The Sinking Man And A Useless Tail (Ch.6)

"They are going to toss him into the ocean!" Chantria realized with horror.

In the very next moment, there was a loud splash as the thrashing man was violently tossed into the ocean, his body plunging down beneath the surface.

Chantria's eyes zoned in on the man, although Chantria could not see his face with his long hair splayed all around him,

Yet rage flared within her as she noticed his struggle against the chains of thick iron wrapped tightly around his legs and hands.

'Let the deep decide?! That's a load of bull! You have him tied up in chains! This is execution by drowning! There's nothing left for the deep to decide!' Chantria thought furiously as she watched the pitiful man sink down at a fast rate.

Chantria was at a loss on what to do, her first thought of course was to save him, but how?

Chantria could hardly control this strange appendage attached to her and what was worse, saving him would mean taking him up to the surface which was essentially revealing herself.

And it did not matter from what aspect Chantria considered it, revealing herself definitely would not end well... she may very well end up as the next to be executed.

As Chantria pondered over what to do, she noticed the man had stopped struggling.

"Hey! You can't be drowning already! It hasn't even been up to a minute! Even I can hold my breath longer than that!" Chantria exclaimed, her words visibly represented by tons of bubbles escaping her lips.

However Chantria realized this man truly was already drowning, his body was sinking down at a faster rate and all signs of struggle had stopped.

The distance between where he had been tossed and where Chantria sat at the Sea bed was still relatively far,

But judging from the great distance Chantria had previously covered in just a sudden flick of her tail, it told Chantria the strange appendage was quite powerful... now if only she knew how to use it?

Chantria stared down at the 10ft tail helplessly, there was a man's life at stake and yet Chantria was not even certain if she flicked her tail at this exact moment, in what direction would it take her?

Chantria could not ignore the possibility that she could end up going in the opposite direction entirely and that would make things a whole lot worse.

Chantria sighed, she simply could not turn a blind eye and watch a man drown to death right before her eyes, for some reason, Chantria believed in his innocence and so she just had to save him,

Besides, Chantria knew she would have to figure out how this tail worked sooner or later as there was absolutely no way she was sitting in one spot for heaven knows how long.

It was then Chantria recalled she had once taken classes in mermaid style swimming along with Mira, she even had to purchase a false tail then just to perfect the craft!

She had done it for no particularly reason, she had just been pulled along by Mira who for some reason thought it would be fun.

Now that Chantria thought about it, she wondered if Mira had foreseen she would one day be in a situation where she had to use a tail rather than legs.

Mermaid style swimming essentially taught the use of the two legs as though it was one unified appendage in navigating through water,

Wasn't it essentially the same thing as now? She even had a real life mermaid tail this time!

Chantria nodded, although the tail was ten times the weight of her legs, if she had moved it before, she most definitely could move it again.

With that in mind, Chantria prepared herself to play hero and save a lad in distress.

'Here we go.' Chantria thought determinedly,

Sucking in a deep breath, Chantria fixed her vision intently on the sinking lad and with every strength she could muster within her muscles, she gave her tail a powerful flick.

Like a powerful force was propelling her, Chantria suddenly found herself shooting through the water at blinding speed and her lips opened in an inaudible scream, her hands flailing around.

Chantria who was unable to control her speed barrelled straight into the sinking man, sending him tumbling down to the bottom of the ocean at a faster rate.

'Oh shit! Oh shit! I've really done it this time!' Chantria panicked, wondering just how her hero quest was going so terribly wrong.

Without thinking much, Chantria dove after the sinking man, her tail beating against the water, she arrived before the sinking man in the blink of an eye and with a slight wave of her hands, she stopped her movement just in time.

"I did it!" Chantria celebrated in her head before she noticed the unfocused gaze of the sinking man was fixed on her.

Chantria had thought he was unconscious, she had not expected he was actually wide awake and had just given up struggling as though giving up on life...

The mere thought of that ached Chantria's heart, no one should have to be forced to make such a choice.

The first thing Chantria noticed of the sinking man was the fact that he was beautiful!

No...not handsome, not even dashingly handsome, not Greek god kind of handsome...far from it!

The man staring back at her with soft innocent features, a rosy red pouty lip and glistening silver eyes was breathtakingly beautiful!

And truly for a moment there, Chantria could swear she forgot how to breathe and it took her a moment to bring herself back to reality and realize the beautiful man was staring at her with widened eyes.

Chantria gazed down at herself and grimaced slightly, she understood how it must have looked, seeing a half human, half fish creature and Chantria had the strong urge to explain her predicament.

Since this was impossible underwater, Chantria settled for giving a slight wave and a friendly smile.

However as she watched the eyes of the beautiful man becoming even more unfocused, she recalled belatedly that between the two of them,

There was only one with the ability to breathe underwater... and that was Chantria herself.

Which obviously meant the other party was still drowning!