Limit Of Fortune

Chapter 7

Cold was this morning, and Luna was already awake. The mermaid always woke earlier then her sister.

It took her a moment to absorb the fact she was not awakening on her royal bed- which was now just a cold and wet stone.

The unthinkable had happened. In a mere few hours, the unthinkable had happened.

When Luna glanced down at her sister, as she had so many times before, something had changed. Her gaze trailed along Ilios's head, following down to her sister's waist as she recognized the irreversible development. A tail. A tail that resembled the warm sunset, replacing the familiar legs of Ilios. Her sister was a now a mermaid. Luna's eyes raked over the Crimson pattern on Ilios's newly devolved appendage.

She was oddly unruffled by this abrupt alteration. The ex-princess glanced up at the witch in the clouds- knowing it was her magic that had touched upon Ilios's new body. Of course her father would do something like this. It did not come as a surprise.

Luna rolled her shoulders. She'd stayed out of the water for 24 hours so she could get her legs back. All she needed was the slighted drop of water to reform herself into a mermaid, but until then she was free to roam the land.

A thin shadow loomed across the dark water. Luna rose to her bare feet and strode to the other side of the lake, wanting to check in with Mare Equo. She was relieved to see him fully healed, as the sea stallion possessed the power of regeneration. The attack from Tribus and his joint heads was only yesterday.

"Glad to see you feeling better." the mermaid said to him, as he turned to raise his scaly brow.
"Eh. Those mongrels have got nothing on me," he paused, "I see that something is troubling you?"
"You can?" Luna remarked, not looking away from her transformed sister.
"It's your eyes, dear. They hold regret in them."
"Yes, they do." she mumbled
"Wishing you could turn everything around?"
"Yes, I do."
"You know, that little fairy in the sky isn't the only one with fierce magic." he scoffed, a smirk playing his rubbery snout.

Luna glanced up at him skeptically, his words finally snagging her attention.

"Oh yes. Glacies, queen of the tundra."
Luna looked away again, rolling her eyes. "Do not tease me. Glacies is merely a myth."

He shook his mighty head once more, "No, child. Glacies is as real as the scales on my back."

She was listening now, "Only a legend." she retorted.

"Suit yourself. But I know Glacies, and if you really want to turn this mess around- she's the only one for you. You can find her if you follow the North Star." The beast sighed, shrugging. It wasn't his job to convince her.

Luna paused. She's heard dozens of stories about the Queen, since she was a child. She'd always thought of it as just a fantasy. But Mare Equo was trustworthy, wise. He would never lie to her.

When night fell, she would look the to the northern star. She would find this legendary queen if it costed her the skin on her back.

❅ Morgan ❅