Escape

The night came once again to the small island where a human and his family happily lived; a mermaid and the beings she loved most. Like every night, after a day of exploring and teaching their children new things, they sat around a campfire listening to stories about their ancestors, humans and inhabitants of the deep.

The soft sea breeze blew gently, raising a small flare, and a thousand sparks scattered like fireflies of burning red light.

"Wow, you were late today," August greeted.

—I only reinforced one of our defenses underwater. You can't be sure enough about anything, something I learned the hard way—she greeted her husband with a warm kiss on the lips.

Karen arrived at that moment from within the sea; The fish part of their body transformed into legs every time they touched land.

Sitting next to her husband August, she began her story:

"Do you remember, my children, the story I told you yesterday?" he asked the two little ones who were waiting, sitting in silence.

They both nodded and remained silent waiting for a new story. Karen didn't keep them waiting too long.

«I had left everything behind; to my town, my city, my people, my father and my mother who so bravely protected me. He was fleeing desperately. And I didn't know what would come next.

As if it weren't enough; I also knew that the empire had not yet ceased its search for me. That fear present at all times gave me strength to move forward.

Although it was not just fear that drove me, because in a certain way I felt the protection of some force or the presence of something that gave me that feeling of tranquility.

The memory of my mother fighting, covering my retreat, was like a thorn in my mind. An unbearable pain invaded me every time I remembered that moment, when she told me to run away, to leave her behind.

His desperate smile; and contradictorily full of hope, as if he knew something that I didn't. That smile that only a mother knows how to give even in the hardest moments.

But still; Even with so much pain, I obeyed. I had no choice; If I stayed I would have been a nuisance for my mother. I guess I still have hope that he survived and is on my quest; Or that you are happy somewhere in this entire vast ocean, knowing that I am safe.

Well, I was swimming for two consecutive days. At all the speed he could swim in unknown waters. Sometimes my strength failed and I was carried away by the currents. But I recovered quickly, with my mother's words in my thoughts.

That's how I was; without knowing where I was going, without destination, without direction, without hope of finding a loved one again. That's how I was; alone and helpless, at the mercy of destiny.

But this is cruel many times. At dawn on the third day, I felt a vibration in the earrings that my mother had left me as a souvenir. I didn't understand anything; but that vibration invaded my body with a strange sensation of danger; as if they were warning me.

As I well knew, the empire continued to search for me and was almost upon me. Without having tasted any food, except for some fish that I was able to catch and some other plants that I well knew were edible, I was almost without strength.

He had spotted an island in the distance; this island, and I was heading towards it as fast as I could. I tried to get as far away from my pursuers as I could.

But it was totally impossible to get there; but not before knowing what he was capable of.

Suddenly; Before my vision, beneath the waters, several points appeared in the distance that were moving at high speed towards where I was. They were soldiers of the empire. I was lost (or at least I thought so).

It was then that I noticed a change in me, that because I had my thoughts elsewhere, I had not seen. My fish half, before, were white with blue flashes on the tips of my fins; and now it was totally blue. My whole body was blue and reflected the sparkles of the water.

I remembered my mother as the soldiers got closer and closer. I remembered that fearless and deadly warrior who had stayed behind so that I would be safe.

I remembered the feeling of fear I had experienced three days before, but at the sight of the soldiers of the empire, these quickly turned into almost uncontrollable feelings of contempt and hatred , and began to invade me.

I wanted to scream, to cry, I wanted to be more powerful. Every part of me wished I had the power to defend every inhabitant of my lost city. And to a certain extent, my wish was fulfilled.

Out of the water, a storm was beginning to break out in the skies. I covered my face with my hands. I didn't know why he did it since tears can't be seen under water.

I began to cry again while in my mind, I saw everything that had happened days ago. My town destroyed, its inhabitants murdered, my father betrayed and my mother fighting at all costs.

I couldn't contain myself any longer; I screamed at the top of my lungs, with all the strength my body possessed at that moment. And the scream was a mixture of pain and hatred at the same time. My body then began to glow, the waters became agitated and darkened.

The storm occurring outside the ocean was growing stronger; It had begun to rain in torrents. The lightning was blinding; The thunder was deafening even beneath the waters. The currents had become violent and treacherous.

My body was filled with energies that I had never felt before, something totally new and it was then that I felt his voice in my mind for the first time.

"You have never been alone, my princess," he said with my mother's voice.

The earrings they had put on me were the link with Aed Alus. I was the successor of my people, I was the queen of the fallen Phisalya. All the secrets of the earrings were revealed in my mind. I instinctively looked down.

At the bottom of the ocean, I could see a blue flash that was getting bigger and bigger by the moment. It was him, our deity; the god of my fallen people who came to my rescue. It was surrounded, but in the face of danger, Aed Alus raised a huge mass of water that carried them away.

Some were crushed, others were torn apart in the blink of an eye by the powerful whirlpools it had created. Many were thrown out of the water, and the few remaining were devoured alive.

There was none of them left who could escape. Aed Alus did his job of protecting me.

Several tried to kill me by throwing their weapons. They tried. But they were swallowed by a huge sea serpent that devastated everything in its path. When it was all over, only then did I become myself again.

Aed Alus approached and I was able to pet him gratefully. Its beautiful skin and scales are very hard; harder than the strongest metal ever created on earth, and at the same time as flexible and shiny»

Karen paused briefly, took her partner's arms to cover herself with them and feel the heat of his body. Then he continued.

«Fortunately or unfortunately, that day I had also seen a human ship near that place. Near this island, where we live now. By luck or perhaps fortune she had been involved in my war, and almost all of her crew had died as well; except for one boy who was clinging to a plank to stay afloat.

The entire sky was completely dark due to the storm. It rained incessantly and the ocean waters moved furiously. It was then that I saw him, through the flash of lightning.

He was almost on the verge of drowning and I went to meet him. I brought him to this island. It was a surprise to me to see that we were almost the same age.

Several months passed in which we shared immense pain. I had lost my entire family, and I had been (although unintentionally) the cause of the boy losing his.

Little by little we recovered. Little by little we began to see each other, we began to talk to each other and heal our wounds. He started talking to me, but I still wasn't able to forgive myself for what I had done.

"But, by then, I had already forgiven you," August told him, drying his tears, "you had no alternatives and you didn't know me." Plus, you weren't aware of what you were doing.

—But still I….I— Covering his face, he cried. With the sob of a heartbroken little girl —I hurt the person I love the most.

August watched her, his children all watched her full of warm emotion. They hugged her and were silent for a while, until Karen calmed down, took a deep breath, and continued.

Some time later; In this same place, on this same beach I got my new name: Karen, that's what your father called me. This wonderful man who sustains us.

And I was never so excited in my life, except; when years later, you arrived. I had created my own family, and only then, was I able to understand my mother's actions.

They all hugged again, but this time full of joy and smiles. August to Karen; the children to their mother and father. The children at the center of the two of them knew they were protected.

It was a full moon night. Karen looked at the ocean, and at the foam raised by the waves; Through the clarity of the moon on the water, he could see a beautiful, long blue dorsal fin cut through the waves as it receded into the ocean.