Excerpt from the prelude of my story :
There was once a beautiful kingdom located in a beautiful world of lush green meadows and surrounded by a vast blue ocean. This land was a far away place filled with magic and wonder. The king was a kindhearted man who loved his kingdom and his family. He had a beautiful wife who was a very magical woman. They lived happily for many years together and had two daughters. The eldest they named Rowena and the little one they called Celine. These two girls grew up experiencing life in this wonderful place together. They rode unicorns on the beach and played hide and seek with the fairies in the meadow. Celine and her sister Rowena were very close when they were children. They had a connection that made them able to communicate telepathically. When their mother passed away, their father seemed to pay more attention to Celine because she looked very much like her mother. Celine began to naturally hone her magic very quickly. Her sister, desperate to find her magic, threw herself into her studies in order to surpass her sister's success and feel worthy of her father's attention. She was the oldest child and wanted to impress her father. Sisters who were once so very close that they could read each other's thoughts began to feel a great distance growing between them as Celine quickly mastered her skills. She felt most inspired by nature and all of its mystery and beauty. She soon began to channel her powers within it and found that she could control the natural elements of fire, air, water, and earth. A second power was soon discovered within Celine as she began to communicate with animals. All animals obeyed her as they developed a sense of allegiance to the being who could speak on their behalf. Their father was very impressed with all that Celine was accomplishing. Rowena became very jealous...positively green with envy.
One gorgeously warm blue sky filled day as Celine was walking home on the beach after a day of swimming with the fish, she found a very large, oddly shaped sand dune. As she examined this specimen, the gigantic thing began to move rocking slowly back and forth. Celine watched as the sand moved and revealed a giant oyster. She knew that these sightings were very rare indeed as the oysters were a favorite food among many sea and land creatures. The longer they lived, the larger they grew and this one was so large he had to be quite old. Oysters were known to be very wise and honed their own kind of special magic. This oyster was just as she thought he would be but her excitement was cut short with the news the oyster had to bear. He told her that her mother had asked him to make a gift for her daughters. This gift, blessed by magic, would allow them to turn into any one animal they were destined to become. This magic was called shapeshifting and it was their mother's most favorite gift. The oyster felt great sadness when their mother passed away because he had the gift of foresight and had seen into her daughter's souls. Celine's soul and heart were pure but Rowena's soul and heart harbored jealousy and rage. He was certain that Rowena's darkness would one day consume her. He had promised to make two gifts, one for each of the queen's daughters but he could not bring himself to create a magical talisman for a dark hearted soul. He had spent nineteen years bottling up all of the magic inside of him and he had created one very powerful talisman meant for one daughter destined to be the savior of their kingdom. With that he opened his shell and inside lay a beautiful, perfectly round glowing white pearl. A school of fish had been commissioned by the oyster to create a gorgeous gold necklace with a cage to hold the pearl. Celine took the necklace and fastened it on her neck. Her body began to tingle. The oyster told her that this pearl would glow in the darkest places and had great power that her sister could never be a part of. This pearl was going to take her away from this world, away from her sister's evil plans. This journey could not wait any longer and as the oyster informed her that she was going to have to leave right away without saying goodbye to anyone, Celine began to cry. Her salty tears ran down her face and she shook her head exclaiming that she had to at least say goodbye to her father but the oyster forbade her from returning to the castle. He told her that the pearl had already begun to change her and Celine noticed that the skin on her legs was getting hard, almost like the scales on a fish and her body felt very strange. The oyster described the shift and told her that being a mermaid was a beautiful gift, it was going to take her far away from her world into a new one where Rowena would not be able to harm her. He pleaded with Celine for forgiveness for disobeying her mother and Celine, even though she was overwhelmed with fear, she hugged the oyster and assured him that all was forgiven. She was then instructed to stay in the water to remain a mermaid but while on land she would take the shape of a human. Celine felt confident that leaving would save her kingdom and her sister. She went into the ocean with a heavy heart that day. All of nature was sad and mourned this great loss. The beautiful summer lands, for the first time, began to change. The trees were sad so their leaves fell onto the ground. The air became cold and lonely, looking for the warmth of Celine's soul. The sky cried but because the air was so cold without Celine, the tears turned to ice that left white, fluffy powder on the ground that froze the earth. When Celine left, the animals were so depressed they went to sleep and waited for her to return. Celine took the warmth and light of life out of her world when she left. It was all for a good reason promised the oyster. He, being very loyal and true, felt terrible. He had saved the rightful Queen but he lied to do it. You see, he knew that Rowena would find her dark side whether Celine was here or not. He knew that many, including the king, were going to have to die as Rowena began her descent into dark magic. He had saved Celine so that she could accomplish the greatest magic of all and with this magic she would return and defeat her sister. The oyster felt a great sadness as the ocean rolled onto the beach to take him home.
Celine swam deep into the ocean until she was surrounded by darkness. She stopped swimming and looked around, the pearl's light burned bright like a miniature sun under the sea. Celine was alone and for the first time in her life, she felt very lonely. As she began to weep and sink to the ocean floor, a small spidery looking creature became very curious of this new sea animal that lay before him and he scurried out of his sandy ocean floor hole and touched her hand.
"Why do you cry"? He asked in a small voice. Celine opened her eyes and saw the adorable little creature standing before her with a genuinely concerned look on his face.
She smiled, "I have traveled from a very far away place and I am lonely here. My name is Celine, tell me sir, what is your name"?
The small spidery creature was a beautiful indigo color with little green beady eyes. He looked at her and laughed,
"Oh me, my name is Haliman." His bashful eyes moved from Celine to the ocean floor and his indigo claws clicked nervously. "Are you going anywhere in particular Celine"? He asked desperately hoping that this beautiful creature had no where else to go.
"I don't know where I am going, all I know is I have to go away", Celine said with a sad look. She touched her fins which were sparkling with aquamarine stones that bejeweled her whole body from her stomach down.
"Well, said the darling creature, don't be lonely for even in our darkest hour, in the darkest place, you are not alone. Tell me your story, I should so like to hear all about you."
With that, Celine and Haliman traveled the ocean together. They swam farther and farther away from where they met until they no longer recognized their surroundings on land and in the sea. Celine told Haliman of her world and why she had to leave and with each passing day he realized how special Celine was. Days passed into months and years. They became best friends and had many adventures together under the sea. She began to forget her sadness.
One day, Celine and Haliman were swimming closer to the surface to find a rock to lay out on. Celine had made a satchel out of seaweed in which Haliman would ride inside. He could not swim like Celine. They would sunbathe and discuss life and underwater politics with the sea lions who were very friendly even though their barking could be misunderstood and interpreted as bossiness. They were actually the most love able, loyal friends. As Celine and Haliman swam to the surface they noticed something, a strange something, floating magically on the water. It moved toward them gliding on the water ever so gracefully. Celine screeched out to Haliman and he crawled out of his satchel and ran to her shoulder.
"Ay, he said, that is a sailboat." Celine was in awe of this big, beautiful boat. In all of her time with Haliman she had never seen one up close before. Haliman had told her in the past that boats carried strange creatures that were unlike anything that lived in the sea. She could not conceal her excitement.
"Let's have a look at the creatures on the boat", she said with big, curious smile. Haliman was not convinced that this was the best idea but he went along, as he always did with Celine's crazy ideas. They swam up to the boat and listened. She heard something! There was whistling and steps. She swam around and saw a man standing on the end of the sailboat staring out into the ocean. He was so beautiful. He was tall with long chin length dark hair and dark eyes. His body was big and strong and he was smiling this kind smile. A feeling came over Celine, a feeling she knew not of until this moment. She needed to be near this one, she felt a connection to him that she never felt to anyone or anything before. Haliman did not understand what she could find to be interesting at all with this creature. Haliman begged to go back to the rocks and Celine reluctantly gave in. She swam away and found a perfectly sunny rock to beach and nap on for a while.
Hours later, Celine opened her eyes and saw that the sun was almost set for the day. She poked Haliman and he grumpily sat up. They stretched and slid off the rock to go back to the water for dinner when she suddenly saw her sailor on his boat right near the beach. Her heart began to race.
"Haliman what do I do if he sees me"? She was so nervous.
Haliman grumbled, "Just keep swimming, I'm hungry and I don't care about strange creatures on sailboats." He scurried off into the water and waited for her to follow. Celine stared off at the boat and saw her sailboat creature staring right at her. She looked away and smiled and then ran into the ocean flipping her fins up as she dove down into the water. Later that night she went back to that beach and saw her creature on land sitting by a camp fire staring out into the ocean. Celine slowly walked out of the water on to the beach right in front of her creature.
"Hello there, my name is Celine"she managed to squeak out. He stared at her in astonishment.
"I'm Alexander". His voice was so kind and deep and his accent made Celine smile. They talked all night about themselves and their lives. Alexander was convinced that this siren was a figment of his imagination. Celine felt a deep longing feeling coming from Alexander. He longed to be in love and settle down before his life passed him by. All night they talked and when the morning came Celine told him that he would find all that he was looking for. When she began to walk to the ocean as he fell asleep she knew that he would not remember if she was every really there or if the loneliness, the ale, and the long days work in the sun had created her. Haliman was not happy with her. He had watched, jealously, as Celine and Alexander laughed and talked all night.
"You can't deny that you felt something for him Celine. You can't let that go." He knew that there would come a day when Celine would have to leave him and with every fiber of his being he did not want that day to come but he could not deny that it was here.
"I can't leave you Haliman, I won't." Celine crossed her arms and made her most stubborn face.
"Don't deny your one true chance to connect with someone who loves you back. Why turn your back on love Celine? Do you want to grow old with me in the ocean or would you rather live your life?"
Celine was disturbed and torn but Haliman knew that she had left a part of her heart on that beach and he urged her to go back.
Celine swam hesitantly up to the shore back to that beach. She found a man who had forgotten a mermaid that emerged from the ocean but remembered a woman. In time, he gave her a large aquamarine ring, which for some reason that he could not remember seemed to suit her perfectly, and asked for her hand. Months later, she married that man in a small Irish town by the water and they lived in a beautiful house on the salty rocks by the sea shore. This sounds like the end, and Celine had considered that this was it, but, this was merely the beginning. Soon after the wedding, a child was born. A beautiful baby girl they named Adelle. Two years later, another child, a wide eyed young lad they called Colin was born. They all lived in that beautiful house by the sea. Celine knew then that the adventure was about to begin and the stories, oh the stories began to be told the day the children were born.
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