Chasing The Golden Suns

2

Blood trailed behind her as she dragged herself through the water. Her heart pounded in her chest and her head spun dizzily from the loss of blood. The muscles in her arms burned and ached as she used all her arm strength to swim through the current, the water beneath her got shallower. From the waist down, she was completely numb.

Until a tingling sensation overcame her body, new scales grew and reformed over her cut flesh. It could not repair itself completely back into one, nor could it grow fins. Scales grew larger in some areas than others.

Her hands gripped into the soft muddy sand as she crawled onto land. The sand stuck to her skin and the salt stung her eyes. The cold wind slammed against her wet skin and her lungs ached. Her throat coughed up the water within her and brought in the air. Her body broke away from the wetness and the restraint of the ocean.

Her lungs were on fire and she gasped out. Her arms held the land in an embrace and the air flowed through her lungs. Her long deep breaths made her chest hyperventilate, she tried to get use to breathing in cold air.

It was difficult to control one leg at a time after living so long using them as one. Her foot now dug into the sand and she used her strength to push herself up. An imbalance made her stumble and her body slammed back against the sand. Her new feet twitched with eagerness to try again.

Laughter overcame her body making her shoulders shake out of pure joy, her heart jumping with excitement as soon as she felt the movement in her scaly toes. Her feet softly grazed on the muddy sand. Her wet hair clung to her neck and her knees advanced against the sand. The mermaid’s scaly legs trembled while she used her newly formed muscles to stand. They clenched and contracted, helping her stand on her two feet. She breathed in the fresh air and stood tall.

The moon gleamed upon her extended arms and she took her first steps, balancing on each foot. She laughed out of the newness of these actions.
Every step she took was wobbly, her knees would jerk slightly but she’d keep her balance. It was easier the more she walked.

After crossing the large sandy beach, she made her way into the city. The ground was cold and hard underneath her, different from the muddy sand and rocks underwater. The city loomed above her with tall stone and wooden buildings and lampposts everywhere. It was a quiet night. Fog surrounded the streets.

The mermaid heard the chatter of voices nearby. In the distance, a group of men with black coats and top hats smoked cigars and laughed with one another. The group caught sight of her. She heard murmurs amongst them, all their eyes were on her.

Her heart ached in her chest and now her body trembled out of fear.

“Hell! Would you look at that gentlemen? I heard of a lad up in the coast fished himself one of these and fucked it.” He grinned at her. The men walked around her, eyeing her up and down like predators ready to catch their prey.

The mermaid could not understand them. Language wasn’t something that mermaids used, for they are solitary creatures that often swam and drifted with the tide.

She took a quick step, but her body fell onto the harsh stone and scraped her delicate smooth skin. The men laughed at her.

“This one must have been attacked by a shark or something. Nor does it matter. It cut her up good, two legs to grab. Who wants to go first?” One of the men smirked and inched towards her. She hissed out in her defense. This made the men laugh even more. “You might want to calm down fishy. Fighting only turns me on more!” They got closer, her heart pounded as the men loomed by her.

Their eyes reminded her of the deep black pupils of monsters that swam in the dark.

A gunshot in the air stopped the men in their tracks. A woman in coat and trousers stood nearby, a large top hat with delicate feathers sat on her head. There was a raging gleam in her bright gold eyes, it was like she held two suns within her head.

The stranger held a bronze gun with gears attached to it, it was rather large and bulky, one of the best crafted weapons made in the century.

“Bitches. You are all horny bitches with no sense of dignity or humanity. You call yourselves men? You’re pigs. And that’s an insult to pigs.” She approached them, unafraid of the group.

The group glared back at her. “Emmeline Smith… do not tell anyone of this! Our reputations!” One of the men angrily shouted at her yet his tone was nervous.

“You should have thought of that before forcing yourself on this woman. All of you get out of my sight! This war needs good people. Yet you are another reminder of why this world is falling apart! LEAVE!” She pointed her bronze gun at them.

The men stared at her, their looks full of rage, yet one by one they all walked away together. They disappeared into the fog like swimming away into the vast darkness of the sea.

The trembling mermaid sat still on the cold ground. Emmeline approached her and removed her coat. The mermaid held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to get hurt. But instead she felt soft fabric cover her shoulders and chest. It brought warmth and shielded her from the freezing air.

She opened her eyes again and gazed at Emmeline. “It’s okay, even if you are naked, you do not deserve to be hurt that way. Never. Can you understand me?” Emmeline softly asked her.

The mermaid felt calm around this woman who rescued her from possible death and wrapped her in such a warm cloth. The woman’s voice was kind and gentle in contrast to the men who laughed and mocked her.

The mermaid opened her mouth but didn’t know how to make her voice turn into words. She observed that the humans were able to communicate with their mouths, but she didn’t know how to do it with her own lips.

Emmeline smiled at her, “That’s alright. Come on. You need to get to safety, with your tail like that it is not possible to survive in the sea that way.”

The mermaid stared at the woman, intrigued by her golden eyes, it was as if she found something even more beautiful than what she expected in this new world. But also, that there were new terrors to be found.