Reveries of the Tainted

Chapter Seven

Having gone in face first, Junes screech of surprised fear was muffled to a variety of oxygen bubbles under the pressure of a heavy water. Skor would not be hearing her, but she had managed to get the attention of another.

Her terror lied within the awareness of a disability to swim. She had never gotten the luxury of fun in the ponds within her village, and now she would bear the outcomes of inexperience.

Her thrashing arms attempted everything they could to prevent the suffocation of water entering frail lungs, however, she did not need to brace herself as the struggle was over just as it had began.

Her clenched eyes opened the same time her arms were no longer tied by the weight of water. She lied in a puddle of wet bank, catching her panicked breath.

Her fingers clawed the air for a moment before they were able to process the brain signals of safety rushing through her body in flurries. With a drenched nightgown weighing her down, she wrung out the ends before stepping to the edge of land.

Her skin was cleaned from the fall, no longer blemished with mud and moss. Among pale skin shone a moisture that appeared to glow, displaying the same shimmering appearance of crystals the water possessed.

Her amazement grew as it searched arms containing the same effect. She was a reflection of this river, having taken it within her just as it had taken her beneath the surface.

The shimmer did not stick for long, however. Instead, it's illumination faded with each wave of time that it would soon succumb to entirely.

Now assuming it's natural muted color once more, her skin was bare of the magics the river contained, but only externally. She was intrigued by this, lowering herself to lie on her stomach after testing the sturdiness of earth.

Extending just the tip of her index finger, she was slow to direct it downward in caution. The silky texture of the water rippled and parted as means of entrance.

Solid matter met the end of her finger, with different density and feel. Enough so for June to get a look at what her hand had connected with.

She expected to see a rock or even stick, though not as viable as what was truly linked to her print. Through ripples nipping across the surface, it was a small struggle to catch what was underneath. However, with such a clear nature of the liquid, silver strands of long hair matched color with piercing eyes that shared shimmering properties with their element.

With those eyes came milky, pale skin that was bare of cloth and too had a dim shine. Long arms that belonged to the most enticing of creatures, with gills lining her rib cage and all the way up to curve temples. The structure of her face was not of any mortal woman; instead it bore features that were curved, with sharp cheekbones that extended outward to align her pointed and silver-tinged ears. Those were the most prominent features, accenting hollow cheeks and an equally sharp chin—though not nearly as extended.

Her eyes were almond shaped, perhaps the softest feature she carried. Though the look of a fierce warrior, she gave June a softest brush of her finger and gazed with nothing aside from love and protection.

Though her feet were not in view, June could imagine that this was a creature who did not exhibit such limbs. She'd always heard the myths surrounding gill-bound creatures cursed by a wicked witch to suffer as fish for eternity.

However, looking upon such beauty made it hard to believe this was a curse in any form. How could a creature so graceful and radiant hold the corruption of such a dark magic?

It was almost instinctual for June to retract her hand upon the realization of a physical contact with this beast of wonderful awes, but fear did not cling as it would have before the expelling of muck. Now, she was to feel as she was made to—with a gentle curiosity and excitement for knowledge beyond her.