As Peng sank deeper and deeper into the icy-cold water, he watched the world of light slowly fade from view.
But what was this? His paws touched something hard. Scrabbling to catch hold, his tiny claws curled over the rough surface of rock. Here the underwater current was strong, threatening to carry him away. But he would not let go. He could not let go. Down below, the sea floor opened up into a five kilometre deep canyon. It was like a gaping wound across the earth’s surface.
Peng had landed on a narrow rock shelf on the edge of the Black Abyss. Silent grey shadows swam gracefully in and out of trees of kelp. They looked menacing. Sometimes a light would blink on, then off, then disappear. It was an unwelcoming world. A strange and frightening world for a creature who was still so young.
Staying close to the rocky wall, Peng moved slowly, making sure his grip was secure before taking another step. He discovered that if he moved his legs and his tiny tadpole tail in a certain way, he could move with the water, even turn and go against it. He was becoming used to the push and pull of the current. The silvery blue mane that rippled down his back also helped him to keep his balance. He was learning to swim.
On the other side of the rocky shelf he found a large cave. Here he could hide from the larger creatures of the deep with their staring eyes and rows of razor-sharp teeth that seemed to snap at anything that moved. At first he just hid inside the cave’s entrance and waited in case it was home to some other creature. But no one came to claim it, and so he moved in.
Peng grazed on seaweed and other grasses that grew on the rocks and ledges close by. And as he became more confident with his surroundings, he ventured out a little further each day.
Soon the months turned into years and Peng forgot that he had once come from the stars, from a world that was dry and warm and light.
He was turning into a handsome creature. His head was like that of a magnificent lion and a gentle buffalo all mixed into one. Around his mouth, white whiskers stood out like a bright sunburst. His eyes were the colour of emeralds, and all over his body were glistening scales, each one edged in fine gold hairs. A silvery blue mane ran down his back and finished in a stallion tail so that when he moved, he looked like a slip of liquid mercury swimming through the water. And in the middle of his forehead, a small golden horn could be seen breaking through the surface of the skin. Peng always knew when an underwater storm was approaching. His horn would itch and ache until the storm had passed and the waters were calm again.
Being young and playful, Peng was still learning how to control his great strength and power. Sometimes, with an over-enthusiastic swish of his massive tail, he would uproot whole water gardens. Or he would swim backwards, straight into the middle of a shoal of fish, scattering them everywhere.
At the entrance to Peng’s cave sat a large boulder. In a crevice underneath the boulder lived a striped coral snake. The two creatures became friends, and Peng would take the little snake on his travels as he searched for that other world – the one he often dreamt about – a world of alternating light and dark, of warmth and vivid colours. The coral snake would coil itself around Peng’s golden horn, like a sailor atop the mast of a ship, and they would set off. On each journey, Peng would learn something more about the world. He discovered new kelp forests and coral canyons and met a myriad of other sea creatures. He learnt that every creature in the world was connected in some way. Everything depended on everything else, whether it be for food or protection or shelter. It was a complex balance that maintained life.
But then one day, the sea began to change. It lay there dark and brooding like an angry old man about to explode. Peng no longer saw large shoals of fish or turtles swimming past his cave. He too, stopped his long journeys and kept close to home.
It was as if a dark shadow had fallen over his world.