Chasing Tide (A Merman's Tale And The Human Who Desired Him)

TREASURES FROM SEA.

Chapter: 47.
*****

There is also this sudden calmness he gets whenever he is around these wonderful women. Michael would say… “You’ve got the Grans complex!” A part of him always calms whenever he is around the older woman, and that part of him often believes in the fairy tales she often fed his mind. He didn't mind and never judged her. Rather he listened attentively and enjoyed the stories mostly because they often left these senses within him with a feeling he hasn’t been able to explain until now. He could have sworn on one of their visits to the ocean he had seen a mermaid but that could only be his imagination, having fed his consciousness with tales for so many years his mind is bound to create these scenes every once in a while.

Pulling those dusty old bags he waved dust off his view and coughed a few times but once all four bags were out in the open his grandmother slowly sat up in bed and helped him untie the bags which were sealed by some form of magic. It was mesmerizing to behold, the first fairy specks of dust he ever saw and the after flowery scent they left in their wake, it was so soothing. His mouth gaped the longer he stared without blinking. Carefully she pulled out a heavy white stone, it sparkled and made his eyes hurt. When he tried to touch it… it burned his hands but just a few seconds later the burnt palm healed itself like nothing had happened.

“Did you see that, grandma! You totally saw it too, didn't you?!” He cried in both fear and excitement as if he were a boy of six poking the hand into his grandmother's face and asking repeatedly if she saw it too. His childish gesture made the woman smile while nodding. “What is this stone?” He had asked before he could stop himself.

“This is a stone from Riveri, the home of the Merdragons.”

“What do they look like… these MerDragon?”

“The most beautiful of Sea creatures, elegant wings, pointy horns, shapeshifters, and flawless in deeds, their magical powers greater than you can imagine.” He was speechless after that, now, while he never doubted her stories or thought them fake or simply tales of a woman near her deathbed, he didn’t imagine they were this real or that the places he had heard named and mentioned to him in marathons of tales actually held memories attached to them.

At that moment he wanted to know more. His eyes traced her fingers rummaging through the next bag, she pulled many bracelets and rings, each holding different precious stones, their names never before heard by him, and these she called… “Bridal adornments from the Merelves of Ebilor. It was a gift to the princess on her sealing day." Then she proceeded with the next bag.

"A Sealing day?" He asked, immersed in these new magical treasures.

"Yes, we call it a wedding."

"Oh, the princess who married the human."

"That's right, little Matthew," he was no little but he loved it when she called him that. He watched her as a small glass bottle was retrieved, she carefully handed it over to him while whispering, “This is known as the Mountain Tears, it cures and heals any infectious disease but most importantly it restores the SoulPearl of all Sea Dwellers.”

“SoulPearl?” He asked.

“Yes, it's the Souls of all Sea Dwellers, located on the left side of their ribs, when pulled out or weakened a Sea-Dweller could die from it if not helped or recovered and the Mountain Tears are so powerful as well as dangerous when raw so before they could be used it needs to be diluted by the great physicians which are the Elves of Ebilor they are the only ones who could dilute the burning Mountain Tears for the consumption of the Sea Dwellers and only a Tideian can collect the Tears from the Mountains.” 

“A Tideian…”

“Yes, they are powerful Mermen and Mermaids, they keep Aquarial in a balance and as Neptune is the ruler of the Seven Seas so is His Tideian by his side.” After that, she proceeded to empty the last bag, flowers, in a sealed bottle vase with sparkly water was brought to his view and he gawked at the sight. Just how long have they been in that bottle and how are they still alive and healthy? He wondered but most importantly just how did she know all these things? If his memories served him correctly he had never heard them say they had visited this city so how was it possible that they know so much and hold so much.

“These are the rare purple rose of Scytis only grown by the Merfaires and a festival is held for it on the day they bloom.” Then finally she took the only jewel she wore around her neck the same his great-gran used to own and she carefully wrapped it around his own neck, it glowed and it felt as if it etched into his skin after that and he has never taken it off ever since.

Not that he didn't try…it just wasn't possible.

“How did you obtain all of these, Grandma?”

“From, my mother, your great-gran who inherited them from her mother and who also acquired them from her mother and so for generations it got passed down from mother to daughter, now while this was supposed to go down into your sister’s hands, the pendant didn't choose her but then I realize it was for a purpose, the pendant chose you,"

"Me?!" He whispered.

"Yes, from the day you were born, it glowed its first spark indicating a new bearer has been born from then on your great grandmother and I knew, and so we told you these stories so you could prepare for these responsibilities…"

"But, why me?"

"I wouldn't know, Atana chose you."

"Atana…" he muttered under his breath. He's heard that name too many times, he's grown familiar with it as if she were someone who he meets daily.

"If that pendant didn't choose you, it wouldn't have left my neck and accepted yours, and if you doubt me try to take it off."

He smiled and pulled at its strings but it wouldn't budge, he yanked but instead of coming off it burnt his hands and skin and so he quickly gave up.