When Orion arrived at the boat, he noticed that the program was extremely limited. It was so limited that there was only one other person there, someone who seemed very familiar to him. “Do I know you? You look familiar to me.”
She smiled, “Hola, Orion, I am Maria. It’s nice to meet you.” She shook his hand.
“Do you happen to be related to someone named Mia?”
“Oh, that’s my cousin.”
“Yeah, she flirted with me back at White Sands, but I’m already taken, you see.”
“No problem, that happens to Mia all the time. So, shall we get under way?”
Orion studied her during the boat ride. She looked exactly like Mia, but her hair was a different color of brown and her skin was tanner. At first, he was wondering if Maria was Mia’s older cousin or if he was going nuts.
“Poor Mia. Ever since her latest boyfriend, Adam broke up with her, she’s been like this, how you say ‘boy crazy’.” She smiled, putting a hand on his shoulder, “Penelope’s lucky to have such a nice guy like you.”
“I’ve been getting that a lot.” He paused, “Wait a second. How’d you know her name was Penelope?” By that time, Maria was already on the other side of the ship. “That’s peculiar…” he wondered.
On the way down to the ruins, Orion hung by the edge of the ship looking into the clear blue water. He already saw a few different colors of fish, coral reefs and assorted creatures. He wondered about the fact Maria looked exactly like Mia with the exception of her hair color and skin tone. She had a slightly different voice, a gentler voice than Mia did, but he felt a different vibe from her. It felt like they had a more vivid connection.
He sat in his chair to relax for a while, trying to calm his nerves of going on this adventure without Penelope. Since he dreamt about her so many times, he figured it was their destiny to be together.
About half an hour later, they stopped at their destination. Maria told him how to put it on the gear and how to use it. She sighed, “I really hope you know what you’re doing.”
“What do you mean?” He asked, a bit confused.
She shook her head, “It’s nothing, never mind.”
“Thanks for the concern, Maria. I really appreciate it. I promise I’ll be fine.”
They got off the boat and headed to the entrance of the ruins. “Ok, follow me; I’ve been here so many times that I know the area like the back of my hand.”
“Ok.” Once he got in the water, however, Orion felt something react in his heart and he started swimming in a different direction than her. His legs failed to help him as usual, but he kept moving with his arms. It was time to take his first underwater dive. He kept his snorkel at the surface to keep himself relaxed.
After swimming for five minutes, he came to a place in the rock where he’d have to dive, hold his breath and find an air hole to place his snorkel. The idea made him shiver in fear for the first time since his vacation began. He wanted to turn back and find Maria. That same something, that feeling in his heart, came alive and drew him in that direction, blurting out all other distractions.
He dove into the cold ocean water, fear washing away from him as he traveled among the beautifully colored ruins. The familiar language was inscribed on the walls and Orion read them. It spoke of legends from many years back. He started to read a legend about the diamond scale dragon that sang a mystical song, and how its only rival was the black diamond dragon. The diamond scale dragon was a friend and protector of the merpeople.
The last part Orion was able to read was of the diamond scale dragon’s defeat, but he couldn’t read what happened afterwards. That was when he started to run out of air; his heart beat rapidly as he went to find the surface.
He flailed his arms around, finding how dangerous it was to swim without the use of his legs. He discovered the very risk that everyone was trying to warn him about. ‘I just refused to listen. This was just so important to me,’ he shamefully shouted in his head. ‘How could I be such an idiot to put my life in danger like this?’
He tried for a whole minute to find an air hole, but the ruins were completely flooded by water. His mind panicked as he forced his snorkel out of his mouth, which led to his lungs flooding with the poisonous salty water when he tried to breathe. His mask soon came off and he fell to the seabed, unconscious, as he started to drown.
The last glimmer of light or image that he saw was a female figure coming to get him. His mind could only wonder if it was Maria or Mia or Penelope. In his state of unconsciousness, Orion felt a sensation that he never has and hopefully never would again. If there was any thought going on in his mind, he wanted to be back home with Penelope, as he was afraid that he’d lose his life hundreds of miles away from her.
He also felt a magical transformation going on around his legs and a magical touch to his lips. Somehow, he felt like he was coming back into focus, when he realized that he had been kissed by a mermaid!
“Orion, Orion, can you hear me? Wake up, Orion.” A girl pleaded as Orion struggled to open his eyes.
The first thing he noticed was that he was completely submerged in water with no surface in sight. His mind naturally led him to panic. He started coughing to get the water out and he tried to move away from where he was.
He then noticed that something felt different behind him. He looked down, noticing that he had a tail! He moved it, realizing that he wasn’t paralyzed from the waist down. The feeling of having anything movable below his waist was a new feeling for him. He took a breath, realizing that he was all right. “Whoa,” he looked around at the underwater scenery, “these are no ruins.” He looked around, “It’s almost like something out of a fairy tale.” The moment he stopped being amazed, his mind reeled with many questions. He pinched the end of his tail, finding that this was no dream.
The “realist” he was came back into control of his mind, “What’s going on here?”
The voice called again, “Orion, are you all right?” His head twisted around at the familiar voice, “Who are you?” He looked as a young mermaid with rich red hair approached him, seeming to be happy to see him.
She gave him a curious look, “Don’t you remember me; we’ve met before, a while back.” She laughed a bit, “A long while back.”
“A long while back?” He put a head to his head, “I’ve seen you before, you look just like Mia… and Maria and whoever… my head hurts.” He floated down to the ocean floor, holding his head.
She swam closer, “I’m Misty. You may not remember, but we’ve met a long time ago in a different age.”
“I’m starting to…” it suddenly came back to him, “I remember; I knew you in a past life.” He paused, “Wait a minute! You’re changing the subject. Is this for real?” He pointed to his tail and the world around him. “How’d I get here and how’d I change into this?” He backed up, looking angry. “That’s what I want to know. This realm was supposed to be in ruins. That’s why it was a tourist stop.” He started to trail off in thought, “but now it’s more like a tourist trap.” But he turned on her again. He kept insisting on hearing why he was transformed into a merman.
“I may have been a little responsible for that. You were drowning, but I had to change your form since there was no place for you to breathe.”
He looked around, seeing how his destiny was just about to unfold. “I may have some things to do down here, so I might just stay a while.”
“Then, maybe I can show you around.” She grabbed his hand, and they started to swim around the magical realm under the sea. After about five minutes of swimming, Orion had to stop to take everything in. “This is where my destiny lies, I need to figure out what my purpose here is.”
“Sure, stay as long as you like. My sisters and I are always here to help and are at the Palace if you need us.”
“You’re… you’re a princess?” She smiled, nodding. “Wow,” he smiled at her in the way she hoped he would. “Mermaid princesses are always so pretty.”
He inched closer. A voice in the back of his head was screaming not to get too close and he backed off. “What is it, Orion?”
“I’m curious. How long will this spell last? Do I have to worry about changing back into a handicapped person 200 fathoms below the surface?”
“Don’t worry, Orion, the spell’s permanent, at least as far as I know.”
“Permanent,” he paused. “That’s not a problem, is it?” He went on in thought, “I don’t think so. Wait, I’ll have to change back eventually. I need to at least let my aunt and Penelope know that I’m here, or was here or I’ll be presumed dead or something…”
She turned away and started to swim off when he stopped her, “Misty!” He swam up to her, “you can change me back… can’t you?”
She turned away, “I’m sorry; I can’t. You must understand that I only did this to save your life, but I have little experience in aquatic organic chemistry...”
“I can never come back? There must be a way. Please tell me that you know how to change me back.”
“Orion, I… I don’t know… how to change you back.” Just when he was starting to warm up to her, he turned away from Misty as his heart sank. “Orion, I’m sorry.”
He gave her a look of depression and disappointment, “Thanks for saving my life, but I think I need to lie down. I knew this was too good to be true.” He got the hang of his new tail and shut himself inside a nearby pearl white clamshell. He prayed as hard as he could for this to be a dream. He didn’t want to be submerged underwater forever. Finding himself wasn’t worth it if he would have to sacrifice being with Penelope to do it. He stayed inside for hours, wondering what was going on, on the surface.
Meanwhile, Maria was searching for Orion, but was getting worried, since she hadn’t seen him in over two hours. She decided to head into the territory where Orion disappeared. Keeping her breath regulated, she dove to the bottom to look for him. She saw something shiny. She dove as far as she could to reach it and rushed back to the surface. She kept her snorkel covered with her hand so she wouldn’t have to breathe out water. She made it back to the shallow area, nearly breathless. She looked at what she picked up and was shocked. It was Orion’s snorkel and mask. There was no other trace of him that she could find in the next half hour. She was scared when she returned to the boat. “Orion’s missing. I can’t find him!” The boat’s driver immediately phoned the emergency service to get together a search party.
While the driver made calls to the Coast Guard, Maria stood by the back of the boat, folding her hands, and looked up. She spoke through her mind to the sky, “Zeus, Orion has reached the other side, is he all right?” A voice only she could hear answered back, “Yes, the daughter of Neptune helped deliver Orion to his destiny’s destination. Now, his destiny and fate will slowly reveal itself to him. Orion’s fate doesn’t belong to the Age of the Centaur; it belongs now to the Age of the Mermaid. Don’t worry, he will be fine, everything’s going according to plan.”
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