Chapter I; Scratching the Surface

Akeimi felt like she soared in the water. At least she was free, lonely, but free. She was one of the Nereids, a sea nymph. She had 200 other sisters, like her, all with different powers and abilities and such. Akeimi was one of the youngest, born just before the great city of Atlantis was destroyed, she remembered that like it was yesterday. She was still 5000 years old by now, but still looked like a 16 year old.

"Hmm... this is very warm water," Akeimi said feeling the rise in temperature.

She had ventured into the mouth of the mighty Nile River. This river was the center of a powerful empire, well, the Egyptian Empire. Akeimi flicked her flukes and surfaced. She had apparently found the royal palace. This place was beautiful, the alabaster stone columns and the stairs that descended into the water. There were lotus flowers everywhere, sacred ibis, and even some fish here and there.

There was some chattering. Akeimi gasped softly and hid behind a column. She watched them though. Just a group of boys. One caught her eye. He had weird hair, but he was handsome. He glanced her way. He saw her and looked like he was in a trance. He'd never seen such a beautiful thing before, he didn't quite know what it was, and if was really there. Maybe he was seeing things. She had such beautiful eyes.

"Prince!" one of the boys yelled.

The boy shook his head and returned to his conversation. Akeimi exhaled heavily in relief. He saw her though and that was enough. The boy was cute though. The sea nymph dove into the water and swam back to the sea. Akeimi glided through the water, like she was flying. She was an enigma to all that were mortal, but a friend to all creatures below and above the surface of the sea. The rest of her sisters were like that. There wasn't much special about her.

Well, she couldn't stop thinking about him. She hadn't felt like that about a guy, of any kind before. She came back to the river, often. Akeimi would watch him from the river. Then she was obligated to return to the waters that she was supposed to take care of. The eastern Pacific Ocean, that is where she had the most power. Well, she did visit the river still. It was a long swim for her but it was well worth it. She wasn't the only nymph in charge of her home waters, so, it's not like she was abandoning her post. Yes, she was the more powerful of the others, but still.

Akeimi returned to her home in the Pacific Ocean, it was a palace, that sat in the marine shelf in the eastern Pacific Ocean. She was among the most powerful of the nymphs in that region, she coupled with some of her other sisters that share that region. Akeimi had the bottom half of an orca, or killer whale, thus she got along with orca the best. She had a 31 foot, 10 ton bull orca as a dear friend of hers, she named him Babe. She and Babe would go swimming together along with Orion, her hippocampus.

All of Akeimi's sisters had a hippocampus that was born the day they were. They looked different and had different abilities, usually those similar to the nymph they were born with. Akeimi's was a solid black one. He swam swiftly and was extremely protective of her. Akeimi had named him Orion, after the hunter in the sky, because he seemed to ride the stars at midnight when he swam that fast.

Akeimi spent her free time over in the Nile river, Orion with her. She would watch the boy when she could and she would watch the people. She slowly found herself wanting to be one of them. Akeimi had always been fascinated by humanity she would at times imagine if she was one of them. It sounded ridiculous to her at first, but it meant that if she should somehow gain legs then she would be able to get to know that boy better. She continued to watch him. She felt strange one day and her black and white flukes divided and became human legs. Orion copied her, because he just wanted to follow her. She walked ashore for the first time, it didn't last long at first but she kept practicing.

Now that Orion could keep his legs like Akeimi he could follow her around. Akeimi and Orion were the best of friends and the horse was extremely protective of her and visa versa. Akeimi decided to swim up the Nile River, She surfaced by an oasis, and let her legs replace her fins. Orion did the same. They both looked around the oasis. The oasis was beautiful, the plants looked lush, there were fruit trees in blossom, and in fruit. Orion found a patch of sweet grass, and grazed.