The tragic transformation of Nesoi

She slithered through the stocks of seaweed. Her tail, long and red, articulated like lightning through the briny depths. She was a bolt of burgundy zipping through fields of emerald. Nahia was looking for sunken treasure. It had no real value down in her world, however, Nahia found herself quite attracted to the various coins found resting on the seafloor. She had started to notice them at the beginning of the summer and had begun collecting them ever since.

When she would spot a glimmer of light from the seafloor, or when she combed the beds of seaweed, Nahia would race toward it and begin inspecting the beautifully molded pictures on the sides of the coin. As the collection grew, she noticed many coins had identical images and found that she could organize them into little sets. She kept them in a secret cove a few minutes away from her family's nest. The last time she kept a trinket from the land-dwellers, her sister Valda confiscated it and scolded her. Nahia would keep her prizes from now on, away from prying eyes.

She spotted a glint of yellow to her right. She quickly zipped over and began scrutinizing the ground. Sure enough, a gold coin lay half-buried by sand. She quickly grabbed it and began to polish inspect the image which depicted a land person, standing very proudly on a platform with a spear in its hand. She didn't understand what the pictures meant, but she loved to make up little stories for each picture she collected.

Just as Nahia turned to head back the way she came, the coin reflected a shimmer of green. She spun around to see a green glow beckoning her toward the fissure where it hid. Curiosity gripped her mind and slowed her movement. Nahia drifted closer to the opening, she contorted her form to get a better look, but the light was a bit too bright to make out the form. Drifting closer, she noticed the light beginning to dim. And so it continued, the further the got, the dimmer the light. And not just the light coming from the fissure, the surrounding light began to darken as well. It felt as if the light were pulling her toward it, gently and peacefully, like falling asleep.

She continued to slither toward the light. A gleam of desire in her eyes. Whatever was glowing was becoming much clearer now. It was not a shape she had ever seen before, but it was very much something made by the land dwellers. She gripped the mysterious carving, picked it up gently, and raised it to eye level. It was large, surprisingly light, and looked like a head carved out of wood. Its hollow innards pulsated with an emerald glow. Nahia felt something dark and mysterious echoing towards her. Not a voice, but still, a calling of some kind. A deep pit began to grow inside her stomach. She began to drift backward, not noticing her movement in the slightest. The mask was calling to her. The mask was communicating with her. It wanted to express something to her. It was asking her to p-

"Nahia!" Cried a firm voice from above the crop of seaweed. Nahia recognized her sister Valda's steadfast tone and her hands flung open in surprise. The mask dropped suddenly as if made of something heavier than stone. She did not realize she was floating over a large trench. Before she could glance down to see where it has fallen, Nahia caught sight of her sisters, Valda and Tyra.

"What did I say about land relics?" Valda said.

"That I'm not allowed to have them..." Nahia shot, with a touch of ice.

"No. I said they could be dangerous and get you hurt." Valda spoke flat

"Same thing." Nahia mumbled. Valda stared at Nahia. Nahia avoided her eyes. " I dropped it, okay?!" Nahia burst out. Valda gazed a moment longer, turned in silence, her face unchanged, and gently led the way back home. Nahia watched her sister glide forth, and started forward herself. She would have to come back later to collect her treasure. Tyra waited for Nahia to catch up, then joined her distant follow of Valda.

"What did it look like?" Tyra whispered.

"It looked like a head carved out of wood, but it dropped like a stone when I let go of it."

"Must've been heavy."

"It wasn't. It was actually... Well, I don't remember how much it weighed. Actually, I don't even remember picking it up. I don't really remember how I got to this part of the reef either."

"Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. Just a little lost I guess."

They continued behind Valda and vanished into the distance. Moments earlier, the mask was plummeting further into the depths of the massive trench. Far below where Nahia had dropped the mask, a duel was taking place between a rather homeless hermit crab, and a playful, all be it somewhat unruly octopus. This battle had begun when the hermit crab, mistaking an empty rum bottle for a larger living space, had abandoned his old shell and was ready to take up its new residency. At that same moment, an octopus was on the lookout for something to eat. The octopus had spotted the jar as well, and, assuming a morsel of food was waiting inside, crawled its way toward the translucent green container.

The hermit crab, upon arriving at the jar, was interrupted by the octopus rudely, and unawarely, inserting itself in the jar. The hermit crab did not take kindly to this action and made the octopus aware of this by pinching its tentacle. The octopus spun quickly to view the source of irritation. Upon seeing the naked hermit crab, the octopus began to try and communicate. While attempting to speak the body language of a hermit crab, this octopus thought it best to take the shape of a hermit crab. It did this by sticking six of its tentacles out of the jar opening and using its remaining two to properly angle the jar into that of a hermit crab shell.

Sadly, the hermit crab misread this tableau as a mockery of its lack of a shell and promptly began to attack the octopus in a fit of insulted rage. The octopus, now on the defense from an insane naked hermit crab, launched out of the rum bottle and began to strong-arm the assailant's natural weapons. As they wrestled and kicked up a storm of sand, an emerald glow began to light the arena. The crab and octopus only paused for a moment to look up and the falling object, and while still entangled with one another, a large mask landed right on top of them, covering both.

For a moment nothing happened. Then an explosion of emerald and gold light shot out from the eyes and mouth of the green face. The octopus and crab began to feel an odd sensation. It was as if they were both seeing three different things at the same time. Not only seeing, but hearing, feeling, even thinking three different thoughts at the same time. A few seconds later, and the thoughts began to merge. The octopus now understood how rude it had been in the eyes of the crab. The crab now knew how vicious it had been toward the octopus. And they both know that they had much rather have been attached to the curious mermaid that had dropped her moments ago. The fusion was complete and Nesoi, Goddess of islands, was transformed.

Thank You for Reading

Kougar Vakarian.