Huh? What? Can’t hear you! Princess Kali has to show me to their workshop! Come on Princess Kali! Lead the way!” Zed said all in one breath as he hurriedly pushes the princess out the nearest doorway.

“I’m doomed!” Trace said to herself, burying her face in both her hands. “Two boys come into town, beat up a robot, and you leave town with them! Now you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere!”

“Ahem”, King Mahail clears his throat.

“Oh! And what a great piece of nowhere this is!” Trace quickly correcting herself.

“Yes, indeed,” responded King Mahail. “Now then as for you two, we understand your need to keep traveling, however with my advisor still out there we feel it safer for you to remain on castle grounds until his inevitable capture.”

“Tch”, grunted Psy still remembering how Seraphim was targeting himself. Trace quickly swims over to Psy and cover his mouth.

“We’d love to stay here as long as you’ll have us, your majesties”, responded Trace through a pained grin, wrestling with Psy to keep his mouth covered.

“Yes…” responded the queen, puzzled at Trace’s actions on Psy. “Well then please take yourselves back to the bed chambers while our kingdom sorts this whole ordeal out ourselves.”

“Happy to!” obliged Trace, pulling a now listless Psy who had given up the fight and gave in to be dragged along by Trace.