Work Text:
The waves battered against the cliffs to each side of the sheltered beach, grey sky promising worse weather to come. Elton looked over at the crashing spray as it fell far from him and the slow, waddling bodies of the Seafarers he followed. None of them looked over at the rushing noise, none would care, except Elton, who knew that those waves would mean a hard time at the helm once he was done with this god forsaken ritual. Instead of any concern for the weather, the wet, gurgling noises that were speech for these creatures held the emphatic loudness of either excitement or anger - he still had a hard time of deciphering even that much.
He continued to follow them to the jagged gash in the side of the cliff, staying towards the tail end, trying to not accidentally run into any of the slimy, bubbly or scaly skin. The Seafarer’s mish-mash bodies of fish and man weren't something… contagious, he knew that. They were born as these creatures, though it wasn’t the beautiful combination that sailors typically dreamed of. Human legs, more often than not, a fish-like head, a mostly human arm here, a fin there, like someone had merged the two without any care. But, no, not contagious, though what they were often covered in was dangerous. It oozed off them in deep black drops - acidic, corrosive, maybe just diseased. Elton wasn’t the type of learned man to know for sure, except that he’d seen things he’d rather than replicate with his own body. And there weren't many a Seafarer who wouldn’t think ‘good riddance’ if it did happen to him. Better to keep a safe enough distance.
The cliff blotted out the sun as the line brought him closer, the air dropping a few degrees immediately. Elton pulled his thick jacket closer, used to the frigid air of the sea, but the dank cold of the cave felt like it hit his bones directly, slipping past his human-made defences, leaving him as bare as the Seafarer’s around him - not that they showed any sign of the cold reaching them. Shuffling and slimy ‘slaps’ of their fishy bodies and fins echoed off the obsidian walls as they trudged ahead.
This was the single path to their inner headquarters, a rare place for Elton to be invited into, and one his gut told him it was better for him to stay away from. His presence was barely accepted among the Seafarers on a normal day, when he was simply exchanging goods. Attending one of their rituals, which outsiders were never a part of, was aggravating that fragile state; glares and yes, he was now more sure that those were angry noises that were being sent his way. He’d much rather take the hint and retreat back to his ship as well. Maybe make it to the ocean sea before much of the incoming storm hit. But his invite came from the Head Priestess herself, Miryam, which meant that not only could the other Seafarers not try to keep him out - Elton also couldn’t turn it down. She valued his life as one of the few human contacts the Seafarer’s had, for the money and items he could get them as a merchant, but not enough to ever let a slight slide.
Though, even with those thoughts, his safety foremost, he was still a bit happy to attend this one. Caecus was finally getting his wish. Elton didn’t really know what that meant, only that the very much human-looking Seafarer had been waiting for this for a long time now. Something about his bloodline that linked back to the fish-like group.
Elton had been surprised when they were first introduced, Caecus as his main contact for the Seafarers. Among all the monsters waddling about, and Miryam, whose almost-human form held a deadly threat with every glance, Caecus looked refreshingly normal. Young, maybe early or mid 20s, too young to have his life attached to a cult like this - not that that was Elton’s business. At first he’d been sour around Elton, mistrustful, maybe, but that had soon turned into a friendship that Elton hadn’t expected to have again in his practically solitary middle-aged life. Caecus drank with him, listened to the stories of his erased home that everyone else he knew had forgotten and thought he was growing senile, that he was making stories up from his long voyages. It had been a rift between himself and the rest of the rest of the people that had been in his life. But Caecus, even though he had no memories of them himself, believed Elton, without any raised eyebrows or questions. He’d seen the world of the Seafarer’s, knew there was more out there than the human world knew. And that belief gave Elton a link to his home that he finally felt like he could stand on, and gave him hope that maybe that was enough. Maybe he didn’t need to Awaken more than that.
Caecus didn’t want to share nearly as much of his own story, not what this power he was set on obtaining was, nor why he’d come to the Seafarer’s, rather than stay among humans. And Elton’s hint that he could take him away on his ship, work together, far from these abominations? Completely ignored, the fiery look in Caecus’ eyes telling him that it wasn’t an option. So Elton hadn’t brought it up again, and tried not to peer too far into Caecus’ world. If it got back to Miryam that he was trying to take one of her members, the consequences weren’t something he wanted to think about.
So, the only thing left to Elton was to try to be there for Caecus during this ritual. Maybe he could be a face in the crowd, give him a little courage for whatever the ritual held.
The last bit of Seafarers trickled out of the confining walls of the entrance tunnel, and Elton followed them, emerging into a large cavernous space. A small ray of natural light fell atop a stone slab at his left, the front of the space, and the Seafarers standing in an unorganized semicircle 10 feet from it. The slab melded naturally into the floor, cut from it rather than having been dragged into the room. Though the edges were so smoothly warped, it looked as if it had grown there instead. The rest of the space was barely visible, the ray of light not reaching beyond a few feet, large shadows filling the corners.
In the corner and behind the slab was a black pool of the most vile looking water Elton had ever seen. And he’d seen some disgusting puddles of unknown substances on many a ship. But this was completely still, even with all the movement in the cave; opaque and with a surface tension that didn’t seem like merely dark water. As Elton stared at it, he could only imagine that sinking beneath its depths would feel more like being swallowed by a monster rather than slipping into water. The Seafarer next to him squirmed, the usual black liquid oozing down his half-fin, half-human arm. He wouldn’t be surprised to know that it was the same liquid, but he wasn’t ever going to get close enough to either to find out.
As the Seafarers finished settling into the room, Elton stayed at the side of the small crowd, hoping to be the first to leave once this was over. A small clanging came from overhead, bringing Elton’s attention to what he had been ignoring most. The huge cages that hung from the ceiling, bars like a bird cage, but the few that were occupied had human inhabitants. Barely visible at all, Elton wasn’t sure who they were, or where they came from - maybe ships that had run adrift, maybe the Seafarers had attacked a few lone ones. He felt better not knowing - and ignoring the dark red splotches on the floor around the altar-like slab. Elton ached for the comforting pipe in his breast pocket, but it would have to wait until he was back on his ship. Instead, he could only stand there and hope that the cages wouldn’t be part of the ritual.
Behind the stone slab, Miryam stepped forward from the shadows to stand on a raised stone dais. She silenced the crowd without a word, just a cool glance that everyone could feel like a pit had just sunk low in their stomach, commanding them to still, and to hush with its weight. Although she looked mostly human herself, and a petite one at that, something about her commanded an instant respect, and a healthy dose of fear. She barely opened her eyes to look over the room, arm widening in a grandiose movement that Elton would have chuckled at from anyone else. For Miryam, it looked natural.
Her voice snaked through the room, not loud, but still easily heard, commanding full attention. “Today, we will welcome Caecus as a true member of the Seafarers. His human form is inadequate, weak.”
A roar of assent came from the crowd, and then died out just as fast with the slightest tilt of Miryam’s head.
“And so today, he will offer his will to our God, and if it is accepted, he will gain the True Power of the Deep.” She made a small movement with her arm, and another petite form came forward, whom Elton hadn’t realized was standing in the shadows of the edge of the room. Caecus’ light pink hair bobbed slightly as he moved towards the altar slab. Elton caught his eye as he walked past, gave him a smile that was meant to be comforting, supportive, but rather than the surprised joy he’d expected to see on his friends’ face, it looked more like the blood drained from it in that instant. He turned ghastly pale, eyes wide and mouth open slightly, as if he wanted to say something to Elton. Whether he would have or not, Miryam’s cold reprimand came first. “Caecus.” A single word, but enough to make him tear his eyes from Elton, feet moving again.
He laid down on the table without another glance at him. What had that been about? Had it just been surprise mixed with his nerves? Or perhaps his presence wasn’t a comfort, but detracting from the matter that was clearly important to Caecus - and Elton was just a human, someone who couldn’t really appreciate what was going on.
From what Elton had thought was just a tumble of rock in a dark corner, a huge form stirred, and Elton felt the whole room shift slightly back in reaction. As if instinctually everyone felt the same fear from that presence as it rose. A wavy mass of tentacles topped with a line of sharp fins slithered out, the combination not bringing to Elton’s vast encyclopedic mind of aquatic animals anything other than a Leviathan, a creature that shouldn’t actually exist - just a fun story to tell, to put on maps of the unknown - but then, none of the creatures in this room should exist. The tentacles retreated back again, a human-like form parting them, though he must be half again Elton’s height, and Elton was already a big guy. A name Caecus had mentioned with awe came to him immediately - ‘Goliath’. His skin was a dark shade of grey, too deep of color, too lacking of tone to call it anything close to human, and it melted into a deep blue-black at his arms. From his head came fin-like ears of the same dark color.
Goliath lifted a massive sword, swinging it up and onto his shoulders, catching a stray Seafarer who had thought it was safe to move forward again; the creature fell to the floor with a shrieking noise, a black ooze spurting from him before he was dragged away by a few other members through a doorway. No one remarked on the accident - if you could call it that.
The giant Seafarer cocked his head at Caecus, grinning with sharpened teeth. “You sure about this?”
Miryam’s voice came from the altar. “He already decided, Goliath.”
Caecus nodded his head. “This is what I came to the Seafarers for. It’s my right.”
Goliath sighed with a small roll of his eyes. “Don’t blame me if you can’t handle it, kid.” Before Caecus could complain about the diminutive, Goliath's sword was moving up off his shoulders, the tip moving in a smooth arc, catching a glint of light from the single ray coming from the ceiling. It seemed to hover there, but there still wasn’t time for Elton to really wonder what the huge sword could be for before the tip suddenly continued the arc to spin straight down, plunging straight into Caecus’ stomach. Elton’s body tugged forward, as if he could do anything when the width of the blade was already practically slicing him from neck to mid-stomach. Blood splurted, red mixed with blue - maybe proof that Caecus was as he always said, not fully human. Elton watched, locked with horror, regret, as his friend’s blood dripped down the sides of the altar. Caecus' mouth open in a silent scream, hands sliding down the blade, leaving streaks of blood.
Was that it? Did it fail? Was their ‘god’ supposed to prevent it, and Caecus’ life had just been cut short? No one else was moving though, there was a tension in the air as everyone waited.
Elton tore his eyes away from Caecus’ limp body, checking Miryam’s expression, worried what he might see there. But Miryam was looking straight at him, smug hatred even more visceral in her gaze than usual. “Don’t look away.” Her voice was low enough that he wasn’t sure if he was really hearing it, or was just reading her lips. He suddenly understood he wasn’t here as some privilege, he was here to learn his place. She’d hinted before to not get too close to Caecus, that he was only the contact between them since he could hold his own hatred for humans in check, and he was one of the few that could use the human tongue easily. But he was still a Seafarer, and Elton was not.
Caecus’ body twitched, hand moving to grasp the sword again, Elton felt a hopeful relief that that meant it wasn’t over. Caecus would still exist after this. The crowd seemed to feel the same relief, or maybe excitement, a buzz of murmur rising through them.
Goliath watched Caecus try to gasp in breath with what must be still-pierced lungs and gave half smile. “Ha, guess you are one of us after all.” Goliath left the sword where it was and knelt down on his knees at Caecus’ legs that were hanging off the altar. Undid the tie of his pants. Lifted the hem of the plain robe Caecus was wearing to show pale thighs. And then Elton realized exactly why Caecus had looked so shocked to see him here. It wasn’t the bloodshed, the possibility of his death - things that Caecus wouldn’t shy from. But instead, the way Goliath was pulling out a massive dick, that didn’t look quite human, lining it up with the unseen hole hidden behind Caecus’ legs.
“Don’t look away.” It louder, a warning now, the crowd repeating it in whispers in their oily tongue as they shuffled and stomped in excitement. Elton had no idea if the words were a normal part of the ritual, or if the fervor of the crowd would just have them grasp onto anything, and that it was a threat meant solely for him. Either way, his eyes didn’t move from Caecus’ body.
Caecus had barely made a noise with the impaling blade - a rush of surprised air, maybe. But now he bit down on his arm in an attempt to prevent the noises from escaping. Goliath used the handle of the blade as leverage rather than Caecus’ limp body, each thrust pushing the thin hips further onto the blunt end, his stomach splitting slightly, crumpling against the blade with the movements. Clear drops fell below Caecus’ head to the floor that could only be tears, even though not a single cry came from him. And then the marking at Goliath’s throat glowed a dark red, and a deep thrum went through the room, silencing the crowd, that Elton could feel shake his insides. And then it happened again. The marking glowing, the thrum spreading through the room like a wave cascading through each of the onlookers.
And then they came more often, in time with Goliath’s thrusts to the point that it felt like even more an invasion of Caecus’ privacy to feel those thrums along with watching what was happening.
There was so much blood on the ground now, Elton couldn’t believe that Caecus was still moving. But then he shook, chest rising up on the sword as if by a taut string. Muscles convulsed.
And then he screamed.
He hadn’t made any noise for the whole of this torture. But now his scream was guttural, inhuman. Through the torn fabric, his back moved, no - bubbled - something under the skin, moving, crawling, and then piercing. “You would make this difficult” Goliath removed the sword with a smooth motion, throwing it behind him to stick out of the wall in an almost silent thunk. And then pulled Caecus into his lap instead, sitting to give his bubbling back room to grow, not letting up on the rhythmic movements of fucking at any point.
The hole in Caecus’ torso knit closed from all angles, showing his pale skin through the new holes in his robe. Caecus writhed, still screaming, his back splitting open as red-drenched bone starting coming out, pointed ends like empty masts. And then flesh moved up them, turning coral pink, filling out the new spine with almost translucent fleshy fins. He curled towards Goliath, hands on his shoulders as he screamed more. Spines came from his ears next, his human looking ones pushed away, tearing and then falling, replaced by a small set of similar fins. Next, his arm, facing the crowd, broke open, splitting down the entire forearm, a red gaping wound, skin hanging open, and then drooping further, growing downward from all sides of the opening, growing and knitting together turning into the light waves of a delicate fin. From his backside, a new fleshy growth pushed back the fabric of his robe, twisting and turning bone and then flesh and then bone and then flesh, intermingling and then finally the flesh growing further, covering the bone, muscle, moving farther to make a thick tail that would trail past his human feet.
His body stopped writhing, stopped moving, twisting. He put his head down on Goliath’s shoulder as he fell silent. Goliath’s hands held his hips down for a few throbbing pulses that Elton realized with a sick twist of his stomach, could only be him releasing inside. He then let Caecus slump down back to the table on his side, still, unconscious, and stood up, grabbing his sword as he left the hall, ducking through the doorway.
Caecus lay there, chest not moving. The whole room seemed to be holding their breath.
And then his eyes blinked open, dark black what should have been white, a bright pink inside that matched his new features.
“It is done.” Miryam’s simple words broke the room out into gurgling cheers.
Caecus - body having been broken down, rebuilt, his human blood all over the altar, the floor, Goliath’s cum leaking from him out onto the table - smiled. Proud.
Elton left the room first, fingered the silver core in his pocket. Miryam was right after all, he only had one home. And he needed to learn how to Awaken this core, no matter what it took. Even if it was in exchange for a human child.