Simperous

Simperous: The Simple Beauty Of the Sea...

Si's Story

Vain/ Proud/ Curious/ Arrogant

I'd never truly understood - I will never understand... why I brought myself to travel to Myrraid's Cove.

Some impulse - or instinct - overcame seven years of fear and the calling inside me took me home.

In some ways finding my true form has been the biggest blessing, although the biggest burden. I daren't say too much more. See those who have come to understand my fate have become trapped in the tides of life - forever seeking what I have unwillingly found.

I never liked the water. My parents were lost at sea when I was no bigger than a loaf of bread. Ever since then I've tried with all my might to avoid the ocean - yet it yearns for me, more than once I have seen it clawing toward me in my peripheral vision.

Little did I know this was part of a deal. An agreement between the ocean's people and my parents. An agreement which left both of them... out of pocket shall we say.

They had nothing to pay with - so they payed with their blood.

Why did they make such a foolish agreement? I had no idea and I have no idea now - but I've speculated a little...

My mother was very supersticious. She saw a little of the future and visited pyschics frequently.

Many a pyshcic had told her of her forecoming death and she, herself, had seen the land perishing in fire.

She knew.

That is why she chose this life for me.

So my mother found me a place where I would not perish - in the ocean. Before I found my home... I had no idea - I never believed such things existed. Whole civilizations at sea.

My parents were both required to pay the price - and when the spell was complete and they could not dredge up the money they were killed instead.

The change was not immediate... they must capture me and change me first... I remember my days at the beach clearly.

I slipped down the dunes onto the beach. It was a brilliant white under the sunlight. I remember squinting - trying to find shade, trying to find the cool. I splashed myself with water - but a few minutes later I went in search of shade.

The cove was quite small - two kilometres maximum in length. I could see - just beside the cliff face, a small cave carved into the rocks. Like a circular piece of darkness punched in rock. I set off toward it - trudging up the beach. A shallow stream trickled and tinkled from the depths of the cave. I scaled the rocks - wetted by water and made slippery by moss.

More than once I almost lost my footing - but I persisted on...

I reached the mouth of the cave. It yawned and gaped as I trudged ahead into the dank, bleak and gloomy dark. The dark and moisture in the air were oppressive. I was struggling to find breath when I caught glimpse of the soft glow ahead.

A mahogany box indented and laid with whale bone was centered in the white light.

I pulled back - lingering... hesistant at first. The strange dim light and heat emanating from the box was... surreal almost.

I touched a single finger to the clasp and it sprung open easily. I realized that the light and heat did not emanate from the box itself, but instead, a strange translucent blue glass pendant.

My hair fell around me - framing my face - as I lent down to sweep up the glass charm.

It clipped easily to the bracelet at my wrist... the one my mother had given me in addition to my amber pendant.

The bracelet was strange - on first glance it was a gold bangle with intricately carved patterns... but on second glance you could see the tiny fish tails interlinked at the tail-tip.

The pendant and bracelet glowed a weird dull amber before settling into a pulsing, flowing blue.

I took a peak at the other contents in the mahogany box - it seemed there were an array of ebony and ivory seahorses - like chess pieces almost.

I slipped the box into my anorak pocket and took to the sand path back home.

*Serious work in progress.*

She flicked her hair, glancing at her reflection in the water. She sunk back down, below the surface. She was definitely a beauty. She swam - her beauty and radiance illuminating the sea bed, filling even the darkest corner with the presence of her light. The sunlight filtered down through the water and kelp.

She laughed slightly – her laughter tinkling like the resonance of sleigh bells, and flicked her tail to propel her forward. Si glanced around… the murky and oppressive darkness surrounded her… She looked below her… the sea bed had disappeared into flat darkness. She stared behind and forward – but which way was home?

After a slight spell of worry, Si grinned – prancing alone in the twilight of the deep. She circled and dived and swam.

It was after a short while she realized… the ragged stone cave… the light emanating from the heart of its inky darkness. She edged a little closer… and closer… and glanced into the long and daunting mouth of the cave.

The voice was quiet, but seemed so loud in the silence of the deep.

I have been expecting you.'

Si is awesome. She is beautiful and unique. I love her starlit blue eyes and streamlined tail. :D

Images for Future Beauty Contests