Mystical Misery

1615 words

Rated PG: violence, blood

Prompt: write a fantasy story about water gods or water spirits.

You can’t know someone when they’re dead. It’s grammatically incorrect. When one dies, their world is erased from existence on this plane. I know longer know him, because he no longer has the universe he exists in. He belongs to another. I knew him, and those centuries together were amazing.

Eubh is staring at me from across the bubble. Her slithering arms are stiff at her sides. Her tail floats graciously in the water. Even her hair defies science by swimming around her shoulders. But her eyes are locked on me. 

Melvin has almost finished giving his speech. He points to the glass container with his hoof. He’s in there, standing up through the last magic in his system. His eyes are shut, but they were still wide open when he was found.

“We will not waste,” Melvin is still speaking in his high voice. “he would not want us to. He would tell us to collect our earnings, to continue to serve the world for our purpose. Do you understand?”

“Yes!” shouts a chorus of voices.

I am not one of them. Neither, I notice, is Eubh. Her mouth doesn’t open. It’s just as still as the rest of her. She just stays in place, watching me carefully. I look back at her. Right in the yellow eyes that I’m pretty sure haven’t blinked. 

I extend my fingers together, and brush them forward in a sweeping motion, to tell her to go away. She actually budges, and gives me a small shake of her head. No, it says without really saying anything.

Melvin gestures to the crowd. 

“Let the drawing begin.” 

We raise our hands above our heads. Tails, fins, hooves, legs, toes, claws, and tentacles rise from the ground. Eyes start glowing. They stream out to his body, making solid beams of light, tinted orange or red or purple. 

Melvin points to me. His being is illuminated in a chilling way.

“You were the elder’s apprentice. You may be given the final wave.”

I nod and swim towards him. He looks so tired, trying to fit in with a world that won’t accept. Becoming one with the tides and the curves of the earth. He would be that type of person, wouldn’t he?

“The knife.” I reach out to Melvin.

He gives it to me smoothly. This motion has been practiced hundreds of times. Death happens a lot. It’s a green stone handled weapon. An emerald sparkles and shakes at the centre. It is waiting for the gift it is owed by my slice.

The blade is bronze. It reminds me of sunlight. The difference is that sunlight is more of a blanket. It covers your whole being, and your surrounding existence. This blade only pierces one part of you with it’s slim, straight edge. I run the blade down my left arm.

The pain makes me wince. I never thought I would see something like this so close. My blood comes out in yellow clouds, polluting the air around him. I am about to apologize before remembering he will never hear me again.

The cloud dives straight for his glass, and goes right through it. It shoots it’s way up his nostrils and claws its way into the ears. My blood covers his fingers and tugs at his mouth. It’s frantic, panicking. Desperate to recover his magic. Eager to feel it’s spark of electricity.

Then, the blood teleports to the other side of the glass, and enters my body again. I feel it connecting with my muscles and nerves. I see it healing the wound in seconds. I watch the yellow leak into my eyes before simmering down. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so wonderful. It makes me sick.

I go back to my previous place, dizzy with excitement and disgust at the same time.

His corpse is still there, but not as much. His arms sag. His wrinkles become more prominent and cover his torso. His fins lose their glow and hang limply off his body. His neck tattoo loses all it’s colour. Even his halo, which was still alive, albeit struggling, is now completely gone.

Without all his flashes and signs of life, he scares me. He is no longer a creature. Not with his puffy lips and straight hair. He is like the dolphin corpses that humans find strewn on beaches and take light captures of. If humans found him, I think it would be worthy of some further exploration, considering he’s not supposed to exist.

His clear box is moving. Not because he’s alive. Medusa, no. It’s only because he’s going back to his origins. His box starts to be swallowed up by the sand. Swirls and circles surround him, and raise clouds in the water that float for a few seconds before falling again.

First, his bottom is no longer visible. Then, the ground has eaten his torso, Now, his chest is being gulped down. It’s all happening too fast for me. I need to turn my attention to something else. 

Unfortunately, that something is Eubh, who has gotten closer to me these past few minutes. Her eyes are now charged from drawing his energy. It’s beautiful. Her hair has even risen a bit, much to her chagrin, I imagine. If I know her. Which I do.

She raises an eyebrow at me. An unspoken question I’m determined to not answer. I play dumb, and give her a sad smile with my eyes.

“He wouldn’t want this.” I comment.

“He wouldn’t even want his magic drawn. You know him. He wouldn’t even let us put him in the glass.” She stares at the sand having trouble at the shoulder area.

“I knew him. Now, I don’t even know where he is.”

“Don’t talk like that.” The severity in her voice makes me frown.

“What?”

“You still know him. He’s still that person. Just. . .slightly different.”

I snort. “If by that you mean without a brain, then yeah, you’re right.”

Eubh keeps her mouth shut as the sand pulls down the last of him, right up to the crown on his head. The jewels used to be bright. Each one was a different virtue. I remember the lesson and the paintings. I never really liked them.

Now, his crown is just a random object plopped on him. It’s dull and unnoticeable. It’s sad. It’s taken away by the sand, and, suddenly, he no longer exists. He is not a part of our world anymore. He may have never been there. 

Eubh takes my hand and tugs me away from the crowd, who are all chanting the goodbye ceremony with Melvin. I swim after her, to the end of the hill, where the seaweed has clung to rocks and coral. The voices are muted now, and the sun is less available to us. It was too bright for me anyways.

The darkness takes over me. I let it soak into my body in a way that water never could. I feel the black right behind me. It is clinging to my arms. It is kissing my lips. It is holding me down. It is just out of view at all times.

“Tell me.” Eubh demands.

“Tell you. . .”

“Don’t act stupid. I’ve given you three weeks. You have to tell me.”

Those three weeks were relaxing, but also kind of ominous. Without Eubh by my side, gripping my arm, asking the things she knew she shouldn’t and then hiding. I always had a feeling, at the back of my mind, that something worse might happen. But nothing did. And this is where I have to pay for it.

“Where was his body?” Eubh tries to make her tone gentle.

She fails. Good. I only want to talk to the real Eubh, and even then, barely. 

“Eubh, come on. Please tell them that it was near land or something.”

Eubh grabs my wrist and pulls me close to her. So close I might be able to hear her heart beating. Her features are sharp without the sun interfering with them.

“You want to lie to the council? Grief really does damage the mind.”

“No. Eubh, leave me alone.”

I try to wrench myself free of her strong grip. It’s no use. She’s holding onto like it’s the only thing stopping her from being carried away by the light current rustling my hair. 

She slams me against the ground. I swallow too much water as I make contact with the sand, which feels like daggers on my scales and skin. Eubh rotates her body, and swims downward so her face is right in front of mine. She speaks in a whisper, holding my shoulders tightly.

“I am trying to help you. Why can’t you just listen?”

“Let go of me!”

Eubh flinches at my voice, but doesn’t loosen her grip.

I tried to be nice. Using one hand, I take a ball of water from beside me. It rolls and circles around my palm. I shape it into a blade. Just like the one that recently broke my skin. I know because, when I touch it, it immediately pricks my finger.

“Fine. I’ll tell you. It’s the same way they’ll find you, except I don’t feel bad about it.”

“Wha…” Eubh realizes too late.

Her corpse lets go of me, and starts floating in the water, like a plastic bag. It starts to float away, but I hold it with a suspension spell. A few tweaks and the entry wound will look like an unfortunate accident. I allow the weapon to dissipate. Can’t let anyone know I have that power. What a disaster that would be. 

We can’t let people panic.