“Preposterous!”
The temple of the rift, a fitting name for a structure at mere inches away from an underwater cliff. This enormous structure made out of marble and decorated with seaweed and the droppings and organs of a rare soft-rock bodied whale was a place of faith where even those of a lower caste could pay tribute to their ‘entity’ as well as their ancestors. Its walls being but statues of important priests and seers that brought riches to their community thanks to the miracles they conjured from their ability to talk to the rift, being lifted apart from one another and placed in a circular motion, with the altar right at the middle. Thus their community thrived with offerings, rituals and mass praying to the spirits of the water.
“To think my own flesh would utter such heresy! Don’t you have no shame!?”
The elder, the maximum medium from which the rift communicates its will, halted his stride as he threw the edge of his crimson cape to the side, a bewildered look upon his face as he gazed to a much taller, muscular and, of all, younger version of himself. While the old man wore relics and queer-shaped shells that denoted his status, the brutish-looking youngster wore nothing but a cover made out of seaweed to hide his decency.
“Father! I see no other way but for our people to prosper away from this ghastly hex, to try and claim the land that-”
“But nothing! Such a thing is forbidden for a reason, son. Those who dwell on land are nothing but monsters who wish harm for our people, can’t you see what’s so blatantly obvious!? This curse that befell our kin is because of our lack of faith. Hearing my own child speaking such ill just reinforces the truth!”
“The ancient scriptures did warn us of the outside, but never strictly forbid us to do so! This might be our only chance to-”
“Silence! I do not wish to hear more foolishness coming out of your mouth. If you have time to waste then help the ill, bring them food and prepare yourself for tomorrow. We will hold a mass ceremony to try and appease the Riff, and pray those filthy ideas away.”

“So that’s how it went, uh? Didn’t expect your father to be that foolhardy to be honest.” The large orca sighed as the piranha at his side shrugged. “But we still have a chance at maybe trying to appeal to the Riff, if we get the approval of the higher being we will-”
“Look in front of you, do you think we have the time?”
In front of the two were beds, several of them adorning a giant conch shell, aquatic beings swimming left and right trying their best to heal those who had gone down with this strange, incurable curse, the smell of rancid water and rotting body parts being ever so present the first time he set fins in here he was but mere seconds from emptying his hunting. Pain, sweat, often screams and horrendous malformations on newborn babies, whatever that dark water was, it brought them living hell. For a moment he thought this an act of the Riff but even at the time the first symptoms began to flourish and people began to fall prey to it his own father was perplexed as to the cause of it. Why, they had given a generous tribute to the Riff, the biggest in a hundred years. No doubt this was something else, for never in the history of their people have they been cursed with this, not even the most heinous of sinners were struck by such an unfeeling punishment.
He thought the only way to escape the tainted waters was to abandon their water refuge, let the Riff deal with the accursed poison in their home and then return when things were safer, for as far as he knew there was no vile water above them in the dry part of the world. Perhaps they could buy themselves enough time and maybe, who knows, let the evils be cleansed by being dried? Of course negotiations with his father, the highest authority of the temple, did not go as planned.
“You are leaving, right? Even against the wishes of your father?”
“What else is there but for me to lead those who are still alive and well to what I believe to be our only chance at survival? It kills me to leave to my kin, my father, you. But if we succeed and we bring proof that we can tame the land and that we’ve found a way to reverse the cure, then our kin will be saved!”
“You know, I want to think so too. I want to believe that we’ll live a happy life on land, that we’ll find whatever shit counters the curse and prove your father wrong. But this is real life! You are risking the life of males and females that can reassure the existence of our species. HALF, dammit, half of our kin are in death’s door and you wish to risk it all by going into an expedition where, and I quote, demons exist?” The piranha rose from her seat, eyes retreating from the orca, eyebrows relaxing but soon her attention left her friend, her facial expression still retained that bit of disgust on them. “Do as you want!”
The orca could do nothing as he saw his friend leave him, but he had to steel himself. He feared for what might happen if he were to be proven wrong, but what other solution was there? The magic and witchcraft were unable to lift this evil. No matter what, even when the fated day came, he ordered the start of their expedition with a weight on his heart, knowing full well that they were no different than traitors. Thus the group of aquatic creatures that believed in his ideals, that thought a cure might be found in land or those whose sheer curiosity had them accompany him soon moved in a large group to the closest island they could reach. They didn’t know what awaited them once they reached it, but anything was better than nothing. This is the story of those who braved the seas and formed a culture like no other, for the Riff acts in mysterious ways and often shows its children difficulty in order to let them see the bigger picture…