The Underwater Civilization

Many of her friends were aware of the dangers existing above the surface; the sunlight. Well, it is not just the sunlight, but seagulls, pelicans, and flying fish are also to be taken into account. To be fair, sunlight was an anomaly where she was from and pelicans and seagulls never stopped from eating all her friends. Flying fish are a different discussion for a different day.

That did not stop her from being attracted to the light. It was the source of light and bright things attracted her.  She would try to get on the rock that was closest to the surface, but her butler often yanked her before she had a chance to reach the tallest point possible. Swimming was not an option as a big, multi legged enemy would wrap its tentacles around them and one crunch from its beak, she would be dead.

Of course her family had told her to stay away from the sunlight as none of them understood her. Only one, an outcast of their civilization, empathized with her as they were both attracted to shiny things.

"Marvira! Look what I found. It's so shiny! It's round with a long leg, it looks like," spoke her best friend, Tamatoa. They didn't look alike for they had different amounts of legs, different houses, and different shapes. Their only common interest that tied them together was the fact that they both liked shiny objects. He was often referred to as a monster by her peers, but that didn't stop Mavira from discussing her favorite thing in the world with him.

"Tamatoa, that is amazing, where'd you find it?" Marvira had replied, her eyes glued on his shiny back. Tamatoa had a way of keeping all his treasures on his shell. How his treasures stuck to his back was a secret that he told anyone except Mavira; throw the treasures with his pincers and hope it stayed.

"I found it at Coral Canyon Cove. Ah, I've been trying to find you a new home for the past few weeks since you've been growing and all, but I have yet to find one. This sucks," He pretended to sulk. It was a lie. A few weeks ago, Marvira had found the shiniest home around and decided to move in, with the permission of her parents, of course. She had entrusted him with her new home just for it to disappear when she got her parent's approval. He had acted all clueless, not knowing what had happened to it, and said that someone probably stole it when he turned around. She had found it three days later in his secret compartment that she discovered by accident. All her past embezzlement that had suddenly gone missing was found there.

"It's okay, I wasn't that serious about that home anyways," Marvira put on a fake smile. His phony demeanor soured her mood. "Imma get going, I'll see you tomorrow for our daily check up!"

Mavira was tired of Tamatoa and his fake wack smiles. The airy clueless tone that masked his ulterior motives got her wanting to beat him up until all his jewels fell off his shell.

Not only was Mavira tired of Tamatoa, she was tired of her family always disapproving of her actions. Their daily talk session ended early, she had time before her butler would notify her parents about her absence. Her schedule was always laid out into routines. Ever since she had attempted to reach out to the surface, her parents made sure her butler, Mr. P Anemone, would report all her actions. If that wasn't enough, her parents planned most of her activities, of course she was present, but it's not like she could insert her opinion. They would not approve.

She waved one last goodbye at Tamatoa before she decided to take a look at the highest rock. Her butler was nowhere to be seen. This was her chance. Her rage turned into excitement as she jumped onto rock. Her plan was to get on the highest point, jump onto those fishes and keep jumping onto one until she reached the surface, all she wanted to see was the sun.

Filled with anxiety and cheeriness, Mavira climbed the rock as fast as she possibly could. Concentrating on her breathing to not remind herself of the burning muscles of 10 legs, the distance between her and the edge got shorter.

Huffing and puffing, Mavira looked out to the world. She could see everything. Standing on the edge, her sense sharpened to the max, she felt the sudden presence of a fish approaching from her left.

Five, four, three, two, one! She jumped!

Squirming her legs back and forth, she placed herself where the fish was going to be. Fishes were known to have bad eyesight, especially those who lurked with those with bright colors. Mavira latched on and held tight onto the fish, scared she was going to be thrown off balance any minute. She had to wait until another fish was nearby.

Five minutes had passed. To her luck, the fish seemed to be swimming higher. Mr. P Anemone would've notified her parents by now. There was no going back.

A fish seemed to be approaching up. What Mavira couldn't see was the nearby school of fish traveling. She thought,'What luck do I have today. Maybe today is the day I see the sun.'

She jumped as close to the tangent fish as possible, her ten legs sprung like a mattress spring that had been compressed for too long.

Latching onto the second fish, she felt herself moving in another level, a gust of water passing around her at a speed she never had experienced. It was as if riding the fish would bring more joy to her than seeing the sun. She should return to her parents soon at the rate she was going at.

The water around her got whiter, a color she was not used to seeing except in her old town that was now a forest of dead coral reefs. Her heart raced faster and faster as she saw whiter and whiter.

Suddenly black. Mavira lost the grip of the fish in the sudden darkness. This had to be the work of those flying fishes. Just like last time, they interfered again. Mavira was angry. However, she realized she wasn't passed out. Her heartbeats against her chest were pounding like drums still.

Small stars of lights peaked through and Mavira couldn't be more confused. It was dark, and yet she saw light? How can this be?

Mavira threw herself to the nearest object she could hold. What was it that she was grabbing onto? A rock? It can't be, it was far too slimy. She couldn't give it anymore thoughts as she kept climbing. The glue like substance couldn't bother her when she was so close to obtaining her goal. She fought her way through the thick water, aiming for the light.

As she hit a horizontal grip, suddenly a door opened that let in all the light in the world. She was plunged in light, everything was so much brighter.

Mavira looked up and saw a ball of light, so bright. She figured that the ball was the prettiest thing she had ever gazed upon. She reached for it, her house was nothing compared to this. A round radiance filled with remedical color, oh how beautiful. She could've murmured about this beauty for hours.

Too mesmerized by the ever glowing light, she hadn't realized she was inside the mouth of a pelican. The only reason she was able to see the light was because the pelican was about to feast. With a surge of water flowing to knock her out of her trance, Mavira lost her grip on the pelican's beak and fell, reaching for the sun.