An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) Read online

  Well, the first thing that I need to do is figure a way out of here. I could probably just hack my way out, but that would most likely kill whatever swallowed me and I’m interested in seeing what this thing is; plus, it might be the last of its kind considering how big it is and that would be a waste. Besides, I still have quite a bit of time until Ryuji gets to the palace anyway since it’s a twelve hour flight from Seattle to Shanghai, giving me about eight hours until he lands and then there’s the travel time from Shanghai to the crystal palace.

  I start walking along the spongy pink ground towards an end of the room, figuring that the best way to get my bearings of this place is to walk to one end and follow the wall. I reach a wall and start following it, keeping the wall to my left.

  “Korosu!” a croaky voice exclaims to my left, causing me to jump.

  “HOLY SHIT! Dude, you scared the hell out of me!” I reply.

  I get closer and see an Asian human stuck into the wall of the room with some sort of crunchy, pink, coral-like substance holding him in. It reminds me of the crew of the Flying Dutchman in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

  “Onegai! Watashi o korosu!” he repeats and I realize that he’s speaking Japanese; he’s asking me to please do something for him, but the word korosu is unfamiliar to me so I don’t know what he’s asking.

  “Airi, a little help with the translation?”

  (On it)

  “Mou ichido.” I tell him.

  “Please kill me!” the man exclaims, my helmet translating the Japanese so his lips don’t match the words, like a dub over of a martial arts movie.

  “I feel like I have been stuck in this wall for so long! I regain consciousness on occasion with no sense of how much time has passed. This is no life, so please kill me!” The man explains.

  I decide to honor the man’s wishes and pull out a Diamond sword. I disengage my helmet so the man is able to see a human face before he dies. I quickly bring the sword through his neck and his head tumbles from his shoulders, but there isn’t any blood; some skin flakes away from his neck and dust trickles out of his severed head, but no blood. How long has he been down here?

  “Ari…gatou.” The man’s severed head says and his eyes close.

  Okay, that definitely wouldn’t be possible unless magic was involved. The body of the man rapidly decays until all that’s left is dust. What in the hell is going on here? Is this some kind of security system around the palace to prevent human discovery? I continue walking along the wall until I see something to my right, closer to the center of the room. I walk over and find that it’s a small, round, submarine with Japanese Kanji characters on it; it looks just big enough to fit a single person. If this is where that man came from, this thing is at least twenty years old. I look closely and see that the door of the submarine appears to have been bashed open… that’s not good.

  I hear the distinctive clink of metal behind me… that’s also not good. I turn around and see short green men with tridents and swords. The men are five feet tall on average, have webbed hands and feet, frog-like heads with rows of sharp teeth, triangular fins sticking out of the sides of their heads, large green luminescent eyes, are as muscular as Russian gymnasts, and there are about twenty of them behind me… Pfft! Only twenty? Just who do they think I am?

  (This may be a good opportunity to gather some information)

  “What do you mean? I highly doubt they speak English… and they might not have the capability to speak at all.”

  (You have Neptune’s power over the sea so you can communicate with all aquatic life)

  “Great, now I’m Aquaman, arguably the lamest superhero of all time. Once the super villains stop making their doomsday machines out of paper mache, Aquaman’s usefulness goes out the window.”

  (Just shut up and try it)

  “Halt!” I command to the frog creatures as my arm flushes black, causing them to stop their advance… sweet! Next I have to go see some of those sea turtles to find out if shell-shock is turtle slang for some sort of turtle BDSM…

  “I command you to tell me where I am.” I order the closest frogman.

  What follows is an odd sort of grunts, squeals, and clicks that my ears don’t understand at all, but the meaning gets relayed directly into my brain.

  “We are inside our god, the great sea serpent of old.” Frogman Jones tells me.

  “Great sea serpent of old?”

  (Given the location and the enormous size of this creature, I’m willing to bet that we are inside of Leviathan)

  “Wait, the Leviathan? The giant sea dragon from the Old Testament?”

  “Why did Leviathan swallow me?” I ask.

  “I do not know, but our Chieftain might.” Frogman Jones answers.

  “Please take me to them.” I reply.

  “This way.” Frogman Jones says and walks to the right, away from the submarine.

  I follow Frogman Jones as the other frogmen fall in behind me. After walking for about ten minutes, we reach the pink wall of the chamber with the green luminescent crystals that remind me of the frogmen’s eyes. Frogman Jones walks up to the wall and places a webbed hand over one of the crystals. Part of the wall to the left of the crystal thins before it separates and reveals a circular opening that is roughly eight feet in diameter. We head down the passageway, which goes on for the better part of a kilometer with few luminescent crystals (thankfully my helmet offsets the lack of light), when a question occurs to me.

  “Do you know why Leviathan swallowed that metal ball and why the human was being held in the wall?” I ask Frogman Jones.

  “Are you referring to the submersible? Our god swallows humans that discover him to keep his existence a secret.” Frogman Jones replies, making me feel like an ass for assuming that he was uneducated.

  “Why was that man in the wall?” I inquire.

  “We were commanded to put him there.” Frogman Jones answers. So was the man being used as some sort of power source? That’s the first thing that comes to mind considering his lack of blood and presence of dust…

  We walk around a bend to the left and run into a dead end. Frogman Jones opens his mouth to a 130 degree angle, revealing two rows of shark-like teeth, and a chant flows out of it. His voice is like that of an angel, ethereal and beautiful. His singing goes on for ten seconds before the wall opens up. The passageway lights up as a chamber is revealed that is as bright as the first one, but only about half the size. I follow Frogman Jones as he enters what must be the Frogman village. Teepee-esque huts line the chamber and appear to be made of the pink coral substance that was holding the Japanese man. There are over a hundred huts of different sizes; some only large enough for a single person and others large enough to fit a family of twenty.

  The frogmen fall in beside me and behind me as we head into the village. I see tiny frogmen playing, accompanied by frogmen that are devoid of head fins and have breasts covered by tube top-esque bits of cloth that show off their significant abdominal muscles, which match any of the warrior frogmen with me and freak me out a bit. Everyone we pass stops and warily looks at me as we pass by.

  “Papa!” a frogchild squeals as it runs over to Frogman Jones, with a frogwoman following behind it. Frogman Jones lifts up his daughter (if the lack of head fins are an indicator) and spins her around before setting her back down.

  “I still have work to do so go play with your mother.” Frogman Jones tells his daughter.

  “Yes papa!” She squeals and runs back to her mother. Frogman Jones continues walking through town.

  “Cute kid.” I tell him.

  “Do you have any children of your own?” Frogman Jones asks.

  “I did once… Now I just have a goddaughter that I adore.” I reply.

  “Goddaughter?” Frogman Jones inquires.

  “She’s the daughter of my friend. He and the girl’s mother chose me and my wife to become her parents should anything happen to them. Do you have anything like that in your society?” I ask.


  “No, we don’t. I have never heard of someone being unfortunate enough to lose both of their parents before they reached the age where they were old enough to care for themselves.” Frogman Jones replies.

  We pass through the center of town and reach the opposite edge, roughly a kilometer from where we came in. There is a large opening in the pink wall with strange tentacles draped over it.

  “This is where our chieftain resides.” Frogman Jones reports.

  “Thank you. I shall go speak with them now.” I reply and walk through the tentacles.

  I walk down the dimly lit tunnel, passing by alcoves with strange pink coral sculptures. After about a hundred feet, the passageway opens into a chamber that is roughly thirty feet in diameter. At the end of the chamber is someone in a large chair, facing away from me.

  “I have waited a long time for this day, Father!” a deep voice calls out from the chair as I notice a golden outline.

  “Trapping me in Leviathan for a few years to teach me a lesson about not fucking your favorite turtles, I can understand… However, A HUNDRED YEARS IS A LITTLE MUCH!” The voice shouts and swivels around in the chair. Sitting in the chair is a man that has blue scales from the waist down and flipper-esque feet. His central aura looks a lot like the Starbucks logo. A merman demigod?

  “I—You’re not my father. Who are you?” the man asks, perplexed. I disengage my helmet.

  “I’m Cole.” I reply.

  “But I sensed my father’s power! I had Leviathan swallow my father!” the man exclaims.

  “Your father wouldn’t happen to be Neptune, would he?” I ask.

  “YES!” the man shouts with annoyance.

  “Oh, Neptune’s dead and I have his power over the sea now.” I inform him, keeping it vague for my benefit.

  If he didn’t like his father and is happy he’s dead, taking credit can only help me, but if he tries to kill me for killing his father, I can backpedal and explain that Hades did it and I killed Hades; either way, I’ll benefit from it.

  “What!? When did he die!?” the man asks.

  “About four years ago.” I reply.

  “I see… you killed my father, and you have his power now… so I’m free to leave?” the man asks.

  “That depends, who are you?” I ask.

  “Triton, King of Atlantis.” Triton replies.

  “Well Triton, you are free to leave, but I don’t know how to get out of here.” I tell him.

  “You just command Leviathan’s body to open up the passages. While Leviathan helps me out by occasionally following my orders, like the one to swallow you, certain passageways can’t be opened consciously by Leviathan; they’re coded to Neptune’s power.” Triton explains.

  “Okay then, let’s get out of here.” I reply. Triton groans something out and the chamber rumbles in response.

  “Alright, Leviathan is going to swing by Atlantis to drop us off. Just place your hand on the green crystal on that wall and we can leave.” Triton says.

  “Good… wait, don’t you need to name a new chieftain or something?” I ask.

  “Oh, right.” Triton replies and groans, causing the chamber to rumble again.

  About two minutes later, Frogman Jones walks into the room. Triton talks to Frogman Jones and names him the new chieftain, presumably; I’m not sure because I didn’t bother to use Neptune’s power to translate it.

  Triton nods at me and we walk over to the right wall. I place my blackened left hand on the green crystal, assuming that I need to have Neptune’s powers engaged for this to work. The pink wall opens up and reveals a dimly lit passageway that slopes upward. The passage winds back and forth, steadily rising in elevation.

  “You said you’ve been trapped in here for a hundred years?” I ask as we walk.

  “Yeah, give or take a few years.” Triton replies.

  “How long do mermaids and mermen usually live?” I inquire.

  “The average lifespan is usually only about a hundred fifty to two hundred years, but I’m going on four hundred; most likely because Neptune is my father.” Triton informs me.

  After walking for about half an hour, we reach a dead end with a single crystal on the wall. I put my hand on the crystal and the wall opens up to a small room that is about 10’x10’. I look to Triton and the passageway rumbles.

  “We’ve arrived at Atlantis. Apparently this chamber will fill up with water and then the ceiling will open up to the outside.” Triton tells me. We head into the chamber and the wall behind us closes.

  “So… what’s your policy on turtle fucking?” Triton asks as water slowly fills the room. I keep Neptune’s power engaged to force the water to swirl around me.

  “I’m not interested… go ahead and get all of the consenting turtle poon you can; just make sure that you don’t stick it in the wrong hole or the turtle might suffocate.” I reply while awkwardly avoiding looking at him and trying to convince myself that it’s probably okay because he’s a merman.

  “Don’t worry; sea turtles don’t have cloacal bursae so they don’t breathe through their anuses!” Triton reassures me, as if that had been my major concern… although part of me was expecting him to reply with ‘What do you think I did that got my father to throw me into Leviathan in the first place?’

  “Well, that’s a relief…” I awkwardly reply.

  “You’re a good guy, did you know that? How about you come into Atlantis for a drink?” Triton asks. I take out my phone and check the time.

  “Yeah, okay; I still have about six hours until I have to be somewhere.” I respond, deciding that I could use a drink and I’ve never been to Atlantis before.

  “Alright!” Triton exclaims before the room fills up completely.

  The ceiling opens up and reveals the ocean. Triton kicks upward and swims through as I propel my bubble forward. I look down and see a massive turtle-like shell before it moves down into the depths. From what I can see before it swims away, Leviathan has a turtle’s body, complete with flippers, but the long tail, long neck, and head of a dragon.

  “So where’s Atlantis?” I ask Triton and he points behind me.

  I turn around, but all I can see is an aura covered dome, like the one at the Dragon King’s palace in the East China Sea. I propel my bubble forward, right through the dome before I notice that Triton is frantically waving at me. Once I start falling, I realize what Triton was trying to say; I switch gears and engage my flight so that I don’t fall over one hundred yards. I hover down until I reach the three feet of water that covers the ground.

  “I was trying to warn you of the fall, but I guess it was unnecessary.” Triton says from behind me.

  “What’s with all the water?” I ask.

  “Mer-people prefer swimming over walking.” Triton replies.

  “Then why—” I start to ask.

  “How would mer-people be able to talk to each other without air?” Triton rhetorically asks. That does make sense… I’ve always wondered how the Little Mermaid was singing under the sea without air.

  “Anyway, on to the palace!” Triton exclaims and points forward.

  I look forward for the first time, since I was looking down during the descent, and see a glittering golden palace. Triton swims forward as I follow and we pass through the empty streets that have coral-like buildings lining them. There are green crystals, similar to the ones in Leviathan, that illuminate the streets; I wonder if they brighten during the daylight hours to signify the time since the sun’s rays definitely can’t penetrate this deep into the ocean.

  “Is this place always so empty?” I inquire.

  “No, everyone is asleep. I believe it’s around 1am here.” Triton replies and we continue toward the palace.

  As we approach the glittering palace, I notice something interesting: a phallus shaped tower. So did Disney animators somehow see Atlantis in person? Did they just draw the palace exactly how they saw it? I bet that sure pissed them off when everyone started making a fuss about The Little Merma
id… they probably really wanted to shout, ‘Shut up, you idiots! That’s factually accurate!’

  “Your king has returned!” Triton announces to the guards when we arrive at the palace gate.

  “Who in the hell is this guy?” One guard asks the other.

  “Dunno…” the other guard replies.

  “Who is in charge here?” Triton asks.

  “That would be me.” The other guard says while the first one points at him.

  “No, I mean who is ruling Atlantis!?” Triton rephrases with annoyance.

  “Queen Ariel… how long have you been away from Atlantis, buddy?” the first guard replies.

  “Ah, my sweet daughter. I demand that you take us to her.” Triton says and the guards start laughing.

  “Get lost.” The other guard says.

  “Let me give it a shot.” I tell Triton and step up to the guards.

  “You will take us to see Queen Ariel.” I command, Neptune’s power flowing out of my voice.

  “Right this way.” The guards say in unison; this power is pretty fucking useful.

  The guards open the gates and lead us inside. We pass through an opening into a throne room before we are surrounded by a large group of guards armed with tridents.

  “You will all go back to your duties this instant.” I order them and they all do, even our guides.

  “Not you two.” I clarify and they go back to showing us through the throne room.

  We head down a hallway to the right once we reach the end of the throne room. The hallway goes on for about one hundred feet before veering off to the left. Triton and I follow the guards until we reach an entryway that has steel bars sticking through it, preventing our entry.

  “Queen Ariel, you have two visitors.” The head guard says into a metal communication tubing. There’s no response so the guard tries again thirty seconds later, and again thirty seconds after that.

  “WHAT!?” the pipe screams back with high-pitched annoyance.