Atlantean Doctrine Book 3 - The Fifth Phase 'Metamorphosis' (TG/TF Story)

Committing To The Sea

Arista

"...Arista...please come up to the front of the class to present your research project." says my 8th grade teacher, Mr. Allen; sitting behind his iron desk with a stern expression of misery fused to his face.

He was always a stern individual that expected only excellence from his students. He could be tough, and unforgiving to those who had crossed him. Luckily, I wasn't one of them poor souls!

I slowly walked to the front of the class, regrettably listening to my peer's snicker and whisper behind my back, saying things like:

'Freak!'

'Queer!'

'Teacher's Pet!'

Kids were inherently cruel, and like a pack of wolves, they will devour you if you show them any sign of weakness. It was like a sick game to them!

"Alright! That is enough!" Mr. Allen's voice shaking the foam tiles upon the ceiling, quieting the class "Arista, please present your presentation." I glanced at him, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Thank you, Mr., Allen." I replied, then turned to the kids that despised me, intensely! "My project was on the Plectropomus leopardus, or commonly called the Coral trout."

"They belong to the Serranidae family, and can be identified by the three spines on the gill covers, and having a large mouth with multiple rows of sharp teeth. Oddly, the coral trout are considered protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning that they can change sex later in life, usually male to female once they are 23 to 62cm in length."

"We do not know exactly why this happens, probably as a means to propagate the species. What is known is that all the fish are originally born as female..." I watch the classroom ripple, as if a drop of water had caused everything to move and distort. I felt myself falling deep into the crashing waves, pulled deep by the currents.

~~~

My dreams changed once more as I was now deep in the blue ocean.

I am just drifting, feeling the harmony of the water flowing through me as I am being gently rocked with the tide. I cooed, amazed, as I looked down at my copper-colored scales shimmer in the warm tropical sunlight.

My body was sleek and well attuned to the ocean. I am awake and alert to my surroundings. I feel everything around me as I watch boats sail across the water, unseeing as I am enchanted to remain hidden from the world above.

Off in the distance, I see a speeding torrent of bubbles racing towards me as the bubbles release a young mermaid from within. She seems to be wrapped in light as I can hear the sound of the ocean rolling off in the distance.

Gentle hands shake me awake as I was curled up outside in a tight ball, laying upon the warm deck that overlooked Miami Beach and the Coral Sea beyond. Yet, just below Yuzuki's house, the sea wrapped around the rocks, crashing and splashing over scattered boulders, far below...

***

"Arista!" I heard Yuzuki's voice in my ear "Wake up, the council is ready to see you."

I slowly opened my eyes, glancing up at her as I dreaded their decision! No matter what their answer may be, my life was about to change, nevertheless.