hope for survival

On the eastern side of Fantasia, miles away from Encrea, which was on the western side, Cordelia and Nherisa took shelter in an underwater cave. They had nothing but the hard rock to sleep on. Nherisa floated in front of the cave. She looked up. Right above her was Fantasia, the world they kept hidden from. The world filled with everything she could need at the moment. She looked around at the resources she had to survive.

Not much.

There were a few fish around, but Cordelia would like things to remain that way. The only other food there could have was only available in Encrea. The only other source of livelihood was up in Fantasia.

She swam up to the surface. She stuck her head out of the water. Her gills gave way for her lungs. She breathed in air for the first time in forever. As her face dried, her scales disappeared to reveal smooth human skin. She felt her face with her hands. She watched the scales on her hands clear out, too.

What a marvel it was to her. She looked just like the humans.

Hold up.

She looked just like the humans.

She just needed shoes. Where can I find shoes? She thought. Looking out to sea, she saw a canoe. The fisherman was casting his net, and on a small wooden crate was a pair of boots. Swimming over to the boat, Nherisa swiped the boots. She forced her long webbed feet into them.

Swimming up to the shore was a lot harder with shoes on. And she was worried that her scales were showing. She found the most deserted part of the beach and swam towards dry land. Standing on the dry sand, she felt the full embrace of open air. She looked around at the new world she found herself in.

The shoes hurt her feet like a device meant for torture. The sight of people walking around on their feet encouraged her to take a step. Her feet ached terribly. Her clothes slowly dried.

She took a few more steps. It was torture. How could the humans bear this? She thought.

Another step. She could do it.

No, she couldn't.

Her leg shifted, and she was sent falling towards the ground.

She didn't fall, though.

She opened her eyes to see the most beautiful face she had ever seen on a man's body. The blue eyes spoke to her. His long dark hair provided a shade from the sun.

"Are you alright?" The man asked her. He was holding her op from her back, and he had his other hand on her waist.

"I'm alright." She said, pulling herself up to stand on her feet. "I'm just having some trouble walking."

"You don't look very good." The man said. Nherisa's eyes trailed back from her hurting feet to his face. "You must be cold. I saw you come out of the water."

"No,I'm fine." Nherisa said. "I got used to it."

The human thought for a second.

"Where exactly are you from?" He asked.

"Encrea." Nherisa blurted out.

"Encrea? Where is that?"

Nherisa realised her mistake. "Oh,it's very far away."

"So how did you get here?"

"On a ship."

"Then why do you look so..." he was referring to her tattered clothes.

"What? How do I look?" She stopped walking and realised that she had been walking with a stranger the whole time.

He looked at her luscious green eyes, her fair skin colour, her perfect body from her chest to her legs. At her clothes, that revealed more than it was supposed to. He had to admit, she looked really good.

"Never mind." He said, trying to change the topic.

"No, say what you wanted to say."

"I meant to say that you are wet." He said. "Why are you wet?"

"A ship wreck."

"Your ship sunk?"

"Yes, that."

"How?"

"There was a big storm." Nherisa lied. "A really big storm."

"That must have been tough."

"It was."

"Do you have a place to stay?"

"No." She said. "I don't need one either. I just need some food. And maybe you could teach me how to walk. I swam for more than a day out there."

"You need food, a change of clothes and some rest." Said the human. "I'll take you home with me."

"I can't go home with you, I don't even know you."

"Okay, let's start." The human said. "My name is Eric. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Nherisa." Nherisa said.

"Nherisa?" Said Eric. "The name is beautiful. It's not English, though. What does it mean?"

"It means 'nymph of the sea'"

"It seems like everything you are is related to the sea."

Nherisa didn't talk. It was when she fell on Eric's chest that she realised that they had been walking again. Eric looked at her pretty face resting on his chest, and he just had to do it.

"You need rest." Eric said. He turned her towards the village. Nherisa remained stunned by the small cottages, crowded markets, horse-drawn carriages, the voluminous rivers, and the huge mountains.

"Your village." She said. "Eric looked at her. She didn't look back. She couldn't take her eyes off the view. She could see so far from where she stood. It certainly wasn't anything like living underwater. "It's beautiful."

"What does your hometown look like?" Eric asked.

"It's nothing like your home." Nherisa said. "It does not have all the beautiful features that yours does. It is just land, water, and really tall buildings." Of course, Eric didn't take the hint.

"We haven't charted that island on our globe yet.

"We would have to visit sometime. We just found a new addition to our globe." He looked at Nherisa's face. "But first of all,we need to get you some food and clothes."

Nherisa wanted to refuse, but as soon as he wrapped his hand around her waist to support her, she felt powerless.

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Her parents' death was all Cordelia could think about. She was surprised to see that Nherisa didn't seem to care. She felt like she was alone in life. No one to support her. No mother to love.

Pulling a hood over her head, she popped out of the cave. No banishment could stop her from finding her mother's killers. Her webbed feet pushed her towards Encrea.

The journey back to Encrea was a long and tiring one, but she had to take it. He swam alongside whales, sharks, and through schools of small fish. The pace was constant until her webbed feet were tired.

She held on to a whale's fin, and it pulled her along. Although she wasn't doing the swimming, the journey back to Encrea was tiring for her more than it was for the whale. Apparently, holding onto a whale's fin while it flapped it around to swim isn't easy, but they made it . All the way back to Encrea.

Cordelia let go of the whale to hide behind a tall building. She watched secretly as a few construction workers caught the whale in a net and pulled it down close to the ground. They tied a load of stone to it, forcing it to carry the load upwards. A few of the workers surrounded the whale from all sides to make sure it didn't escape.

Cordelia was furious. The animals didn't deserve such slavery.

She revealed her left hand from behind the building, swirling her index finger. Rip currents swirled around the whale, warning the workers to back off.

They didn't.

Confused about what was happening, they whipped and whipped the whale.

Furious, Cordelia spread out her palm. The rip currents turned into tidal waves and forced the construction workers away from the whale.

Cordelia revealed her head from behind the building. Her eyes glowed green through the shadow of the hood. She was no longer in control.

She swam over to the whale, tried hard to pull the net off it, but girl power failed her. She had to resort to brutal force.

One of the construction workers swam towards Cordelia. Cordelia stretched her hands towards him ,making the water around him so dense that he couldn't move. She then threw her hand at the load tied to the whale. The rope broke, and the load dropped to the ground.

Cordelia swam over to the whale. Not minding her hood, which was no longer covering her head, she pulled the net off the whale, setting it free.

One of the construction workers looked at Cordelia. He recognised that face. The same face that brought a ship down on their construction site. "It's her." He said. "The witch!"

Cordelia wanted to fight her way out. She wanted to vent out her anger on them so badly. But alas, she was drained. Her eyes refused to stay open, and she couldn't hold herself up anymore. She slowly sunk downwards. Seeing her weakness, the workers charged towards her.

Cordelia forced her eyes to open just a bit. Just enough to see four men coming towards her. Her eyes closed, and when they opened again, there were three workers. Another blink and the three had reduced to two. She blinked again, and one was left.

Cordelia forced her eyes to stay open long enough to see an orealea pull the drealiv away and hit his back against a building. The orealea swam towards cordelia. Cordelia gave up. She let gravity pull her down and gave in to the darkness of unconsciousness.

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Nherisa wondered why she could always walk correctly with Eric but never alone. She looked around at the other humans walking around on their own two feet all by themselves. Why couldn't she do that? Or should she ask it the other way round? Why would she do it so easily when she was with Eric?

She looked at Eric. He was picking out produce for that night's dinner. He looked at her and smiled, then looked away again.

His essence was such that it swept her into a world where she could think of nothing else, not give a damn about the world. That was why she walked so well with him. She didn't give a lot of thought to walking when she was thinking about Eric's beautiful eyes. She had to stop thinking of walking as such a big deal.

She stood up on her feet. They hurt, but she forced herself to go on. It is easy, she told herself repeatedly. She took a step, this time without any pressure. She found herself taking another step. And a few more. Her feet still hurt, but she could bear it.

Eric looked at Nherisa. The way she was playing around, trying to walk, was surprisingly amusing to him. He smiled at the fact that Nherisa looked like a one year old learning to walk. Like she was learning to walk for the first time ever.

"Shall I get horses instead?" He said. "I don't think we would get anywhere with you walking like that."

Nherisa smiled with approval.

"I'll come back." Eric said. He left with the produce, leaving Nherisa to look around at the bright sky, at the humans walking around, picking food items that Nherisa didn't recognise from stalls. She was still amazed by the world she found herself in.

Minutes later, Eric appeared dragging two majestic creatures along with him. As if she wasn't amazed enough, Eric had to bring in a tall white creature standing on four legs, hair running down its long neck, a long hairy tail, and wings on either side.

"Shall we ride?" Eric looked at Nherisa with a spark in his eyes.

Once again, Nherisa didn't need to talk for Eric to understand her. She felt the flying horse's head, allowing it to succumb to her will. Eric helped her mount on her horse. She felt the hairy skin of the animal. It told her 'I am ready for my first command'.

Eric mounted his own horse. "Do you know how to ride?" He asked.

"No." This time, she answered.

"That's why I brought a rope." Eric said. Nherisa noticed the rope that connected her horse's neck to Eric's horse's saddle. "Just trust me." He tightened this leg to get his horse running. Nherisa's horse was forced to follow.

Nherisa had never felt such freedom. She watched as the villagers cleared the way for them. Even though it was because they didn't want to get crushed, she still felt powerful. Back at home, she would have to swim around other sea dwellers.

Once they were out of the village and out in the open plain, Nherisa felt even more freedom. Like she was the queen of her own kingdom with population 1. Like the rest of the world didn't matter or even exist anymore. All she could see was Eric and the beautiful scene around them.

The next thing she knew, Eric drew a sword from his belt. He leaned back and cut the rope. Nherisa's horse must have felt more free because it charged forward until it was ahead of Eric's.

"Eric, help me!" Nherisa screamed.

"Don't panic, Nherisa. Just pull the reins gently." Eric said.

Nherisa did as she was told. She gently pulled the reins, and to her surprise, the horse slowed down. The fact that she had control over the horse made her feel like she had grown wings. That was when she remembered that the horse could fly.

"Let's go up to the mountains." Nherisa said to Eric.

"Nherisa wai...." Before he could finish that sentence, Nherisa had pulled the reins, and her horse was flying towards the mountains. Eric got his horse to fly after her.

Eric was really amazed at how playful and carefree Nherisa could be. He watched how well she controlled the horse: gentle with a hint of dominance. He watched the land the horse almost perfectly on a high cliff and thought of how perfect he was at everything.

He landed his horse next to hers, got down, and went to join her at the edge of the cliff. They looked around at the small cottages, the thick forests. The islands separated by a web of rivers, at the castle that stood on a small island in a lake at the heart of the colossal island.

These sat on the edge, watching the setting sun. Nherisa looked at Eric. She had never trusted anyone as much as she trusted him, a total stranger.

"We just met today, and we have done all these things together." Eric said. "Do you really trust people that easily?"

"I will not lie to you, Eric." Nherisa said. "I feel a spark whenever you look at me. I feel a strong connection with you. I just met you today, but it feels like I have known you forever."

"I won't lie to you either, I feel the same way."

Nherisa smiled and looked away. Eric stared for to seconds more and then looked back at the setting sun.

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