“Are you two all right?” King Neptune asked Marion and Melody.
“Yes Daddy.” The nine sisters went to tell their father of Orion’s bravery, despite his current disappearance. “We were saved by the white dragon and Orion.”
“Orion? I have not heard that name in a long time. Since he has come to the sea, the feud will end and my kingdom will be safe at last.” Neptune, being at his age, went on about Orion’s legend for hours including every detail from his transformations to his motive. Although he was their father, King Neptune was more of a grandfather and guardian to the nine sisters. He was hardly harsh and was always very kind with the exception being towards the darkness brought to the kingdom by Dragoonas.
Orion, in the meantime, felt really down on himself about nearly dying twice in a day. He even considered if he was too weak to complete his destiny since the darkness had done so much damage to him. “If I nearly died from one touch, should I even try to seal my fate? What if I’m not strong enough?”
He then decided to swim back and read the rest of the legend on the walls. He read the weird language and got up to the part he missed, “If the dragon would be struck down, the chosen one of light will rise and slay the dark dragon with a blade welded by the breath of the white dragon itself. If the chosen one were to fail, the world would plunge into eternal darkness. However, if the chosen one is successful, the one’s life that is tied with the dark dragon will perish and the one of light will return to his place of origin.”
He swam back, wondering if he was the one of light. ‘It’s obvious that I am since I have some sort of light inside of me that lights up in the presence of…’ He then heard Oceana’s soul-pleasing song and swam in its direction. He called out to her, “Oceana!” As he spoke, his inner light lit up and his voice seemed to echo everywhere. She swam his way and purred, wrapping her tail around his wound to finish healing it. “Thank you for saving my life.”
She nodded back and seemed to be smiling. “So, you’ve been calling me this whole time when I was on the surface. Somehow, my hearing became so acute that I was able to hear you from such great distances.”
She nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m finally here and I’m going to help you destroy your enemies.” After receiving another hug from her, Oceana took him back to the Palace Gates and swam away as he waved “good-bye”.
Misty came out to take him to see Neptune. When she took his hand to lead him inside, the happiness he felt from being with Oceana turned into bitterness from what she did to him. He tried not to look her in the eye as he was still a bit upset about being trapped down here by someone trying to stop him from loving Penelope. ‘I still love her, but she’s trying to keep me away from her so I’ll change my mind. I doubt that’ll ever happen.’
When he saw the royal Palace, almost everything was made of diamonds or crystals, but it seemed to be half-black and half-white. He could see that there were parts of both dragons inside, but it was so beautiful. He saw all of the sisters, four on each side, lined up in front of their father and mother. He gasped at the sight of the King and Queen of the ruins. Misty introduced them, “Orion, this is my father and ruler of the Mexican ruins, King Neptune.”
He gasped and bowed down in front of him, “Your majesty, this is such an honor.”
“No, Orion,” he swam to him, picking his head up to face him, “the honor’s all mine, to be in your presence. You are a major legend that has been told over many years. We keep your stories in many volumes in our library.”
“Do you think I could take a look?” He rose up to meet Neptune eye to eye. “I’ve come all this way to find out about my destiny. Where I’m from...”
“You feel like there’s something missing.” Marina asked.
He looked over, “Yes, that’s exactly what I feel.”
“That phrase composes most of the pages in your legend.” Marina added.
Interested, Orion insisted on taking a look at what the books said about him. “Your majesty, do you think I could have a look?”
“Sure, I’ll show you.” Marina took his hand.
Marina took him to the library as Neptune took Misty aside for a little talk. “Misty, if I’m correct, you’ve taken after Melissa and have started to try aquatic chemistry.”
“Yes.” She looked down, “I’m sorry, but I had to do it. Look, Orion was drowning.” She looked up, “He’s paralyzed from the waist down. His legend says that he never truly stood on human legs. He was either half goat, half horse, or in this case, half fish.”
Despite the possible damages Misty had committed in her acts, Neptune decided not to punish her as Orion was a very special case. In the past, Misty had been known for saving many young men that have drowned on the same trip that Orion took; that was also a reason why very few people took that ‘adventure.’ Unfortunately, most of them were killed either by depression or were prey to Dragoonas. Neptune continued his questioning, “Did he thank you?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think he likes me very much.” Misty admitted, being very down on herself.
“It’s as if your connection with him in the past has caused the forces of heaven to create a few images of you. Two of which are cousins that are human. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of such a thing in my lifetime. Unless of course, there are greater forces at work here.”
“I guess that’s why he doesn’t like me. I might be trying too hard to win him over. He’s a great hero so I never stood a chance.” She sighed. “Wait, what forces could possibly be greater than yours, Daddy?”
“Misty, Zeus, our mighty God has a plan for every being on this planet. Somehow, he had made Orion’s fate a very complicated one. However, this is his ultimate destiny that he must fulfill in order to continue the life of his soul and spirit. Perhaps those cousins that look like you are disguised…” he waved his hand in confusion, seeming to ‘wipe out’ the words he just spoke. “Now, I’m getting ahead of myself.”
He put a strong hand on her shoulder, “Misty, even though my time continues to run out, love and destiny are two things that you can’t really control, but mightier Gods and Goddesses manage them every day with every being of this world. Besides, the legend tells us that his heart will forever belong to another.”
She whispered, “Penelope.” She sighed and swam away to catch up with Orion.
Meanwhile, Marina took Orion to the legendary archives. “Your section is just down here.”
He went over and picked Volume I of III. “I have three volumes?”
“Yes, the books have been written in the ancient language of the merpeople.”
“Is that the language written on the ruin walls?”
“Why yes.”
“That’s so weird. I never saw that language in my life, but I could read it.”
“Everyone who has ties to the past can. I’ll leave you to read as much as you like. I’ll be on the Palace Grounds if you need me.”
He spent the rest of the night reading the series of his legacy. It seemed like he never knew where he belonged. He had to find the answer before his trip was over. The most unusual thing he found was that the end of volume III had documented what had previously happened that day. He looked to the beginning of Volume III, which mentioned Jonaseriah. He decided to pick up Jonas’s first of two volumes, seeing how similar they were. Before he could finish, he fell asleep.
As usual, his dreams involved his destiny, but this time, he saw Queen Gemini fall at the feet of Dragoonas and he would confront Dragoonas, only to be slashed with his bladed tail and drowning again. He was shaken awake and he was nervous from the aftershock. He looked behind him and saw a merman with a familiar face. That’s when he was shaken awake from that dream by Misty, “Orion, you look dreadful. You need to find a better place to sleep than a library.”
He looked at her with a shocked look on his face. “Does Queen Gemini have an evil twin brother? I saw him in my dream and I saw your mother fall at the feet of Dragoonas.” He gasped, “I need to see your parents! I’ve seen the future!”
He swam off as Misty called, “Orion, wait!” but he didn’t hear her.
He rushed to the Palace Hall where the King was on his throne, seeming to be very tired in his old age. Gemini, meanwhile, was holding onto him in a way like she was afraid to lose him. Orion could understand the feeling, if he, Orion, were in such a state, Penelope would do the same. He then saw a flashback from the past where he saw Penelope holding him as he died 1,000’s of years ago.
He shook it off, knowing he had to tell the King what he saw. He swam slowly, but Neptune woke up anyway. “Orion, what are you…” He paused to see the look of dread on Orion’s face “Is there something troubling you, Orion?”
“If you please, your Majesty, I need to talk to you about a dream I had. It’s urgent and I need your opinion.”
“All right, say no more, Orion. Gemini, its getting late. Go to your chambers and I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She looked back in look of sadness. She swam to Orion, putting a hand on his cheek, smiling before she headed off to bed. “Gemini seems a little depressed.”
“Well, she has been ever since I started getting older and weaker.” He stopped himself from pressing on with his story and turned his attention back to Orion. “So, tell me about your dream.”
“Well, I was seeing a fight between myself and Dragoonas. I saw Gemini; she fell at the feet of Dragoonas. I tried to save her but Dragoonas slashed my stomach with his tail. I woke up from that dream when I started to drown. I was shaken awake by a merman with a familiar face. I felt like I met him before, somewhere, sometime in my past life. That’s when I woke up again. I think he’s Gemini twin brother, her evil twin brother.”
King Neptune nodded in agreement, “Orion, you did the right thing by coming to me. Yes, I know of Gemini’s troubled older brother; he disappeared many years ago because I simply didn’t trust him. He didn’t want his sister to marry into the royal family. He detested us as well as our nine daughters as they reflected everything he was against, pure beings that were protected by the dragon of light. But I haven’t seen him in years. As a matter of fact, he disappeared when I got weaker and...”
“Dragoonas got stronger.” He pressed on, “What was his name?”
“Adam, I believe.”
Orion gasped and coughed, “No, it can’t be Adam.”
“Are you saying...”
“The same Adam from my past. He hated me because he thinks I stole Penelope from him. He then blew my secret; my secret that Zeus was the reason I was a centaur in the first place. I knew I saw him somewhere before.” He sighed, “My journey continues.”
“Thanks for alerting me, Orion, I’ll spread the word.”
He nodded when his tail twisted around as he heard a deafening scream. “I need to check on Oceana and Dragoonas. I bet they’re at it again. Thanks for clearing that up, your Majesty.” He swam in the direction of the scream, which made him quiver. Despite his fear of the dark dragon, he pressed on and saw Dragoonas swim away in confusion. He took a huge breath of relief when his tail missed Orion completely. “Oceana, are you all right?”
She purred and wrapped around him. “I feel better now, but it’s strange. I had this strange dream, but did I see the future?” As she sung her song, her internal light and Orion’s brought forth a new day.
Oceana took him to show him her cave. “This is your home?” She purred, nodding. It was a beautiful cave, decorated by her scales. “Dragoonas wouldn’t dare go in here.” He paused, coming to a realization. “Unless his darkness comes to overpower the light… I have to go.” As he swam away, Oceana smiled, seeming to be pleasured that Orion had come at last to help her.
He spent the day with the sisters, while keeping his dreams secret. Misty didn’t bother asking about it, since she figured it’d bother him. She accepted the fact that Orion didn’t like what she did to him, so she decided to meet up with Melissa so they could try to find a cure using aquatic chemistry. The days dragged on, Misty kept working, and Orion kept seeing visions. His visions were both of his distant past and of what the future held for him. He kept seeing himself suffering in the claws of Dragoonas and the hands of Adam. He dreaded the day he’d see him again.
He became more troubled every day and everyone, but Oceana, failed to see that he saw more than they ever could understand. He felt trapped and alone. He wished to see Penelope again, but his dreams didn’t satisfy him.
Ever since he left for his vacation, he never dreamt about his true love anymore. Oceana took such a liking to him that she let him spend the nights in her private seashell inside of her cave. She personally hoped it would help bring better dreams for Orion and cheer him up, but it didn’t seem to help. He lay inside night after night, wondering, “Should I have left Penelope behind to find my true calling?” Oceana tried her best to comfort him, but she couldn’t replace his true love.
<< Back
Return to Home Page
Next>>
