The mermaid (English version)

 

—Blue. He's turning blue. Ligeia said he could turn blue, but he shouldn't turn purple. And... when is it considered purple? To me, it looks like it's shifting a bit to violet, and bubbles are barely coming out of his nose anymore. I better get him out now.

 

Korai dragged the human to the shore. In the distance, the storm and the cyclone it was causing were still visible. There was no trace left of the man's boat. It would surely sink into the sands at the bottom of the bay, and in a few days, when man's family reported his disappearance, the coast guard would find it. Several of her companions were still around; it was a good fishing night.

 

—So this is what he's like —Korai thought, feeling her victim's body.

 

It was tougher than a mermaid's, broader and with a flatter chest. Also warmer, though cooling rapidly. Below the waist, there were no scales or fishtail. Two legs — she remembered well from her human anatomy class — the kind she would have in a short while if she managed to start the ritual before man regained consciousness.

 

She had been spying on him for weeks. Having studied all the theory and observed the older mermaids for hours, she was sure she knew exactly how to choose a victim for her mating ritual, but it was her first time, and she was afraid she might have made a mistake. He was larger than her — but Ligeia told me we are stronger than them — and she trusted in that because out of water, her entire body felt heavy, and she felt insecure.

 

She had seen him go out almost every day. Always alone. He would take his boat, with its small engine, and venture out to sea. He fished. Or at least, he tried. He wasn't like the others; he didn't put much effort into it. He'd set up a couple of fishing rods and almost forget about them, his gaze lost in the depths of the sea. Sometimes he didn't even use bait. —He's foolish— Korai had thought on several occasions, and that's why she believed he would be an easy prey for a novice and virgin mermaid like her.

—He's still blue— Korai murmured to herself.

 

She glanced towards the distant storm where her companions were likely still fishing. She tried to remember what she was supposed to do next. Slapping her forehead with her hand, she exclaimed, —The pulse!— and began searching man's neck area with her fingers, trying to feel his heartbeat.

 

It was beating. Faint, but it was there.

 

She could almost hear her mentor's voice echoing in her head, "Humans can't breathe underwater; they've forgotten how to. Their lungs fill with water, and they drown. To save them, you have to drain the water and ensure their heart keeps beating."

 

—One thing done; now I need to get the swallowed water out of him.

Korai realized that no one had ever explained to her why humans could no longer breathe underwater. Contemplating this mystery, she moved her mouth closer to man's to draw out the water filling his lungs. His lips were very cold yet soft. She inhaled, and as the water flowed out, she swallowed it. She remembered too late that she should spit it out to prevent a part of man's essence from anchoring within her. This phenomenon was called the "bond," and it was severely punished in the mermaid world. She tried to expel everything from her mouth, but she had swallowed some. She figured it was silly to worry; she had consumed only a small amount and felt no different. So, she continued drawing out the water until man began to breathe again, although he remained unconscious.

 

She looked up at the sky, where the moon shone powerfully and was almost full. There were only hours, perhaps mere minutes left, for the hybrid time to begin, and she hadn't started preparing anything.

Korai looked again at man, who was still breathing weakly. The bluish hue had almost faded, replaced by a very pale pink. That was a good sign. She smiled, tied her brunette hair with some seaweeds, and dragged herself to the shore, diving into the turbulent waters.

 

It's challenging for her to position man on a bed of seaweed and anemones in that pool sheltered by the rocks, but the water is deep enough to allow her to move with some ease. Necklaces of pearls and ivory shine on her nude chest in the moonlight, emphasizing the mermaid's slightly bluish skin with scaly gleams. Man remains unconscious but is now breathing normally. She undresses him slowly, caressing him with her cold hands, exploring his warm skin with curiosity. The mermaid begins to hum a gentle sea murmur, and the anemones start emitting iridescent glows, illuminating the seabed; they stand tall, become active, and extend their stinging tentacles towards man's skin, injecting tiny but consistent doses of venom. His sensitized skin regains its color and warmth.

 

The songs attract dozens of small blue-ringed octopuses that also surround the human. Hundreds of suckers traverse his skin with tiny suctioning kisses as Korai increases the volume of her voice. Her tail coils and uncoils around the man as she dances sensuously and sinuously over his body. And she sings:

I am the moon and I am desire,

I am the sea and I am fire,

I am fate and I am the beginning,

I am flesh and I am woman,

I am ritual and I am death...

Man has awakened. His dark eyes lock onto the mermaid's; with ragged breaths, he stretches out his arms in a cross, allowing her hands to pin them down. Korai looks at him, continuing to dance and sing atop his body, which is being overtaken by rising excitement. With skin bathed in moonlight and wild hair, with the necklaces shining over her swollen breasts, with the thrill of two opposite bodies wrapped in desire and caressed by the impossible notes of the fish-woman; the mermaid sheds her marine skin and two fleshy legs voluptuously embrace man's hips. Their sexes seek each other, they kiss, they lick, and they merge. The ritual has begun.

 

The song becomes soft, mournful, turning into moans and pants. Their bodies dance to the rhythm of the tide; mermaid and man meld. Man's violence does not emerge, and the dance turns into an unexpected pleasure. It becomes a familiar pleasure.

Exhausting his strength, man whispers:

—My mermaid, my eternal mermaid, don't you remember me?

And then Korai sees, Korai knows, Korai understands. She feels a sharp pang in her chest, memory suddenly returns, and she clutches her now silver mane, while the man's face transforms into a mosaic of souls, and hers into a parchment of battles.

—A hundred times me, a thousand times you— murmurs the ancient mermaid, recalling the curse with a disjointed sadness.

And man looks at her as life slips away in a smile.

The mermaid's eyes turn black, and a heart-wrenching lament erupts from her core. Her mouth twists in agony, morphing into the jaws of a fierce marine creature. She tears off her necklaces, sending their beads flying in a pearly effervescence. She sinks her teeth into her prey, tears him apart, licks him. She yearns for him and has lost him, in one more lifetime. Punished again.

Sobbing, she quickly dives into the night of the marine abyss.