Fantasy, Adventure, friendship

    As Turtle swam through the village, he looked in the windows of the passing dwellings. Each one was illuminated with fractured rays of sunlight, filtered through the crystal blue water. His heart was heavy with worry, as he approached his favorite spot, the Garden of Triton. The huge marble bust of the god was surrounded by all sorts of plant life. Kelp and seaweed entangled themselves and all sorts of colored coral glittered brightly. Blues, yellows, pinks, and oranges glowed happily at the foot of the statue. In fact, the only color that was missing was red. Red coral was extremely rare and had powerful properties when used correctly. The only being in the village who knew the ancient location of the red coral was an old, wise dolphin, named Delphin. No one had heard from him in years, he had gone missing on Halloween, five years ago. 

    Turtle had a problem. That’s putting it lightly. He needed the ancient red coral in order to be crowned the “First Knight”. The title was the highest honor in the whole kingdom. So, he needed Delphin to tell him where it was. And Delphin was missing. See the problem? It was rumored that the old dolphin had last been seen going to the Ancient Cavern to find glow worms for Halloween. Turtle swam past the palace where Gruber, the king crab lived. It was him that would crown Turtle “First Knight”, if Turtle could find the red coral. Turtle had visited the Ancient Cavern many times, looking for Delphin, with no luck. The currents pushed against him as he swam over the bridge which spanned over The Abyss. 

    It was routine now for him to check the Cavern.  As he approached the glowing cave, a clownfish startled him as it darted past. Turtle stopped and watched it swim toward a small hill of sand and gravel. It disappeared into the mound and Turtle’s curiosity peaked. He cautiously swam towards the hill and examined it thoroughly. He couldn’t find where the small fish had darted into, despite searching for hours. By the time he gave up, the waters had gotten considerably dimmer. It was much harder to see and Turtle quickly swam back to the village. The lamp posts were lit with an assortment of glowing plants which thrived in Turtle’s village.

    He couldn’t sleep that night, in his seagrass bed. He replayed the image of the clownfish darting into the small mound of sand. He couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary about the scene, but his restlessness kept him awake. Frustrated, he decided to go and look again. His obsession with the small mound might amount to nothing, but he had a feeling it was important. He took a small bunch of Luminous Lilies from the nearest lamp post and began the journey back to the hill. When he reached the bridge stretching over The Abyss, a great wave of icy cold water hit him and propelled him over The Abyss’s edge. He caught the bridge with one flipper and hung on for dear life. The currents threatened to pull him down into the inky black waters. 

    He still held the small group of Luminous Lilies, which seemed useless now. He tried to pull himself up, but with one flipper, that seemed nearly impossible. He considered letting the Lilies go, which was a stupid idea. Then he would have no light to see. The bridge rattled as weight was put onto it, jarring Turtle out of his thoughts. The rattling stopped and a face peered over the edge. Turtle nearly lost his grip. The light from his glowing plants threw perception onto the figure’s face. A wizened, old dolphin was illuminated. The only dolphin that was rumored to still be alive was Delphin. The expression on the dolphin’s face changed into realization and it chattered something Turtle couldn’t understand. 

    Looking at the blank expression on Turtle’s face, Delphin offered Turtle his flipper. Turtle decided to let go of the lilies and grabbed the old dolphin’s flipper. The little ball of light tumbled into the darkness and Delphin hoisted Turtle up onto the bridge. Turtle was so excited, he gestured to Delphin to follow with his flipper. Together, they ascended into more shallow waters and slipped into the currents, propelling them back towards the village.

    They arrived at the Garden of Triton and Turtle frantically gestured towards the assortment of corals. A look of understanding dawned onto the old dolphin’s face. He smiled and swam towards the dark lamp post which Turtle had taken the Luminous Lilies from. He peered inside and nodded to Turtle. Turtle stuck his head into the lamp and felt his beak bump into something hard and sharp. He opened his beak and clamped it around the object. He brought out a dark lump of thorns and looked blankly at Delphin. The dolphin quickly swam to another glowing lamp post and brought out a bunch of Radiant Roses. The sudden blaze of light threw the lump into focus. It was not thorns, but coral. Red coral. 

    Two days later, Turtle was bowing in front of King Gruber, who was admiring the beautiful red coral. The coral was the same shade of red as the king’s shell. Gruber turned to Turtle and threw the royal cape over Turtle’s shell: The Cape of The First Knight. Turtle wore it proudly, feeling the fabric as it waved in the current. After the ceremony, Turtle swam through the crowd of sea creatures congratulating him. Their words bounced resounded in his head, nice, but meaningless. The only praise he wanted was from a very specific dolphin. Finally, he found Delphin, alone, at the back of the crowd. All Turtle got was a single nod from the old dolphin, but for him, that was enough.