The Encounter

"Come here darling," a shadowy figure clothed in grey beckoned, his voice raspy.

Nearby, someone shouted something but it was inaudible. The figure cursed and murmured something, the shouting had stopped suddenly.

"Come to me and I will bring you to a world of happiness and riches beyond your wildest dreams," the man stepped towards Tiffany as she backed away.

Her back hit a wall and she tried to muffle her scream. She felt the wall with her fingers wondering if she was able to climb it and felt a trickle of something wet, probably water... WATER?!

Tiffany awoke from her nightmare and felt like she had just run a marathon. Her body was fatigued and she could barely force movement into her limbs. They felt heavy, as did her eyes.

She slowly opened her eyes with difficulty and saw that she was in an underwater cave laying on a platform, the platform not entirely underwater.

The cave was hauntingly warm, an orange light emitting from the water shining onto the slick walls of the cave. The top of the cave was quite far away, and there was no opening in sight.

The cave was circular, and through her bleary vision, Tiffany was able to see figures in the distance.

She wanted to call for help, but her mouth wasn't listening to her thoughts of speech.

The air was stifling and Tiffany panted for oxygen, craving the coolness of the water.

Tiffany strained her ears but was only able to hear the waves sloshing around. She tried to sit up but a jolt of pain shot through her tail and lower back. Groaning inwardly, she saw, in surprise, that she had become a mermaid and gently lay back down to ease the pain.

How had she not noticed, and why did she not remember anything prior to her appearance in this strange cave. Where was this place...

"Woken up now have we?" A sneering masculine voice said coolly.

Tiffany jumped slightly and splashed water around her in small ripples. Her tail twitched slightly as another bolt of pain shot through her tail.

"Who… who is there?" Tiffany inquired, gathering her thoughts, "answer me!" She commanded, trying and failing to keep her voice steady.

The man chuckled, "And with quite a temper, just like your mother."

Tiffany was just about to shout back when she saw a teenage boy striding over to her, walking lazily upon the water.

Warlock, Tiffany thought immediately, but was unsure since she was not able to sense the aura surrounding him that warlocks had.

There was something else, something strange about him that she couldn't quite place.

He was wearing a plain black shirt and dark blue jeans matched with hunting boots. There was a flash of light at his neck and Tiffany saw a gold chain around his neck with what looked like a ring with and inscription on it.

Not being able to see the words, Tiffany leaned forward to better see the insignia. Not realizing she had moved too much, and fell with a splash right into the water.

Tiffany cried out as she fell down, her bruised tail was so painful she almost fainted. The coolness of the water calmed her nerves, however, and she managed to regain her senses.

Finding the ability to move once again, she looked down at her tail and saw a gemstone set at the bottom near her fins. Tiffany tried to pry it off but it was too difficult, the garnet gemstone flashed a dark light and she yelped, pulling her hand back as it burned her.

Her hand was burned red but when she gingerly touched the gemstone again with her finger, it was strangely cool, similar to an ice crystal.

Shaking her unease off, she tested her tail by swimming a half lap around the cave. Realizing there was no pain, Tiffany relaxed and swam up to the surface to confront her kidnapper.

She rose slowly and gasped as she saw the guy sitting on the platform she was just on, glaring down at her with a gleeful expression on his face.

Swimming backwards slightly to stay a safe distance away, Tiffany demanded, "Who are you and why am I here?"

"I wouldn't take that off if I were you, if it is removed in any way, well then, you might end up losing your tail," the boy dodged her question sneakily.

"But... how did you know... why?" Tiffany spluttered, glancing down at the stone once again, it was back to a normal hue of aqua.

"Back to your original question," he said, dodging her question once again, "that is quite easy to grasp when you actually use your head. I have heard rumors that you were quite smart, so that should not be an issue," he stared at her intently, and his lips curved up.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" asked Tiffany, aggravated by the situation she was in.

"Do you think I'm going to explain it all to you?"

The man crouched down to become closer to Tiffany.

Fearing for her safety while also wanting to stand her ground, Tiffany remained in place, though her heart was racing a thousand miles a minute. She internally reached for the water for comfort, and calmed her pulse down once again.

The man snapped his fingers and a piece of paper appeared out of thin air.

"Here," he cast the paper down towards her, and it floated leisurely at Tiffany, skimming the glowing water.

Tiffany picked up the piece of apparently waterproof paper and scanned it confused. When she had finished reading it, she looked up and saw that the mysterious guy had disappeared.

She looked around frantically but couldn't find any traces of his presence.

Fortunately, she spotted a small opening at the side of the cave. Thinking she might be able to go through, Tiffany tucked the paper into a little pouch resting by the side of her hip.

Putting all her effort into her powerful tail, Tiffany sped towards the opening and squeezed through it.

It was a tight fit but she was skinny enough to make it. She felt the rush of cold clean water rush past her face as she exited the tight tunnel.

Once outside, she collided with two people and fell back, her new gemstone cracked into two pieces when she bumped into the people and Tiffany felt a searing pain in her tail.

"Damnit!" she shrieked.

Tiffany hurriedly swam down to the bottom and gathered up the two pieces, her body aching and her limbs feeling tired. With great effort, she managed to fit them back to where they were in the first place.

Then she fixed her mind on sealing the gemstone onto her tail, and pointed her finger at the gemstone. A jet of purple light escaped from her finger and swirled around the gemstone.

The next minute, the light turned to smoke and dissipated into the water.