Something I started writing in boredom - posted here for the sake of it.
The sky wept and hallowed in pain as the freezing night drifted in, for the first time in history a mermaid had been slain. It’s scales stripped, it’s head a trophy and it’s flesh consumed. For one who eats a mermaid will be there at the world’s end. Eternal life will be there’s.
The damp cave walls seem to swallow him with their cold mist but still he stood firm. His spear gripped so tight his fingers had lost all feeling and colour, his body felt as if this position he held had been the only stance it had ever taken. Thirty-six hours have passed. Thirty-six hours since he took his position, ready to strike. He knew the mermaid was coming. He had waited too many years for it not to come; too many nights awake, too many hours watching his dying father and too many seconds feeling his own life drift away from him and be devoured by the mermaid’s curse. What is eternal life if it is spent eternally dying?
His family had looked after the Mermaid shrine for ages. Located on the cliffs above the caves he was in now, it was a relic from a time gone by where man and mermaid trusted each other. During this age his great ancestor Salvia Buromus had married a mermaid. A decision even the greatest of hearts would look back on in regret. Legend says that the two shared a love so strong flowers bloomed in there presence but alas, the King of Waves had denied such a act many a time before it occurred and thus years after the two eloped the news finally reached him from a bastard of a crab. The whole ocean shuddered as his rage erupted and his anger soared. Never had any creature under the sea and ocean defied his word. And thus the curse was born. The Buromus bloodline was cursed with eternal life and eternal death, forever dying but never dead. The King of Waves was crueller still in his anger as he gave Buromus a way out. Kill the woman he loved and he would only have death.
Buromus and his mermaid wife carried on living as man and wife. Everyday his pain would grow and his body age. She wept, very night her sorrow echoed in Buromus’s ears. Many a time she begged him to kill her, to free them both from this curse and many a time his hand had clutched a spear to do such an act. But it was of no use; no amount of pain in the world could bring him to drive that spear through her. Now he sits in this cave, withered to strange sack of bones unrecognisable as human. The cave had been well hidden. But now it had been found, right under the shrine itself for all these years, those damn mermaids. But now it would end. Shinji Buromus would kill the mermaid his ancestor had wed many years ago and end this vile curse. And then he would eat it, and stand after even time itself had fallen, without his life being consumed by the wickedness that had befallen his bloodline. She would come, she would come to see the man she had fallen in love with all those centuries ago. And he would kill her, have her head as a trophy her scales as decoration and be a true hero.
The water before him shimmered. In this dark drenched cave a light had begun to grow deep within the salt water that rose into it from a deep tunnel time had long forgotten. A sound drifted in, was it wind, the sea perhaps? No! It was a voice, a beautiful voice growing louder and louder as a beautiful enchanting light rose into this sorry cave. And then as soft as the finest silk she rose up from the water, her hair as red as the deepest wine, her skin as pale as the face of the moon.
He couldn’t move. He couldn’t lounge his spear into this, this beauty. How could he take the life of something glimmering with such a warming light? His whole body froze, the very idea of blood spilling from such a creature chilled him to the bone and all the strength in the world couldn’t have moved his muscles now.
Her eyes, fixed on him. A faint smile creeping on her face, did she know who he was and why he was here, a smile of kindness or of victory? He didn’t know. Words tried to escape this lock the mermaid had placed on his body but at most he managed to make his lips tremble. However his body did move, he blinked. His eyes were so dry from staring even all the beauty in the world could no have stopped it and then – horror.
Thick blood ran down the mermaid’s neck, a deep crimson staining the whitest of skins. A large spear sank into her neck. He checked his hands, was it he who had done it? But no, his spear still sat in his tight grip. Than who, who could do such a thing? And there behind him, more bone and rot than man, stood Salvia, a twisted grin on his face, or perhaps just where the skin had fell off many years ago. Salvia had killed her; he had done what he had refused to do for decades. Was he laughing, or had his throat decayed so much that the strange sound that he made was the only sound he was able to make. He wasn’t sure all he knew was that he felt sick and that the image of dark red on such a fine skin would be burnt into his eyes forever. Tears rolled down his, he turned to face salvia, to kill his own ancestor but he was gone. How where? Had he died? Had his body simply turned to dust? He did not know. All he knew was that he had seen the most splendid thing his eyes had ever seen destroyed. He didn’t want to turn round to face it again; he would leave this place without that awful image burning itself anymore than what it had onto his eyes.
But had he turned around, he wouldn’t had seen it anyway – for the mermaid had gone…
The sky wept and hallowed in pain as the freezing night drifted in, for the first time in history a mermaid had been slain. It’s scales stripped, it’s head a trophy and it’s flesh consumed. For one who eats a mermaid will be there at the world’s end. Eternal life will be there’s.
-1-
The damp cave walls seem to swallow him with their cold mist but still he stood firm. His spear gripped so tight his fingers had lost all feeling and colour, his body felt as if this position he held had been the only stance it had ever taken. Thirty-six hours have passed. Thirty-six hours since he took his position, ready to strike. He knew the mermaid was coming. He had waited too many years for it not to come; too many nights awake, too many hours watching his dying father and too many seconds feeling his own life drift away from him and be devoured by the mermaid’s curse. What is eternal life if it is spent eternally dying?
His family had looked after the Mermaid shrine for ages. Located on the cliffs above the caves he was in now, it was a relic from a time gone by where man and mermaid trusted each other. During this age his great ancestor Salvia Buromus had married a mermaid. A decision even the greatest of hearts would look back on in regret. Legend says that the two shared a love so strong flowers bloomed in there presence but alas, the King of Waves had denied such a act many a time before it occurred and thus years after the two eloped the news finally reached him from a bastard of a crab. The whole ocean shuddered as his rage erupted and his anger soared. Never had any creature under the sea and ocean defied his word. And thus the curse was born. The Buromus bloodline was cursed with eternal life and eternal death, forever dying but never dead. The King of Waves was crueller still in his anger as he gave Buromus a way out. Kill the woman he loved and he would only have death.
Buromus and his mermaid wife carried on living as man and wife. Everyday his pain would grow and his body age. She wept, very night her sorrow echoed in Buromus’s ears. Many a time she begged him to kill her, to free them both from this curse and many a time his hand had clutched a spear to do such an act. But it was of no use; no amount of pain in the world could bring him to drive that spear through her. Now he sits in this cave, withered to strange sack of bones unrecognisable as human. The cave had been well hidden. But now it had been found, right under the shrine itself for all these years, those damn mermaids. But now it would end. Shinji Buromus would kill the mermaid his ancestor had wed many years ago and end this vile curse. And then he would eat it, and stand after even time itself had fallen, without his life being consumed by the wickedness that had befallen his bloodline. She would come, she would come to see the man she had fallen in love with all those centuries ago. And he would kill her, have her head as a trophy her scales as decoration and be a true hero.
The water before him shimmered. In this dark drenched cave a light had begun to grow deep within the salt water that rose into it from a deep tunnel time had long forgotten. A sound drifted in, was it wind, the sea perhaps? No! It was a voice, a beautiful voice growing louder and louder as a beautiful enchanting light rose into this sorry cave. And then as soft as the finest silk she rose up from the water, her hair as red as the deepest wine, her skin as pale as the face of the moon.
He couldn’t move. He couldn’t lounge his spear into this, this beauty. How could he take the life of something glimmering with such a warming light? His whole body froze, the very idea of blood spilling from such a creature chilled him to the bone and all the strength in the world couldn’t have moved his muscles now.
Her eyes, fixed on him. A faint smile creeping on her face, did she know who he was and why he was here, a smile of kindness or of victory? He didn’t know. Words tried to escape this lock the mermaid had placed on his body but at most he managed to make his lips tremble. However his body did move, he blinked. His eyes were so dry from staring even all the beauty in the world could no have stopped it and then – horror.
Thick blood ran down the mermaid’s neck, a deep crimson staining the whitest of skins. A large spear sank into her neck. He checked his hands, was it he who had done it? But no, his spear still sat in his tight grip. Than who, who could do such a thing? And there behind him, more bone and rot than man, stood Salvia, a twisted grin on his face, or perhaps just where the skin had fell off many years ago. Salvia had killed her; he had done what he had refused to do for decades. Was he laughing, or had his throat decayed so much that the strange sound that he made was the only sound he was able to make. He wasn’t sure all he knew was that he felt sick and that the image of dark red on such a fine skin would be burnt into his eyes forever. Tears rolled down his, he turned to face salvia, to kill his own ancestor but he was gone. How where? Had he died? Had his body simply turned to dust? He did not know. All he knew was that he had seen the most splendid thing his eyes had ever seen destroyed. He didn’t want to turn round to face it again; he would leave this place without that awful image burning itself anymore than what it had onto his eyes.
But had he turned around, he wouldn’t had seen it anyway – for the mermaid had gone…
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