You Drifted To Me

Chapter 1

      Angry waves pushed and pulled the tired merfolk's body as he fought against the constant tug towards land. No matter how hard he seemed to beat his tail, he just kept finding himself in shallower waters. Dread soon circled his frantic mind as his people's tales of land walkers and floating islands played on repeat within his head and filled him with determination to make it back to the safety of the deep open ocean. At first his attempts were pushing him in hopes of reaching the rocky shore in order to hide and wait out the storm, but as soon as strange alien lights came into view his brain did a 360-degree turn. His beacon of hope was now one of fear and he strived to avoid the land walker's territory at all costs. Soon rocks dug painfully against his tail fan and he had to resort to using only his arms in order to prevent his delicate tail and fins from being shredded. His claws grappled at the larger stones beneath him until he finally hooked his hand against a jutting out boulder. A small exhale shook through his gills as he pulled himself downwards to wrap around the solid anchor and hold himself still enough to allow the energy to begin creeping back into his muscles. He just had to wait out the violent storm and then he could continue towards the yearly coral reef mating grounds.

'Leave it to me to get this off course on my first trip to warm waters. The rest of my tribe is probably already there.' He thought gloomily to himself as the image of his brothers' and sisters' colorful fins streaked around his mind in teasing circles. He always valued himself as the voice of reason within their nest, but clearly, he was proving himself wrong.

     He had no one else to blame but himself for his foolish mistake that landed him attached to the rock like a bottom feeder. He could have stayed within his broodmates' traveling group and shouldered through the dangers of the ocean with the kin he had known since they all hatched together, but instead he had become easily distracted by all of the new creatures and plants that he was accidentally left behind. He was the one who also ignored all the warning signs the storm gave to prove its strength. While a wise merfolk would have dove deep into the safety of the pressurized water, he continued to swim close to the surface and scream through the mind link to try to find at least one of his siblings. He knew all these things were his fault, but the newness of the whole situation was enough to make him stray away. Of course, now, all the happy discoveries seemed far away in comparison to his struggles to remain firmly wrapped around the rock.

     A sharp crack quickly brought him out of his thoughts though as he lifted his head partway up and gazed at the large dark object cutting through the water towards him. A startled hiss exited his throat as he quickly detached himself from the anchor and let the current yank him away from the steadily gaining mass. Instead of fighting the direction like before, he gave in completely and beat his tail as hard as he could in order to get to shallow enough water in hopes that the large beast could not follow. Loud groans and creaks echoed through the water as the floating island crunched awkwardly against the bottom of the ocean and shoved sand and rocks out of its way. If his hands weren't clawing desperately at the rocks to help him move faster, he would of covered his head fins to block out the grating sound.

     Soon sand and mud turned the water murky and he wasn't aware of how close he was to the shore until his face collided heavily with a rock that send him head over tail. He landed with a heavy thud on a cold stone that was just above the water, leaving him completely visible to any danger. With a frantic shove of his tail, he slipped back into the rushing water and settled beneath an overhanging piece of land. It was oddly hollow underneath and held deep enough waters that allowed him to fully hide his body. Long sturdy shapes stretched from the main piece to the bottom of the sand and he gave one of them a gentle shove before deciding it was safe enough to latch his tail around. Even though the water still pulled back and forth against his exhausted body, he finally felt secure enough to take a shaky inhale.