The sea was like a completely different world to the land dwellers, having its own secrets and being home for many creatures that couldn't thrive on land. Humans had wondered what lies beneath the waves that carry their ships, but haven't yet discovered much, leaving a lot to their imagination. Of course, there are those very few who have had a chance to see what the underwater world is like, but their incredible tales are something a lot of people deem as fantasy, though there are also those cases that fellow sailors think are true. Nonetheless, the sea is a mysterious place and people can only ponder what it would be like to live at the bottom of the ocean, for it's one of the few places that hasn't yet been conquered by humans. But they respect the sea and remain endlessly curious about the life it hides under the surface.
And sometimes, these two different worlds collide, although subtly.
Meriri was a little mermaid who held a lot of curiosity in her heart. Long time ago she had developed an interest in the wreckages that had sunk to the very bottom of the sea. Finding all the strange objects from them was something she considered fun and she liked to wonder what they were used for. Humans were so weird, but very interesting at the same time. But that day, it wasn't her curiosity that had led her to visit the place where shipwrecks were resting, no, it was something else.
She had been there many times before, it was one of the places where she would return time and time again. Which maybe was a little strange, since not that many sea dwellers lingered around that part of the sea. Meriri was swimming through a patch of seaweed, staying close to the ocean floor, and little by little the sand started to turn from brown to blue. It was the first change in scenery which she noticed, but over time the lush surroundings that offered food and shelter to many sea creatures started to become barren. And eventually, it seemed like life itself was avoiding that corner of the ocean where she was going. Even light was staying away from there as the sea was getting darker and darker the further Meriri swam. Her completely blue body, decorated by darker blue spots, blended in with the shadows and those few brighter bits that still came her way. But the darkness was closing in, embracing this corner of the sea tenderly, although ominously. This didn't hinder Meriri's travel, however, because she had been blessed by a gem, embedded in her chest, that began to glow with golden light and helped her to see around. She was like a shining star, wandering alone in the vast darkness.
A somewhat solemn atmosphere ruled over this location. Soon enough Meriri came across the first shipwrecks that had laid there dormant for such a long time that nobody remembered their stories anymore. She was swimming among their black figures, they were like sleeping giants. They hadn't seen the light of day since the day they had sunken to the dark depths, but Meriri's little light gave them a welcome piece of sense that they hadn't been completely forsaken. Meriri wished she could learn what their stories were so she could cherish their memory and bring some sort of peace for them. But the best she could do was swim among them and her presence would serve as a reminder that there was still somebody who remembered their existence.
The water started to feel a little colder, but that wasn't new to Meriri. Besides, that was to be expected in a place like this. It was like a graveyard of ships and although many of them had been resting there for a long time, sometimes new arrivals would come. This part of the sea was rumored to be cursed so a lot of sailors avoided it if they could. But Meriri wasn't afraid of this so-called curse, in fact, she was the one who would help to lift it. Yet again it was the reason why she had come to this place. Somebody had to.
Meriri's little figure continued to wander among the shipwrecks and the waters were quiet like a grave. She tried her best to listen, because what she was seeking for could be found best if she could hear them. But so far, there was nothing but silence as the mighty bodies of the ships slumbered. Meriri was aware that she wouldn't find what she was looking for every time she visited this place, but she would try anyway, because she knew that it would bring peace to someone's soul. That was enough of a reason to continue doing this.
After searching for a while and swimming around many vessels that would stay in these depths for an eternity, a faint sound made its way to Meriri's ears. She stopped for a very brief moment, trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from. Once she was sure about which direction to take, she headed towards the sound, and it served as her guide. She bypassed a few smaller fishing boats as she followed the sad noise, and the closer she was getting, the more sorrowful feeling she got in her heart. It was the lamentation of a lost soul and no matter how many times Meriri would hear it, it always brought sadness to her own soul.
But she would make it all better.
A couple of more voices accompanied the one Meriri had heard first. It helped her to navigate among the sunken ships and finally, from the spot that was probably the darkest and coldest one in this remote location, she found what she was looking for.
Three human children were sitting in a shade of a large shipwreck, whimpering and shivering, they had pressed their little bodies against each other for comfort and trying to warm up, but all the warmth in their bodies had disappeared a good while ago. There was no shelter from the coldness of these depths. The children looked so lost, so hopeless and so afraid. The sight made Meriri's heart ache. But she would help them, that's why she was here. She swam towards the children and the bright light she wielded caught their eyes and they looked at the mermaid with curious eyes, her arrival caused them to forget their plight for a moment.
Once Meriri had gotten near them, she gave them a warm smile and said: “Have no fear, little ones. I will help you get out of here. Just follow me.”
All the children stood up eagerly, they wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible and who could blame them? There was no creature in the whole vast sea who would like to linger in that place for long. Meriri became their guide and with her radiant golden light, she started to escort the children out of there. She was swimming slowly, occasionally stopping so the children could keep up with the pace. They couldn't swim so they had to walk on the seafloor. But it didn't really hinder their going, bravely the little ones pursued the golden light among the many shipwrecks that unlike them couldn't leave the place. Silently the huge dark figures wished good luck for the children, because even they didn't want the young ones to be lost in a harrowing location like this.
Every now and then Meriri would make sure that the children were doing good. And sometimes when she would look at them, their forms would change for a brief moment, they would turn into black shades, their presence flickering between different dimensions – and then they would become normal again, as if nothing weird hadn't even happened, the children themselves hadn't noticed anything. Meriri had seen this happening before, it wasn't anything new to her, but it still gave her a strange sensation; it was like she had to hurry before the spirits of the children would turn too unstable to save. It was a legitimate worry, but she always had more time than she assumed. She could bring salvation to these little ones; she had already done that to many others before these three.
With her golden radiant light, Meriri was able to guide the children away from the last resting place of the shipwrecks. Little by little their surroundings had turned brighter and life seemed to get back into the sea. Meriri noticed that the children started to perk up as well as they curiously glanced around the wonderful underwater world where they were now. Meriri didn't need the light anymore so gradually it faded away, until next time she would need it.
The mermaid turned to face the children again and said: “Continue following me, there is this certain someone I want you to meet.”
“Okay”, exclaimed the little ones in unison, and for a blink of an eye they became shadows again, then getting their regular forms back.
Meriri took her leading role again and slowly started to swim forward, the children chasing after her as fast as they could with their tiny legs. The sea was getting more and more lively as they progressed and Meriri guided her little companions through gorgeous coral reefs which were bustling with life, something which the children hadn't seen ever before. All the beautifully colored fish and other animals did strike a sense of wonder in the minds of children and Meriri was happy to observe how amazed the little ones were, because now, the sea was their home. They probably wouldn't be able to return to the surface ever again, but maybe it didn't matter: this was a paradise.
For a good while Meriri and the three children were roaming around the underwater wonderland, mostly because everything was so new and foreign to the little ones and they truly enjoyed observing a lot of things around them. And Meriri let them have their fun, it did bring warmth to her heart. But even with this slow pace, they were getting closer to the destination Meriri had in her mind. And finally, at some point their wanderings led them to a cave, its mouth open and wide. A couple of weird lanterns that were glowing with a pale green light guarded both left and right side of the opening in the otherwise solid rock. These lanterns were always the sign for Meriri that she had managed to guide the children to the right place.
Once again she turned around to face the children and said: “Well done, my little ones! We made it! Now, shall we investigate what we will find from this cave?”
This caught the curiosity of the children and they nodded enthusiastically and rushed inside the cave, Meriri still in the lead. The dimness that prevailed in the cave devoured the mermaid and her little companions and for a short while they wandered in a soft darkness, which was so different than the blackness of the graveyard of shipwrecks; this wasn't cold or ominous, it was more like a safe haven. They progressed deeper into the cave by following the tunnel and it didn't take much time for them to get to the other end.
It was such a wondrous place. They had reached a chamber which was full of peculiar objects and instruments and the children were immediately mesmerized by the devices that were doing something at that moment, but they had no idea what their purpose was. Neither did Meriri. The chamber was like a workshop of an eccentric inventor. All of the three children had run to examine a device which was making huge bubbles in many different colors, all the while colorful liquids were swirling around its transparent insides.
“Oh, hello Meriri.”
Meriri turned her head to look at the direction where these words had come from. A familiar face greeted her; it was her friend Gahol. He was quite an unusual looking fellow: his lower body was like that of a fish and his blue scales glimmered in the light of many of the machines and other sources of lights in the chamber. But his upper body belonged to a grey horse, though he had hands instead of hooves. He was holding a golden rod in his hand and Meriri had no idea what he would do with that.
The attention of the three children were still in the weird devices, they hadn't paid any attention to Gahol. But he eyed the kids for a short while.
“So, you brought a few more to me”, he simply stated while he put the rod away.
“Yes”, Meriri replied tepidly. “You know how it is… I couldn't ignore their cries. I never can.”
“I've told it to you so many times already. Your heart is in the right place.” Gahol smiled at Meriri. Then he glanced at the children, just to see how their bodies became black for a couple of seconds, then shifting back to normal. “Hmm… They are a little bit more unstable than usual. But definitely not the worst kind of case I've seen.”
“I trust that you can help them”, Meriri said and a smile appeared on her face as well.
“Of course I can!” Gahol answered and looked quite vigorous.
Meriri felt happy for the children, she always did when they had managed to get to this point. Gahol was a nice individual who helped the spirits of lost children get adapted to life in the sea. He would grant them new form, fins, webbed feet, whatever they desired, but most importantly, he would give them an artificial heart that would shed some lifeforce back into their bodies. Gahol did this simply because he wanted to help and didn't expect to get anything in return. However, there was one grim occurrence that had motivated him to help the children.
Meriri observed from the side how Gahol introduced himself to the children and they were quite curious about him – they most likely hadn't seen a creature like him ever before. Meriri watched them interact with each other and little by little her smile faded away as sadness crept to her heart.
If only that one tragedy hadn't happened, these children wouldn't have suffered this fate… Thinking about it never failed to make Meriri feel sorrowful, because that event still continued to make innocent victims.
There had been a powerful sea witch a long time ago, living underwater like any other sea creature. And one day, she saved the life of a young sailor who had fallen to the raging waters during a storm. They were curious about each other, sharing stories about their different lives, since they were practically coming from two different worlds. And eventually, they fell in love. For a while, their shared life was perfect and they got two children together. They lived a happy family life, until the great tragedy happened.
The children of the witch had inherited her magical powers and they liked to practice their powers by transforming into animals that lived in the sea. One day, they had taken the forms of two sharks, and they had radiant golden scales that glimmered as the sun's beams hit them while they were swimming near the surface of water. And unfortunately, that day a ship with greedy people had been sailing through those same waters and noticed those stunning sharks they hadn't seen ever before. With their harpoons they hunted them down. The witch sensed how the light of their life was extinguished and went into a mad rage. She pursued the ship that had done this unforgivable deed and made sure that no one could escape her revenge. That ship became the first one to sink into the dark depths where nothing thrived. The witch placed a curse on that location: if her children couldn't pass those waters peacefully, then no one else could. Every ship that had children aboard would be brought down to the treacherous waters, unable to leave, and those children would have to wander as shadows for an eternity.
Then the sea witch just disappeared, along with her husband. Their fate remains a mystery, no one knows what happened to them. The only thing they left behind is the cursed zone where they lost their children.
Not even Gahol knew what happened to them, even though he was the brother of the sea witch. But he had taken it as his duty to help those that would succumb to his sister's curse. And Meriri, as his friend, had wanted to help him with this task and so Gahol had crafted a gem that could illuminate the way even in the darkest depths so she could guide the spirits of children out of the darkness.
Helping the children was something Meriri considered worthwhile. Just like at that moment, as she observed the little ones bouncing around and telling Gahol what they wanted to become, she knew that fighting against the curse was something she wanted to do for the rest of her life.
“Well, I'm leaving now”, Meriri announced to her friend who raised his hand as a sign that he had heard her. “See you, Gahol.”
Then Meriri headed back to the tunnel, wondering what the children would look like when she would meet them the next time.
