A King and His Seahorse.

In Which The Boy Becomes A Girl.

The Boy Spiraled into Nothingness. He felt He was going to be ill and spill yellow bile into the inky blackness again. He tried to get his bearings.

He did his best to recreate the form he had previously. He remembered feeling like a boy, so he gave himself the upper half of a boy. He remembered gills on the side of his neck, so he added some silvery blue skin folds along the side of his neck. He then gave himself a fish bottom, since he had gotten quite good at swimming in the last existence he had.

He then went to find Amalthea.

He saw her look into a tiny piece of wood in an entirely white room. The word 'pen' came to his mind, and the more he looked at it, the less he liked the look of it. It was entirely Red, like the bull he had created in his anger. Is that where the Nothing Lived? He thought. He decided to stay away from Red.

He watched Amalthea shake the pen and look for him to come out of it. But no Merman emerged from the tip of the pen. She began to get Angry looking and also something else? He had no word jump into his mind to tell him the other emotion yet. He kept watching, waiting for a hint.

"PLEASE!" She cried into the plastic... that word was different than the first one he had gotten. He thought it was wood prior to that... but she cried into the plastic stick and began to hit herself on the head with it.

"I'M SO DESPERATE FOR A MAN" She cried. She was Sad and Angry at the same time. She began to Glow with red and blue tracks streamed down her face.

"Am I a Man?" The boy wondered aloud. He then felt his belly button disappear. He was going somewhere. "What does Sad feel like? What does Desperate Mean?" He wondered again. Amalthea's head snapped up and she looked at him. Almost as if she heard him.

"GAH! NOT ANOTHER ONE OF YOU!!" She began swinging her hand at him. He swam through the air out of the way, but he felt something tugging on his belly still. He didn't have long in this form, watching her, and he knew it.

She swung and missed and swung and missed... and then she didn't miss. He felt himself splatted onto the wall. His Digestive system -which was all he knew enough about to feel- was painted onto the white of the room. He cried out a little as he died this time. "DID I GET MY NAME RIGHT?!"

And he heard the void whisper into his ear... "No. Your name is..."

He spiraled into his new form before hearing the answer.

*~&~*

The wee one is outside. She is playing in the wildflowers.

The Sleeping Beauty, Nyx, she is also outside, but she is in pain.
I cannot save her the way she has saved me. But I can give to her the gift of Magic.

I am her Lionheart and She is my Queen.

And I must make sure my child eats no Detergent Pods.

*~&~*

I returned to the form I had previously constructed for myself, and I woke in the same Cavern I had died in before becoming a Test.

"How am I back here? I died!" I cried out, very much confused.

I looked up, and it seemed like a lot of strings now covered the surface of the Cavern. I had to pull and strain my tail against the water with a great amount of speed to get enough force out to break the wall.

I then swam out into the wider area above the previous surface where I had first met Amalthea.

The entire cavern and the staircase was filled with water. The pool no longer glowed green and the sconces on the wall were dark as well. I felt scared to go up the staircase, where Amalthea had gone and never returned from. I felt my stomach flip and worried again about spilling bile into the water I was breathing. I braced myself and slowly began to swim up the stairs.

It was dark the whole way up and the staircase spiraled slowly to the left as it climbed upward. I ran my hand along the left wall, feeling the slime of underwater cavern all the way up. I couldn't stop the pounding sound coming from my chest and ringing in my ears. I was glad the water caressed my face as the surface of my face felt like it was burning. I saw no fire though, and dismissed it.

As I rounded the last corner I was released into another larger space, so large I was not able to see an edge. I began to swim around. The water was a light peaceful color, one I identified as blue-green in my mind. I saw colors everywhere as fish and crawling creatures and waving sea plants dotted the landscape and painted everything in Life.

However there was nothing so large as I was.

I swam back to the staircase and back down the tunnel, not knowing what other action to take and fearing there may be other creatures in the lake. Where did that fear come from? I don't much care for it. I mused.

I found myself a sharp looking stone and began poking at the walls of my cavern on a whim. The cavern wall gave way easily as i scratched at the soft mud.

Soon, a small stream of water was moving into the cavern, carrying with it a cooler temperature and a saltier taste.

I continued to pick at the wall the next few hours until it was wide enough I could barely writhe my body through. I hissed sharply as I scraped my skin on the rougher edges.

The motion of my writhing caused the opening to cave in behind me, and I found myself in a tiny room or cell with no way back out. There was a Merman, similar in appearance to the form I had previously held, standing watch in front of the bars which glowed slightly yellow in my vision. I knew to touch them would be painful, though I knew not where the knowledge came from.

He noticed my entrance, as the cave in caused a bit of ruckus. His attention was almost painful to me, so sharply did he scrutinize me.

"You are a mermaid." He said, almost stupidly.

"As are you." I replied back to him, slightly irritated. "May I be released?"

"No. And I am a Merman. You, however, are a mermaid."

It was then that I realized my mistake. In recreating my form, I had not taken such care for the details as I previously had, and my form looked now like a mix between the woman with the clipboard and the Lady Amalthea. I had brown flowing hair and very pale skin with supple breasts. I also had a Violet tail that glittered like polished Amethysts.

"I must inform the King. Please wait here" The man said hurriedly before exiting from a staircase to the right of the guard-post he had stood watch over. I waited for what felt like forever. I ended up closing my eyes and the Void gave to me another Life.

~&~

In this life I was a princess. My name was Amber. I had long golden hair that went down to the middle of the waist and piercing blue eyes. I was slight of frame, and lived on a very small estate, with only a handful of servants to attend to me. 

I was still very young, as well. Younger than I had been previously. My attendant, a gnarled old wizard, told me one day in my studies that I was nine years of age. He told me he would take care of me until it was time for me to go to finishing school.

The Wizard was incredibly kind to me, and I loved him in every wholesome way. He taught me many things the servants called 'willful activities' such as archery, basic swordplay, simple smithing and how to saddle and shoe my own horse. The wizard also taught me more common material such as economics, sciences, arithmetic, and the two common languages. He taught me to love to read, and I found myself engrossed in the stories of the Rats of Nymah and the tale of the 7 bears of the North.

To the dismay of the remaining servants, his instruction included the ways of magic. I was particularly interested in the subject and would frequently find myself daydreaming about the wonders of the spirit realm. I would often get so excited when lost in my musings that I would begin to twitch with excitement.

~&~

"The King will See You Now, Mermaid." came a gravelly voice in my mind.

My eyes popped open and I saw a new merman waiting outside my now open cell. This specimen was better described as a Mer-Mountain than a Merman. He was an older Merman, with grey facial hair that reached his midrif. He had scars riddling his body. He also only had one blue-green eye, with an uncomfortable pit on the other side of his face where the eye should have been. He eyed me with disdain and... something else? The word for it oddly didn't come to my mind, but his gaze gave me the feeling of having brushed up against something slimy. 

He motioned for me to follow him down a long, straight hallway, with sconces that gave off a soft maroon glow. The tunnel curved slowly upwards, and we took an old staircase, which had long since begun crumbling into disrepair in the depths of the sea.

At the top of the stairs we met with the first Merman I had met in my room. Our entourage continued wordlessly out of the depths. The rocky, unfinished walls gave way to graceful alabaster panels that were worked over with intricate carvings and inlays to hold the bowls of glowing crimson light. Epic battle scenes and singing merfolk were everywhere in these artworks.

We reached the end of the chamber, which held the most elaborately carved artwork in the room. A set of wide double doors of inlaid jade stretched high into the chamber, bordered by two carvings of merfolk swimming upward in a column that looked as if it in itself was a flowing cyclone.

I was awestruck. So much so that it was required to bring me back to attention by my muscular attendants before they placed their hands on the doors and slowly swung them open.

"Give the King your utmost respect. He has waited for you a long, long time." said the slimy one with the single eye before they opened the doors. I was then overcome with a wave of music. Dancers were spiraling from floor to ceiling together, as they had in the columns' artwork, and lights of every color imaginable lined the walls.

The man that sat at the other end of the room looked like a male version of myself when I was Amber. He had golden hair styled short like a warriors and piercing blue eyes. He was quite muscular, with a chiseled body and strong tail that looked to be made of shark skin. He had a circlet of some whitish looking metal inlaid with the same jade which the doors were made of.

Upon her entry, the one they called King rose his right hand and all music instantly ceased. He beckoned for me to swim closer to him. I tried to close the distance in a graceful manner, feeling the heavy gaze of all the merfolk on me. This caused my cheeks to glow red.

"My dear," the King began. "How wondrous that you come to us in our time of need. Please, tell us what your name is."

I remained wordless. I had faint memories of dropping the ball in one of my previous lifetimes and I didn't want to say anything that would offend the court. The King paid no mind, and instead carried on speaking in a matter of fact tone.

"Our need is great indeed, nameless one. If you have been paying attention, you'll have noticed something about all the members of my court. Please, see them." He gestured to the throng of people all about.

I had not been paying as much attention as I thought. While I had been absorbing the great artworks and majesties of the palace itself, I hadn't really looked at any of the King's subjects with any sort of scrutiny. I scanned my eyes over the crowd and saw Mermen of every shape, color, and size, with faces and tails and physiques as diverse and beautiful as could be. They were all beautiful. But something about them put me into a state of unease.

The longer I looked the more alarmed I became. Not a single one of them shared the female form I kept.

"My Lord!" I exclaimed "Where are all of your women?" The question fell from my lips before I could reign in my curiosity. The King chuckled darkly.

"My dear, my beautiful lady," the King began. "We are lost without you. For you are the only Mermaid to be seen in this Kingdom since my Mother died giving birth to me."

The man with one eye placed his hand upon my shoulder, and I stiffened at his touch. "We need you." he said gruffly.

"Indeed we do." The King carried on. "You see, we have lost the ways of conceiving women. We..." He gestured to the entirety of his court, who hung on every word of our conversation. "We will all die out unless you are able to share with us the ways of conceiving women children. We need your wisdom and, if you are willing, we need you to conceive and bear two children for us."

"My Lord" my body was trembling slightly as it had when I faced the great cat. "I have no knowledge of this matter. I have no tribe from which to gather the wisdom for you. I do not know if I can help you."

The King's face fell, if ever so slightly. He was quick to cover it up, however.

"No matter." He said, waving me away. "I will find the knowledge I seek elsewhere. In the meantime, please stay and enjoy the revelry. After you have been fed and entertained, my servant will escort you to your new chambers."

His face was slightly red, as mine had been upon first entering the court. He was quite attractive, even in his frustration, I noted. He then whispered something to one of his attendants, who gave the order to begin the music anew.

"Feast, and revel with all of Mankind." He said finally, as he then proceeded out of the great hall.

And I did just that.

I stuffed myself on the delicious foods and danced and sang with the people and watched a myriad of performances which seemed rehearsed just for my coming. There were poets and storytellers and those which danced with the bowls of glowing liquid.

And the people were so excited to meet me. They doted on me and met my every whim with a greatness of enthusiasm which was ever so charming. They all were desperate to meet me and thank me for coming to them. I was reluctant to accept these thanks, however, as I did not know what lay in store for me in regards to their dilemma.

Eventually my belly grew full and slightly rotund, and my eyes began to droop. I asked to be taken to my new rooms. The man with one eye was at my side and led me back down the way I had come and back into the cell with the yellow glowing bars. I felt as if I should run from him, though I had no reason not to trust him other than the feeling which remained within my gut. This feeling intensified when he whispered to me through the bars.

"I know your name, Amber."

My blood went ice cold. I wanted to scream and rail, but I instead remained frozen, willing my body to move. He said no more and I began to relax a bit, but my relief was short lived. As I was about to make an attempt at sleep, the second of my escorts returned and they let themselves into my cell one at a time. The first one carried a sharp looking instrument, and proceeded to shove it directly into the middle of the back of my fin without a word. It entered, painfully, into the scaly flesh right beneath where my waist joins my fin, and then was removed. Red fluid spilled from my body and I gasped in pain.

However this wound did not remain empty. Each of the guards then took turns writhing themselves inside my wound, pouring a hot burning fluid from their bodies into myself. My shame knew no bounds, to be so overtaken by these common aggressors, with none of the court to save me from my torment. I felt as though my soul was being rent in twain.

I wished for my own death, but as it had when I had been Tested, no such reprieve came. I let my mind wander away.

~&~

"No! I will not write any more of the particulars on that." The narrator exclaimed. "We are going to skip to another part of the story. Which would you like to hear?" I asked my little girl.

She did not answer with anything but babble. She had lost her language. I knew one day soon I would lose her to the curse. I wished for more time with her, but knew that I would receive no mercy from the Universe now.

I feel the need for a lighter story. How about a story of young love?

Author's Note

rip it up.