What is this? Another book?
Yes, this is another book. It'll give you an insight of what Jim and Ariel in the book "You're My Treasure" had that eventually strengthened their connection. I did mention that they had talked for weeks, and this book will showcase those meetings they've had.
So, think of it like this, the first book (and the second one which is already up) as a movie. This book is a TV series.
Get it?
The book will merely contain six parts, but my mind might change. We'll see, you know. But I hope you enjoy this writing of mine. I am very aware of the state of the fandom, which is either non-existent or dead. But who cares?
His boots scraped against the ground in rush, bringing the male to the stairs that connected the inn and the beach. Their secret meeting was always the reason why he'd always rush his way down to the beach. Besides, when it comes to a boy who's in love, there's no such thing as stopping for him.
Jim reached the beach with a loud thump after having himself almost trip a step while descending. With the lighting provided by the sunset on the far west, he saw only the water ahead of him. No Ariel in sight.
"Alright… I'm early, as usual, I suppose."
The boy shrugged, and walked to line where the small waves would reach the sand. He removed his shoes and threw them away. His hand reached for the inside part of his leather jacket, checking if his possession was still with him. a smile grew on his face.
"I have 'em…"
Not long after that, a red head breached the surface just ahead of the boy. The red head's appearance widened that goofy smile on Jim's face.
"Good…" Ariel turned to the sunset, "evening, Jim."
"Evening. That's very formal of you," Jim said. The response earned a shrug from the female.
"A little bit of formality wouldn't hurt, don't you think?"
He nodded. "It wouldn't," Jim's hand snaked into his jacket. "Let's cut the fun part. Do you want to see the items I've brought to you?"
She nodded even more vigorously.
"Well, I'll grab out whatever comes into my grasp first," his hand went even deeper, and Jim sensed the sensation of a cloth. He pulled it out, and it was a piece of red cloth. Almost like a handkerchief. But then, Ariel wouldn't recognize the item's identity.
"What is that?" Ariel asked.
"It's a piece of cloth," his smile grew on only one end, so it wasn't really a smile. It was more of a smirk. Ariel saw the smirk.
What is that?" She repeated her question, emphasizing on every word now.
"Haha, calm down. This piece of cloth is not just any piece of cloth. It's a type of cloth that you'd find on boats that use solar power in order to fly. It absorbs the sunlight, and if it's still functional…" Jim stood up, and Ariel's eyes locked onto the piece of cloth. Those eyes of hers widened right away when they saw how brightly the cloth glowed.
The cloth absorbed the sunlight from the sunset, its energy spinning around inside the cloth with nowhere else to circulate. The behavior affected the cloth to vibrate a little.
Once it had collected enough sunlight, Jim hid the cloth away from the sunlight. He bent his knees down, showing the cloth closer to Ariel. Her eyes were filled with curiosity, although squinting due to the heat the cloth was radiating.
"Try grabbing it, it's a little warm, but it should be fine," Jim warned. With that, he gave the mermaid the solar cloth. Warmth welcomed the mermaid's delicate hands as they felt the smoothness of the cloth. Ariel was in an awe.
Jim waited for a response, but received none. He decided to break the ice. "Pretty cool, huh?"
Ariel nodded vigorously. "Yeah! It's…way cooler than 'pretty cool', I'd say."
The mermaid proceeded to see the object from multiple angles, spinning it vertically and horizontally to find something particularly interesting. she found nothing.
She mouthed 'words' that Jim didn't really follow, overwhelmed by the magic in her possession.
"How does it work?" She finally said.
The male smirked. "Well, there's a special material applied to the cloth that could be found in mines. There aren't many resources of it on this planet, so we import them from another planet. The material is called Solar. They seem to interact actively with sunlight when in contact. They create energy, and we can use that energy to power up machines, not just boats in general."
"Huh, not just boats? What else can the solar power?" The curious one asked.
"Washing machine, oven, stove, cars," and Jim continued listing machines powered by solar energy with his fingers. Little did he know, Ariel wasn't following what he was on about. He noticed the mermaid's puzzled look after he mentioned 'solar boat'.
"I know the boat one," Ariel giggled. "See them every day."
Jim scoffed. "Of course, it's the only one you get to see. You'll see what I mean, perhaps one day."
"Right, and I'll be seeing—whoops!" By accident, she lost grip of the cloth, and it fell into the water. However, no dramatic interaction was seen. Her logic was that something hot wouldn't go well together with something cool, like water and fire. Ariel expected the cloth to be not so waterproof, but the reality surprised her.
Ariel looked up to Jim. "It's waterproof?"
"Yep, so you can literally use it as a source of light underwater. When it's dimming, take it to a sunlight, and it will absorb it in no time," Jim explained. "Just make sure nobody sees it, its brightness might attract attention."
"Understood."
An awkward silence filled the air, Jim swore he felt the silence was deafening, even with the wind in the background. However, for Ariel, nothing was even close to 'awkward' at the moment. Her eyes were still locked onto the object.
"Now, onto the next one, shall we?" Jim spoke rather loudly.
The male dug his hand into the pocket of his jacket, and grabbed a round object. It was a compass, colored in metallic copper. But of course, Ariel didn't know what it was.
"Say hello to Mr. Compass."
"Compass?"
Ariel accepted the object when handed over after placing the solar cloth away. Right away, she examined the object. Like any other conventional compass, it had a needle with one end painted in red. On the rim, the letters "N" and "S" were seen, sitting across each other. The only element of the object Ariel 'understood' was the letter N and S across it, though she had no idea what they meant.
"It's a pretty compass," Ariel stated. Jim was expecting a question, which made him furrow a brow.
"It is. Wanna know what it's for?"
Her eyes rolled up to meet his, smiling slightly. "Is that even a question?"
Jim let out a scoff. "So, you see the needle? The red one points at north, and the other one points at south."
Ariel quickly mouthed an 'ohh'.
"So, north is… right behind you, while south is… right behind me! Easy, right?" Jim asked.
Ignoring the statement, Ariel shot a question, "I suppose if you're lost, somewhere in the wilderness, you can use this as a guide?"
"You're a quick learner. Yes, it can guide you home."
Once again, she mouthed another 'ooh'. Ariel rotated the object, and found it surprising that the needle remained at its position, not following the rotation around it. But then, she's a quick learner; the direction of north and south wouldn't change just because she rotated the compass.
"But," Jim broke the silence once again, and Ariel turned her attention to him once again. He never seemed to run out of things that could amuse the female.
"If you're lost in the wilderness," he pointed a finger up above, and almost like he 'hit' a switch, the sun on the far west was gone, and the night sky took over. "Up there… you might want to use this instead."
For the final time, Jim pulled out an object from his pocket. It was another round object, mimicking the compass in both size and color. But this time, it had a round green glass on the middle.
However, the night sky was much of a help for the mermaid to have a detail look on the object.
"It's too dark for me to see, what is it, Jim?" Ariel felt the surface of the object with a hand, which was the only thing she could do for now.
"Oh, here," Jim guided her hand to reach for the glass in the middle of the object. He placed a finger of hers on top of it.
"Press it."
So, she did. And immediately, she was taken aback in shock.
A projection of the galaxy illuminated right above the object, where numerous planets and stars were displayed. The planets were seen to be on the move, which was slow, but they were noticeable. That's how accurate the projector was. Even with the universe only colored in green by the projector, it was more than enough to make the mermaid's jaw drop. Jim could only smile at the look on her face. And his magic show was not over.
Jim scanned the map projection, and chose a planet with the tip of his finger. Once tapped, the projection zoomed onto the planet chosen by Jim. It was none other than Planet Montressor itself.
"That's where we are, Planet Montressor."
"Oh wow… I can't believe—" before she could even finish her sentence (though she was very much speechless), Jim zoomed in again into another planet. This time, it was Montressor Spaceport. The crescent planet. Ariel immediately recognized the shape of the odd planet.
"And that's the spaceport. Believe me or not, it's a giant civilization on an oddly shaped planet. But the people over there seem to enjoy living there," Jim explained. Having heard of his explanation, Ariel looked up to the crescent shaped planet on the night sky, then back to the projection, then back to the actual one, and over and over.
"The details are amazing!" Ariel said.
"Indeed!"
The session continued with Jim demonstrating the gestures to use whenever he wanted to zoom in, zoom out, move forward on the map, and so on. Ariel, being a quick learner, took over the job and explored the map by her own. She was feasting her eyes, and she was not going to stop anytime soon.
Time walked past like the wind, and brought the two to a point where Ariel rested her chin on her palm, still curling a smile on her face while gazing at the universe just in front of her.
"I want to see them… in the flesh," Ariel said.
Jim looked at her, unsure of what to say initially. But then, his instinct answered, "I'll take you up there, someday."