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Shoto slides through the darkness, eyes straining as they aren't adapted to this depth. It isn't quite far enough down to be lightless, but it's close.
Seeing nothing, he allows himself a brief moment of rest for his aching muscles. He's never been a particularly fast swimmer, but adrenaline is a powerful motivator.
He looks down at his tail, the thin membrane has taken a beating from pushing himself so hard. In this brief lull, he starts to feel the burning pain from the fresh tears as well as his gills as he struggles to catch his breath.
A deep bellow sounds through the void and he spins in place, desperate to make out the source. A faint glimmer of light appears and starts to approach.
A lantern?
"Is someone there?" He calls out.
The same bellowing sounds again, closer now. The light shines off a maw of needle-like teeth bearing down on him.
He jolts and tries to get moving, but it's clear he'll be too slow. The leviathan is many times his size, at least as big as a whale judging by the loudness of its cry. His toxic spines will do little to something so large, and it could tear him apart long before the venom took effect anyway.
As he prepares to face his death, he feels a hand on his shoulder, pulling him.
"Get back!"
He can't see where the voice is coming from. Even knowing they must be close, he can make out nothing more than a slight shimmer in the darkness.
A series of faint blue lights flare to life in front of him. They swing toward the hungry leviathan, flicker once, and the crack of thunder echoes through the deep.
The leviathan stops moving. It lists to the side, milky eyes seeing nothing.
Another shimmer reflects the light off the leviathan's lure. A silvery sparkle that plunges into the gills of the massive beast.
Shoto wrinkles his nose as the blood diffuses in the water. He's still not sure what happened, or how. Someone, or something, saved him, but...
"You're far from home, prince."
The same voice. Again he turns, but he can't clearly see anything until the glimmering string of lights reappears.
Out of the dark, a woman materializes. It's as if her skin has suddenly shifted from a deep navy to a more pale complexion like his own. With the extra clue, he's finally able to make out the edges of her black eel-like tail dotted by bioluminescent markings.
He sighs. A friendly face. Another mer.
"You stand out in the depths." She says, removing the steel claw extensions from her hands and hooking them to a belt about her waist. She brushes navy hair streaked with silver out of her gleaming blue eyes.
Shoto looks down at himself. Certainly compared to her, his bright red and white stripes and spiny fins flared out on his sides and along his back does look out of place. He's like a beacon calling out to every predator in the area.
She would be just as noticeable in the coral reefs where he comes from - though so close to the city it's not nearly as dangerous.
"Not chatty, huh." She huffs. "Come on, we should go."
"Huh? Why?" He protests as she grabs his wrist in her webbed claws.
She returns a skeptical look. "You do have sharks topside, don't you?"
Shoto swallows and nods, but even as he gives in, he struggles to keep pace with her. "Topside?" He asks, half just to get her attention.
"The shallows." When she turns to glare at him, her glowing eyes finally seem to note how battered his fins are. She shakes her head. "Your hands still work." She swims closer, eel tail flicking.
"Uh..."
"Just hold onto me." She instructs.
He grabs her shoulders and barely half a second later she dives, powerful tail propelling them with ease through the darkness.
It makes him uneasy, just going on faith that she's leading him to safety. But he doesn't have much in the way of other options. Rarely, as they pass through the abyss, he catches a brief glimpse of some other horror that chills his blood.
He really is a long way from home.
The adrenaline is starting to fade now, and he can feel his grip weakening as his eyes beg to fall shut.
The last thing he hears is a frustrated click. The last thing he feels is her arms scooping him up and continuing their flight through the vast emptiness.