Prologue
It was a warm and calm summer night was. The constellations high above the heavens twinkled and gleamed brilliantly in the blue-black sky. Their lights reflected against the surface of a serene ocean. It was here that an isolated island stood; its location yet to be discovered by the likes of Man. The island was roughly five miles wide with only a single large mountain that laid dormant. The island was covered in a lush forest with streams running down its side and was protected by a ring of jagged rocks hidden beneath the surface and also had a cove surrounded by a rocky cliff side.
It was here that creatures of the deep migrated to every summer. A large pod of eighty or so males and females were not far from the island. The males swam the perimeter of their pod with spears grasped tightly in their hands. The females swam in the middle, protected. Such open waters were dangerous after all. One of the individuals migrating to the island was a young female who went by the name Lily. She was twenty cycles of age, had long auburn tendrils, and green colored eyes. Like the rest of her kind her large tail had blue-green scales that shimmered in sunlight. And most importantly she was pregnant; as were the rest of the females migrating.
Lily was ecstatic yet nervous at the prospect of becoming a mother. This would be her first child! Her mate, James, was on the perimeter with the rest of the males making sure for safe passage. Carcharion had always been an issue to their kind. James was the same age as Lily and had wild growing tendrils the color black and hazel eyes.
The expectant mother turned to her left where her friend was swimming idly beside her; Alice. Alice gave Lily a reassuring smile as the pod crossed the first of the jagged rocks. The other woman had been one of Lily's closest friends since the day they met. She was, in many ways, like the sister she should have had with Petunia. But that was her old life, it no longer held any importance to young Lily.
It was almost impossible to believe to where life had taken Lily now. When she was a little girl, she never once thought that one day her life would belong to the vast sea, that she would have friends, family, and a loving mate. Or that Lily would one day change from a human to a mermaid.