Fallen
If I could fly, I could return home. Hope glimmered in my eyes. Regardless of my surroundings, I found a patch of sand and settled on the bottom. I spring-loaded my legs and flattened my wings against my body, and then I launched my self. Putting all my bodily stength in to the action, I felt the water fighting against me, trying to hold me back. But then its grasp disappeared as a broke surface. I unfurled my wings when I got as high as possible, and sighted shore. Then, I started to fly home.
But something pulled me down. I looked down and saw nothing weighing down on me and, at that moment, realized my wings felt like breaking. NO! I screamed inside, and shrieked aloud, before plummetting back in to the sea.

New World
I drifted with the waves for a while, brooding over my loss. I could not fly.. I had grown gills and fins, and I would not have survived on the surface. After a long time, I have learned to accept this, grudgingly. I know I will never be able to fly like she can, by now, but that doesn't obliterate my longing to be in the sky...
Eventually, my stomach growled hard and ached like fire. I pushed back all pain and the thought of family and flight back in my mind, and set out to eat. I knew I wouldn't last long with energy.
Unfortunately for me, it seemed that prey was more on top of things than predator. The fish darted 'round and 'round, taunting and teasing me in their simple evasive motion. By the time I finally caught and ate one, I was just as hungry as when I began. In time, I would learn the ways of the ocean. Until then, I would feed hungry.
But I found easier prey. Clams, snails, and oysters I started on, only needing to pry them open with my tough claws to get at the vulnerable meat inside. Crabs were slightly more difficult, as they moved quickly away, but by blocking them off from the sides I put themf at a disadvantage. I progressed up the food chain, and when I reached near the top, where I was meant to be, hunger no longer occupied me. I had greater thoughts on my mind.

Longing
Thoughts such as that of flying and what had gone behind. It is true that I was surrounded by life, but I was all alone. It is like to a human surrounded by insects--there is life all around them, but no one to talk to and be with. My thoughts wandered to my family because she'd always been there with me, as far as I could remember, and I knew no one else who I had lived life with. I couldn't search for them in the sky, though. I knew that much from before. So, I went to search for anyone down, deeper.
I did not start far down. In fact, I started to explore right off the reef I had lived on until then. It had a gradual slope, then dropped off many feet. It was frightening, but need gave me courage, and I swam into the big blue.
It wasn't that dark, after all, as I found out. There was just more water. I wasn't used to so much room above and beneath me, being in only about twelve feet of water on the reef. Here, it was at least twenty, maybe twenty-five. But it was here I found something, something which would shape my life forever.
You have, no doubt, heard of trading ships? Well, ships don't always make it home. Storms can be violent over the ocean, and you can lose control of a ship. I've watched it happen. The winds force it this way and that. Waves tower over the deck, often falling down with great force and momentarily engulfing everone in water. Then, if luck deems against the poor crew further, the ship smashes into rock or coral undernaeth the surface.
It is an ironic fact of life that the same coral which destroys such a ship into a wreck builds upon it afterwards. The ship settles on the ocean floor, sometimes shallow and sometimes deep, and once stuck in place, if the ship can withstand the water's rotting it, coral begins to from over years and years..
It was one of these wrecks which had settled on the ocean floor, fifteen feet below me. This wreck was the first one, the beginning of a lifetime of voyaging... I descended into its embrace.

The Wreck
Wood was everywhere. It formed piles on the seafloor, and the mast was cracked in two. the ship was divided into two parts--it was a fairly new addition to the ocean, for the wood was still holding together where the storm and reef hadn't already pulled it apart. You could still tell it was a ship. The bow and stern were seperated from each other, creating a large gap in both portions where I could easily flee through. I approached the stern.
There was a door in the raised portion, one open and hanging on to the threshold. The other was ripped off its hinges, hanging freely. I pushed them aside, and entered. There were wonderful things in there--I was surrounded by beatiful, detailed fabrics, golden goblets and plates, a fancy chandalier.
But I cared not ofr any of these. Instead, it was a dark blue, glazed, small object that caught my attention. Hanging by a string tied around it, the round... thing swayed back and forth with the water's flow. Gently, I reached for the string and slid it off the chandalier's segment, and tried to figure out exactly what it... was. I put the string over my head, to rest on my neck, and swam away.
I returned to the reef, prying my mind to try and figure out what was hanging on me. I turned it over and over in my paws, but honestly, I hadn't a clue.
I just hept looking at it and, tired of getting nowhere, thought it might be food. I put my mouth over the skinny end, and it tasted bland. I let out a heaving sigh...
..and was surprised to hear a high-pitched sound escape. My ears perked, and I blew into it again, with point and purpose this time around. Yes, it made sound. Wondering what might come of it, I started to cover the holes with my paws, and different sounds came out--notes.

The Ocarina
I figured that, since it came from land, it might act differently in air than water. So, I quit blowing in it and started to swim off in the direction of a cave which, I knew held air--this cave, as it happens.
And, surely enough, it sounded much louder and clearer above the surface. I was delighted in my discovery, gleeful. And, I figured, there could be more where that came from. So, fast as I could swim, I dashed back to the wreck.
Instead of entering throught the double-doors I had first gone through, I went towards the bottom of the bow, where I figured the cargo might be. After scanning the front, I planned to search the stern. But it did not take long for me to forget about what I was searching for... I felt a swish of water, a diturbance in the stillness. My ears went up and out a bit, listening intently. I wasn't in a good place to be fighting off a predator. I would be able to escape through the gap I came in, unless the other blocked me.. I decided I'd play it safe, and approached the gaping opening quietly, slowly, so as not to disturb the water like whatever-it-was did.
It was a psychological race, really. I had to get out before it got in, and my mind was searching fro any sounds or signs of movement that would give way the position of the enemy. I did get out, but right in front of me was some sort of creature, possibly a Lupe... I back-stepped, or the equivalent of one underwater, and put my tail up in front of me as a weapon. I knew how sharp my spikes were. I bared my teeth, but it just kind of.. stayed there, maintaining it's position.
Then I had a thought. I flipped the insrtument up with my neck, and blew hard. I hoped to scare the stranger away with the high sound that followed..
Instead, he quirked a brow, mumbled something that sounded like "Interesting ocarina...", and swam off calmly. He was gone, but not frightened. More like intrigued.. Which meant trouble for me.

Into the Deep
Back on the reef, I tried to figure out what to do. The shipwreck was close to the reef--if that Lupe wanted to find me, he'd start here. I knew I had to move...
But I couldn't go back to the shipwreck, either. That was even worse. So, I'd have to figure out where to go. I swam along the reef, hoping that I might find another wreck farther off--the reef was quite long, after all. I'd find somewhere to take refuge from the Lupe..
Not once did I think he might be an ally. I had been isolated from such beings for too long, and so considered him an immediate enemy.
While swimming, I noticed a fish that seemed rather.. out of place. I had never seen its ilk before, and that bothered me. Usually, if foreign creatures came into the reef, the fish would react and take cover. But they didn't...
Then, fast as a bullet, the long, blue, new fish whisked over to me and pulled the ocarina, as the Lupe had called it, off my neck. With bubbly outburt of disbelief, I sped after it.
He swam nimbly, trying to lose me. But I always had him in my sights... we reached the dropoff from the shallow reef water to the moderate-depth water. I did not hesitate. Then, we reached another drop-off, one that went far down past where I could see... I swallowed, then followed him.
It became darker and darker, the world around me a haze. But the deeper we got, the more I realized--my markings were giving off light. I could see, more or less. And I was still on the pasky fish's tail.
the fish, a Soreen, stopped swimming down and swerved to the right. There was a wall of rocks there, and he went through a tiny opening... I put my head in, and the edge touched the middle of my whiskers. There was no way I was getting in there.
But I wouldn't leave without the ocarina. It was mine... I searched for another, larger entrance, and found it I did.
I went in, to encounter the Soreen. The little creature was utterly surprised, and sped out of sight, leaving the instrument behind. With a sigh of relief, I began to go for it.. But then, my markings lit up the Soreen, and what it was hiding behind. "You again," I spat. It was the Lupe.

Natucle
You. You sent that little... thief to steal it from me, didn't you?!" I then realized that this would not be a place to pick a fight, if it came down to blows. I had barely a clue where I was, only vaguely knowing the way back, and he probably lived here. I backed away.
Err... Actually... Ah..." It looked like he was trying to explain something, but couldn't spit it out. I dashed, snatching up the ocarina and heading for the door. "N-no! Wait!" he called out. I spun around, deciding to humor him. "I couldn't find you on the wreck, or the reef, so I sent Tukein to find you, and..."
Did you ever think that I didn't WANT to be found?
I wasn't trying to steal anything from you! It's just, you found that, and..."
I turned away, heading for the exit. "..and you don't know how to use it. You don't know how to make music. And I can teach you. My name is Natucle, and for a few years now I've found human instruments, and I've figured them all out, and..." I floated in place for a minute. "Don't you ever... get lonely? Music is my companion, in a sense. It eases my pains and puts aside my doubts. It gives me a moment of serenity, of joy. It gets lonely out here... It feels like music gives me wings."
I would've swum away right then and there. He sounded like some lovesick freak. But then, he mentioned wings--and memories of family and the longing to fly came rushing back to me. I wanted to see the sky again. I wanted to reach my family. My heart yearned for it..
Wings, eh?" I asked, and went back in.

Sea's Song
My name, Mysterybeam, doesn't seem special. But it reminds me a bit of the beam of hope I still have in my heart... That's why I've told you this long story along with my name--they're connected.
Natucle told me how music fills the world where it is empty, where you are empty. With skill, he believes, it can warm the coldest heart and cool the furious rage. With skill, it can reach down into the greatest trench in the sea.. and to the highest cloud in the sky.
To the sky.
Now, we work together, a team in song, for half of our time. And one day, one day, my song will reach into the sky, and I will fly.. I will connect in it to my parents. Maybe for only a moment, but that--that would be enough.