Waking From Surgery

I woke to the feeling of fire in my chest and mouth. I coughed up water. I took in several breaths, coughing more before groaning. My nose burned too. And my lower back was aching. I would need to massage it and do an emotional release meditation, if I could. I opened my eyes and saw a small school of fish swimming above me. I was lying in water. Deep in the water, but I was breathing normally. Where was I? How did I get here? How was I being able to breathe water as if it were air? I felt my heart rate increase with my panic.

A ripple in the water made me turn. A man about my age stood beside the table I lay on. He was handsome. He looked Human, but there were scales on his face. I let my eyes drop to his body. Arms and torso like a Human. Fish tail. Merman. I felt hyper-aroused. I wanted to make love to this man. I wanted to be pregnant by this man. What was wrong with me?! I never wanted sex this bad. I tried to move. To get off the table and away from the man beside me, but the man prevented me from moving.

"Try to relax, Blessed Human," his gentle tenor voice soothed. "You've just come out of surgery."

"Surgery?" I rasped.

He nodded. "Several vertebrae in your lower back needed to be fortified. They were structurally unstable and would have caused severe nerve damage if left unattended. The surgical site has already closed. We are just waiting to see if you are able to accept and integrate the materials we used to strengthen your low back."

I could feel pressure building behind my eyes, but whatever tears would have formed were lost in the water around me. "How am I not drowning?" I whispered.

"We had to implant disks in your mouth and chest to allow you to breathe as we breathe. You pulled the oxygen mask off during surgery and prevented us from putting it back on."

"Why am I in water? What is this place?"

"You are on the Aequos Patrius planet. A planet covered almost entirely by water. And this is our healing facility."

I closed my eyes tightly and shook my head. I had heard rumors about other humanoid races, but did not know we had the capacity to travel to their homes. Who brought me here? Why had my back been repaired here and not somewhere on Earth? We had the technology to correct my degenerative vertebral issue.

"Try to rest a little longer. I will return soon with some food."

I pressed my lips together trying to understand. Trying to settle my swirling and radically inflated emotions and libido.

The man's hand left my shoulder. The water rippled over and around me as he left.

I cried until I slept. I woke slightly as a female Aequos Patrius shifted me into a reclined position. My head hurt, but my libido had decreased dramatically. She slowly fed me pieces of sea vegetables before I slept once more.

I felt groggy when I started to wake. I was aware of the water around me. I no longer lay on a table, but on something much softer. I remained still, breathing deeply to try and get my head to clear. To shift my mind to be more aware of my body and what I could feel about my surroundings. I felt longer. I couldn't tell if my legs were longer or if my torso was longer with the strengthening of the vertebrae in my low back. Gradually I opened my eyes.

I was lying on the body of a large mussel. Several different schools of fish swam above me. The strong libido I felt when I first woke was back. I shivered. Never before had the feelings lasted this long. Yes, I felt them when I ovulated every month, but even after some sleep the feeling disappeared. Why was I still feeling this way? Had I not been out long? I shifted on the mussel. My legs moved together. I tried to lift one leg, but could not without the other. Had they bound my legs to help keep me still? I tried once more to move my legs apart. A fan shaped fin caught my eye when I flexed my feet. I had…. I…. I bent and lifted my… mertail?

My Astrophyllite anklet wrapped around the bottom of the tail before the end fanned out again. What was happening to me? Why did I have a tail like the Aeqous Patrius? Was this because of the disks they had to implant to keep me breathing? What material had they used to strengthen my spine? I let my tail settle on the mussel as I cried. I tried to roll over and the mussel shifted to support and allow me to do so. There was so much I couldn't remember. So much I didn't understand. And much I couldn't explain regarding my extreme libido and desire to be pregnant.

A ripple in the water passed over me. I shivered.

"Blessed Human?" the male Aequos Patrius asked as he sat next to me.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered.

"What do you mean?"

"My legs are gone!"

"The appearance of the tail means you have accepted the new tissue as your own; just as the acceptance of the disks allows you to breath under water."

"I don't understand. How is this possible?"

"In order to strengthen your back we needed to anchor a couple fish spines to both sides of your spine to improve the integrity of your vertebral movements. It is your gift that allows your body to adapt, to change, as you heal."

"Gift?"

The man's fingers lightly traced an infinity sign on my right temple. I could feel the energy being mirrored on my left temple.

In my mind I saw a multitude of species and races. I felt as if I were each of the species and races I saw, despite feeling as I did when I woke.

"Does this mean my legs will return?"

He nodded. "Once you return to land. The disks that allow you to breath water will become dormant as well. However, both will be as they are now while you are in deeper water."

I nodded then turned my face away from him.

He ran his hand across my shoulders and back. "I should introduce myself," he said. "I am known as Genaw."

"Lexian," I replied.

"How do you feel over all, Lexian?"

I felt overwhelmed. I wept. The infinity symbol on my temples had changed me. Did this mean that I would gradually become less human as I interacted with other races and species? I wanted to understand! Why could I not remember how I ended up like this?

Genaw pulled his fingers through my hair. "I'm sorry. I forgot to tell you that the disks we had to put in tend to make people more moody."

His words did not calm me, but the feel of his fingers combing through my hard was distracting enough to let my mind slip into darkness once more.

"She's pregnant!" an angry, but familiar male voice said. "Who got her pregnant?"

"She isn't pregnant, Unmar," Genaw said. "She's been ill these past couple days. The integration of the surgery to keep her legs functional as you wished came as a shock to her."

"It should not have. She adapts quickly to change and takes it easily."

"That has not been her experience here."

"She's never been ill enough to not conceive children. With the right nutrition, she heals in a few hours and can conceive again. Are you feeding her properly?"

"We are."

"Then she's been in the water too long."

"The water has been her stabilizing force. If we were to take her from the water right now, her health would decline rapidly."

"How long before she'll be well enough to return?"

"Depending on what else we find and, if her recovery pattern continues as it has, it might take up to seven months."

"See! She is pregnant."

"Unmar. If you wish her to be fully recovered then you need to be patient."

Unmar was silent for a moment then left.

Genaw swam over to check on me. "How are you feeling, Lexian?"

"I have a headache. Are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. I've just never known the Viator to get angry."

"Based on what Unmar was saying, it sounds like the Viator are in survival mode. A primal state of mind that will lead them to do anything they can to make sure they keep their race from going extinct."

"They'll hurt you trying to do that," he said, shaking his head.

"Since I am here, he already has."

Genaw closed his eyes and turned his head away from me. "I don't understand how someone who has the same gift as you could do that," he said softly.

"I understand."

"How does your back feel?" he asked, turning back to me.

"Better. Thank you."

"You are welcome…. Are you feeling well enough that you think you can start to learn how to navigate with your tail?"

I nodded.

"Alright."