Sliced in Time

Secret acts of transgression

Sleeping beside Otto certainly was not on Rayas agenda tonight, but she knew tonight was the night she would leave for good so she wanted one last moment to be in his world; this one and the dream one.

She had actually been planning her departure from Otto since the last life. It required that much time because she was going to leave by way of portal, leaving behind this world and all that is included with it.

It was a feat that was talked about in low hushes and information only given to certain types of people. She spent her last life scowering the underwater borrows of mermaids and mushroom circles of fairies to find a person whom could lead her to another world.

•••••••••••••• 1 LIFETIME AGO••••••••••••••••••••

"Ow, be more gentle with my hair please," Jordy (now Raya) pleaded with the mermaids. Their hands are slightly webbed, and their faces are youthful, chubby, and scaled. They only speak telepathically but Jordy had learned that she they can understand her even when she speaks her native tongue.

Every time she came to visit them, they loved to play with her hair. Some of them had similar hair texture to her too but it was something about dry hair maybe that fascinated them.

She has been coming to see the mermaids for over 10+ years now preparing for her mission which she just found out will have to wait for the next lifetime. I'd wait 100 more lifetimes as long as I get to be rid of Tabrivk (now Otto), She thought to herself.

"Hello madame," Leslie, a wise mermaid with wrinkles on her forehead and a unibrow, greets Raya.
"Hello Leslie, wonderful to see you," Raya cheeks as the other mermaids shift their attention to Leslie. All seated on the shore near a boardwalk.

"It is close to the end of this life you live, and you must now be inducted into the mysteries so that in the next life you will no longer need to visit us. I will come to you in another form when you have decided with your heart, that you are ready and not a moment after, " She speaks with her mind.

The skies around them, first light and bright, slowly begin to dim until it becomes dark altogether. The mermaids are the gatekeepers of the portals between worlds and one must go through extensive training before even being able to live amongst them as a friend if not originally from their part of the land, thankfully, Rayas bloodline also had mermaid in it, albeit, from the first couple of incarnations.

The full moon shone above them, and Leslie, as well as the mermaids in attendance gathered around holding hands on the shore.

Raya remembered what to do to invoke the portal, thinking about the clean slate of another world and being with someone who treated her as she was treated what seemed like so long ago. She knew a love like that could last even if Otto claimed it didn't. His excuse was that he was a troubled soul, trying to find out what changed about his feelings on monogamy; he says it's fate. Raya no longer cared what his excuses were, she just wanted out. Her jealously, rage, and bitterness was growing stronger each incarnation and it was taking a toll on her mental well-being and emotional body. She knew that if she didn't take matters into her own hands she was going to be a slave to him for every life to come. He'd love that.

They charged the portal which bounced, and came alive in the middle of the water. Erupting underneath, sending shockwaves across the entire land, they had to be careful.

Later that same evening, as Raya arrived back to the castle, hunched back and tired from all of the energy she shared with the mermaids, came across Otto who was whispering to a guard.

"What was that about?" She says taking a seat on the chair and pointing to where the guards breeze only was now.

"An informant is believed to have seen strange light codes in the sky today so I am having some people check it out," he says lowly, sipping his drink and leaning on an engraved pole with the family crest design snaked around it.

"I'm sure it's nothing," Raya says convincingly, kicking her feet up.

Otto says nothing but eyes Raya behind his drink.

It was the last time they spoke of it.

•••••••••••••••••••••PRESENT••••••••••••••••••

The moon peaked through the blinds, the only witness to the tears falling from Rayas eyes. Tears of sadness and anger, really.

She swiftly exited the bed, and left his chambers.

This'll kill him for sure

Otto was the type that took everything literally, so when she said she'd kill him, she knew that he thought she was going to burst into the room in the middle of his affairs and go full lunatic, but she always had other ideas, one's out of this world that were too big for Otto to comprehend without his personal advisor there to walk him through it.

"Madame," she heard a faint whisper coming from the dark hallways, followed by a distorted shadow coming from a faint light up ahead the corridor.

As she turned she saw a girl with a unibrow, dark skinned, short, very young no more than 15.

"Leslie," Raya quietly gasped, "you're so young."

"It is I madame, yes I decided to come back a bit later than I had planned, forgive me if my form startled you," she says

"No, not at all, just a surprise is all," Raya says squeezing Leslie's hand softly, "shall we be on our way?"

"Yes," Leslie says.