Chapter 2: ~ 2: A Vision ~

I had never seen any dreams except ones that were of great significance. Usually, they would be things that would happen in the future. Well, there was nothing great that would happen at school. But these meaningful dreams did show some remarkable things that would happen the next day. And luckily, they didn't happen to be scary, and I would be prepared for them.

So in a way, that little voice was right. But it wasn't a very significant one, so I brushed off the thought that I had ever had such an ability.

It was after a while that the blackness dissolved and created an image. I saw myself surrounded by water. I wasn't wearing any equipment, but funnily enough, I could breathe.

Before I could see what I looked like, a strange, hoarse, feminine voice echoed through the water. It appeared that my vision and hearing skills were ten times better than they were on land. But the echo made it difficult to understand. It took a moment or two for the words to hit me.

"Why has such a lowly creature entered the Sea Witch's Cavern?" the voice boomed.

I looked around for the source of the voice. In front of me stood a huge, magnificent gate. Its gold colour had faded due to the corrosion of the salts. Beside it, four guards were stationed with two guards on either side of the entrance.

"Does she not know how to speak? Take her away!"

"I have come to make a deal," I replied after hearing the command of being taken away and being thrown in some uncanny dungeon underwater. But the voice didn't sound like me. I would have passed it to be the slight change of my voice underwater, save that it was a completely different voice with little to no similarity with mine.

"Has she lost her mind?" said the others to one another. "It is impossible to make a deal with the Sea Witch!"

"Let her in," said the leader. "But be warned that such a deal can lead to your demise."

The great doors creaked open and the female, who I was in, went in through the dark tunnel alighted by gleaming jewels and treasures. At the end of it lay a beautifully illuminated cenote with stalactites adorning the ceiling. Upon a large rock in the middle of the still lake sat a female cecaelia, combing down her dark long hair, with her back towards us.

"Narcissa," said the female who I represented, after surfacing her head out of the water.

The cecaelia turned around. She had large eyes and dark, purple lips on her gaunt, white face. She could be called a pretty sight with her curly black hair until one moved closer and found out about her hidden fangs.

She smiled and said, "How lovely it is to see my older sister visit me! Have you missed me so much that you came all the way here?"

"Quit playing around. I'm here for important business."

"Alas, my sister is only here to take from me. She neither loves me nor treats me well."

"If the oracle doesn't concern you, then I'm fine with leaving."

Before she could turn around completely, Narcissa replied, "Of course I'm willing to help. But my sister can at least show some compassion."

'For the one who is willing to steal the throne and who stole my mate? I have no naive brain or heart to let the devil get the better of me,' were the words uttered softly and yet sharply by my possessor.

Narcissa clapped her hands twice and two servants, who were dolphins, came forth. "Bring the lady her bench," she ordered them.

They left and within a minute, a large, flattened rock was brought in by four of them. They placed it in front of the rock throne of the sea witch and left.

I swam my way to the seat. After coming out from the surface, I realised I was in the body of a mermaid. But it was different from what the fairytales portrayed. The whole body was covered in scales. It was only after the body came out of the water that the scales of the upper body disappeared but the fishtail remained.

The unknown female seated herself comfortably on the flattish boulder. Her body didn't transform into a human. She moved her wet dark red hair to one shoulder where it dried up in an instant.

The sea witch gave a vicious smile before saying, "So tell me, Sister Delinah, what exactly brings you here? I haven't heard the oracle in years."

She stared hard at her cunning half-sister, as I presumed her to be, before saying, "The oracle mentions about a human amongst our offspring. It wasn't said whether they would be a descendant of a merperson or a cecaelia or any other half-human creature of the sea that we don't know of. How can the parent of this creature betray us and give birth to a human?"

"You will have to show me the exact words of the oracle for me to interpret them."

"We all know that you can predict the very distant future, unlike the rest of us. Yet, you still ask for the script of the oracle?"

"Now, now. We don't want a mistake, do we?"

And so Delinah quietly, and most reluctantly, handed her sister the golden brown, waxed parchment paper after rolling it open. The words were in a queer language that was only spoken by the elite of the ancient creatures, as my mother had taught me. I was hardly able to catch a syllable before it was snatched away.

She read through the lines, smiling all along most mysteriously. The creepy smile raised the hairs on my skin, although I was asleep. It looked like she was plotting a most devious deal.

"There will be a human amongst our offspring," she spoke after a moment. "And, he, or shall we say she, shall be the only one to be able to live on land without visiting the sea. Which means that she would be as good as a sea creature with minimum or no powers. But it is possible that she can harness more powers by cultivating or by acquainting with her mate, both of which are tremendously difficult. She will be the only one to able to remove the curse on the future generation."

"What curse shall befall on them? The sea creatures have always kept themselves away from such associations with humans. The creatures, who have kept such connections, always died," remarked Delinah.

"How about you look at this mirror and find out about it yourself?"

The witch gave the mermaid an old, rusty-looking mirror from the materials she kept on the jagged rock beside her.

The mirror showed a beautiful mermaid with long curly locks of red hair and a bluish-purple fishtail. But the face disappeared and gave way to a scene of bloody water before I could admire her face.

There were scores of bodies floating towards the top of the sea before turning into sea foam, as they couldn't be buried. Nearly all of them were pierced with arrows, spears and blades.

"What is this? Why is there so much bloodshed?" the mermaid asked softly in horror.

"That's the curse that will be brought on the people of the sea," she uttered. Her face was alight with a smile - a smile that I have known to bring evil.

"There will be mutiny between the people," she said, confirming my suspicions. "They will fight with anyone and everyone to get the power of immortality, that lies in the blessed Regalia of Tymara. With that, anyone would have enough strength to take our father's throne. But of course, they can never defeat the ones who have nurtured their true powers."

"It only gives the power of immortality. So why would they chase after it? And who would give such a curse?"

"As I said, it is exalted. It gives immortality to the true bearer of the throne, along with other transcendent powers for healing, battle and more. Who wouldn't want to use these powers and rule all of Tymara? And as for the answer to the latter, the oracle doesn't say anything about it."

Such a sibylline answer hacked away at my insides. I felt that she was already on the verge of getting what she wanted of the mermaid princess.

'The answer must lie in the Mirror of Truth,' she mumbled, hardly audible to anyone but me.

So she looked back into the mirror and saw, to her horror, the answer to her last question. It depicted that the throne will be taken over by a sea witch, who possessed enormous powers to abuse the name of the throne.

"Thank you for your time," the mermaid said in a calm yet slightly shaky voice. "I will take my leave."

"Where is my payment, Sister?" the witch said dangerously. "Must I remind you that my services have a cost?"

"Then name your price. I will repay it if it is within my abilities. But you must not dare to ask me for my life or magic."

"Everything is a give and take. So, in exchange for such crucial information from me and my possessions, I want to be the heir to the throne of Tymara. Which means you will never sit as the Queen of this land."

"No, never. You are a heartless beast and will only torture the sea people for your desire for power and attention. Besides, your mother has already bewitched our father and uses her powers as a Queen to abuse the sea creatures after my mother died. Did you think I will let the same thing continue for generations on end?"

"My needs are endless. I always strive for more," she said in a silky, sweet voice as she got down from her throne and made her way towards the floating stone. "I was never blessed with a sweet life like yours. Isn't that rather bitter that I can't live in the royal palace?"

"Your greed will get the better of you. You have taken away everything that meant the world to me, and yet here you are, seeking revenge for something that wasn't meant for you. You are have been given much more than an illegitimate heiress is given."

There was a huge splash. The boulder, on which the mermaid sat, went forcibly underwater, and she was caught in the concealed trap. She couldn't use her defence or attack powers in the territory of the sea witch, so she had to plan her escape. But with the doors closed, she had to swim her way to the entrance and barge them open. But the cecaelia was too fast for her. Within a few seconds, she had caught up with her.

"Where do you think you are going? We had a deal. You must fulfil your promise," the beast spoke, smiling slyly.

The fiend wound her legs around Delinah's body, gradually seeping poison into her. She struggled, but the grip around her tightened. She was slowly killing her with her strength and poison, while I could do nothing to defend her. I could feel every emotion of hers: fearful yet determined to save her people.

I felt her trying to send a message using telepathy but to no avail. The poison was to blame for her disabilities. The servants only cowered in their rest areas in terror, while they watched the life being taken out of her.

"You know, the oracle has its ways," she stated, enjoying the mermaid squirm to free herself. I never felt such a sharp pain in my entire life. "There is always an 'if' to it. So I shall make sure that no royal descendant of yours shall take the throne that belongs to me. I shall have each one of them killed for joy."

"You haven't even cultivated yourself as I have," the princess of the sea choked out. "From where did you get that much strength?"

"Remember your lover? I killed him for my supper," she purred and cackled loud enough for the echoes to repeat them a thousand times. "When you are dead, the Regalia shall be mine. And on this land, I shall place a curse that none can undo, not even that human descendant of the sea."

With a swift movement of one of her legs, she severed her neck and everything turned black again.

I awoke with a start. The strange dream had my heart racing and my head pounding. I looked around and realised I had fallen asleep on the beach. I slept straight through the afternoon and now the sun was going down the horizon of the sea.

I looked down to pick up any little thing I had left behind. Beside the patch where I had slept was a large seashell - a horse conch, from what I had learnt - that was washed ashore. With the dream still fresh in my mind, I wondered if the seashell had anything to do with it.

Looking at the box, I recollected my father's words and gasped. I had completely forgotten to stay at home and be there if any important person arrived. With the chilly wind grazing my limbs and blowing away my red hair, I sped off in the direction of home, still clutching the first aid box.

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