134 The Fallen Mermaid

It happened, when john went over to get the ball. As he walked towards it, he could see something floating around in the far distance 

Once he strengthened his vision to see who or what it was, he quickly submerged himself into the water, and propelled himself over to it. 

[Aqua] John thought to himself 

Like a jet ski, he propelled himself through and under, the few people who were swimming quite far from the shore, and passed them in a blink. 

He wasn't sure if they noticed, but didn't care. As he was about to reach it, the person suddenly got submerged into the water as if it was being dragged down. 

Seeing this, john began to gather more wind and water behind him, and then let it burst propelling him at nearly the speed of a water cannon 

When he finally reached the person, he could see the person's figure a lot better. It was a young girl, younger than john even. This girl was being dragged down by a girl who was half naked. 

Half-naked wasn't the right word, half of her body was that of a human's while the other half, was a long shiny, scaley fish tail. 

John who saw this, instantly recognised it. There was no doubt in his mind, that it was a mermaid. He couldn't see it's face and could only see it's back as it was dragging the kid down, he didn't care. 

[John, be careful, those things are dangerous. If you get too close, it will use it's voice to hypnotise you. Look at the little girls eyes, she's hypnotised] Said zestari 

John was surprised to see zestari giving him information, it was something she'd never done before. Was she getting closer to getting out of his body? John was curious but he decided to leave it to another time, 

[aeris pila] Translation: Air ball 

Suddenly, the area in an extensive radius, around both john and the mermaid, was deprived off water, or, more precisely the water was forced out of that area. 

[Verum Congelo] Translation: True Freeze 

The mermaid then noticed john, but before she could fall back into the area with water. The outside of the air bubble, quickly froze. 

They were trapped inside of a big ice sphere. It was around 100 feet away from the people who were swimming far from the shore. So they might not notice 

The girl who was being dragged down was unconscious. John didn't have any time to waste, if she really did drown, he had to get all the water out of her system. 

As he approached the mermaid, it turned around and he could see it's face. Fangs coming out of it's mouth and a deformed face. It was nothing like the what john expected from a mermaid 

John was only a few feet away from them, when the mermaid opened her mouth. 

[I told you, they can hypnotise you with their voice.] Said Zestari 

[Silentium, Glacies] 

And just like that, the mermaid froze and became a part of the ice sphere. 

"I'll deal with it later." Said John as he pulled the girl out of the unfrozen arm of the mermaid 

When the girl was free from the mermaid's grip. The mermaids arm froze. 

John then placed his arm slightly over the young girl's chest and mouth. It wasn't too late to save her. 

"She's in the unconscious stage, breathing stopped, but heart beat has slowed..." John muttered as he kept his arms in the same spot 

Water then started to flow out of her mouth, john was forcing out the water which entered her lungs out, so that he could do the next step 

John began gathering oxygen, under his hand then moved it into her lungs. 

"Oxygen level restored... Heart beat rate is increasing..." 

"*Cough* *Cough*" 

The girls eyes suddenly opened and she sprung up, coughing out the little remaints of water 

"Wh-Where am I...?" She muttered as she got up 

[Now how am I going to explain what happened to her?] John thought to himself 

"H-Hey, how are you feeling?" John asked 

Short yellow hair and blue eyes, she looked like she was around 7 years of age. 

Confused, she looked at john before asking 

"Who are you?" She asked 

"M-Me? I'm uh... a hero." John replied with a nervous smile 

Her eyes suddenly lit up at john's reply 

"A hero?! That's so cool!" She said 

"Haha... Thank you" 

"Um... Mr. Hero, where are we?" She asked 

"We're in an ice sphere. Don't worry, I'll take you home real soon now." 

"Okay!" She said as he happily nodded 

"Wait here, I'll need to do something before we go back" Said john as he looked at the frozen mermaid." 

As he started walking towards the frozen mermaid, he something grabbed on to his leg 

"Don't leave me alone..." The said young girl 

She was trembling and looked terrified, john was wondered if she remembered what happened or how she ended up at where she was at. 

"I won't, what's your name?" John asked as he crouched down to her level 

"Wilma..." She muttered 

"Wilma... that's a nice name. Wilma, do you remember what happened before you got here?" John asked 

She nodded 

"Wilma came swimming with mom and dad, and then... Wilma heard a song... And then... Wilma can't remember" She said 

"I see... Wilma, hop on my back and hold on tightly" Said john as he crouched down and turned his back to her 

Wilma nodded and got on. 

John then looked over at the mermaid once more, and decided to ask Zestari something 

[Zestari, I have a question. That mermaid, are all mermaids like that? Are they considered monsters or another race?] john asked 

[Mermaids, are considered a race, however, that is what you call a fallen mermaid, a mermaid who has been possessed by a dark ocean spirit. Mermaids are generally a neutral race, they do not attack children or people for no reason. however, once they're possessed, they turn into hideous monsters who hypnotise souls and drown them] Zestari replied 

[Can they be saved?] John asked 

[… No, their salvation would be to end their life.] 

[I see... I don't really want to take a life with a kid on my back. I guess I'll just leave her frozen here.] 

"Wilma, do you like birds? john asked 

"Yes! They can fly!" Wilma replied 

"That's good" Said john before ascending from the ground 

[Levite] 

"Woah?! Hero! We're flying!" She said with an excited tone 

"Haha, grab on tight." 

[Velox] 

John propelled himself out of the ice sphere with the wilma his back. As they entered into the water, he formed an air bubble around their faces. 

And just like that, they reached the top. 

"Cool wasn't it?" John asked as he stood on top of the water with Wilma on his back 

"Mn! That very cool!" Wilma replied 

"Good, let's head back" Said john as he started to walk back to the shore 

John was walking on top of ice which he'd form with every step, he didn't think of a name for it, as he was just freezing the water with his feet, while using 'Glacio'. 

"Hero, can you tell me a story?" she asked 

"Hm... Then, I'll tell you about that time I nearly conquered a dungeon. Do you want to hear it?" 

"Yes!" 

*** 

After a few minutes of walking and storytelling, she suddenly fell asleep. They were still quite far from the shore. But now that she was asleep, john wouldn't have to walk. 

[Levite, Furtim] 

As john propelled himself towards the shore, Zestari asked a question 

[In exchange for your questions that I answered, I have a question. You were lucky that her heart hadn't stopped beating completely, and only slowed down, but what would you have done if it had stopped?] Zestari asked 

[I would have started it back up.] John replied 

[Resurrection magic?] Zestari asked 

[No, even if the heart stops, it doesn't mean they're dead. They go into cardiac arrest. This stops the flow of blood and transport of oxygen to the brain. And if that would have happened, I would have just restarted the heart with 'sana', restoring it back to it's normal state.] John explained 

[You... were you a doctor before you died?] Zestari asked 

[Nope, I was just your everyday student] John replied 

[…] 

[but now that I think about it... I used to be anti-social... I wonder what happened to that...? Did I change after my personality merged?] 

"How did no one notice such a young girl floating around... They could have stopped her" John muttered 

[Hey, zestari. How many more fallen mermaids are there in this beach?] John asked 

[They are rather rare, meeting more than one in a day, is very unlikely. I also did not feel the presence of any others.] Zestari replied 

"I see..." john muttered