Aquaria's Wrath

This story begins centuries upon centuries ago during the creation of mankind. Deep within the vast oceans of the earth lives a thriving civilization of underwater beings known amongst themselves as the Aquari, though you may be more familiar with the terms mermaids and mermen. They were a peaceful race that had never even known war. One day a couple of curious Aquarian people gathered in front of the queen, Marshra, with a daring proposal on behalf of a whole group. “My dear queen,” one of them, Gauro, began, “We have come to you with what may be a difficult request to grant. We want to know what it’s like to live on dry land.”

“You can already visit dry land. What more could you want?” she responded with a kind smile and a giggle while flipping some stray, deep blue hair out of her face.

“With all due respect, your majesty,” Gauro said, “We can currently only visit dry land temporarily. We would like to live there permanently.”

“Why do you want to live there? This is a drastic change and not something I can grant you willy-nilly.”

One of the others with Gauro, a woman named Ishir, spoke next. “We would be creating a whole new subspecies of Aquari that could do so much more! All we need is for the abilities we already have to be made permanent instead of temporary. We will still obey the Aquari rules and laws along with new ones made specifically for use on dry land. Please, Marshra, it’s a simple request.”

Marshra suddenly became very stern and got up from her throne quickly. “This is nothing if not complex, Ishir. What you want is to create a new race of dry land dwellers, which could change everything we know. I also don’t think you realize what you would have to sacrifice. You would have to give up your immortality, your ability to live underwater, anyone you know that doesn’t go with you, and your whole state of mind may change.”

Gauro moved slightly closer to Marshra. “We know what it will do. We will take any consequences that must be suffered if this takes a turn for the worst.”

Marshra swam slowly closer to the two Aquarians and stopped just in front of them. “I will grant your request on one condition. I will come to check on you whenever I see fit and, if I don’t like what I see, then I will take you all back and force you back here whether you want to come or not. Is that clear?” The two nodded and Marshra smiled. “Alright then. Gather any others that may want to go with you and I will arrange a city-wide meeting shortly.”

Gauro bowed, took Marshra’s hand and kissed it. “Thank you so much your majesty! You have no idea how much this means to us.”

“Go now. You have until the sun is high tomorrow to be ready.” The two swam quickly away to do precisely that. Marshra swam back to her throne and sat down. She sighed and thought to herself, “What am I thinking?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Gauro and Ishir gathered a crowd of Aquarians that wanted to go with them and were completely ready by the time Marshra had told them. Everyone else in the town had gathered to see the big announcement that was to be made since only those involved knew about their plan to live on dry land. Marshra swam to be in between Gauro and Ishir’s group and the rest of the city. She smiled kindly and the two then turned to face the crowd of others before them. She pointed the jeweled tip of her staff at her throat and her voice rang out loud enough for all to hear. “Citizens of Aquaria, as you all know, I have a major announcement to make today. These brave Aquarians behind me are going to take a giant risk that should yield positive results. I will be extending their ability to be on dry land from temporary to permanent and they shall, from now on, dwell solely on dry land and live there, creating a new race! There is but two rules I give them. Rule number one: if this backfires and life on dry land becomes an unbearable misery, they must still remain there. Rule number two: I will personally check on them whenever I see fit and reserve the right to force them to return if I feel their race is no longer worth keeping. In the event of my unlikely death, I will personally choose the one to continue this. All of these Aquarians accept these rules and will be leaving us shortly. I will give you a few moments to say your goodbyes to them and then I will make them permanent dry land dwellers.”

Gauro and Ishir hugged each other, both grinning from ear to ear because they had finally realized their dream. Gauro kissed her then said, “Finally…what we’ve been waiting for is becoming a reality.”

“I know, isn’t it great?!” she responded.
Marshra swam over to them. “I’m sorry to interrupt but make sure anyone whose going is gathered together in five minutes, ok?”

They nodded and both thanked her again. “I honestly don’t know what we could ever do to make this up to you, your highness. This is beyond anything we’ve ever hoped for.” Ishir said.

Marshra giggled slightly. “All I ask is that you create a race of respectable beings. I’d hate to have to pull anyone back.”

“So would we. This has been our dream since we met and we don’t want to see it destroyed,” Gauro said. “We’d better get everyone gathered. It’s getting close to time to leave.” He and Ishir left to do so.

Once everyone was together, Marshra floated silently in front of them for a moment then turned to face the other crowd of civilians and pointed her staff to her throat again, her voice booming out from within her again. “I will now take them up to the surface and grant them their gifts. Please allow me to do this alone and stay here until I return. Thank you.” She gestured to Gauro and Ishir to follow her and swam up beyond anyone’s sight and climbed onto a nearby beach. As she exited the water, her fin turned immediately to legs. As the others followed her and came on dry land, the same happened to them. She gathered them all together again and stood in front of them, centered and holding her staff vertically with her eyes shut. She whispered ancient words in a language that has long since been lost to us and stabbed the staff into the ground with all her strength, releasing a pulse of deep blue energy waves that shot through every Aquarian’s body before her.

After a few moments of silence, she pulled her staff out of the ground and opened her eyes. Ishir walked slowly to the water and waded in up to her waist. Her fin never appeared and she ran back to Gauro as happy as can be. She looked at Marshra and ran to her. “I promise we will abide by Aquaria’s basic guidelines. We will never forget our roots and welcome your visits.” She then hugged Marshra and ran back to be next to Gauro.

“Goodbye to you all. I wish you luck.” With that, Marshra turned around and dove into the water behind her, returning to Aquaria.