Chapter 2 | Merman

Waking up after several months of being in a coma, Qykerth was confused, where was he? 

Getting up from the bed of glowing stones he was on, he stretched his aching body and looked around the cave. He saw that the cave was covered in a variety of flowers and vines, attached to the ceiling of the cave were these odd looking eyeball things that made it possible to see within the cave but the light shining off of them was dim.

Rustling sounds came from behind him frightening Qykerth. Just as he turned around to see what it was he was attached by the red scarf who wrapped itself around his neck body and hugged him.

Looking down at the familiar scarf, reality hit him and hard. Just as he was about to break down in tears he heard whispers, “Come everyone, big brother is awake!”

Qykerth looked around and saw that from all the flowers around him, miniature humans rose into the air, stopping at eye level and looked at him. He was surrounded by women and men that were adorned in leaf clothes and babies too.

“It’s true, it’s true, big brother is awake,” he heard again, but couldn’t make out where the voice came from.

“Alright everyone back to your homes, our big brother just woke up, give him some space,” a fairy said that came flying into the cave on a red bird and stopped beside Qykerth’s head. He looked down at the fairies and gave them stern looks making the grumble and return to their flowers.

Qykerth starred at the fairy and saw that he didn’t have beautiful shimmery wings like the others. The fairy suddenly turned to him and beamed, “Brother you’re up, how did you sleep? Was the bed comfortable? Did you dream?”

Qykerth looked at the fairy that was rambling on and on with millions of questions trying to process them. “Wait,” Qykerth suddenly said.

The fairy stopped talking and looked at him eagerly, “Who are you and where am I?” He asked before the fairy who opened his mouth to say something could speak.

The fairy blushed, “Oh, forgive me, I’m Lancer and you are in Drawa Tirem, well in a cave within the Blossom Valley that is located on the outskirts of Drawa Tirem.”

Qykerth looked at Lancer confused, “How did I get here from my home?”

Lancer’s face brightened up, excitedly he answered, “Our great elders friend brought you here, he said you were ill and needed to rest so we’ve been looking after you ever since, come, come, let me show you around, it’s almost time to eat, what would you like, we don’t have dragon food here unless you want to eat the rabbits and dear but killing creatures is forbidden in Blossom Valley so you might want to consider eating fruits and vegetables, I’d offer you some fish but they are our friends.”

Qykerth eyes rolled to the back of his head. Lancer was rambling on while the red scarf was pulling him forward by force. Since he was himself curious about where he was, he followed willingly until he recalled Lancer referring to him as a dragon.

As they stepped out into the light from the cave, Qykerth’s eyes became blinded and shut closed. He grumbled while rubbing his eyes, then sighed. After his eyes adjusted to the light Qykerth looked around and became breathless.

They were really within a valley covered in blooming flowers and trees that bore fruit. Lancer looked at Qykerth who was marvelling at the beauty of the valley and felt proud, “This way,” he said, tugging at the scarf covering Qykerth.

The two of them came to a waterfall where Qykerth washed his face and within the water he saw his reflection, his eyes were pitch black and his skin was covered in crimson scales with gold hues that reflected in the sun.

His hair was long and lining his back, frowning, he remembered that his hair only grew this long when he didn’t cut it and the last time he recalled, he had short hair. Qykerth looked over at Lancer who was dipping his feet in the water while the red bird sat on the smooth rock beside him and asked, “Lancer, how long have I been asleep?”

Lancer looked over at him, then shrugged, “You’ve been here since before I was born, but I am thirteen months old, so brother should have arrived a few months prior to my birth. Don’t worry about it, our elder is wise and has all the answers.”

“Thirteen months?” Qykerth mumbled. He looked back down at his reflection and saw two Sapphire blue eyes looking back at him. He frowned and moved closer to take a look but was disrupted by Lancer who called for him to hurry up.

Qykerth looked at Lancer who was already a distance away, then looked back at the water and saw that there was nothing inside it. Scratching his head, confused, he thought it was his imagination and got up, just as he turned around, he saw something from the corner of his eye in the water and looked back.

At the foot of the waterfall, a head was peeking out with those Sapphire eyes looking straight at him. White hair covered the head and was floating on top of the water. Lancer yelled out again and the thing in the water went back down, leaving Qykerth standing there stunned.

Lancer flew over on the bird annoyed, but tilted his head when he saw Qykerth’s stunned expression, “What happened?” he asked curiously.

Pointing to the waterfall Qykerth said, “There was someone in the water.” Lancer looked over at the waterfall, then shrugged, “You probably saw a mermaid.”

“Those things are real?” Qykerth asked baffled.

Lancer burst out laughing, “Yes, very real and they are unfriendly towards other races.”

“My mother said they eat humans,” Qykerth said, bringing up the emotions he was trying to hide.

Lancer looked over at him with a raised brow, “How can they eat humans, they live in the depths of Anaeco, they eat sea bugs and fish!”

“Anaeco?” Qykerth asked, confused. Lancer shook his head, “I’ll bring over scrolls for you to read, I won’t be explaining.”

Lancer loved to talk and knew almost everything but explaining the world to someone was something he refused to do, that was like explaining every fruit and flowers name, it was meaningless and wastes time.

They arrived at the elder tree, but was told that the elder was out taking care of something. Lancer took Qykerth to his new home that was up in a tree that overlooked the beautiful valley and lake up ahead, after showing him around Lancer said, “Alright, you are free to roam around until the elder gets back big brother. The babies will be here shortly with your food so be patient, you are welcome to go down to the lake as well to take a bath, the water is filled with spiritual energy that will be beneficial to you.”

After Lancer left Qykerth dropped to the bed and held his arms in front of him. Examining his skin, his heart tightened. Tears slipped out of the corners of his eyes as the last scenes he remembered returned.

“If I was here for longer than thirteen months, what happened to momma’s body? And my father? Does he know that I am not there and about my momma?” Bringing the tail up that had been dragging behind him the whole time, he looked at and sighed, “Why do I look so hideous, will father recognize me after meeting me again? Will I see him again? I need to tell him about momma.”

“Big brother, can we come in?” A tiny voice called from the door. Qykerth only realized now that his hearing was far better than before. Quickly sitting up on the bed, he answered, “Yes!”

Five chubby Fae babies accompanied by twelve blue birds came in holding a braided leaf platter filled with fruits, breads and a few fish. The sat it down on the table and flew over to Qykerth, “Big brother, if you need anything else, please let us know. You can drink water from the well outside your room.” He thanked them and showed them out, returning to the table, he looked at the fish and frowned, “Didn’t they say the fish are their friends?”

Chuckling, he sat down and ate the assortment of food and found stiff pink jelly sweets covered in powdered sugar. Taking a hand full of those sweets he made his way down to the lake with thoughts of his mother flooding him.

Arriving at the lake he sat down on the edge and placed his feet in the water all the way up to his knees. His head slumped down as tears flowed from his eyes down.

Within the water, something swam towards him and stopped under its feet. The mermaid he saw before looked up at him and was very curious about this creature that suddenly appeared that he had never seen before.