A long time ago, the Earth blessed four spirits, making them gods. The gods of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, oversee their realms, creating sentient creatures to help cultivate their lands. These beings constantly war over each other, eventually driving the servants of Water, the Merfolk, to extinction. Millennia later Kyle Weathers receives a gift from an old but mysterious lady while working in Haiti. This gift will change his life forever.
Ithycca
Chapter 8
Duality
by AoifeM
I really didn’t know where I was swimming. At this point all I needed to know was “head east.” Hopefully I won’t wind up in Africa or something.
My mind was focused on something else; what happened back there on the beach. I never felt so scared in my entire life. I was so vulnerable. That Angel was only the first of many, I could be sure of that.
My existence was a big deal, and the whole world was watching, waiting for a chance to take my life. Even Kali, who “claims” she wants to protect me, didn’t make me feel any more at ease.
And she was all over me, kissing me, caressing me, feeling the steam rise from our lips intertwined. She seemed to enjoy herself immensely, and yet, I didn’t feel any attraction to her, unlike how I felt with Doug. To me it felt all wrong, all unnatural. And it’s been bothering me immensely. I just can’t admit such things to myself, no matter how much evidence has already proven.
No, in my mind, there’s a simple explanation as to why I felt nothing for Kali. She was creepy. She was acting all flirtatious and aggressive. She just freaked me out. She was nothing like Eliza. I love her, I love her, I continued to repeat over and over inside my head. I needed to believe it, for a felt the traces of my previous life were disappearing right before my eyes.
I didn’t get out of the water; not once. I feared what lied above there. The ocean was my sanctuary; the only thing that kept me safe. I think that I was so frightened that I swam deeper than normal, having to resort to using my tail to light up the area as I made my way eastward. I wouldn’t rise until I reached Haiti. I didn’t want to take any more chances.
Something I began to learn while traveling undersea was to use my shriek. In land it was powerful, but I could control it, learning to use it at different frequencies. What I found out was how good my reaction was to it. I could feel the sound bouncing off the rocky walls and what not, eventually learning that in addition to bioluminescence I had the ability to use sonar, similar to what dolphins could. This really helped as a further travel deep into the water, my tail could only light up a short distance around me; if I wanted to travel as fast as I did in shallower waters I had to learn to embrace this new ability.
Of course that led me to a whole new realization. Slowly, surely I began to remember vocabulary. I subconsciously remembered a few things from my dreams, how slowly I started to recollect my speeches from English to my Merfolk tongue. Even in dreams where I was Kyle I began to envision myself talking in a weird mix of the two. I could remember certain sentence structures and whatnot.
The Merfolk language was a combination of shrieks of different frequency and durations. Sometimes it was almost singy-songy in sound, which may give way to the myth of our beautiful songstress voice. There were a lot of thoughts going into my head, trying to remember more and more about it. Finally I could cobble together a few words and create my first sentence.
“My name is Ithycca,” I said using my new language.
The realization was I couldn’t remember my former name. All I knew was I was once a human male. The only way I could remember that I was Kyle Weathers was if someone I knew told me, and even then hearing myself being called that didn’t seem right.
Plus, I couldn’t translate human names anyway. I was called Ithycca by the other races because they couldn’t restate it in my own language. Even the way I stated my name in my first tongue seemed a lot more natural.
All the memories and new skills I was learning began to tire me out. I picked up a solid lining of kelp and seaweed and found a nice underwater cove to make home in for the night. It felt relatively spacious, just like the one I had at home 10,000 years ago. At Atlantis. Everything was reminding me of 10,000 years ago. But that’s gone now. I was alone.
I wrapped myself in kelp creating a kind of makeshift blanket. It was rather comfortable, just me, floating in my cove, feeling the water flow underneath me. It reminded me of my waterbed. I could see why I woke up with a tail and falling flat on my face to the floor.
With everything in order, I turned off my bioluminescent light and fell asleep.
I woke up relatively early. Sensing the tuna would be out in full force I hunted down my breakfast before I started my day. The currents seemed stronger than usual; there must be a storm coming.
I submerged back deep into the ocean waters, feeling that the currents would be less affected there. I had a little better idea where I was heading now. Using my sonar I could tell where the sea floor would rise, and if it rose high enough, you knew that you were reaching land.
I took the time to ascend on occasion when the land rose high enough. Often times there wasn’t much luck. There was more of a chance of seeing a rocky island than an actual human settlement. Furthermore other major determining factors, such as the increasing sounds of motors from boats and cruise ships, weren’t being heard; the storm tended to postpone the activity of such things.
And the storm was indeed violent. I almost felt hurricane like. Staying up on the surface too long was dangerous. I practically learned firsthand. In an instant lightning came crashing down hitting the ocean surface, and quickly used me as a conduit.
Yet, I didn’t feel hurt in the slightest. What’s weirder was my eyes were closed, and yet, I could see right through my eyelids. This was too weird… I held my hands to my eyes, and even that freaked me out. My skin was translucent blue! I could see my insides! It was like my skin was similar to a jellyfish!
The skin’s translucent hue continued downward until it reached my scales. It was weird seeing my inner anatomy for the first time. Somehow my skin was very resistant to electrical discharge. This was a rather interesting discovery. Yet something in me thought there was more to it.
Swimming down into the water I bumped into another school of tuna. Time to play tag! I swam out towards my hapless prey. They tried to escape, but there was no way out. Reaching out my hand I caught up with one of the fish and with a simple touch all my electrical energy released. I was hoping for a warm meal for lunch, but sadly by touching it all the electricity within me discharged, turning it into nothing more than charred ash.
Without any voltage left in me my skin tone returned to normal. With my merfolk speech I pouted, “Oops.” Guess it’s only good for one shot. It could prove useful for self defense. Cooking…not so much.
Honestly a lot of things just made me wonder. I seemed to have quite a few abilities. Sonic screams, bioluminescence, creating the world’s biggest static shock. It made me wonder why Humans weren’t as naturally gifted. Really they aren’t really overly skilled in anything. No super strength, no immense speed, no real way to defend themselves without bringing a weapon into the fray. It just was weird to me.
I assume though that’s why they compensate. Even looking back at my life in Atlantis 10,000 years ago, it wasn’t like we were some super advanced civilization. I mean, compared to what humans have now, we could be similar to early human tribes. Our buildings were the eroded remains of the ocean floor, coral, and whatever else the ocean provided. Our evolution was based on our skills. Magic for one thing, something at this time I can’t remember how to do. The other thing was our natural abilities. My mother, Alora, may have made the most perfect marine lifeform in the four realms, but as a cost, we relied on it too heavy. Maybe that’s why we were destroyed.
Of course maybe there were things about humans that elude them to this day. There might be more than meets the eye.
The storm eventually passed and I swam onward, this time remaining in shallow waters. I knew I wasn’t far away now. Better to keep an eye out.
And sure enough I could witness the boats finally loading up from the seaport of Haiti’s capital city. The place still looked a little bleak to my eyes, but for me, this place meant everything to me. As long as I’m with Eliza, this was home.
Making it up to shore just a few miles from the outskirts of town, I took the time to ring out the water from what remains of my torn skirt. Putting it back on I reverted to my human form. Being in the water for so long really proved difficult, as I had a hard time balancing myself as I stood up and began walking. Looks like I had to get used to my land legs again.
Once I adapted I made my way up through the small jungle to a country road. I tried to get someone’s attention so I could hitch a ride. Luckily a nice guy noticed me and helped me get to town. I just hope my skirt wasn’t so short that he could catch a peek of my you know what.
Sigh. It’s hard for me to admit, but what I wouldn’t give to be wearing a nice pair of panties right about now…
Thankfully nothing came of it. He was able to drop me off right at the British Embassy where she was still staying. I said a kind “Merci beaucoup,” to my driver, and made my way inside.
I was greeted by a dour man, who obviously wanted to know what I was doing here.
“May I help you?” He asked, whose body language belied his otherwise formal greeting.
“Yes,” I said, still having some trouble readjusting to speaking human words. “I was hoping to see Miss Elizabeth Yves.”
“I see,” he replied. “Do you happen to have some form of writing or proof of your meeting with her?”
Geez, this guy’s getting way too official here. I’m just her friend for Gaia’s sake. Did I really need some documentation for that?
I didn’t know what to say. I began to speak up, telling him I had no such thing. “I-”
I was immediately interrupted from behind me I heard a voice calling out my name.
“Ithycca?”
I turned around to see Eliza, who just came downstairs. It was rather fortuitous as it saved me a lot of grief from dealing with that guy.
I was so happy. It may have been only three weeks, but it was three weeks too long. Finally I was able to reunite with her.
“Eliza!” I cried as I rushed over to her. We quickly embraced in a long lasting hug. “I missed you so much,” I whispered to her as I tried to hold back tears.
“I did too,” she replied, sharing my sentiments. “Let’s get you upstairs. You must’ve been through a lot.”
I smiled as I followed her to her room. I was so wonderful being with her again. The hug was just as spectacular…
…Yet was I happy because she was a good friend, or was it something more? Because for some reason, I didn’t feel anything, yet.
Please let me feel something, I pleaded to myself. Please don’t let this be true!
Comments
"Please let me feel something,"
aww. I was hoping she'd be bi, at least.
I'm sure Ithycca
Is hoping for the same thing too.
I'm not that big a fan of
I'm not that big a fan of mind alteration either. This is quite interesting, but if Kyle is really gone the whole thing was pointless. I hope Gaia knew what she did when she sacrificed Kyle.
AoifeM, thank you for writing this captivating story,
Beyogi
What Gaia knows and What Ithycca knows
Are two different things. She doesn't know why she was born Kyle, or how it ties into her right now. Gaia knows, but hasn't said anything about it. Gaia doesn't want Ithycca to know that; this is her fight, Ithycca needs to embrace both her lives to truly make it work. Telling her would defeat the purpose, she would just outright refuse to do anything at that point. I mean, that would be the stubborn guy's response to everything right?
Psychology is a weird thing.
And one other thing, All Ithycca forgot was her Male name. All that is is a word. The experiences, thoughts, emotions from back then are still present.
Well I think it's a combination of two
The Duality chapter...maybe I should call it Mind Riot or something, lol.
But there are so many things that's occurring right now. Some of the new things she's learned proved kind of enjoyable, and other times she's outright appalled of herself. She's noticing the increasing change of her sexual behavior, for example, and is currently fighting it.
But there are a lot of attributes that will affect Ithycca in many ways. Maybe her new physical abilities aren't as hard on her mentally as her psychological ones. Also, it's not just attraction; she's unfortunate being the only Mermaid left in existence. She's all alone with no one able to understand or empathize with her. These things don't just disappear after a few days; it takes a long of self analyzing to finally get over these things, and often times many people make the wrong choices as a result from it.
But I'm just yapping on and on now, so I'll just scadaddle!
Not feeling sexual attraction.
The absence of sexual attraction can be quite pleasant. Being free of the relentless, nagging, brain fogging testosterone driven sexual attraction is one of my greatest pleasures. Sometimes I just sigh and smile while thinking of how nice it is.
Being fully emersed in female culture now, women experience desire in a much different way, and it is most appealing to me.
Gwendolyn
That's will be something
Ithycca has to get used to, lol.
= (
Changing sex involuntarily (when one is born in the right one) is bad enough, but having your sexual orientation change too is ...mind alteration. T_T
Yep
And I don't know if the later chapters will have readers sympathizing with Ith or just downright hating her. But that's what you get with a dynamic character.
Duality...
It will be entertaining watching the old and new amalgamate. The seeming change in sexual orientation is something that will have to be dealt with and soon, I think.
As for Kyle being subsumed? Memories are tricky thing and there is still a lot of Kyle in Ithycca, given how appalled the Kyle part is about some of the things she remembers I don't believe that part will be giving up all that easily. i think the name difficulty is as much based in language as anything else since she has started using a language form that essentially makes use of sounds that can't even shape her male name. But that is just my perception of things on that one.
Like or dislike Ithycca, this is still going to be an interesting ride as it plays out.
Maggie
Righty-O you got it!
This isn't just someone guy who wanted to be a girl, it just happened. A lot of stories they might just accept change rather easy, and that's fine, just like in real life some people adapt to situations in different ways. Others, like Ithycca here, is having a difficult time with it. Embracing something new out of convenience is one thing, like learning new bodily functions and whatnot. Changing someone's mental makeup is a whole other ballgame.
Maybe it's only looking as if Kyle is losing right now. Then again, maybe the merging of two personalities isn't about who has the upper hand at all. Even Ithycca hasn't really begun to understand that.
Pretty Funny!
>> It made me wonder why Humans weren’t as naturally gifted. <<
Maybe Ithycca (like in NY where Cornell U is located?) 8) can't use her new brain that well, but humyn gifts are all too apparent! We are smart, inventive and very adaptable. Our adaptation let us spread over the Earth, making it much more difficult for a natural disaster, less than planet wide, to drive us to extinction. Now days relatively fewer of us have to adapt, because of good housing and WW transportation and trade. We don't have to get our food from our immediate environment or freeze in a cold climate. We are one of the most successful species ever to be on Earth, in fact too successful for our own good. I remember that old sci-fi used to imagine that most intelligent civilizations would be wiped out by nuclear war. It now looks like we might be wiped out by habitat destruction, ie. making the Earth unlivable for us.
Look up the great Permian-Triassic extinction, the "killingest" of the 5 major extinction events.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
The name Ithycca
Is loosely based on the Greek name for fish, Ichthyes. Subtracted the a few letters (Ichthycca just seemed like a mouthful!) and make it sound feminine in nature and, voila! That's how I got the name.
And she should know the strength of human beings. But in this story that's how they differ. Alora obviously created Merfolk to be physically superior in all aspects. That's fantastic in one sense, as facing a Merman/Mermaid mono-y-mono would be pretty difficult. But being stronger than most other species is a double edge sword. Merfolk relied heavily on their abilities to the point they never improved as a society, and that was why their technology was stagnant. Meanwhile, humans made up for their deficiencies, creating new tools and technologies in order to survive and prosper. So each has their own strengths and weaknesses.
Hi Aoife,
Yeah, I knew the class name for bony fishes and saw the similarity. I was just being silly, making a pun between Ithycca and Ithaca (a Greek island and city in NY). I just read that Ithaca was the home of Odysseus.
I think Merfolk social/technical evolution is similar to evolution in most animals. Less intelligence leads to physical evolution; more intelligence leads to more social evolution. More species seem to specialize more as they evolve, like becoming better hunters, escapers, hiders, etc. Fewer seem to evolve to be generalists, like ominvores, but some of these are very successful, like rats, raccoons and many bears. Merfolk might have become more socially organized for things like hunting and ways to get along rather than kill each other. Dolphins are also vastly physically superior to humyns in the water, are very intelligent and have some society/behavior learned and passed down the generations, but with nothing like hands, they can't be expected to evolve something like better toolmaking ability.
Merfolk could become better at tool making, but if their society is organized around and very successful at hunting using their natural abilities, they can live very well without tools or with only primitive tools. Few would be inclined to make better tools, when a good life thru' hunting is fun and easy, as it is with dolphins.
Hugs and Bright Blessings,
Renee
toolmaking?
maybe, but industrialization would be impossible, since they are underwater
Impossible? I don't know
but let's be clear, usually people build in order to make their lives easier. We make houses to protect ourselves from the elements, cars to allow us to travel greater distance, etc. etc. Merfolk already have a lot of those advantages built in (extremely fast swimmers, whether isn't so wacky underwater/cold blooded. Sure they've developed basic weaponry to assist them with hunting, but their technology was lacking compared to the abilities shown by humans. A lot of that was the reason why Merfolk lost the war and driven to extinction; humanity was fast at adapting.
I think that you could industrialize underwater if there was a use for it. It's all about need vs practicality. If the Merfolk really needed to live an industrial lifestyle it probably could have been accomplished.
Mental Images
of factories with bubbles coming out of their chimneys spring to mind. :)
...And of big buff mermaids hammering away on large chunks of metal in front of furnaces, and getting SWEATY in the process. Mmm... ^_^
Can you sweat underwater?
That seems kind of unnecessary, yeah?
*huggles*
Sweat
Believe it or not, you actually do sweat underwater when you exercise in water. Learned this from my swim team coach at the Town Beach when I was a young teen.
The team was so small that I was the only one in my age catagory on the team so I had to swim all events including the Butterfly which I can't do to save my life.
Hmm...
I have a feeling that the furnaces would be in special dry rooms. Even if the mermaid scientists and engineers developed a furnace that worked submerged, the heat would disperse too much. The room wouldn't be completely dry, the furnace workers could swim around the room, but the furnace itself would be above the water.
Big buff sweaty furnace worker mermaids... = )
Mmm... ^_^
Underwater furnace
are all over. Volcanoes!!! Lava tubes. Thermal vents. You can't get a hotter furnace.