PROLOGUE: A Mermaid's Story.
She swam with all her might, as fast as she could before the sunlight could reach the day. She came closer and closer to the surface, and worked her fin with all her might. Only the thought of seeing him again had given her so much strength – if he were to be out tonight. Oh but he would be, as he always was, watching the bidding moonlight on the crack of dawn.
The words echoed through her mind; the warning and the danger and heavy risks involving seeing the human. The Sea may have discovered her secret journeys to the land, but it did not know her dying true love for the mortal that dwelled upon it.
Alas! There he was – she hid behind her usual rock again, and watched hungrily as his beautiful face seemed to anguish in difficulties. Oh, she would never forget the span of blue hues his eyes sparkled like the sea, his hair with a tinge of light gold and warmth like the sunlight – and his voice…as he wondered softly to himself.
'I will have to leave early this morning.' He whispered, as if he knew a mermaid was listening behind the rocks only a few feet away from him. 'And I shall miss you, for I shall never come back. As long as I love to enjoy the nature and the mysterious beauty this place gives – I shall almost be gone. Schooling, I am afraid.'
These were strange words she had never heard. Schooling? What might that be? What might that be so important he had to leave this place he seemed to love so much?
Then he sat up. He walked back to the land. 'No!' She cried out silently, her thin hands reaching out barely from the rock. He didn't look back. He kept walking. Eerie sounds of wind waved through her black hair, telling her this was the last time she'd ever see him again.
Last.
'No!' Torn and anguished, she began to writhe and cry. She sobbed, as mermaid can without tears. She lived for days without eating, swimming, just wondering like the ghost in her labyrinth.
The Sea finally took pity on her, for he rose to her and asked, 'What pains you, my child?'
Cordelia looked up at the great god. The Sea himself had come to her – what more had she done?
"Oh my lord," Cordelia said, "my only true love shall never be with me." She said despairingly.
"Is this the mortal whom you seek everynight?"The great god asked calmly.
Cordelia stared into the serenity of his dark navy pupils. She nodded.
"You have a choice." He said.
Cordelia begged him to tell her.
"I can make you reborn as a human babe, and you shall live and grow on earth as a human being. You will never remember your past, what you were, and of your sea heritage, and the world will be hard to you. You will be different than others, and you will be an outcast. But if you meet the mortal you so loved, you shall finally experience the true love and everlasting life the mortals can only have."
She listened with all her might, her dark eyes wide.
"And you will also not remember these words I have said unto you tonight.
"But, if you wish to forget all about him, you will live with your family underwater, under my protection and guide, and you will eventually recover from the pain. However, I cannot say that you will forget about your mortal."
"I cannot live a single more day without knowing him." She replied. "I will choose the latter. Please, my lord, I will do anything to be with him."
"There is no guarantee this mortal will love you dearly as you do him." The Sea said, "and you shall be many years younger than he, for he already lives and you will not be yet born."
Cordelia watched as the school of fish and great whales about them stopped to let the Sea talk.
"Most importantly, you will not know of this mortal for whom you once loved once you become a human."
"Then how will I know he's the one?"
"Your heart will never change, my dear one." The Sea said, his calm voice rippling through the unusually calm waters of the great Pacific sea.
"And you shall have a different look about you – for mortals do not look anything like the merpeople. As you do now, you shall on land."
"Will they know?" Cordelia breathed.
"No, not of your exact history, for you won't either, but they'll for sure treat you in a different way."
"I don't care. I still want to be with him. My only love, otherwise I shall die at this moment." Cordelia cried.
"You have my word." The Sea said calmly.
And everything was hazy, and soon, Cordelia did not remember anything.