1 Awake

The sky was a dark gray shade, the heavens thundering angrily down upon the Land of Healeh. On one of the lakes, a small feminine figure slowly drifted down the calm water, coming to a stop on the sand at the edge of the shore.

The water pushed her up the sand to a place where the water could no longer reach, flipping her over onto her back. In the empty darkness, her pale skin seemed to glow.

A sudden strike of lightning flashed across the dark sky as the wind roared. The thunder rumbled warningly, alarming the land below of the incoming storm.

---

The sudden light blinded her eyes as she slowly blinked them open, still unable to see as everything was blurry. A loud ringing sound filled her ears as she roughly heard a female's voice call out to her.

She did not have the ability to respond or move at all for several long seconds, until her vision finally returned to her and she saw a woman's face. The woman was gorgeous despite the tiny wrinkles on her face when she smiled, and she had long, wavy red hair that resembled a mermaid.

"You're awake!" She exclaimed, her smile widening which made her wrinkles more visible.

Daphne pushed herself up, noticing that her body was more sore than she had ever experienced. It was difficult to move and took a great deal of courage for her to bear the pain.

"How are you feeling?"

She did not respond, and instead thought back to what she could remember, but it hurt her head to even think.

She remembered being on a plane. . . She was supposed to be receiving her award right now! Just thinking back to the world filled with screaming and fear as the plane dropped made her tremble.

"Where am I?" She finally opened her mouth, surprised by how hoarse and soft her voice was.

The woman frowned slightly in confusion, thinking that maybe the girl had not yet recovered fully from her injury, "Healeh."

Daphne furrowed her eyebrows together, taking slow breaths as she could not think of any country named Healeh. Maybe it was the name of a small city?

"Which country is this?" Her voice slowly returned as she spoke more.

The woman frowned, running her fingers through her red hair, "Country? What do you mean country? We are in Trystville. . . Healeh."

Daphne looked around the room she was in, and realized that the area was not big. It seemed to be a small cabin with the walls being made of dark brown wood, and she was able to see the other end of the room from the bed. There was not a lot of empty space, as most of the area was occupied by the small kitchen counter and the table.

The room had no form of electricity, and the only source of light was coming from the open window and the candles that were lit.

The area was decorated in a very cozy manner, with everything close together, but one could also say that it was messy. This was obviously not a hospital room, so did someone save her after the plane crashed?

"I am from Country A. Is it nearby?"

The woman looked at Daphne confusedly, "Country A? What is that? Are you sure you are okay?"

The woman put her hand up to Daphne's forehead, and Daphne opened her mouth to tell the woman that she was not sick when she suddenly noticed the weird scars on the woman's arm.

"Ah!" Daphne exclaimed as she pushed herself back, the back of her head banging against the hard wall behind her. The woman was also surprised by her reaction, and she quickly pulled her arm back, "What's wrong?"

Daphne could hear her heart beating in her ears, and she couldn't be sure whether it was because of her injury or if it was because of what she had just seen.

On both of the woman's lower arms, she had emerald green gill-like patterns that resembled the body of a fish. It looked absolutely horrifying, and they moved, proving that the gills were not fake or some sort of tattoo.

"You. . . Your arms," Daphne pointed out as an ominous feeling inside her made her stomach churn. Where was she?

The woman looked down at her arms, and as she did, the gills moved more quickly, opening and closing as she looked back up, "My gills. I'm a mermaid," she said in a way that made it seem like what she said was completely normal.

Daphne's heart sank as two options entered her head. One, this woman was crazy. Two, she was crazy. She would much rather prefer to go with the first option, but after the accident she had experienced, it was very likely that the second option was true. Or, she was dreaming.

Perhaps she did indeed survive the plane crash and was in a coma right now. Daphne pushed herself back further, keeping a distance from the woman as she eyed the gills cautiously. Her head burned with pain, but that wasn't of most importance at the moment.

"Ma'am, are you okay? Mermaid?" Daphne smiled weakly, "Those don't exist." Her gaze quivered and her voice wasn't confident. It was obvious that Daphne was only trying to convince herself that she wasn't crazy.

The woman chuckled, "Am I okay? Are you okay? Of course mermaids exist! If not mermaids, what else? I know they are not as common in Healeh, but I'm sure you must have seen many."

A million thoughts flew across Daphne's brain at once, which did not help the headache, but some things were slowly beginning to make sense.

She was probably - no definitely in a coma, but not just a coma. She was in a whole different world. No, no, no, this could not be true. She must be dreaming!

Trying her best to remain calm although she was just about to burst into tears, she asked softly, "You say you are a mermaid. . . Is everyone in this place, Healeh, a mermaid?"

The woman looked at Daphne with a pitiful expression, and it made Daphne quite uncomfortable. The woman probably thought that she was crazy or had lost her mind, whereas Daphne thought this woman was the one crazy.

"Of course not! Did you lose your memory? Do you know what your name is?"

Daphne knew that she obviously did not lose her memory, because she remembered everything. She was a fashion designer, the fashion designer that was supposed to be attending the Global Best Fashion Designer Awards right now!

However, if she told this woman she hadn't lost her memory, how would she explain her utter ignorance of this place?

"I know my name is Daphne. . . but I don't remember anything else," she said softly, looking away to hide the guilt on her face.

"Oh, you poor soul." The woman sighed and scooched over closer to Daphne, who tried to move further into the corner of the room. Just looking at the gills moving on the woman's arms made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She knew that the woman meant no harm, but she still couldn't help but be scared.

"Too much water must have entered your brain when I found you in the lake, so you forgot everything. Don't worry, you will remember -"

"You found me in a lake?" Daphne interrupted.

"Yes, yes. I was going to go for a quick swim and I found you floating there. I thought you were dead!"

Daphne thought back to when the plane had crashed, but she did not know where the plane had fallen. The last thing she could remember was the sound of the screaming and the horrifying feeling as the head of the plane crashed into the land. There was no way she could have survived that crash. There was no way anyone could have survived that crash.

She must be in a coma, if she had managed to somehow miraculously survive. Or, she was somewhere else. . . Was this where people went after dying? This tiny room not big enough to fit ten people?

"Perhaps. . . has there been any plane that landed anywhere near here?" Daphne asked, giving one last shot at the possibility that she perhaps might not be dead yet and can go back to her original life.

"Plane? What is a. . . plane?"

Daphne sighed, "Never mind. . . So is this a world of mermaids?"

The woman chuckled lightly, her eyes sparkling in the dimly lit room, "You must have forgotten everything! This is Healeh. Mermaids, fairies, vampires, ghosts, devils, the 5 Grades! You really don't remember any of this anymore?"

--- Author's Note:

Hello lovely readers ~

Welcome to my fourth novel here on Webnovel! This is also my first time writing a fantasy romance and I am super excited about it! Thank you so much for giving it a chance, and I hope you will love it ^o^

The first 5 chapters will be available immediately so you will have more to read :)

Please don't forget to vote with your power stones and add the novel to your library! I also really appreciate all comments and suggestions for the story

Thank you very much ~

Happy reading <3

Check out my other novels:

- Love is Sweet: The Nation's Princess Meets Her True Love

- Reborn to Love

- The Wife of Hades