It wasn't her fault this had happened. Tales her father had told her were always about foolish girls who thought they were superior to the gods. She remembered the underwater world that had glimmered around them and how her dad nearly sang these stories to her. Books from all corners of the globe about princes made of metal and golden saddles on silver horses. A tear dribbled down from her eye and fell into the river. It sent a ripple through a reflection of a monster.
Her country, her river and her dad were all gone. And the worst part was… even the gods hated her now.
The sun set against the horizon. Now the one joy she still had in life was gone. Crying wouldn't do anything. She curled up against the grass and tucked her head into the body. She was cold and sore. Tears tricked down her cheek. They blurred her vision until the world blackened and she fell asleep.
The next morning she woke up. Dew sparkled on her fur. Her guard with a hundred eyes gestured for her to move away from the spot where she had slept. She thought they looked like stars when she first saw them. She forced her wobbly legs to stand. Each of her feet felt like they were made of lead. The transformation that had happened had not been easy on her. She now knew that she had body parts that she could not feel. She felt as if her body had been poorly stuffed into a monster's. Each step she took was agony but she finally reached the mutant guard who watched her. She cursed all the gods she knew for the state she was in and gave extra hate to Zeus. Ever since this entanglement with the gods had happened she had hated him.
She nudged her guard with her nose. His name had never been told to her. She had hoped that he would be kind to her. After all, she had once been beautiful. She was hungry and wanted food. She had never skipped a meal in her life. She had always had someone to care for her. Io knew that she was a little bit of a spoiled brat. She had spent her whole life surrounded by handmaidens. The whole reason she had left her babbling herd of ladies-in-waiting was to find out what life was like on the outside.
Her next challenge was to find out how to get some food. She was scared that the gods had intended she would starve to death as a monster. The only reasonable course of action seemed to be to ask her guard for food. He had a stack of bread next to him that immediately refilled whenever he reached its base. Her throat felt like it was filled with dirt. She opened her mouth to speak and only a squeaky mooing sound came out. In her old body she would have gasped. But she couldn't, given the fact that she was a monster.
Io could not believe that she couldn't speak. It was so unfair! She wished she could jump into the ocean and never come back up. But she couldn't because she wasn't a nymph anymore. Her whole life was gone and it wasn't even her fault. It would make sense if she had died having her head chopped off with an ax even though she was advised about it. But nobody thought to warn her about her fate.
Io pondered what to do for a little while. A solution came. Many years ago her father had taught her how to write. Memories of brilliant summers days spent learning came to her. She took her hoof and inscribed the word hungry into the dirt. The guard curiously watched her as she wrote. It seemed sure that she would have food. Then to her surprise, he gestured towards the grass. She was shocked. But she had to have food. She slowly bent down to the grass and nibbled a piece. It tasted oh so bitter and felt stringy. It was horrible. Shuddering, she swallowed it. She wished she were dead. "What had Zeus done to her, making her eat grass?"
She felt sad then. She lay down on the cold ground and slept.
The sun rose over the horizon. It was huge. Io wanted to spread her arms out and inhale the warmth but she couldn't. Instead her eyes followed the assent of the sun, watching it light up the sky above. The world below was pitch-black. Clouds floated like ships in the air. As the sphere slowly climbed into the sky warmth spread through her body. She wanted to fly away with the sun. For a nymph that was a bad thing, to wonder about the sun. The other nymphs always told her that she was meant to stay underwater, not with the sun. But she was still entranced by the image of the sun through the movement of the water. It looked like another world that was right above the river. But when she touched it, it was gone.
She understood at that moment that she had to do something. She had never relied on the gods before, why should she now? Ever since her Mother's death she had been an atheist. It seemed that no god would let that happen to her. It was ironic given the problem she was in but contemplating it wouldn't do anything. She jumped up onto her legs and looked at Argos. He gave her a lazy-eyed look. Perhaps she could go to the river and ask her father for help. Her spirits lifted at the thought and she head to her father's river. She expected he would be her best bet for help. With any luck he could reverse her curse.
The water churned before her like a dragon. Her father was clearly angry. Now all she had to do was make contact with him. Then she realized she couldn't. The ability to speak was lost on her. Without her father she always be a beast. Shock hit her like a punch to the stomach. A pang hit her when she understood that her whole life was gone. Never again would she feel the sun on the water or talk. She could never leap in the waves or be fussed over by her handmaidens.
It was the saddest realization possible. Yet at the same time she was angry Her heart felt like it was being ripped out of her chest. She had always thought that being sad was better than physical pain. It wasn't. Her whole body shuddered with pain. Her blood froze. Thoughts of hate buzzed through her mind. She felt like a demon with horrible claws and teeth. If she was she could go and kill everything she could grasp. Every bone in her body longed for release of pain. She felt like the sun was setting on her entire body. Inside her chest she could feel herself dying. She wanted to scream in terror. Her knees buckled and she pounded to the ground. Her muscles tensed.
The water roared above her tears. Not that it was that loud, she couldn't howl. The water rose in mountains of blue. A rapid gracefully crashed onto the riverbank .It sparkled and crashed onto the shore. The water shifted into a different shape. It morphed into something that was not quite water or man. He had a white beard that made him look rugged. His eyes were small and kind. She couldn't help bounding to him. She wanted to scream for her father and embrace in his arms like she did when she was little. All she prayed for was that he could see her as his daughter. The wish repeated insistently in her head. He sidestepped her. She realized that she would never be able to communicate with him this way. Her hooves skid to a stop. She wrote that she was his daughter into the riverbank with her hoof. She held her breath in anticipation.
" Er, sorry about that. I'm not that good at transformation. " He said. She looked down and realized she had been turned into a dolphin. It had been her favorite animal to turn into back when she was a nymph. She thought that swimming as one felt like flying would. Her dad grunted and stretched, he seemed tired. But she was overjoyed. She flipped over in the air and landed with a splash. Her dad could talk to aquatic animals so she could speak for the time being. She swam over to her dad and pressed her dolphin body against him. He clutched her tightly back.
"I missed you so much" she said. She thought about what had happened in the past few days. "I'm so sorry" she whispered. She knew she would have to tell him her story sometime. She just didn't want it to be now. She sighed. "Where were you?" he whispered. He jerked back from their embrace. A part inside of her shattered .It was time.
Her story unfolded in her mind. She told it like she would a secret, letting it out slowly like how you would pour water from a pitcher. Soon she felt like she was back in the river, when things were the way they should be.