The Tainted Water

The town of Noma was once a very peaceful town where some people would spend their time working on farmlands to provide food for the town. Others would work by crafting tools to make the labor of farming and cooking easier. The town had one leader who would oversee all business and political dealings. His name was Damien Volate. For a very longtime the town was peaceful and prosperous under Damien's rule. However, the peace the town experienced would soon come to an end as people would start to mysteriously disappear without a trace. Many animals were found dead and decimated by unknown means. The remains of the animals’ bodies always looked different from a natural death. There was always a symbol on the carcass of the animal’s left leg bone. The symbol was an arrow with feathers surrounding it. Only when some of the townsfolk started to notice that other people weren't showing up to work did they start to think these were strange happenings and not coincidences.

One person named Cleft would ponder for a while at what was happening. He examined the dead animal bodies as well as investigated where people were on the day they disappeared. Cleft noticed that every leg bone from the animals was always positioned with the arrow going in one direction toward the lake. Talk among the rest of the townspeople confirmed that the people who disappeared would always be the near the lake on the day they disappeared. Cleft, having now confirmed that something was going on around the lake, decided to talk to the town’s leader, Damien. He wanted to organize a team of people who would scout near the lake.

Damien was now in a state of increasing worriedness and distraught from the happenings in his once fruitful and happy town. Damien denied Cleft’s decision to form a team to figure out what was going on as he feared more people would be taken. Cleft did not listen to Damien and took the challenge of forming a team to scout out the lake himself.

Cleft formed a team filled with the town’s best hunters and foragers. The team included people who could see the imprints and markings that would show where an animal had been. Also included were people who could tell the difference between bad food and good food. They were also trained in combat using spears and swords. Additionally, the team needed people who understood the history of the town, the lake that surrounded it, and knowledge of all creatures and beings that ever lived in it before the town existed.

The team consisted of ten members. In addition to Cleft, Nala was the first member of the team. Nala had long brunette hair and tattoos on her skin. The tattoos consisted of a bird on her right shoulder, a thimble on her neck, and a crown on her right arm. Nala was a hunter who used to hunt with her dad before he disappeared when she was twenty three. She is now twenty seven years old. When Cleft finally discovered when people started to disappear; it had been 4 years. So naturally, Nala had a reason to join him on this mission.

The second member of the team was Baine. He was a tanned skin young man with long ginger hair tied in the back of his head and two cornrows at the top of his head. He dressed in clothing that consisted of a kilt with long worn pants underneath and a leather vest. His outfit contained items for collecting and storing different plant types and food. He would store them in glass containers and a leather pouch. Baine is the forager.

The third member of the team was Leo. Leo was someone that hunters normally depended on when looking for meat and food. Leo was known as a tracker. Most hunters in Noma mainly spent their time sharpening their skills to setup traps and figure out new ways to employ catching techniques. The trackers spent their time watching animal movements, what the animals ate, how the animal caught its prey and the tracks it left behind. For this reason, both trackers and hunters would work together on the day of the hunt. Leo had a scrawny figure; but his full black beard paired with his long pants and dress shirt normally hid how scrawny he really was. Leo is Nala’s best friend and confidant.

The fourth member of the team was a skilled fighter amongst the townspeople. He was always in brawling matches underneath the town’s local pub and he never lost a fight. His name was Gallium. He is the strongest amongst the team. Gallium had big, gigantic muscles, a frame standing at six foot two inches, and long hair that would make one think of the Bible character, Samson. He gained most of his strength from working under leader Damien as his personal guard. He constantly sparred with others in order to stay in good shape to protect Damien. His muscle growth was in part due to the food given to him by the farmers and cooks around the town. With so many of the town’s people disappearing, Gallium fears it will only be time until more chefs start disappearing and then he won’t have the food needed to sustain his massive frame. So, when Cleft asked him to join his team, Gallium defied Damien’s order to stay and be safe.

The fifth member of the team was known simply as Hera. Hera was the daughter of a craftsman who knew how to build or repair almost anything. However, when her craftsman dad disappeared, she was the only person left for the townspeople to rely on for crafting and repairs. Cleft, knowing that at some point they might have to venture into the lake, knew that someone who could repair a boat would come in handy. Hera had a short, pixie cut, natural blond hairstyle. Her outfit consisted of blue overall pants held together by beads. She also wore work boots.

The sixth member of the team was Silas. He lost all his animals in an attack that apparently stemmed from the lake. Silas said he saw what was taking everyone, but could never fully describe it. Silas wanted to help in any way he could. Silas doesn't know how much good a simple farmer like himself can do in a mission like this; but Cleft thinks Silas can help a lot. Silas is dressed in blue overalls and work boots similar to Hera. He also wears a hat made of straw that is tied at the top with cloth and there is a little red feather sticking out.

The seventh member of the team is Elaine. She is a guard in training who studies under Gallium as his protégé. She has a slimmer frame than Gallium and relies more on techniques and chokeholds than brute strength. Because of her impressive combat techniques and strategies, Gallium suggested to Cleft that he should bring her along. Elaine wears a close fitted crop top and shorts that reach her knees. She also carries an old watch and sword with her.

The eighth member of the team is Staine. He is a newcomer to the town of Noma. Staine is known worldwide and has traveled to various places all over the world. He has never seen any mystery or disturbances in any other town compared to the one in Noma. Staine suggested to Cleft that he should be brought along as he could provide insights into whatever kind of material, toils, or items are out there. Staine can tell them what is safe or unsafe to touch. Staine wears a long robe that extends all the way down his body and covers his face as well.

The ninth member of the team is one who can read the water and has the ability to see underneath the ocean without jumping in. He has been telling the townspeople to stay away from the lake for the four years it took Cleft to figure out what was going on. However, he is an old man who everyone thinks is crazy and senile so no one listened to him. His name is Miska. He is a dark skinned man with grey hair that forms into an afro. He only wears clothing adorned with gold and gold coloring.

The tenth member of the team is Cleft himself. He was too curious to see what was happening and wanted to take a gander himself. His clothing consists of a well-worn robe, and a medieval tunic with a garter belt and black pants underneath. He has short unkempt hair that is naturally black, but he dies it blue.

With the team finally assembled, they develop a plan to figure out what happens in the lake. The plan starts off with everyone preparing and gathering supplies during the day. Once it turns to night, the team is to meet over a hundred feet away from the lake so that nothing gets them. A boat was put by the lake early in the day. The team set an animal away from the boat two hundred feet from where they were. If something came from the lake, they would be able to see it and where it was coming from. The plan is to get on the boat and track it back to where it goes after it starts moving toward the animal.

The team waited for hours and hours and eventually started thinking that this wasn’t going to work. They blamed Cleft for wasting their time. There might not have been anything coming from the lake anyway. But, suddenly a tentacle pops up out of the lake by the animal and starts crawling out of the lake. As the tentacle continued to come out of the lake; it started taking the form of a human being. The team couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Nala said she had never seen a creature like that before. Leo said that an animal like that shouldn’t even exist and he had never read a book about this monster at all. The tentacle, now human formed creature, goes up to the animal and snaps its left leg off and then kills the animal by choking it with its right arm. It then takes the form of a tentacle again. The team moves quietly to the boat while watching what the creature is doing. After the animal is dead, the creature forms deadly knife looking teeth in its mouth. It prepares to tear the meat off the animal and stuffs the meat into a sac on its body. After the creature has taken all the meat off of the animal’s body; it finds a sharp rock and prepares to carve a symbol onto the left leg bone. The creature then places the bone in a position where the symbol points toward the lake. As daunting and nauseating as that experience was to watch, the team gets ready to steer the boat for when the creature goes back in. The creature prepares to go back into the lake unaware of the team’s presence. The creature gets into the water and swims off as fast as a shark. The team follows behind it in the boat as fast as they can. The creature goes as far away from where it killed the animal to 100 miles out until the lake turns into the ocean. The creature finally stops and goes deep into the depths of the ocean. The old man Miska, still being able to see it, tells the team to stop here. Miska tells them that the creature went under to a depth that is unfathomable and hard to reach.

The team ponders on how to get under the water, find the creature and find out what happened to the people that were missing. The team went over everything they could and considered using their strongest swimmer, Nala, to go under and find the creature. The risk was too great as she might get caught or killed by the creature. She would have no way to defend for herself under the ocean. Suddenly large tentacles arise from the ocean and begin to entrap the boat. Nala, Gallium, and Elaine start to fight the tentacles off. Gallium grabs onto one of the tentacles and shoves it off. Elaine cuts them off with her sword and Nala uses hunting bows and knives to attack it and remove the tentacles. The tentacles end up retreating and the team decides to flee. However, the water underneath the boat turns into a whirlpool circling around and around, pulling the boat under. Cleft, who is stuck steering the boat, tries and tries with all his might to get the boat under control but it is to no avail. The boat is brought under the water with everyone on the boat drowning or experiencing symptoms of drowning. Once the boat is under the water; it turns to complete silence.

However, two members of the team were still breathing under the water and never passed out. It was Hera and Silas who looked like regular people, but under the water their form turned into that of a tentacle creature. Their arms, legs, and face turned into tentacles. Also, they had tentacles for a mouth and suckers for the eyes. The two gave the rest of the team a way to breathe underwater by creating air bubbles with their mouths and putting it around the team’s heads. When the boat finally settled to the bottom of the ocean, the rest of the team awoke scared and breathless. They were confused as to why they didn’t die. The team awoke and began counting to see if everyone was still there. They didn’t see Hera or Silas and began questioning where they were. Once the team gained more composure, they got off the boat and saw that they were still under water, but could breathe without any support.

Outside of the boat they also saw a big, gigantic city and were astounded by its grandeur. The team started walking into the city and were met by Hera and Silas in their human form. The team asked why they weren’t on the boat and Hera and Silas both said they woke up first and wanted to explore. Cleft didn’t believe their story as they should have woken the rest of the team and made sure they were ok. Cleft let it go for now. Hera and Silas said there was a very cool place where there was lots of food and equipment and that the leader of this city wanted to see them.

The team, still trying to get over the fact that Hera and Silas left them, agreed that they should try and figure out where they were and what happened. Hera and Silas lead the team to the leader’s office. Once arriving, the leader came out in his tentacle form, shocking the rest of the team. The leader wore a long cape that folded behind him. The leader said that he knew all of their names and called each person out one by one. He stated their names: Cleft, Nala, Baine, Leo, Gallium, Elaine, Staine, and Miska. He did not mention Hera or Silas. The team is stupefied by this until the leader turns from his tentacle form into Damien, the leader of Noma. The team, now even more puzzled, gets angry and furious. They ask Damien, “What is this mess? What are you doing?, What is this place?”. Damien simply answers, “This is my kingdom”. He then goes further to explain that this place is known as Atlantis. It is known by your people to be a place where humans turned back into fish mermaids and is a very prosperous society. “While you humans got the prosperous part right that is not what Atlantis is.” “It is a kingdom filled with intelligent, tentacle organisms and we call ourselves Tentaci”. Cleft asks why Damien is killing animals and making people disappear. Damien says he is doing it to expand his kingdom. “See, the Tentaci are able to eat meat just like humans. However, the meat needs to be tenderized more than human standards. That is why I became the leader of Noma to access the tools that humans use to tenderize their meat. However, one of my subjects took a liking to human flesh as well. Therefore, some humans had to disappear from what you know or in this case be eaten”. Cleft asks, “So what are you planning to do with us?” Damien replies, “Because you have chosen to seek out this city of your own accord, we will take you and your team and place you in our food storage area for later. If you hadn’t decided to seek us out, you might have had a few more weeks to live, but never mind that”. With that last statement, Hera and Silas revert to their tentacle form and attack the rest of the team. The team fights for a while wanting to end Damien’s life, but to no avail. As more guards of the Tentaci arrive, the team is easily beaten, torn to shreds, and put in the food storage. Damien goes back up to reclaim his place as leader of Noma, continuing to play a role in the horrible events coming to the town with none of the townspeople being the wiser. After a longtime goes by, the town of Noma is no more with any record of this town ever existing in the history books. It makes one wonder if Cleft and the team never followed the monster, could they have simply told everyone to leave. This story shows that curiosity can almost certainly kill the cat. For if they weren’t so curious and left, they may have survived. That’s unless, of course, leader Damien stopped them from leaving; but that’s just another story.