"Collapse" by Meghan Engele (Apocalypse)

"It is said that, despite the countless eras before, the Yaryns have been forgotten in the grand scheme of time. It is said, in the world above, that there was an ageless war and that the Yaryns had faded into myth and were forgotten. It is known, that even though the Yaryns are right at the humans' doorstep, we must hide, for the Water Demons, are darker halves reek havoc on the open sea, and the humans, will kill us." The Yaryn professors voice droned on through his breathes with a subtle but noticeable frustration. Like most Yaryns, he despised their demonic cousins, and what they did long ago to disrupt their companionship with the humans. In addition, though, he didn't want anything to do with the humans, mostly because humans were above water, and the curse kept all Yaryns who wished to live, below the water. No Yaryn could survive above water.

The Yaryns are an underwater folk, much like the mermaids and mermen the Yaryns evil cousins. Unlike them though, the Yaryns have batwing fins on either side on their belly button, on both arms, and a fan of them on their main fin. They also have a finlike extension on their ears, and pale blue skin. Each Yaryn, when they have lived through 10 turnings (360 days) they are presented with a magical stone from the High One, each possessing their own magical properties. Some give extra strength, sight, or other physical attributes. Other more special ones, choose their owners, and have powers like invisibility, or minimal control of the elements. For instance, a Yaryn with an Air stone could summon air from the water unconsciously and keep any surface being alive. Not every power is known when a stone is given to a Yaryn, the individual is required to find out what it does on their own. The longest time it has taken a Yaryn to discover their new abilities was a turning and

The professor let his eyes sweep over his class, eyeing every student with a certain atmosphere that required perfect attention. That was, until his eyes swept over Saeyn, a teen-youth five years into her Stone, sleeping. She was smart for her age, but her lack of attention intrigued even him.

It didn't take long for the rest of the class to realize what had happened. All the younger ones bubbled with laughter, while the rest just stared, anticipating what would happen next.

Usually, Saeyn was so good, but today, he would have to put his rod down. The professor tightened his grip on his stone-pointing rod and made his way toward Saeyn as quietly as he could manage. It would be best to wake her surprised, rather then to have her awake and prepared.

Finally, at his destination, the Yaryn professor clapped his rod on the corner of Saeyn's desk. The entire class jumped at the impact, but Saeyn just raised her head from her desk. She didn't look the least bit tired.

"Yes Professor Iyn." She said simply without any regard to the rod.

Professor Iyn just floated before her. She had tricked him! It was indeed a clever deception, but it shouldn't have been used during his history class.

"Out." He stated, with just enough demand as to be certain his will would be done.

"Right."

That was her last word before zipping from the classroom and into the water above Aqueriadon, the under water city, capital of the Saeyn race.

Before her was the vast kelp fields that spanned almost to the main entrance of the Crystal Tower of The High Elder. They had to be trimmed once every second month, and twice in the third, Maidon. For some reason the kelp just grew faster. She had a theory though that there were smaller beings tending the kelp. And that during Maidon, they celebrated, causing the kelp to grow faster. Of course, only she and her friend Moredy had seen them.

Unfortunately, Moredy was taken to the military posts to defend the city. He was killed in the last raid; all the other's she had ever grown to like had died also.

Saeyn picked up her dagger from her waist belt. It was an unusual silver color, the curved blade of her father. In it there was a stone also. The elders claimed that there were no forms of magic surrounding the stone what so ever. Saeyn didn't believe that though, her father had told her when she was young that it was very special. Although, he didn't specify what he meant.

At that, she let her golden eyes settle on the military base. She hated that place so much, and blamed it for taking away her family. In the last major raid on Aqueriadon, the Yaryn's were outnumbered, so the women were sent to fight. By the time, it was over; she had lost her mother, father, and all the rest of her family. After that, any friend that she had, or anyone she had grown close to, was eventually killed. Soon, Saeyn didn't come near anyone, certainly not her classmates. She rarely spoke, unless during class. Even if she had the nerve to say hello most would swim off in fear. They knew they couldn't be near her, but why, not even the High Elder knew. Now, she lived with two Yaryn's, who were equally wary of her.

Longingly, Saeyn stared at her dagger, wanting to use it so badly. She had tried before to kill herself, knowing that no Yaryn could commit suicide, and that no Yaryn could kill another either. This, she had tried after her family died, but never again. Now, she wanted to know what powers could influence such a massacre, and wouldn't give up the chance to find an answer if a Merman drove a spear through her stomach.

The though made her cringe, and think horrible thoughts. That was how each single solitary one of her family died, and her friends. How was that possible?

A clunk from above ended her thoughts less then halfway through. There was something floating it the water above. She couldn't be certain what it was doing, but the faint cries for help from their fin-cousins were just unbearable.

Saeyn sped towards the surface, disregarding the laws making the area anywhere above the High Tower taboo. Such insubordination had never been committed in over a thousand years. However, no one had tried to kill the Yaryn's fin-cousins either. She didn't stop, also reminding herself that any situation could be explored, and used to gain knowledge. This would be no exception.

When she was finally near the thing in the water, she realized how huge it was. It looked like it could fill half of the kelp fields with ease. Nevertheless, hanging from it were eerie intertwined strings floating in the water. She had heard of them before, nets, and inside them were her fin-cousins.

Saeyn regarded the nets as little more then an annoyance, and cut them easily with her knife. She was done before she realized she had started.

After though, she heard voices from above that sounded frustrated. Actually, it was only one voice, and the voice of men stammering to explain. She grinned, pressing her back against the bottom of the thing in the water, finally realizing it was a boat.

She decided to stay and see what she could find out. Perhaps she could hear them clearly enough to make out what they were saying. It was said that the language of the humans wasn't much different from that of the Yaryn. She had assumed this was from their days of trading. Now, humans didn't even know they existed.

Grinning to herself Saeyn had a thought. Perhaps she should jog their memories. Something in the back of her mind pulled her back though; there was something about being above water that just didn't add up. However, she wasn't going to bother herself with things she couldn't remember. Moreover, this would be fun.

Saeyn waited for the nets to disappear, and things to quite down above. It sounded like there was only one or two above. Now would be the perfect time.

Silently, Saeyn swam closer to the surface. It had grown quite dark since she had come. That was interesting, it didn't just get dark in Aqueriadon, because it always was dark. Nevertheless, Saeyn arrived, just with her head beneath the water.

She could see a female on the front of the ship, holding her hands out cupped as if begging. It was roughly carved out of wood, a very rare thing in the ocean, not to mention a ship. Also, she could see white clothes that reached up the sky, and long poles as well. As she had suspected, only one was above. It was a male holding a wooden rod in his hands. He was leading it along the top of the ship.

Silently, she swam around to where he wouldn't see her, and splashed water onto his back. Quickly she swam down to watch. The human came to the edge of the ship looking quite frantic. This was perfect.

Saeyn jolted up through the water and jumped all the way up to the human. It was so weird up there; she didn't know what it was. Then quickly, she dove back down leaving the human perfectly breathless.

Before she had a chance to react, the nets came down around her. Frantically she reached for her dagger. The humans were bringing her to the surface. A jolt in the net made her fumble and drop her dagger.

"No, not that." She pleaded, but the dagger was out of her reach. Infuriated, Saeyn grabbed at the nets and shook them violently. She could see the humans, there was only about another few meters to go until they all saw her. Finally, she found a hole, just big enough that she could squeeze through, and sped into deeper water. Above, the human's were mystified. They had whatever this thing was, they had it, but they couldn't figure out what it had been. The only human that saw her was sitting on deck, just curious. He looked bedazzled.