Seraphina Rising

By S. Daniels

Beneath the surface of the cold waters of Planet Klepnar.  A member of the Waznuk warrior mermaid clan, Seraphina, is devasted and appalled when she discovers her beloved Harpon trap is responsible for a oung man, Damon's grousome demise.  Seraphina vows to put an end to this attrocity but todo so se must efeat a fellow member, the

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. Daniels Books LLC
• Release date: Sep 15, 2019
• ISBN: 9781733872416

Book preview

Chapter 1

Seraphina propels her agile tail with cobalt specs through the dark murky depths of the sea. She checks the traps; her mind in a quandry. How can I change them enough to malfunction, but not give away, reveal, their defectiveness to the others? she wonders.

These traps cause damage to the target without any further assistance as the trigger activates the trap, enough to either disable the victim or result in their demise; a long and painful one. These devices are always hidden, elusive like the warrior mermaids.

She has been a reliable and fierce member of the Wasnuk mermaid clan from the beginning. Her clan’s aggressive and competitive nature always came through with heartfelt intensity. Their competitive games often ended with injury, and once the death of their own.

The slain, enchantress Alysiana, the sickening crack of her neck, snapped by Aureilla was given an honorable burial, leaving twenty-five grieving members. The Wasnuk clan with their heads bowed in reverence passed the ornate columns decorated with intricate carvings of ancient sea creatures, blanketed with colorful sea moss as they entered the luminous burial land. The Wasnuks were not accustomed to death as they circled the grave sight in unison. They held their heads back and bellowed in anguish from deep inside. Klepnar felt the mermaid’s sorrow as the turbulent waters rippled to the surface.

And yet, Seraphina’s emotions are not mutable, on trapping, and devouring men. The decision to change the traps would be easier if she had a reliable accomplice, someone who would die before snitching. Hopefully, in time she will find someone to trust, who shares her contempt for the clan’s savageness towards men.

Antonia seems to share Seraphina’s contempt for Aureilla, the strongest most aggressive, nefarious mermaid. Aureilla, with her wild eating frenzy began the wild behavior towards eating man flesh. She talked about the sweet smell of blood juice, tracing her lips with her tongue, taunting the other mermaid members with her vile descriptions.

It didn’t seem right, like murder of an unsuspecting prey. Plus, men are not sea dwellers. They aren’t equipped for their water games or roughness. It striked her as being unfair. Seraphina wanted to free the last victim or stop the last consumption, even if it risked her death or exile from the clan. The thought of fleeing the scene still haunts her. If exiled, she would have to fight to stay alive.

The Seabuck clan would hunt her down, kill her and have her head bobbing on a stake as a warning. Her shoulders curl over her chest.

Seraphina believes in honor, the teachings of Philomena, their deceased leader. Trapping and eating men must stop. There is no moral uprightness in it. It is evil. She will not stand for anything she feels will destroy the clan or the principles on which Philomena built the clan upon. Turgid Aureilla, the evil seed, has infected them with her sickness.

The sea harbors countless mouthwatering delights for the mermaids to eat. Their traps aren’t designed for man.

The Wasnuk territory on the ocean floor is on the westside. The eastside belongs to the Seabucks. The underwater territories are divided into two regions: the westside, Aznar and the eastside, Bennar.

The Wasnuk clan has responsibilities to uphold daily and sometimes work in pairs of two to four; their duties include hunting prey, guarding their territory and making traps, weaponry and jewelry. Their terrain made up half of the Planet Kelpnar. Huge mountains, deep caves and ridges cover most of the ocean floor. Klepnar, made up of seventy percent water, which was inhabited by Whales, Sharin, Shark, Octopus and many species of bright colored fish. The ocean floor is ever changing due to Landslides and volcanic erruptions. Two warring mermaid clans dwell deep in the underwater caverns of the rough waters of Klepnar.The Wasnuk clan admires the skilled whales’ ingenious hunting techniques from generating fake ripples to hypnotizing. This was formed over centuries and was a testament to their incredible adaptability.

After checking her traps, Seraphina meets up with another member of the Wasnuk clan, Antonia, and they venture out to hunt prey for the clan. Antonia’s pained expression doesn’t diminish her youthful face.

Seraphina, you have a peculiar expression. Why the long face?

Seraphina pauses, her eyebrows still wrinkled. I’m thinking about making better traps, she says shaking her head.

As they glide along the undercurrent in pursuit of a group of whales, they both carry intricately woven sea kelp nets to collect food.

She stops mid flow. You’re always thinking about making traps. Can’t you do better than that? There’s more. The hue of your Auraya says otherwise. It’s glowing red, which indicates anguish, she says knowingly. Our emotions are hard to hide with these markings around our eyes.

The Wasnuks wore markings, Aurayas, delicately etched around one of their eyes by the clan’s artists, Diamonique and Julieta. Although permanent, the design is undetectable unless their emotions are heightened.

I hate we have to have our emotions on display, Seraphina sighs, and rubs the side of her face as if to remove it.

Me too. We can’t even change them. Julieta messed me up. My squid tentacles weren’t drawn well. I’m stuck with this eye sore, she frowns. I like yours better than mine.

What, just stupid patterns with no meaning?

At least it’s pretty. It reminds me of the colorful patterns of seashells and luminous precious stones. Antonia’s eyes lengthen as she rushes her words.

Our prey is ahead, I hear them. It’s time to work. Seraphina changes the subject and moves forward with glee.

They swim within three hundred feet of an isolated whale. Antonia’s yellow gaze mesmerizes the prey and puts it under a hypnotic trance. She leads it further astray while Seraphina waits ahead for the prey to arrive, deep in the undercurrent. When the unsuspecting whale arrives, Seraphina shoots up as quickly as lightning. She head-butts it and this causes its innards to pop out of the cut. They pick up the scattered fresh meat pieces, collecting them in their nets, to take back to the clan.

Sadness crosses Antonia’s comely face. Do you ever feel sorry for the whale, the way it’s left ripped open? She searches Seraphina’s face for empathy.

Maybe, but it’s called survival. Don’t think about it, at least it’s an animal that lives in the sea. She thinks it might be a good time to express her contempt for man flesh, but she doesn’t.

The clan mimick the tactics of predators; they are competent in hunting and trapping an array of whale species, their vulnerable heavyweights.

Seraphina does not eat when they return with the food. Always pondering more effective ways of default, she pretends she has more traps to check. While alone, she concentrates on the trigger which closes the trap and is set off by the target and the method, which determines how the damage is dealt. The unfortunate young man hadn’t been aware of the concealed trap. Appolonia, their new leader, insisted Seraphina place more at the rocks edge.

The trap snared the young man, sending Aureilla into a wild frenzy. As Seraphina approaches the area of his entrapment, her body still shivers, and she can still hear his guttural screams. She closes her eyes, as she recalls swimming deeper underwater, clutching her stomach to escape the dagger like pains brought on by the execrable deed.

As she propels her body through the murky blue abyss, beneath the surface where she hid the traps amongst the black rocks, she hears waves crashing against their jagged edges. She grasps and inspects a trap that deals the deadliest snare, her latest invention, the Harpon. She runs her long, webbed index finger along the sharp tips taken from the sea urchin, pressing softly to ensure its readiness. The victim is pierced with several pointy venomous sea urchin spines, right before the hinge causes it to swing open clamping down on the victim.

The mermaids like to eat the tasty inner core of the urchin. Seraphina collects its orange pointy spines for traps. She is the only skilled user and handler of their sharp weapons. The pointy spines are ideal for the traps, as while they protect the urchins’ tender flesh; they deal fatal wounds to the clan’s prey. She starts with the defect of the method. In her mind she has filed the protruding tips to dull points. This way, they won’t puncture tender human flesh and hopefully not trigger the hinge. Only she knows how to touch it without triggering it.

She swims with her once proud head bowed; the guilt of what she created crushes her. She feels tremendous responsibility towards the man and had wanted to save him from her own device.

Later that night while asleep, she pierces her finger on a pointy spine tugging at the trigger apparatus. It jolts her out of her slumber. Erect, she eyes her long-webbed fingers. She examines them for blood from the prick she suffered while secretly trying to cause its malfunction. But to her surprise there is no blood seeping into the green murky water of their large underwater chamber. But the puncture had felt real. The young man’s screams which still haunt her fade away in the chamber. Insomnia has its evil way with her, while the other clan members dreamt of games and past triumphs. They lay in a heap of red alabaster tails intertwined and glorious hair covering the sea floor like a bed of sea grass. One would never imagine their ferocious nature while gazing upon their sleeping ethereal faces.

Quiet not to disturb the sleeping, she slides her scaly hide along the tail of Arena. She brushes her fanlike fin over Arena’s shark cuff on her wrist, but the motion does not wake her from her deep slumber. She continues her slithering motion and finds Antonia sleeping next to the movable coarse-grained barrier. She guards her clan from the Seabucks, their only arch nemesis warrior clan.

Behind an underwater mountain lies the entrance to their dwelling. Tucked away, hidden from predators it includes many chambers. The Seabucks aren’t above disseizing what the Wasnuks called home. Through the centuries, they’d attempted to overtake them by force, by surprise attacks using their poison darts, arrows, knives and spears. The brutality of the Seabucks was well matched by the Wasnuks and their battles often left many slain.

Antonia’s head jerks forward. Her eyes spring open. Seraphina nudges her arm cuff wrapped around her upper arm; decorated ornately with its measurable extended breadth of a red octopus and eight carved out arms. Most mermaids wore an exorbitant amount of jewelry. Their pride in their appearance was no less obvious than their achievements and overbearing boasting.

You’re becoming careless, Seraphina whispers in her ear.

You think you can do better, lines crease between her large sparkling yellow eyes. Antonia looks more than annoyed. She has been caught not paying attention.

Relax, I won’t snitch on you. I can’t sleep, Seraphina says sighing.

Antonia eyes the sleeping clan, glaring at her, Something on your mind? She sits up, putting most of her weight onto her ample buttocks.

Just thinking about my never-ending job of trap making…

You mean you dream about those darn things too? she huffs.

Here lately, Seraphina says stretching her grey eyes wide and looking around. Her surroundings shifting around her from a lack of sleep.

Well, I was dreaming about the clan’s last game and being the victor for a change. I’d love to bring Aureilla down to size, Antonia’s eyes sparkle with sincerity.

She does have a big head. She won the first dibs of the bushy headed young man. The distaste floods Seraphina’s mouth.

I know she doesn’t let you forget it either, for a long time. All that big talk makes me sick. And Arena actually looks up to her, tries to be like her. How sad, Antonia’s auburn hair dances in the water as she speaks.

I’d love to change that myself. She means change the outcome all together and Seraphina searches Antonia’s face for any clues of an accomplice lurking within. Maybe, Antonia hated Aureilla enough. But it is too soon to reveal her intentions to anyone, even Antonia. It is a good beginning. Antonia’s eyes seem to start from their sockets when she speaks of Aureilla.

Seraphina’s plan is starting to take root. Since the last man was encircled and devoured, leaving no trace of him, all she’s been able to think about is how some careful design plans can be used to change existing traps.

The souvenir Aureilla wears, a hollowed-out piece of spine as a nose ring, it taunts Seraphina and gives her no rest. Aureilla got the sweetest, most tender muscle of the man along the central spinal cord. He was decapitated, a quick demise and was her favorite method of killing. This much was predictable about Aureilla. This method enabled her to get her choice delicacy the quickest. She laughed thunderously and darted off like a wild predator with a feast as bubbles trailed from her mouth.

Aureilla’s choice of game to dominate the competitors, however, is not predictable. The head Monarch, Appolonia, has always played favorites with Aureilla and she has made Aureilla next in charge.

Chapter 2

Appolonia stands out from the Wasnuks with her alabaster green skintone and bone straight black hair. She wears colorful cryptic tattooes down her muscular back and right arm. Now, the head Monarch, she rules over the Wasnuk clan. Many moons prior she belonged to the Seabuck clan but hated their leader, Kitka, because despite both processing leadership qualities they never saw eye to eye. Appolonia left and took over the Wasnuk clan after they lost their leader Philomena and Serilda in battle with Kitka’s clan. Kitka has despised Appolonia ever since.

They live on the planet Klepnar with its harsh sulfuric environment, thin air and a cold rainy climate. The mystical purple moonlights are legendary, though, the sun rarely shines and harbors dangerous mermaids in its rough waters.

The Wasnuk’s territory makes up half of Klepnar’s ocean floor terrain. High mountains, deep caves and ridges cover most of the ocean floor and many large creatures like fish affected with gigantism, Whales and Sharin live there.

The Seabuck’s territory makes up the other half. It suffers many volcanic craters, earthquakes, some ridges and trenches of Klepnar’s underwater surface. The terrain has more spewing lava and hot liquid. Their region is hidden in darkness, and because of the more hostile underwater conditions not as many creatures live there.

Appolonia gathers the clan together to discuss regulations, conduct and the ongoing rivalry and contention between them and the Seabuck clan.

Kitka is ruthless. She is not content to have another clan’s co-existence with her own. She is unbending on the subject and has invaded the Wasnuk clan several times; the war between us is on-going, she proclaims. Appolonia is relentless in her fight to protect her clan and their territory and she teaches her clan strategies to keep them both safe and alive.

The Wasnuk mermaid clan congregates in the hollowed out cavernous volcanic rock that is as old as the sea thousands of feet under the water. An invisible light source in the cold deep makes them visible in the murky blue water. Their serpent-like tails move sluggishly against the relentless underwater current as they carry knives, ancient daggers, and bows and arrows made of iron or steel.

Appolonia sits higher above on a throne as she grips the arm of her ornate chair covered in swirls carved out of volcanic rock by Wasnuk members after she took over the clan. She sits frowning, bad-tempered, waiting for all the members to gather. Aureilla sits next to her, as she sizes up the clan’s members according to who she deems most competent. No one is exempt from her judging amber-orange eyes. She waits, daring anyone to a fight or brutal game. This is fine, because the Wasnuk clan is familiar with aggressive games. As a matter of fact, they live for it always making an all-out effort to win.

Appolonia congratulates Aureilla on her victories. The clan’s members look on with gritted-teeth and envious stares. Aureilla protects her title as champion mermaid, flicking her nose ring that she carved out of the bone from the trapped mans spinal cord. It taunts the mermaids because it reminds them that she had the tastiest portion of man flesh.

Aureilla makes direct probing eye contact. Her neck moves left to right. She becomes liquid and materializes in front of Seraphina, bubbles appearing as they ascend upwards. She slithers, circling Seraphina’s body. I suppose everyone knows she has night terrors? She uncoils into Seraphina’s backside. Boo! she hisses, shoving her forearm into Seraphina’s back.

Arena chortles jubilantly, Ha, ha, ha!

A collective cheer fills the arena. Seraphina spins around squinting and a hard smile adorns her lips. Her bandaged fingers form fists. Appolonia propels herself between them, thrusting her forearm forward to separate them. Stop this! she commands turning to Aureilla she thrusts her right index finger towards the vantage point, Now!

Aureilla blows out a breath that rattles her lips and she jets off. Appolonia’s lip turns up at Seraphina as she turns and swims back to her throne. Seraphina’s eyes do not flint. Aureilla’s day will come.

The skin creases between Appolonia’s eyes, Hear ye! Fellow warriors! I’m proud to announce my expectations have been met as far as regulations, conduct and responsibilities. But, Kitka has delivered a warning of an impending attack. She lifts her right arm over her head. The ancient ruby encrusted dagger sparkles. Two daggers have been found near our entrance.

Antonia pushes her left hand upwards holding another dagger encrusted with emeralds.

Appolonia’s bulbous eyes dart around as the skin creases between them. We will never be defeated, she says slamming her spear downward onto the rock. So, keep a look out and the games will proceed as usual to make sure we’re at the top of our skill level. An intense wild enthusiasm ignites her. She lives for the games even if a member loses her life. Competition and dominance illuminate her.

The untamed mermaids let out a war cry in unison. They look up facing Appolonia with their tails swaying against the strong undercurrent. They wear breastplates, at least two arm cuffs and chokers. The proud clan never ventures out searching for rivals but, it defends its territory with vigor and meets any challenges presented to it head on.

Appolonia pokes her chest out with her eyes acute, Let’s hold our heads down in prayer in remembrance of the victims Phelomena and Serilda, who fought honorably to the end; Philomena, lover of strength, and Serilda, maiden in battle armor. We honor you forever! She raises her ancient sword encrusted with sparkling precious jewels of green, blue and red. The Seabucks are never satisfied until they’ve carried off one of our beheaded members to display as a trophy. This can never happen again. Her eyes roam the clan with keen scrutiny, and she holds them with her stare one by one.

Seraphina remembers her friend Serilda’s head impaled on a pike and displayed for all to see; her shiny raven hair moving constantly. She rejected the desire to eject all the content from her stomach because of her gruesome death.

She can’t imagine the Seabucks ever backing down. It isn’t in their nature. However, stalking, violent struggles and the use of sharp weapons are very much a part of them and who they are.

Chapter 3

Seraphina takes great pride in being the clan’s trap maker. She glares at the traps with adoring grey eyes and is proud of feeding her members. The other mermaids often come to her for advice, sometimes important and other times low-key, but they always look up to her. Admiration isn’t easy to obtain. However, her adored traps have turned into a kind of nightmare after a man was devoured after having been ensnared by the Harpon trap.

This nightmare worsened when Appolonia instructed her to build traps for man flesh after a man got nabbed by one that was intended for sea life. It was built particularly for the colorful fish that lived under and around rocks, which is what Seraphina thinks they should only eat; sea life. Up until then she had been content to check traps, gather the dead fish and put them in her kelp netting.

This mistake sent the clan into a frenzy after smelling the sweet scent of human blood. And Appolonia, who lived for the excitement of the games, used this as a motivating factor. Her eyes loomed with excitement when she approached Seraphina. Her large breast plate protruding, looking like she’d discovered the most tantalizing secret. Appalled and dejected, Seraphina suffered tremendous guilt and night terrors because she created the Harpon trap. The phantom wore a repugnant decapitated head. Its eyes glowing yellow at the bottom of the sea cave. ‘It’s your fault I’m dead,’ It mocked her as it spoke through blue lips. The torture washes over her. She screams, waking up Aureilla. And since her last night terror, she’s determined to make the dreams go away especially because Aureilla looks at her as a weakling, taunting her about it.

One day, while checking her trap, and listening to the waves crash against the rocks at Aznar Bay’s rocky edge where the young man had met his demise, Aureilla had crept up in her usual stealthy manner. She had whispered, You are the weakest mermaid. You don’t deserve to be a part of this warrior clan. I will put you out of your misery soon. Her shark Auraya alongside her eye glowed red exuding contempt.

Seraphina replied, Oh I’m waiting with bated breath. If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t be sporting that horrendous nose ring, you savage beast!

Auriella’s burnt orange eyes illuminate the scar over her right eye, I can make your dumb traps and so can Arena. She points her webbed index finger at Seraphina’s nose, We’ve got plans for you! Smirking, she turns and disappears into the gloom.

At first, Seraphina tested the deconstructing techniques in secret. But now she does it openly. She looks over her shoulders, pricking her fingers to the point of being unusable. She wraps the tips in smooth glossy blue Muca leaves found near the grave sight to soothe and heal them quickly. In her last dream she worked in a stoney honeycomb cavern under a two-thousand-foot cliff, in green murky water shimmering from the dense leafy vegetation.

While sleeping, she works on reconstructing the Harpon. It has become her passion. In her dream state she’s lost track of reality. The only way of testing it is using her hand to set the trap off. There is no gushing blood from the wounds she inflicts on herself, although painful.

She used to steal away from others and worked in caves and behind towering green and white sea leaves. Until, it had gotten too risky especially with Aureilla’s relentless taunting and Arena’s watchful eyes on her. She also needed her hands to construct the traps daily and it became hard to continue fooling Appolonia. She wasn’t above sending another mermaid to spy and watch her trap making to see what was going on.

Seraphina lived and breathed a solution, putting the burden on herself to find one. After all, she was the one skilled in the design of the traps. Trap maker.

It had been several moons since the last victim was napped by Seraphina’s Harpon trap. Excited, she and Antonia finish hunting earlier that day and are on their way to practice strategies for the games. They propel their caudal fins through underwater caves, holding weaponry. Antonia, batting her eyelids fast said, Hey, why don’t you let me help with the traps? All I’m good for is guarding the entrance, she says as she rolls her eyes. I’d like to prove I’m capable of much more.

Appolonia is the one to ask, not me. Do you think she’ll allow it? asks Seraphina, sighing. It might be nice to have her make traps while she perfects her strategy on deconstructing the Harpon.

I’ve been toying with letting you in on it, actually, she replies smirking. She’s been pondering an accomplice.

Excited, her yellow eyes dancing, Antonia snatches her chin around. I knew it was a good idea. We just have to convince the mean mother. Biting her bottom lip, stretching her eyes wide and maneuvering through the labyrinth of caves, she follows alongside Seraphina through the water.

Just give me some time. I’ll find the right moment to plant the seed in her ear. Find a time when Aureilla’s not lurking. Seraphina smiles, We’ll talk later. She looks in the direction of the mermaids lining up, waiting their turn to use daggers and bows and arrows in their attack tactics.

Just remember, I’m your only true friend around here. Who else could you trust anyway? she says, staring her in the eyes.

Sighing and shaking her head Seraphina says, Trust me, I’m aware of that.

Would Seraphina let Antonia in on her plan? Antonia hated Aureilla; that might be reason enough. Time would tell if Seraphina would end up with a co-conspirator.

In Seraphina’s dream, she concludes that the trap needs less pointy spines. She dulls the tips, to keep them from piercing the skin. She imagines Appolonia inspecting the faulty traps, losing her mind in fits of anger and punishing her.

Chapter 4

Aznar Bay is just one of several rocky seafront locations on the planet Klepnar. Aznar has a windy cold climate most of the year, the sulfuric rain often adds to the chill factor. The planet smells of burning rubber. It burns one’s nose and causes tearing of the eyes and a runny nose for some of the inhabitants. Many of the inhabitants experience asthmatic conditions and suffer nose bleeds.

The sparsely populated Aznar had a small crime rate and the people of Aznar enjoy a somewhat peaceful existence. They work day to day, protecting themselves from the weather conditions with hooded coveralls, boots and even masks. The sulfuric acid used in the manufacturing of fertilizers, chemicals and explosives seeps into the ground and as water condenses it is absorbed back into the clouds, which then rain down on Aznar.

Concrete is used to build internal and external structures strong enough to withstand rugged usage and sulfur binds the concrete together. This is an integral part of Aznar’s existence and chemical industries make up most of the jobs on Aznar.

Jeffery Lamphre is the manager of the biggest chemical factory, Treknar Industries. He has a crew of thirty employees, three task masters supervising ten employees each, across two shifts. Jeffery’s job is simple; he is the overseer of his three task masters. He hired the best, so his job is easy. He ensures no one blows up the factory or the Planet. His main distraction is his only son Damon. He has been in trouble since childhood.

Jeffery works long hours, so his wife stays home with their son. Damon doesn’t listen to his mom at all, and butt heads with his father. He pushes his luck every chance he gets. The people of Aznar respect Jeffery because he keeps Aznar safe from explosions so, although arrested, Damons hasn’t been in serious trouble.

Jeffery stands six-five feet tall, carrying his height with an attitude of authority. He sits at his desk holding his bushy head in his hands. He sighs heavily and rummages through papers, tossing them around his desk. Damon has been missing for three days. And his wife’s incessant crying coupled with sleepless nights has taken a toll on him. He runs his right hand over the top of his greasy thick mane, not able to concentrate. He pushes his seat away from the desk, eyes fixed on the heaps of papers across its surface. His phone rings.

Yep, he responds rolling his eyes.

It’s ten o’clock. He’s still not home Jeff. Why haven’t you done something? I’m worried, she says, her voice full of distress.

What do you want me to do? That boy has been a pain in my side since day one, his right knee jerks up and down. He must obey my rules, and if he can’t, well, he’s better off gone. Jeff grinds his teeth in frustration.

High pitched yelling comes at him down the phone, Could you act like you care! I tell you something isn’t right. I’m feeling a sickness in my gut. He can hear her breathing hard.

He wanted to punch the wall. Goodness Sara! I told you he’s just being a teenager. He’s not going to rule me. You need to grow a spine. I’m tired of the way he worries you sick. His blood runs hotter by the minute.

Talking through her tears, Sara says, "If something happens to Damon, I’m blaming you for it. You never wanted him anyway. I don’t know why I stayed