w r i t t e n b y r h e a

"Swept in with the rest, you say?" the male ​Hippocamus​—Tius—muttered, his gaze fixated on the dead shark—its usual white pallor paler than normal. Tutting, Tius turned away after ordering the squids to carry the body back to Charias' castle. It was definitely going to be a tough day, especially since it was the King's favourite cousin who had died during the patrol.

Ridiculous, it was absolutely ridiculous how the plastic mountains had begun to grow. He'd had more than a dozen schools of fishes asking him for an update on migration routes since he'd woken up. What, with the growing pile of wastes the godforsaken ​Homo sapiens​ dumped in the water bodies, it was becoming increasingly difficult for most of his kin to survive.

He cursed under his breath as he entered Charias—the King's castle. Just as he was crossing the archway leading to Charias' chambers, an urchin whizzed past him.

"Look where you're going!" he yelled. The red Urchin glanced at him before hurrying back.

"Sir, sir. I've got news!" It huffed.

Stopping abruptly at the urgency of the urchin's tone, Tius asked, "What is it? If it's one of your mischiefs again, I'll have you know that the conse—"

"No, ​no​." The urchin cut in. "This is indeed news. A school arrived from the south earlier. They've been migrating and have come across more...er...low oxygen zones...what are they called?"

"Hypoxic zones," Tius replied drily.

"Yes! That's it. There are more hypoxic zones than ever now and most of our kin have died. It's no more than a dead stretch of water," The urchin finished sadly.

"Have they said how many?"

"They heard from a group of crabs that it's close to 500 now. Almost the size of one of those big

lands...United Kingdom as the ​sapiens​ call it."

Nodding, Tius thanked the urchin before making his way to Charias' chambers. The mighty white shark was drifting about, his mind lost in deep thought. Charias had ruled the oceans for a great many years. On matters of ocean diplomacy, there was no one better than him. But he could do little when it came to humans. Ordering his army to harm the humans on their expeditions hadn't been so fruitful, especially since none preferred human meat.

"Your majesty," Tius greeted his king.

"Ah, Tius..." the king breathed out, the faraway look vanishing from his eyes. "Word has reached of my cousin's fall. I can't imagine how we will survive at this rate."

"The concerned ​sapiens​ predict that more than half of the species in our domain are to disappear in a hundred years," Tius said.

"​Bah!​ Don't remind me of that. Those wretched turtles send nothing but bad news back from the dry lands," Charias groaned. "You have sent scouts to remove the wastes, I presume."

"Yes... but news has arrived from the south—the sewage has interfered with the oxygen levels and now..." Tius trailed of, then continued, "Now.. there are more hypoxic zones than ever before. Many schools have reported that there is nothing left to salvage."

Charias turned away in haste to observe the ocean workers go about, doing the duties assigned. "It's painful to fathom that we, ocean dwellers, have to pay for others' sins," he said softly. "Can you imagine? It's all going to disappear someday. Makes me almost guilty enough to stop having my daily hunt."

"But life must go on, your majesty, we cannot alter our habits so drastically that we no longer remain who we were supposed to be."

Tius didn't mention what he'd learnt earlier that very day—the news of the impact of the alarming rise in temperature. While it was easy for the marine fauna to migrate, same could not be said of the majestic coral reefs and the rest of the sea flora. Especially with the interruption of the symbiotic relationship between the corals and respective unicellular algae, the corals have no option but to bleach and perish.

Charias started to speak, but the words never reached Tius because at that moment the same urchin that had intercepted him earlier, hurtled into Charias' chambers.

Huffing, it exclaimed, "Oil spills! There's been an oil spill north of here. A few miles away."

"What of the sea otters?" Charias asked sharply. "And the fish in that area? Have they been evacuated?"

"Most have, but... your majesty, a lot of them have ingested the oil," The urchin replied fearfully.

"​Dammit​! Oil ingestion—it's going to affect reproduction and whatnot. Especially the sea otters.. winter is not far, and if they lose their fur because of the oil spills, it'll drastically affect their numbers," Tius cut in.

"There's one more thing..." The urchin began. "There were humans."

Charias whipped back, a fierce look had taken form in his eyes. "We have to go."

"Your majesty, I really don't—" Tius was abruptly cut off when Charias roared, "This menace of a species has been dumping garbage and spoiling the biodiversity in our domain. I'm done staying quiet. We'll wait for them in a safer location, away from the oil spills. Then we attack. Bring in my best crew, Tius."

He could do nothing more than to follow his king's orders. Quick as a flash, Tius hurried over to the guild housing Charias' best men. Within moments, a group of strong and able white sharks shot out, heading over to the location identified by the scouts.

As Tius returned back to the castle, his king met him halfway. "Your majesty? You are going as well?"

"Yes."

There was no stopping that rage that filled his voice and coated his features. Tius wanted to argue, to hold the majesty back from what could be a bloodbath that would end in more losses on their side rather than the ​sapiens.​ But Charias would turn a deaf ear no matter how valid Tius' argument would be.

So instead, Tius followed his king upwards, towards the great shadows of the boats crafted by the species who would inevitably lead all the domains in the world to doom.

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• The ocean constitutes over 90% of the habitable place on the planet.

• By the year 2100, without significant changes, more than half of the world's marine

species may stand on the brink of extinction.

• Excessive nutrients from sewage outfalls and agricultural runoff have contributed to the number of low oxygen (hypoxic) areas known as dead zones, where most marine life cannot survive, resulting in the collapse of some ecosystems.

• There are now close to 500 dead zones covering more than 245,000 square kilometres globally, equivalent to the surface of the United Kingdom.

• Rising temperatures lead to different behaviour patterns according to species. Some adapt to temperature changes, while others migrate toward the poles or to new areas. Other species disappear, as has been observed for certain corals that can rapidly bleach and die when their symbiosis with the unicellular algae, that they shelter and feed on, is interrupted.