Perhaps the same thing would happen to this crowd of enemies.
“Very well,” shouted the king. “If it is a fight song you all want, that is exactly what you will get!”
* * *
The princess struggled to break loose from the chains. With her mouth gagged, she tried to scream “no!” to her father and gesture toward the stones, but she knew she was powerless.
She would have to watch.
Her whole heart hoped the stones would be no match for her father’s voice, but something inside her knew otherwise. She watched as her father rose in the air above the crowd, expanding his chest, preparing to sing. She shook her head over and over as much as she could, but her father, not understanding her, just looked at her with a calmness in his eyes. His beautiful silver hair was glowing more than she’d ever seen before, and his royal golden sash shone brightly.
With love pouring out from his face, he stared at her and began to sing.
The tunes and melody started low and began to increase, gaining momentum. The energy around the princess and the crowd began to circle and sway to the melody of the mermaid king’s voice. The words escaped his lips and expanded into a ball of visual energy near him. For a brief moment, the princess thought maybe he would win—but then she noticed something terribly wrong.
The energy was not expanding outward through the crowd as it should. It was expanding above her father, as if it were restricted and attached to just him. The princess looked at the creatures in the crowd around her. They all held crystals, pointing them in the direction of her father.
And next to her, the shark general held the biggest crystal of all.
The shark general laughed again and shouted to be heard over the king’s song. “Do you feel your power draining from you, sire? Do you feel everything for which you exist being erased? That feeling is these powerful crystals sucking your energy from your being. We found these crystals across the world, in the deepest and darkest depths of the ocean, where all you could see were the stones in the night.”
The mermaid king continued to sing, but an energy field surrounding him trapped his words and their energy, containing his fight song and turning it inward on himself, ripping his body apart.
The shark general raised his voice again. “The natives living where we found the stones said the stones have the power to strip a creature of all of its energy if harnessed correctly. It took me years, but I finally figured out how to wield the stones, to harness the energy, and to destroy what I hate most—the light created by song!”
The princess kept her eyes on her father, who was growing weak. Hatred rose in her for the shark general and his arrogance.
“One night,” the shark general continued, “I was out attempting to activate the stones when I heard a few creatures off in the distance singing. The stones began to vibrate and glow as I moved closer to the group of singing dolphins, and suddenly I realized the dolphins were growing weaker—as you are now—as the stone came nearer to them. Their songs faded, and the stone grew brighter. I tossed the stone beneath them and watched a ball of energy form around them. They didn’t realize what was happening, and suddenly they exploded into a ball of light, which entered my stone. Then I knew the power I’d found—the tool to kill song itself.”
The king continued to sing, forcing the words from his mouth, but the stones pulled the energy behind his words into themselves, draining the mermaid king. His vibrance was fading away.
The princess fought again, trying to break free, but she couldn’t move as she watched her father’s life force flow out of him. Seconds later, the king fell silent and dropped to the floor. The energy around him formed into a large sphere as the stones continued to vibrate and shine brightly. The king looked at his daughter.
“I love you, my dear,” he said. “Please have no fear; light always finds a way. It is always near.”
A bright light exploded. The princess closed her eyes against the brightness, and when she opened them again, the king was gone.
The stones lit up, and the crowd let out a loud, violent cheer.
The princess’s body began to shake violently. She felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest, and she couldn’t control the violent tremors. Then her head struck a nearby rock, and the world went black.
Chapter 6
Alone
Time blurred. Had the princess been imprisoned for a week? A month?
She was kept alone in a faraway prison, moved to the remote spot shortly after her father’s death so that, she assumed, she wouldn’t break free and escape to the kingdom to tell her mother what had happened.
But though she was far from it, she knew the kingdom was in ruins.
At the moment of her father’s death, an electromagnetic pulse had spread throughout the entire ocean, killing much of the beautiful plant life and the sea’s vibrance. The shark general and his men had then invaded the happy kingdom and wiped it clean of all remaining colors and singing. When the guards had moved her to the new prison, the princess had overheard them speaking. They said her mother was being held a prisoner in their dungeon because she refused to become the shark general’s wife. The princess knew her mother was far too smart to believe any lies he told her about what had happened.
The guards had also said that only they and the shark general knew the princess was alive and where she was—the rest of the kingdom, including the shark general’s army, thought she was dead. The princess hoped her mother did not believe this lie, but as time continued to tick away, she feared her mother would have no other choice.
The princess learned quickly that no one could hear her in her prison. She’d tried screaming at the top of her lungs, but no one ever came to rescue her, and her surroundings remained quiet. She never heard a passing creature or even saw a flying bird passing over her prison. Everything was dark. Only the dim sun, hiding behind the clouds in the day sky, and occasionally the stars at night provided any light.
In her prison, the princess was supplied with a certain amount of food. She saw the same guards only when they resupplied her stock, which seemed to be frequently—their way of spying on her, she assumed. She was surprised that the general fed her, but then she overheard one of the guards saying the shark general hoped keeping her alive would one day play in his favor. She had no idea what that meant.
Other than the guards’ visits, she remained alone.
The prison was a large enclosure. The princess had plenty of room to swim, and because the prison’s walls extended above the water’s surface, she could look out above the water but couldn’t see over the walls, out to the rest of the sea and land. She imagined the prison looked from the outside like the top of an open volcano rising out of the ocean. It was as if the walls touched the sky.
Though she’d been in and out of consciousness on the way to the prison, she remembered quite a bit of travel, so she knew she was in an uninhabited part of the sea. An enormous rock in the enclosure—she imagined it had been placed there by giants—gave her a place on which to sit and stare at the sky. The princess hadn’t sung since watching her father die, although sometimes she felt the urge. She would stare at the stars at night, admiring their beauty and thinking that they were the only light left in the world when they managed to peek through the heavy clouds. They gave her the smallest amount of hope and comfort.
The general could not destroy the stars.
After months of solitude aside from the guards’ brief food deliveries, one afternoon, the shark general finally visited the princess.
She hadn’t seen him since the night he’d murdered her father.
He was dressed differently but still in royal clothing—dark fabric, darker than she’d ever seen, with the royal gold embedded into it. He had a stunning ruggedness that even the princess could not ignore, but her hatred for him easily overshadowed this.
The general smiled at the princess as he entered the enclosure. “How are you enjoying your stay?” he said smugly.
/> The princess sat in silence as she watched him move around her enclosure.
“Do you have enough food?” he asked. “Is there something you need?”
Silence smothered the space between them. The shark general glanced around the princess’s new home, but she could tell he was keeping his real attention focused on her. Why was he looking at her that way? She knew her flowing purple hair had grown out more since he’d last seen her, and streaks of beautiful silver were emerging in it; was he admiring her beauty? She kept her pale eyes glued to him, staring almost through him, as he made his way around her space.
The princess gritted her teeth but chose to respond carefully and quietly. It took every ounce of her energy to not attack the shark general.
“You have taken everything from me,” she said calmly and firmly. “You will never have anything I need. The minute you killed my father, you killed something inside of me that will never be revived. Your day will come when you pay for what you’ve done. So unless you want to set me free and return my kingdom to me, I never want to see your face again!”
The shark general laughed. “As stubborn as your father, I see. I wish you were more like your mother. She is starting to come around to our new way of life, and if she knows what’s right for her, she’ll agree to be my queen!”
“She will never be with you!” the princess shouted. “She will never love you the way she loved my father—and neither will I!”
The shark general laughed again. “We will see, my dear princess—we will see. I hope one day you learn to live with the darkness. Otherwise, you will die here alone.”
The princess stared at the shark general, contemplating attacking him, but she knew she would never overpower him. She slowly turned her back to him and said, “Then I choose to die alone.” She waited for him to leave.
“What a waste!” the shark general spat as he slammed the door closed behind him. He locked it and disappeared from sight.
Chapter 7
A Magical Introduction
The princess felt pain in her chest with each beat of her heart, and tears began to roll down her cheeks as a sadness she hadn’t felt before swept over her.
She felt defeated.
Mother thinks I’m dead, my father is dead, and the kingdom I call home is no more, she thought. What is the point of living anymore?
The day was shifting to evening, and the princess floated over to the giant boulder in her enclosure and propped herself up on it.
The stars—all I have are the stars.
She replayed the shark general’s visit in her mind—the way he moved, the hurtful sting of each of his words. She wondered why he was the way he was, battling with her conflicted feelings. She had loved the shark general as she would love any family member. If he hadn’t been the one who betrayed the family, he was right—she would have gone to him for comfort. She wondered if her mother felt like she did, alone, with no light in the world. She felt sadness for her mother and what she’d experienced—losing the two loves of her life in one moment.
The princess was also sad for the whole kingdom. She loved her people but could not protect them from this. Guilt settled over her as she watched the daylight fade away.
Then, to her surprise, thousands of stars emerged in the night sky—a beautiful sight for the first time in many months. She stared in awe, and the sadness and despair that had swept over her gave way to a sweeping hope.
And she began to sing.
As the melody picked up, the words poured from the depths of her soul. She sang, and tears poured down her cheeks, but instead of feeling drained, she began to feel energized. Something was different—she could feel the light inside her soul burning brightly. She finished the song but continued humming the tune, smiling.
Then something began to happen in the sky.
The bright stars drew together into a circle of light above her head. She decided to dance. As she spun in circles, her speed increased and energy built around her and then burst, sweeping over her, engulfing her in a blanket of warmth. She fell back in delight with her eyes closed.
When she finally opened her eyes, she stared in amazement—a pure, beautiful sliver of white light had appeared above her in the sky. Bewildered, she caught her breath, afraid it would vanish if she breathed too loudly. She’d never seen anything like it before—it looked like the tip of her fingernail lighting up the night sky. Had she brought this new sight about?
The mermaid princess searched the rest of her narrow view of the sky for other lights like this one, but there were none. She watched it for what felt like an eternity, waiting for something to happen. Then, feeling empowered by the new light’s beauty, she decided to speak to it.
“Hello there, you enchanting sight in the night sky. I have never seen you before. Where did you come from? You don’t know how happy I am to see you and the light you release. The world is a dark one now, and your light is needed.” The princess paused and listened again for anything or anyone, but there was still only silence.
Millions of thoughts crossed her mind as she stared at the new light in the sky. Other people besides her had probably noticed this new sight by now, and she assumed the shark general would immediately suspect she’d caused it and return to her enclosure for another visit. But she was far out in the middle of nowhere, so she knew it would take someone a while to get there, if anyone was coming.
But she still heard no one approaching.
Peace and quiet engulfed the night around her, so she continued speaking quietly and gently about the pain she was experiencing. She spilled her heart to this new light in the sky, and as the last words escaped her lips and the tears gushed down her cheeks, she exhaled. She hadn’t realized it, but as she exhaled, it felt as if she were releasing a breath she’d been holding since the moment her father died. As she’d spoken to the night sky, weight had lifted from her with each word that had left her mouth. She stared at the sliver of light and felt herself begin to relax for the first time in a while.
A gentle breeze pushed through her enclosure, causing a whistling noise. The breeze was nice on her skin, and she liked feeling it flow through her beautiful purple hair. She lay there, eyes on the evening sky, enjoying the moment, until she fell asleep.
A while later, the princess woke to the sound of a strong wind. Looking up, she realized the new sliver of light in the night sky had sunk nearer to the horizon. She sat quietly, listening to the wind around her, and suddenly, she thought she heard a faint whisper. She froze. Was someone nearby, speaking? She listened harder. What was the whisper saying?
The wind picked up, and the voice grew louder and clearer. As she listened, she gradually made out the words: “It is all right, my dear; I am here now.”
Who is here?! she thought.
Confused, she glanced around, but she saw no one and nothing except the sliver in the sky, which appeared to be shining brighter than before.
The whisper continued. “Please do not be afraid. I awoke here in this new place—the vibration of your tears and pain and of the love behind your singing caused me to illuminate. I have been observing. I am sad to see this is not a happy world currently, my dear, and I am sorry to have found you like this. But do not fear; all will be set right in this world—it always is.”
Suddenly, the princess realized the whisper was coming from the sliver of light in the sky. She felt paralyzed with confusion. What was happening? Was her father speaking to her through the light? Was she dreaming?
Just then, a strong gust of wind pushed past her, and the voice spoke again. “I am the light you see in the sky, and I am happy to have found you, my dear.”
Overwhelmed with emotion, the princess smiled uncontrollably, and the sliver in the night sky shined even brighter than before.
“That is what your people need from you, my dear,” the light’s voice continued. “They need that smile and your love.”
The princess’s smile faded. “They all believe I’m dead, along with my f
ather. How could I ever give them what they need from here? I am a prisoner.”
The princess heard a slight chuckle. “You are no prisoner, my dear,” said the voice. “Yes, you are currently physically confined, but the only prison that exists is the one in which you keep your heart. All situations are temporary, and they are what you make of them. I am so very sorry you are confined and that the world you experienced with your father is gone, but it is not dead, my dear. It is only dead if we give up. You cannot control this confinement, but you can control how you treat yourself in it. Do not give up on light and love. You have a gift, my dear—I can feel it vibrating off of you. You have just lost sight. Do not give up or give in. I will help you remember; I will help you find it again.”
The princess, somehow no longer upset, found comfort in these words. Something deep inside her knew the voice spoke the truth. “Okay,” she whispered. “How will you help me, my new friend? What do we do?”
“Do not worry—the solution will present itself,” said the sliver in the sky. “All we can do right now is just be.”
The princess realized the night was ending and that her new friend was disappearing as daylight approached. “Will you be back tomorrow?” she asked.
The wind, now calmed, faded along with the gentle whisper. “I cannot promise this, my dear—no one can guarantee returning tomorrow. But I will tell you this: I am very real in this moment, and so is the universe, and we have always been here and always will be. So even if I do not return one day, know that I am alive and shining bright for those who have lost their way in the dark. You have now seen my light with your own eyes and heard my voice with your own ears. Light always finds a way.”
The Magical Mermaid and the Moon Page 3