"I remember that day..."

"It was impossible to forget...."

***

It was dawn. The sun rose over the horizon staining the blue sky red and orange. The light shone on the never ending ocean and the world was silenced, no one was awake, no one apart from Spirit who by the looks of it was still half asleep. Her big ears were lopsided making her look more like a fennec fox, the fur on the back of her neck was all ruffled up and her eyes were still half closed (talk about a 'sleeping beauty') she stuck her tail end in the air and lowered the front of her body to the ground stretching her muscles trying to fight back any sleep she had in her then she yawned so widely that her head could have split in half, she scratched her eyes with her front paws and shook off her entire body.
She looked out into horizon watching the lagoon glisten in the light.

"If only everyone was awake to see this." She thought, Spirit was still only about 5 years old so she wasn't able to talk yet but she could use clicks and squeaks to communicate with the rest of her pod. She was about to dive into the water until she felt something tug on her tail, she turned around to see what was holding her back and all she could see was a large paw, the paw belonged to her father Kotar.

"What are you doing up so early?" Kotar asked little sea lykar, Sprit used her nose to point at the water indicating that she wanted to go stretch her tail out. "You're not going anywhere at this hour." Spirit's face dropped and she grunted loudly.

"Come on Kotar," said a voice behind him that startled him. It was Kayla. "She needs to learn independence sooner than later besides no one will be up it's too early." Spirit looked up at her dad, her eyes wide. Kotar smiled at his daughter's attempt to be cute.

"Alright then," he gave in, letting his paw off of Spirit's tail. "But don't go past the lagoon, okay?" Spirit nodded, smiling ear to ear with her tail free and wagging uncontrollably then she dove head first into the water.

"She's just like you." Kayla laughed as she smiled at her mate, Kotar smiled back.

Spirit swam over to the front of the lagoon, sliding out onto one of the rocks near the edge catching the sun on her face, she looked around the lagoon as the other lykars were starting to wake up, she heard the choir of yawns and grunts of the rest of the pod then one by one they dived into the water.
Spirit inhaled through her nose and sighed feeling the breeze on her face, she looked to the sky and saw that the seagulls were flying over the lagoon and she followed them. She dove into the water beating her tail up and down gliding through the water at incredible speeds, she jumped out of the water over 3 her height and threw her body back to perform a back dive then she jumped out of the water and on to the rock at the edge of the lagoon, running as fast as her legs could carry her, hopping from rock to rock until she reached the shore and sprinted, trying to overtake the seagulls. She got faster and faster until she reached the far end of the lagoon where the opening to the ocean was she leaped up onto one of the rocks and watched as the seagulls flew over her head. Spirit let out a loud squeal as they flew out of sight.
This was paradise. She knew that this was where she belonged.
Spirit gazed at the lagoon from the rock that she stood on, she watched and listened to the lykars as they sang.

Run like you're born to fly
Live like you'll never die
Dare what you dare to dream
And everything in between

We are drawn by the rhythms that beat through our hearts
When we all come together we're seven billion stars

The world is ours
Ooh ooh o o o
Seven billion stars
The world, the world, the world
The world is ours

Sing out your battle cry
Under the stadium sky
Oceans and land divide
United we feel inside

You can stand on my shoulders and raise up your arms
When we all come together we light up the dark

The world is ours
Ooh ooh o o o
Seven billion stars
The world, the world, the world
The world is ours

After the song was over Spirit looked out into the ocean and the large cliff that stood next to the lagoon, she always wondered what was over that cliff. But all of a sudden something caught her eye. It was a boat, a large boat with a crane at the side of it but the worst thing of all is that it stank causing Spirit to scrunch up her face. Why was it here?

Iris was on the shore with Branch until she heard a screeching noise, she climbed up onto the side of the lagoon.

"What is it?" Branch asked, Iris's eyes went wide but she didn't say a word, Branch knew that something was wrong so he climbed up onto the rock to see what Iris was looking at and his jaw dropped. There was a boat but not just any boat, A hunting boat it was right at the end of the lagoon and there were figures on the boat throwing nets into the water. The lykars were panicking, Branch saw Spirit running to find her family but the crowding of the panicking lykars trying to escape made it impossible for the young sea lykar to find them.

"We need to get them out of the lagoon." Iris stated, Branch nodded in agreement. They ran over the shore and yelled at the lykars to get out of the lagoon. The entire pod crowded towards the entrance desperately trying to escape. Nets were being tossed into the water causing sea lykars to get tangled up in them. Kayla was separated from the rest of the pod, she couldn't find Kotar or Storm so she let out a squeal to try find them.
The sound of the squeal hit Spirit's ears and she started to swim towards it, she saw Kayla and swam to her. After the two were reunited they made a break for the entrance but before they could reach it the entrance of the lagoon was sealed off by a net that the men on the boat threw down to stop any other lykars from escaping. Spirit and Kayla were trapped they had nowhere to go. The men threw nets around the remaining lykars in the lagoon and pulled them onto the boat, Branch and Iris watched in terror as the boat began to leave, they could hear Kotar calling for his mate and his daughter but there was no response.
Branch ran to the edge of the lagoon tears running down his face, Spirit was the only thing that had kept him happy and she was gone.

"No no no no no, we can't let this happen, we have to get her back." Branch cried as he attempted to catch up with the boat but Iris grabbed him by his tail trying to stop him, he kept on pulling and pulling trying to slip out of his sister's grip.

"Branch, it's too dangerous, she can't be saved." Iris cried, Branch stopped struggling, he stood still in disbelief. Iris let go of Branch's tail and stood next to him, she wrapped her arms around him and brought him in for a hug. Branch started to cry, Iris stroked the back of his head trying to fight back the tears she had inside. The rest of the lykars came back into the lagoon with their heads held low Kotar and Storm stood on one of the rocks surrounding the edge of their home, they were silent. Kotar suddenly let out a loud squeal of sadness, all the other lykars joined in, the sound was long, sad and hard to listen. They carried on until the noise faded into silence.

When Spirit and Kayla were on the boat they were taken to a dark room at the lower level on the boat and they were put into separate cages that was confined so tightly that they could barely move. Spirit poked through the bars and looked around, there were so many lykars in the room, some were lykars and some were sea lykars, some were alive but some were dead. Spirit stuck her paw through one of the bars trying her best to reach her mom who was in the corner with her head held low, she turned around to face her daughter.

"It'll be fine Spirit," Kayla reassured her. "We'll find a way."

The boat pulled to a stop and the lykars were unloaded with muzzles around their faces and were brought to a strange place; they were inside for a while but eventually were taken outside. Spirit looked around, the place had 4 concrete tanks, opposite the biggest tank was a bunch of seating rows, it was like a giant stadium. Inside the tanks there were sea lykars jumping out of the water with snatchers yelling at them. Snatchers are a lot like bergens but they were much more selfish. They looked a a lot like humans.
Kayla and Spirit spent some time in a small tank by themselves but 4 snatchers walked over to the pool and threw a rope around Kayla's neck pulling her onto the shore, she thrashed around trying to escape them but it was no use. One trainer got out a brander with the end of it flaming hot, they held Kayla down and pressed the hot metal against her shoulder, she let out a shriek of pain as the snatchers pushed her back into the pool then they threw the rope around Spirit, dragged her out on the poolside and branded her square in the chest, it left a huge brand mark in the shape of what looked like a whale fluke and this mark meant that Kayla and Spirit belonged to the snatchers until they die.

***
"It's been 10 years since that incident but I have still been doing the same thing all day, everyday. We perform for crowds and crowds of people hearing the loud roar of cheers they make when we leap into the air, it's not everyday you get to see a sea lykar up close so these snatchers capture us and force us to perform for money but when we're not performing we are staring at the concrete walls of the tanks without moving for hours. I have seen sea lykars come and go as they are captured and killed, the ones who survive are considered lucky but each lykar that I have met has a tragic story, Shadow had to watch his entire pod die in front of him, Aria was born in captivity but her mother got into a fight with another lykar and was killed because she couldn't escape and my friend Askar was born on a breeding farm but within a month of being alive, he was taken from his mother and sent to perform. Askar and I have been really close since we met when we were little and we still dream of roaming the ocean together. As for my mother, she was taken to what we call 'the slaughterhouse' where old or permanently injured lykars get sent to, there they will live in the worst condition possible, they don't usually survive past 2 or 3 months. I knew that my mom was gone.
I am sick of living in this condition, the water is so shallow that when we dive into the water we hit our noses on the bottom of the tank, we get so depressed that we attempt to strand ourselves on the poolside. I know that my pod is still out there, my dad, my brother and I hoped that they missed me, as much as I missed them."