Once upon a time, there was a mermaid who lived in the Caribbean Sea, or maybe she lived near India, or perhaps she lived off the coast of California. One could say that she lived everywhere because she was incredibly mobile, as she often swam and explored the entire ocean. This mermaid, whose name happened to be Katalina, was also very special -although so few people would know that, due to her quiet nature. She was unique for many reasons; however, the most noticeable of her attributes, was her tail. Her tail, like many mermaids was red; however, unlike many mermaids, it didn't necessarily stay red. Kat's tail would only stay a solid red when it was above the water, but when it was beneath the filmy cover of the ocean, Kat's tail would become like a symphony of colors and Kat was the conductor. Flashes of gold, silver, bronze, and blue, neon greens and pumpkin oranges, pinks and purples, yellow and white, and any other color that you could imagine would erupt from her tail. Kat could even coax her tail to describe her mood in shades and colors: fiery red with sparks of yellow for anger, blood-red for bashfulness, purple for intrigue, and so on. Being quiet, Kat would often speak little, but express much through her tail. Relating to how she expressed herself, Katalina also had another trait that was unique to her. Inside her head, thoughts were always racing as if they were competing in a derby; thereby, making the flashes of her tail erratic and even terrifying. At times, the illuminations becoming too bright and the blazes burning too quick, other seafolk in her vicinity would flee in fear. If a few of them were to stay behind, though, they would see that the radiant chaos would cease and afterward floating alone, there would be Katalina, as a light in the shadow.
One particular day, in the early Spring, Katalina was swimming through the sea and occasionally leaping above the waves to get a glimpse of the vast expanse before her. Water flew past her eyes and sprayed back her hair as she jumped high over top of a massive wave. Time seems to slow down for Kat as she soars through the air over the wave, before she falls back under the surface of foamy blue. To Kat, this was little more than an early morning aerobics exercise, but any outsider looking in would find it very difficult to observe a better swimmer -be it man or merman, maid or mermaid- in all the seven seas. As she breaks above the water to catch another wave, she spots on the horizon, a massive swirling cloud of pulsating darkness. Kat knows that she is in for a mighty storm, so quickly, she darts back underwater and begins to swim in the direction of a nearby flooded cave system.
The winds pick up as Katalina continues to soar through the water, only surfacing for a breath when needed. The storm batters her around even beneath the waterline and Kat's mind races with the cyclone. Her tail flashes from a bright violet to a copper red, and then an orchestra of many shades of luminescent green. Katalina feels her lungs struggling as she races, but before she can emerge, she hears a crack of thunder and catches a glimpse of lightning in the sky. She realizes that she is now inside of the storm cloud and if she were to surface, she'd be blown away. Dashing forward even faster than before, Kat feels the need to breath growing stronger and her lungs becoming heavier. She is seconds away, but she feels her humanoid lungs about ready to give, when she breaks through the water on the inside of the cave.
Gasping for breath, Kat looks around her and realizes that she is in an extensive system of tunnels. When her breath slows down, she takes a glance back outside to see how stormy it is and decides to investigate the cave. Along the way, she focuses her mind, allowing her thoughts to channel into her tail. Her tail begins to glimmer, at first at a low radiance and then it burns brighter. The vivid light pulsates and cuts through the darkness, giving Katalina a torch to explore with. However, even this light is not suitably strong enough to light the entire cavern, and the walls are still shadowed in darkness. Going deeper and deeper into the cave system, Kat is mesmerized by the quiet sounds that she hears: the pitter-patter of dribbling water, the subdued squeaks of nocturnal mammalians hiding in the shadows and the onrush of water located somewhere in the deep dark cave. Stalactites dangle from the ceiling, each one dripping with ice-cold water that tastes of salt and up ahead. A flickering light brushes Katalina's iris and causes her to squint her eyes. When she turns towards its source, she spots a very faint shimmering in the blackness. She swims forward in a hurry, and she eventually arrives underneath a hole in the ceiling of the cave. Above the opening, is a totally clear sky, devoid of any lightning or storm cloud. Katalina was certain that the storm cloud was much larger than the distance that she has covered in this cavern. Puzzled, Kat thinks about this, until she notices that the light illuminates the wall and allows her to see what was previously hidden.
