Hold on a sec for this important lore reveal....
(Mermaids in the ocean exhibit tribal–like characteristics based on their tail colour. That is,the different coloured don't usually mix that much. Those with the same tail colour live together in mer–villages or mer–settlements called Merpools. Merpools are named after the general common tail colour of the mermaids within. For example, Yellow Merpools for yellow tailed mermaids, Green Merpools for the green tailed...and so forth.)
* Let's get back to the story now.*
The waters of Blue Merpool shimmered with their usual calm, the domed coral homes glowing faintly in the fading light. Captain Annabelle swept into the village with urgency in her tail, her sword still slung at her side, her shield strapped across her back. She wasn't here as a warrior now—she was here as a mother.
"Celestine," she whispered under her breath, scanning the clusters of merfolk drifting through the oceanic streets. Her heart thudded harder with every moment her daughter did not appear.
She stopped by a group of neighbors, their blue tails fanning lazily in the water. "Have you seen my daughter? Celestine?"
One mermaid blinked, shaking her head. "I know nothing of her, Captain."
Another snorted and crossed her arms. "The only daughter of yours we know of her whereabouts is Kristina—the cursed one with the purple tail."
"How dare you! She's still my daughter,"Annabelle snapped fury burning within her. But,she restrained herself from shattering the annoying mermaid into pieces with her sonic cream.
A ripple of uneasy laughter followed from the group. Some turned away, some smirked knowingly. Annabelle's jaw tightened, the weight of their words pressing down on her chest.
She pressed on, ignoring the sting, searching every shell-street and kelp garden of Blue Merpool. But Celestine was nowhere.
So she left, darting through the great currents, stopping at the Orange Merpool, the Green Merpool, the Yellow Merpool. She scoured the smaller mervillages tucked into reefs and caves. At each stop she repeated the same desperate question. She only got silence or shaking heads for an answer.
Her daughter was gone.
Annabelle floated alone in the vast blue, her eyes hardening with resolve. "If you are out there, Celestine," she murmured, "I will find you. Even if I must scour every ocean trench, I will not stop."
With a flick of her tail, she dove deeper, vanishing into the dark waters—beginning her quest across the endless ocean.
************************************
Celestine materialized once more on the very same shore where she had left Mike. From a distance, she watched him vanish into the streets of San Diego, swallowed by the noise and brightness of the land.
"He belongs to the land. You belong to the ocean," the Crab's girl-like voice reminded her.
Celestine's eyes burned with tears. "I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't have come to the shore," she whispered, her voice breaking. "Thanks to my pride, I'm stuck here… an outcast… with a useless fishtail."
"Hold on, Celestine," the crab said gently. "There's a way to break the curse. A way to return home."
Her head snapped up. "Really? Tell me, Magic Ring..."
"First of all," the crab interrupted, diving into the sand, "my name is not Magic Ring."
"Oh… then what is it?"
A moment later, the creature reemerged—not as a crab, but as a thumb-sized orange Argentine ant crawling across the sand.
"My name is Raho," it said, its voice still girlish and clear. "The last of Goddess Alora's magic artifacts."
Celestine's jaw dropped. "Did you just say Goddess Alora? The mother of all ocean life?"
Raho gave a playful nod. "That's right. And, for the record, I'm sixteen."
"O…kaaaay," Celestine muttered, blinking. "So, how do we break through the curse, Raho?"
"To start," the ant said, tracing circles in the sand with its tiny legs, "you must first acquire a pair of legs. Then—somehow—you must awaken your true powers."
Celestine's chest tightened. "Awaken my powers? That's impossible. I've never had any."
"There is a way," Raho insisted. "Through the boy you saved from drowning and just watched him walk away."
Her heart skipped. "Mike. What's so special about him?"
"Mike isn't just any land boy. He's a merboy—born with a fishtail, just like you. An outcast, too. The difference is… he already has legs."
Celestine gasped. "A merboy in the land? That's… that's impossible."
Raho's antennae twitched knowingly. "You'll have to establish a mutual bond with him in order to awaken your powers. And that's exactly why you need a pair of human legs."
"And how do I get them?" she whispered.
The ant tilted its head. "Simple. You sell your tail to a fisherman."
Silence crashed over them like a wave.
"You're kidding… right?" Celestine said, bewildered.
Raho let out a sigh. "I was. Now,close your eyes, Celestine."
Hesitantly, she obeyed.
At once, a strange itching sensation rippled through her fishtail. It grew hotter… tighter… until with a sudden flash, the weight of her tail was gone.
"Open them," Raho said.
Slowly, Celestine looked down—and gasped. Her fishtail had vanished, replaced by two pale human legs. A short white cotton skirt and a black blouse shimmered into being, wrapping her form.
She touched her knees, trembling. "This… this feels… amazing."
Raho's tiny ant form flicked its antennae smugly. "Glad you approve. Now—what comes next is just as important."
Celestine tilted her head. "And what could that be?"
"For you to get along with Mike,you must first live in the land,learn the human way of life,and more importantly… you must attend the same high school as him," Raho explained. "Same class, same hallways. Your bond with him is the key to unlocking what sleeps inside you."
Celestine's face flushed with both dread and curiosity. "High school? With humans? How is a mermaid supposed to survive among them? What if they notice something strange about me?"
"You'll survive," Raho said simply, its voice almost teasing. "Besides, blending in is half the challenge. You want your destiny? Then you must take it one step at a time."
Before Celestine could respond, Raho shimmered and shifted again, his form stretching and reshaping until a white seagull flapped its wings in front of her.
"Come on then," Raho's voice called from the bird's beak. "Stand up."
Celestine tried to push herself onto her legs. They wobbled violently. She took one step—then fell face-first into the sand.
"Ugh! These things are useless!" she groaned.
"One step at a time, Celestine," the seagull said patiently. "You learned to swim before you could glide. Now you'll learn to walk before you can run."
Grumbling but determined, Celestine staggered forward again. This time she managed two shaky steps before collapsing, then three before tumbling sideways. Slowly, painfully, she began to find her rhythm.
The seagull circled above her as she finally reached the edge of the beach, her bare feet touching the hot pavement that led into San Diego's busy streets.
Celestine paused, her eyes wide at the towering buildings, honking cars, and endless waves of people bustling around. The land was so loud, so alive, so utterly foreign.
And yet… she felt a spark inside her chest.
With a deep breath, she took her first true step into the city.
From this moment on, she wasn't just Celestine the outcast mermaid—she was Celestine the disguised human girl, beginning a new life on land. A life that might one day lead her back to the ocean… and to the destiny waiting beneath its waves.
*****************************
As Celestine vanished into the streets on shaky new legs, another pair of eyes tracked her every move. From a further jagged mouth of a cave along the rugged shoreline, a manly figure watched—shabbily dressed, his hair wild, his blue eyes gleaming with unnatural sharpness.
"And there enters another mermaid in the city disguised as a teenage girl, hoping to crawl her way back to the water," he muttered, lips twisting into a grin. "First it was Commander Klara's laser-eyed twins. Now it's the Captain's powerless daughter. Very interesting. Very...interesting."
With a low chuckle, the caveman turned and melted back into the darkness of his cave. Door–like earthened boulder rose from the ground and sealed the cave's entrance.
To Be Continued...