The turtle god had chosen him, and so, he could no longer stay.

He had been content to float in the sea for thousands of years, watching the fishermen, the fish, and the sea life all come and go. He had seen their births and watched them die. He'd watched storms and watched the sun bring light to their lives. But now his duty was clear: he must go forth into the world, far from his home under the sea, and protect all that lived there.

He'd been born a merman—the son of a fisherman's wife who had drowned trying to save her child and a man who had been washed out to sea by a great storm. He was every bit as human as any person he'd seen on land—and more fish than man—but he did not belong on land any more than he belonged in the water. His home was the ocean floor where he could be free to wander among the coral and the creatures of the sea. The sea was his family, his friends. And then came his call to duty.

The bell rang deep within his chest as if it were calling him home, but this time he knew it meant something else entirely: movement, change, life beyond what he'd known before.

Gripping his trident, the merman stared out at the darkening ocean. The waves rippled and churned, and he strained to see what they might conceal. A seagull called somewhere far in the distance, and he turned to look behind him. There was nothing there.

Still, his heart pounded as he swam back into the deeper water, where he could feel himself more at home. He spread his tail wide and it began to glow with a bright blue-green light. The darkness couldn't hide anything from him now.

With a sudden flash of movement, a figure appeared in front of him: an old turtle with a long white beard that reached down almost to the seabed below them. "Good evening," said the turtle calmly.

The merman bowed respectfully. "Good evening," he replied. He had seen this turtle many times before—the old god of the sea lived here, but had retired long ago and allowed the current ruler to take over for him. He had heard that this turtle would occasionally appear when things were going wrong but wasn't sure if it was true or not."What brings you here this evening?"

"I need your help," said the turtle quietly. "The sea is in trouble."

---

The merman spread his tail and began to swim. He knew where he was going.

The water was cold, and his heart was beating fast. It was dark, but he had seen this before. He took a deep breath and dived down into the inky black ocean below. He saw the cave entrance and made his way inside, knowing exactly where it would take him.

He swam deeper and deeper into the dark, murky waters of the ocean. He felt at home here, and the water seemed to be a part of him. His heart pounded as he spread his tail wider and it began to glow with a bright blue-green light. He could see everything now, even in the depths of the bottomless sea.

Suddenly, he saw it! A glowing yellow circle marked his destination---the whale's baleen! The ocean's spirit was a giant shark, all Barnacle had to do was clean its teeth to save the sea.

The problem was that the ocean's filter was full of rubbish and algae, and Barnacle wasn't strong enough to climb up the filter, let alone clean the teeth with his tiny, flippered hands. And he knew all too well what would happen if he failed: he'd been one of those who watched in horror as The Big Wave destroyed his home. His entire family had been washed away in that terrible storm.

And now it looked like it might happen again.

He approached the whale and started cleaning out the rubbish. After a few hours of hard work, Barnacle looked up at the shark and was stunned by what he saw: a glowing blue creature that was smiling down at him.

"Thank you for saving my life," said the ocean spirit. "You have been lonely for so long because you were waiting for this moment."

The ocean spirit reached down and picked Barnacle up from the water, then placed him on its nose. "From now on, I will always be with you," she said, as she swam off into the distance with Barnacle riding on her nose.

The merman was coming home.




profile & story by beer
anthro art by Spirited, quad art by CORE