“Who were ya’ talkin’ to?! ‘Looked like you were talkin’ ta’ da’ spirits or some shit, had everyone confused some’n fierce!” Skerlisk calls out, as Demitallis disappears from sight, not noticing the giant lake heir. Not that he and the rest of the guys were ever taught. Good lord..

“You remember the puddle kids?!” I call back to him, not daring to turn my back, in case she returns. “Yer kiddin’..” He says, swimming up to me, finally causing me to turn my head. “I knew the damn things couldn’t’a been wiped out-”

“No, this one was sentient, it spoke ta’ me through telepathy. It must’a come from Genesis Haven..” I say to him, as he begins to calm down. “Wait, ya’ talkin’ about that research facility? The one that was gettin’ backed by That Golden Kingdom, and Prince Arigold himself?” He continues to ask me questions for confirmation, annoying me further than I already was. “Yes, and it’s already at the lake heir stage-”

“Wait ‘a minute- Boss, that thing could be ‘a serious threat! What’s it even doin’ here?!” We swim over to the rest of the gang, who are currently preparing Mergalisk for transport. “Alright men, new complication, we gotta’ get home quick, and inform the rest of the gang!” I shout to the rest of the boys, taking them by surprise and causing them to work faster.

“What’s goin’ on boss?” Another one my men asks me, causing me to tell Skerlisk to explain what happened.

And that was our day, Skerlisk told everyone what was going on, and we brought the whale home. I’m having Stalstice interrogate him right now, Mergalisk won’t last long against him, then we can get rid of him.

I sit upon my father’s old thro- chair, it’s a chair. It would be insulting to actual thrones to call this a throne... I had my suspicions of that puddle kid at first, but those words have confirmed my suspicions. Demitallis is after me, or well, my father, but he died a while ago, after my mother gave birth to me. Of course he prepared me to inherit everything, but we couldn’t get to the end of my training, before he died like that. That doesn’t matter though. The problem is Demitallis is now after me, and they’re already a lake heir, they might even be as strong as me..

That beast shouldn’t be able to hold a candle to me, but here we are. Still, even at max size, it won’t be so easy to defeat me, I’ve got my dad’s strength..

Who am I kidding? My Dad has killed lake lords, but he was fully grown… I’m still just a stupid kid..

Castor!

Uncle Castor! He’s got to be strong! He could kill it! I’m sure he would be fully willing to help me out! Father taught me to cherish family above all else! And I’ve followed my mother and his teachings to the dot ever since they passed away! That means Uncle Castor would be completely willing to help! And if he’s even half as strong as my father, he’ll have no trouble with Demitallis!

I dart out of the room, and grab some of the boys to head out with me! “A’ight, Morg, Stella, and Ignold! Y'all be headin’ out with me ta’ find my Uncle Castor! I’ve already ordered Rensta ta’ dish out the apologies to everyone on my behalf for the brief scare, o’course.” I say to them, as I kick open the front door, and watch it slam open. “Good job young lord, everyone was worried they would have to watch you be crushed little bone by little bone!” Stella says to me, in that innocent tone she loves, as she presses her finger tips together.

Stellastatic.. She’s a bit of a sadist, and a masochist… I still love her anyways though, she was precious to my father, and so she’s precious to me. No matter how uncomfortable she makes me.

“Stella! Come’on, it’s da’ boss! He’d kick’it’s’ass five ways ta’ sunday I tell ya’! Still tho’, I’ve never gotten’ ta’ meet da’ big guy’s brotha’, I’m excited!” Morgulix says to me, laughing. I honestly never got what my father sees in this guy, but he was like a brother to my old man, so he’s worth keeping around I guess.

“...”

And nothing from Ignoldoron as usual.. Ingold’s one of those obligated mutes, no idea what that is, but at least he can get his job done without getting on my nerves.

“Well, it’s about time we got goin’, now isn’t it..” I say, walking out the door. Everyone working on the garden waves at me, making the others wave back.

“Come on Sirius, you have to wave back at them, or they’ll lose all motivation and ultimately kill themselves. Then your garden will NEVER look good. Is that what you want? A garden that never looks good?” Stella says, leaning over to whisper in my ear.

…

I wave at everyone who waves at me, I wouldn’t dare risk my Garden not even looking passable!

A few hours later, we’ve made some distance now- “Hey Boss, do ya’ know where Mr. Castor is anyways?” Morg says, testing my patience. “I thought YOU knew the way.. Ya’ knew my dad personally. That’s why I brought’cha along in the first place!” I shout at him, making him back away while trying to cautiously hold back his laughter. “S-Sorry, I just figured ya’ brought me along for mah’ great company’n’music!” And with that, he starts blasting on the one instrument he’ll seek out any opportunity to play murder on what’s left of my patience with. “Nobody cares about your damn music Morg!” I shout at him, as the others clap politely. “You’re so good Morg!” Stella says, making him play on.

“I am five minutes from making that trombone a permanent part of your body.” He continues to play, until he realizes what I said and quits, making a high pitched noise from it.

“Alright alright~ FINE..” He says, puting it away. “Thank the ancient one...” I say, as we continue forward.

Stella falls into a really deep pithole, and we look down at it. “Ya’ think she’s dead boss?” Morg asks me, forcing me to call down to her. “Hey Stella! You okay down there?!” Nothing for a moment, until I hear a call from the bottom. “No! I’m dead!” she calls back.. “Welp, nothin’ we can do then!” Morg shrugs and walks away with Ignold. “Dead people can’t talk, Stella!” I shout at her, making the other two buffoons stop. “Oh right!” She shouts back, making Morg laugh, while just simply annoying me more.

She finally swims back up, and lands on the ground in front of me. “Ya’ done screwin’ around?” She just giggles away.

We make MORE progress, and we’re almost there! But we don’t arrive before Ignold has his chance at finding some way to annoy me. And boy let me tell you, this one was the worst. He got trapped in a cave, and since he never talks it took forever to find him! “He said sorry, Boss..” Morg says, trying to calm me down. “Yeah, I heard it! It was genuine ‘n sappy! I almost cried! I don’t give a fuck!” Morg and Stella backs away, still refusing to take me seriously.

We finally arrive, and I’m about ready to tear them apart limb from limb. I almost consider it, but Morg points me towards the door before I can make a decision, lucky bastard..

“HEY, CASTOR! OPEN THE FUCK UP!! IT’S YA’ NEPHEW!!!” I kick at the door, creating shockwaves in the water to get his attention.

…

The door falls down from all the kicking.. “Are we sure he’s even home?” Stella says, as I stare into the dark room.

Titanic tentacles come bursting from everywhere, and one of them grabs me. I’m slammed and dragged through the ground, until I break out and tear the tentacle apart.

I swim back to the door, to find it’s back on the hinges- It’s kicked over again, and out comes a large old man. “YA’ DAMN KIDS! KICKIN’ DOWN MAH DOOR, I’LL KICK YER’ ENTITLED LITTLE-” -he stares at me, and stops- “Wait a minute.. Are you Pollux’s kid?!”

“Yeah! Are you my uncle Castor?!” I shout, as the others just watch from a distance. “Then that makes you my nephew, right?!” Why are we shouting at each other? “Yeah!”

“YEAH, FUCK YOU IN PARTICULAR THEN!” Gods be damned he’s loud. “What?!” I shout as he walks back into his house, and sets up his door again.

I run up and kick the poor door again, ‘cause fuck it! The door finally shatters, and he just stares at me. “You’re replacing that.” He says, a grumpy look on his face. “Yeah. That’s not important though. You knew my dad, right?” Finally, we’re getting down to it..

“Yeah, Pollux.. He died a little while back, now didn’t he.. What did’em’in again?” He says, as he looks around the room for chairs. “Not sure, I didn’t get to see. All I know is I inherited everything when he and mom died.” The mention of my mother surprises him for a moment, but he gets back to his journey to find a chair. “Ah yes, Zennellestia, bunch’a’damn sweet-hearts them two. That relationship was more important to him than anything… Well, maybe aside from taking Ryleth, but he figured he could do both. How’s that going anyways?”

“Not too well, I need your help-” My uncle’s face darkens with pure rage and malice. Another tentacle tears through the floor, and starts trying to strangle me. “I’d sooner kill you than screw with that place anymore! Pollux made his damn choice! Don’t you dare come crawling to me, because he couldn’t handle it!” I bite through the Tentacle and spit out the blood. Disgusting… He sighs and retracts the tentacle. He finally finds those chairs, using another tentacle to get them into place.

“I bet’cha he never mentioned me beyond muh name, and that I was his brother..” He’s given up on being angry again. “There’s no point in beatin’ you up. Listen kid, I’m ain’t helpin’ ya’ out, so you can screw off home already.” He holds his head in his right hand, as I sit on the chair, and cross my arms. “You don’t have to help me with Ryleth, there’s a far more dangerous thing out there right now, that’I REALLY need help with. It’s a puddle kid.” He looks up at me again in surprise, and worry, but then he starts laughing. “You’re kidding. Pollux and I killed the last ones, there’s no way there could be-”

“Go ahead, check.” I say, ‘causing him to get serious again. He closes his eyes and presses his fingers against his right temple. Magic waves ripples through the ocean for a few minutes, before his eyes snap open, and a look of dread almost crosses his face. His expression returns to normal quickly though, and he puts his arm down. “It’s already ‘a pond king.. And it’s near Ryleth, all of those innocents- … I’m too old for this shit. Alright, I’m assumin’ Pollux taught ya’ how ta’ see’em, but he probably never taught ya’ how ta’ fight’em.” He says, taking me by surprise.

“Yes! Does that mean you’ll teach me?!” I jump out of my seat in excitement, and float in the water for a moment, before landing daintily on the floor. “Calm down ya’ little shit. Yeah, I’ll help ya’. I don’t feel like killin’ it myself anyways. It’s a good thing you came to me though… I’m probably the only person in this damn ocean that could kill one of those beasts.” Oh right…

He stands up, and walks into one of the other rooms. I follow him, with the other three in tow. I completely forgot they were here for a moment..

“Castor, there’s some’n you should know about that puddle puddle kid… It’s- It’s sentient. It’s also not ‘a pond king.” He turns around, and stares at me with disbelief. “Yeah, I was surprised too. Its name is Demitallis, and it’s actually a lake heir, I guess it decided to keep itself in a smaller form.” He thinks to himself, and considers everything. “Sentient.. How do ya’ know this?”

“Oh, it spoke ta’ me through its telepathy skill. Still though, it’s afta’ muh dad, and well, he’s dead, so it’s afta’ me. So I’m sure you can see why I need your help.” He looks at me in surprise again, then realizes something. “Oh, it doesn’t know who you are. So ya’ got it thinkin’ Pollux is still alive. ‘Ight, I get it now. Alright Sirius, yer’ in luck, I’ll teach you everything ya’ need ta’ know.” He says, as we step out into a massive back yard.

“Morg, Stella, go home and inform the gang of what’s happenin’, Ignold will stay to make sure nothing happens to me while Castor here is training me.” They nod then stare at him for a moment, and finally swim off.

“Ignold huh? He looks like a real character.” Castor sarcastically says, staring at the mute, with his hands in his pockets, and a bored look on his face. “He’s a mute, that’s why I picked him.” He just stares at us.

“He speaks through action, instead of words.”

End of Chapter: 1√F “Count on and appreciate the people you still have and love.”

Thank you for reading.

“Thank’ya fer’ readin’!”

“I hope you don’t die..”

“...”

“Sirius, I’m old. Who am I thankin’?”