In my view, as I woke up; I'd seen the face of another stranger, a man hovering above me. My description wasn't so vague as it was embedded into my brain. He had short deep but vivid purple hair, emerald-green eyes with a golden shimmer, and lightly tanned skin. His face looked focused on me somehow, with a hint if worry. My eyes fluttered shut and I fell back asleep, only to wake up again in the exact same position. This time I tried my best to stay awake and moved my eyes to look at him. I could tell what he was wearing, it looked like an average medieval outfit from top to bottom.
"Are you finally deciding to wake up?" His voice was unexpectedly deep, but not too deep since it felt a little charming.
I recognized my throat was dry as I spoke so quiet. "Where am I…?"
"You're inside my spare home." He responds calmly, making sure not to rush his words. "We are currently in the Artirias Vastlands, I plan to move back to Soltica soon."
"Oh…" From the way I heard him speak and the expression his face clearly made, I knew he was lonely.
"As for how you got here, I saw you you burning out in the sun and took you in." I could feel his hands glide around my arms, rubbing a cool cream all over my body. "Your skin is far too pale for the outside rays alone. In order to heal the burnt areas, I am applying this cream I made."
"Thank you-" I flinch from the spike in pain in a certain area he rubbed the cream into. "Ow…"
"Save your gratitude for later, speaking too much will drain your energy" He continued and quickly finished applying the cream. "Make sure you try your best to stay still for now so the pain doesn't come again. I will leave you water on your side after you can move more."
"Okay…" I could barely sigh, and then felt his hands and arm pull me.
He helped me sit up right and I'd finally been able to take note of what was around me. This was like a smal little cabin, almost everything was in one place. I could see the kitchen from the bed I was in and then a couple of curtains that probably led to different rooms. In the ceiling above us I saw more curtains. There were only walls that disconnected the other rooms but not anywhere near this bed. It seemed makeshift as if he brought me in a rush. Before I could continue scanning the area, he held a cup of water up to my mouth, implying I start sipping. He held it higher until the water was gone, then placed the cup down as he sorted out things on the table beside me. I took a breather for a few seconds and attempted to move my arm. My attempt was futile, nothing moved not even and inch. I guess he could tell I was trying to move and helped me lie back down.
"Your body needs rest." The man gently let go and adjusted my blanket. "I doubt you can move at all until the next sunrise."
I thought for a moment until looking around again, 'Tomorrow morning?' There was a little window in the kitchen view and the colors outside were slightly dim. 'I'm guessing it's almost getting dark, so I just need more sleep, that's all…' I glanced back at the man as he gathered his tools, walking off. He brushed the curtain away to one room and shortly walked back out to me empty handed. He blew out the candle next to me and readjusted the blanket.
"Try to get some sleep, you'll be up and moving by tomorrow." His expressionless face remained stiff. "I will be in the next room. Good night."
I watched as he walked off into the other room once more, leaving me to sleep. It was weird being treated nicely right after I just happened to be running away from a controlling creep. He didn't seem like the type to harm anyone thought, so I tried not to worry too much. Closing my eyes, I drifted off to sleep. Dreams in my past life contained joyful swims with schools of fish. This dream was odd, I saw the man who saved me standing off in the distance. With the way his shoulders shook, a hand traveling to his face; it looked as if he was crying. In an attempt to walk to him; my body fell into a water. I was no longer in control after I began swimming down to the bottom. Then I saw him again, with a long and shining tail, the glimpse of purple and gold scales shot dark.
"So, you're awake." I immediately woke up to him applying more cream onto my arms. "After I'm done with the cream on your arm you should try getting up, walk around." He finished faster than expected. Then, he held up a set of clothes in front of me. "This will be your temporary outift. Since I found you out cold, bare naked, you'll definitely be needing this."
I could feel my cheeks heating up in embarrassment and I looked away. 'So that means… he saw everything! No no no no…' "I- Um… Thank you, again." In a panic I shut my eyes for a second, hoping this was all just a silly dream.
"You're from the cave, right?" The man asked out of curiosity and almost like he already knew why. "My guess, you're a mermaid, how did you manage leave?"
I hesitated to answer right away as I opened my eyes. "A guard… He helped me get out and gave the staff I had… Who are you? Why did you help me?"
"Just try to be thankful without the questioning." He placed the outfit onto the table and pulled the curtains; surrounding me. "Get up, I'm giving you some privacy to get dressed." I heard his steps fade and the small sounds of metal followed.
I slowly rose from the bed and grabbed the clothes. They were a bit difficult to figure out, but I managed. I dressed myself still on the bed, scared of falling if I didn't have the support. My new staff came to mind when I thought of trying to stand. It was leaning on the bed, so I swiftly grabbed it and pulled myself up. When I took a risky step forward, I almost tripped over myself and latched onto the curtain just before falling because of a weak grip. I yelped as my staff fell along with me, a massive thud onto the wood floor.
"Careful!" He ran to me, gently grabbing my arms to help drag me back up into a chair. "How did you manage that feat?" He saw my now bruised knee that took most of the blow.
With a hint of unsettling pain I tried explaining it plainly. "I don't remember how to walk, at least not since my last life."
"What are you, an immortal?" He scoffed at the thought but that soon passed once he noticed my serious expression. "I'm sorry, I just haven't met many immortal beings before." He cleared his throat and took a couple steps back. "I'd only met one in Soltica, he was the Immortal Moon Elf, Al Krelin."
I could feel the sun shining through the small window in the kitchen and it lit up the small cabin. "You know him?" I leaned in from the chair. "Personally?" Then it clicked, I slowly used the table next to me as leverage. "Wait, there are more… I have to meet him!" I stood and almost limped like I was going to walk over to him. My eyes widened and a smile formed at the thought of hope in this new world.
"Woah, slow down, pretty girl." He looked away but calmly brought me back to the chair in time. "I'm busy and I'll be headed to Soltica soon, but you can't just trust a guy you just met."
"Why can't I trust my own savior?" I blankly stared at him as he walked away to finally pick my staff up from the floor.
"Geez." He mumbled something under his breath before setting the staff onto the long table. "Anyway, why would you, a mermaid, want to meet an elf?"
"It's not because he's an elf! He's immortal, so maybe he could teach me something about being immortal. The whole idea makes perfect sense!" I was beaming, but I still tried a bit to contain it.
"Right…" He stared at me awkwardly judging and grabbed a large serving bowl with food. "What do you think you'd even learn?" He pulled a couple of plates out of the cabinets, grabbing the silverware and placing them down for us both.
"I'd probably as if there are any sort of secret abilities an immortal being gets that I wasn't aware of." I watched him scoop out the food onto both plates, serving my fill. "What's this?"
"What do you think?" He sat down next to me and started to eat, an unsatisfied look spread across his face.
I took what resembled a spoon and poked at it until licking just the tip for a taste. My eyes lit up and I devoured the entire serving in an instant. "What was that?!" I could tell the face he had didn't mean good or bad, just confused.
"It was just grounded rice and spices…" He saw that I pushed my plate to ask for more and kindly added a couple scoops. He rose a brow, watching me down another.
"Thank you for the delicious food!" I smiled with my mouth closed, aware that I could've had food in my teeth.
He finished his first plate the same time I finished my second. The large bowl didn't have much left for a full serving and yet he didn't even eat the rest. "If you want the last of it then just eat it from the bowl." He took both of our plates and left my spoon with me.
The rest of the food was gone before I knew it, the bowl had been emptied. "It really is delicious, unlike anything I've eaten before…"
"Is this all new to you?" He asked, drying his hands with a small cloth. He's just finished washing the plates.
"Living my dream life? Of course it is!" I looked at him with determination. "I was so sickly in my past life that I couldn't even imagine breathing on my own. With this new life I will do anything and everything I'd been told was impossible."
"What made you so sickly?" The tone of his voice suddenly shattered quiet.
"It was a disease that slowly ate away at my body." My eyes slightly began to water, closing them to avoid the tears from showing. "First it was my legs, then it would have gradually gone towards my heart. Before I had the chance to die from it; I was poisoned by someone close to me. I never knew who it was, but I can tell it was out of love seeing that I was finally put out of my misery."
"So that's what you meant, I'm sorry." The awkward silence filled the kitchen and he smoothly took the bowl and silverware away, washing them.
"I ruined the mood, my bad." Nervous chuckles left my throat and I wiped my eyes. "I just plan to live my life to the fullest."
With his back turned, I couldn't tell if he was upset about it. "Well, good luck to you, miss. May your adventures ahead bring you joy." He dried his hands off again and picked up the small box of the healing cream he used before. He knelt down to my knee and softly dabbed at it. "Be careful next time after tripping over your own feet."
After a moment, he put everything away and paused while grabbing a satchel. He could tell I was staring at him. "Can I come with you?"
"Uhm…" He cleared his throat and placed the strap across his chest. "If you'd like to, we can both go outside in the sun for a bit."
He helped me get up from my chair and into the doorway. A flood of sudden fresh air danced around my face. I breathed it all in just before suddenly running off after my first step. My legs were moving on their own, straight to the flowerbed ahead. The sudden realization locked them back and I fell to the ground, but I did so happily. My body rolled in the grass, memorizing the gentle roughness of how it felt on my skin. My body full of smiling and laughter slowly came to a relaxed state as my arms and leg spread out like a star. I lie down facing the light blue sky, sun shining through the trees and birds singing loud. The man leaned over me and squat down.
"Happy?" He sat next to me, moving aside in case I got up. "You surprised me there when you ran." His voice was letting up a bit, a lot less cold than before.
"I've always loved nature." I turned my view to the flowerbed, using an arms to support my head while lying on my side. "Especially flowers, each and every one of them are a symbol of beauty." I heard him mumble something incoherent and I glanced at him. "What was that?"
"Nothing, just relax here while I go get a few herbs and spices." He cleared his throat and rose from the ground, wandering off.
I stared at the flowers and crawled closer to sniff a few. The scents were strong and had a thick sweetness to them. Although, I might've inhaled too much of it because I let out a few quiet coughs. Looking around, I managed to spot him in the distance, picking at the herbs. I wasn't able to get a good look at him before, but he was decently handsome. The way his hair shined in the sunlight seemed a little off, like there was glitter in there. My mouth opened to call out to him in order to ask, but my tounge was caught. I never got his name, nor did I tell him mine. I lie back down in the nearby shade instead as I waited.
His footsteps grew closer and he was still picking at the herbs and spices. "You should start heading back inside soon. Your skin is going to burn up again if you're not careful."
"I am being careful!" I turned my head to look at him squat down. "The shade from this generous tree is very helpful." My mouth was pouting as I crossed my arms above me. "By the way, what's your name? I never asked."
His sigh before responding gave off an annoyed feeling. "My name is not important right now. You will burn up."
"Well, if you're so caught up on my burning skin; I'll just stay out here until you tell me." I didn't move even an inch, but I could definitely feel my skin heating at an unusual rate.
"If you say so, don't blame me when you have more burns later." He stood and walked away to head back. He practically left me out alone.
The weather was too clear and the blazing hot sun soon reached my hiding spot. "Oh, come on sun!" I yelled in a whisper as I crawled over to a new spot. I could feel his judgmental stare from the cabin doorway.
"I'm surprised you're so adamant." He began walking over to me, his voice stretched across. "Alright, how about you guess what letter it starts with."
"Guess? Hm..." I thought about it for a hot second and finally spoke. "What about H? W?No, P?"
"Those are all so random, but no not even close." He sat down next to me, realizing this was going to take a little while.
After going through most of the letters I finally said it. "I'm probably wrong again, but what about S?" I sighed as my brain felt like it was turning into goop.
"Heh, that's it." For a second there was a visible grin. "I'll save you some more energy, my name is Svelte."
"…Svelte." My eyes stared at him from the side as I continued to lie on my back. They went from relief to annoyed, but I was happy anyway. "Do you love making people suffer?"
"Not unless they have the silliest reactions as you do. Well, you seem to be alright, resting in the grass that is."
"Of course I am, and the shade from all this gracious nature is a blessing." I faced unpwards to the trees, analyzing their leaves and flowers. "I always wondered how flowers can grow everywhere. Even if it's just a small patch, they'll be there."
"I guess you could call yourself the flower mermaid." He grunted in his voice as his body joined the grass next to me, lying about a foot away.
"Hah… Wait, that is what I'm called!" I suddenly vaguely remembered the meeting with that goddess. "Before coming into this world, I was allowed to choose what to be. Then they called me 'The Immortal Flower Mermaid' like a grand name."
"Then that means you have something to work and build your new life towards." Svelte's voice was calming, almost like he'd been letting go a bit of tension. "Al Krelin is known as the Immortal Moon Elf. The way he forged his own person was probably the same as you. He also has an assistant, stories told that he was given by one of the gods because of his immortality. When I met them on a business trip through northern Soltica I'd been amazed by their strength."
"That's weird…" I thought for a moment about it, realizing how I really had no clue what I was going to do in the first place. "Maybe it's just coincidental, I doubt I'll be doing anything else. I'll simply build my new life casually, no extreme adventures that lead to danger. Enough of that though, this is supposed to be a relaxing patch of grass."
"Whatever you say, pretty girl." He sighed and I turned to see his eyes closed, finally letting it go.
I scoffed lying normally again, realizing he'd called me the same thing earlier. "It's Lixlore for your information." After a few seconds, he didn't say anything and I thought he'd suddenly fallen asleep. "Svelte…?" I slowly sat myself upright and leaned forward to see his face a little better. 'Who knew he'd have pretty decent features?'
"It's rude to stare Lixlore." He suddenly spoke and opened his eyes, darting to me.
I yelped and my body lunged backwards into a tree. "You almost gave me a heart attack!" Quickly, I caught my breath and crawled away to grab my staff. "Ugh, I'm going back inside."
That was one of the most embarrassing moments I had in my new life. I had a sense of recognition with an unfamiliar stirr in my stomach. After I made my way back inside the tiny cabin, I sat myself into the bed thinking I somehow got sick. My stomach felt tight and every time I thought back to his closed eyes and glittering skin. I placed my hand to my heart and I could tell it started beating unusually fast. 'What in the world is wrong with me?' I never felt like this before, especially in my past life. Lunch was awkward when I staggered my way over to the table, but the stress in my stomach disappeared when I took another taste at Svelte's food. My face lit up and the food vanished again, consistently clean plates.
"Svelte, are you sure that this is just grains with some spices?" I gestured to the empty serving bowl as he grabbed it to wash. "Your cooking is seriously amazing if you can pull simple ingredients together like that!"
"My cooking is nothing special, the food you ate before may have been the issue."
I thought back to the hospital food and almost puked inside my mouth. "I mean... maybe, but it's still delicious!" My mind flipped back to him lying in the grass as he looked at me. I averted my eyes and cleared my throat.
"Something wrong?" He walked and washed everything once more.
"Nothing, just uhm, savoring the taste." For a second, my throat felt dry. I guess Svelte could tell and quickly placed down a cup of water for me. Just one sip of the water made me feel extremely hydrated, as if I didn't need the rest of the cup. I finished it all anyway.
"That water is from the cave, I can just duplicate it. You being a mermaid helps but also harms me a bit." He sat back down next to me, examining as I finished. "No matter how much I look at you, you don't seem to resemble anyone who would have exited the cave. Most of them I came across never made it halfway across. Their attempts seemed futile, but yours was a slim success."
"They never made it out...?" I gulped, realizing I could've died two times in a row. "Wait, do you just sit around here to see if anyone else gets out like I did?"
"No, it was a mere coincidence. Lately whenever I'd come to Artirias for business or simply family visits; I would find the horrifying view."
"Family visits?" The creepy merman popped into my head. 'Nah, they don't look related.... Do they?' My eyes stared into Svelte's, unintentionally glaring at him.
"What are you doing?" His voice sounded uncomfortable and I snapped back into reality.
"You do look a little like him!" My hand pointed at his face. "You're related to that creep!"
He let off an expression that I didn't even expect. It looked as if he was bothered but like it wasn't the first time to happen. "Unfortunately I am, if you're referring to Ufret..." His sigh made my arm drop to my lap. "I sincerely apologize for anything my cousin has done to you. I'm sure that if you continue with your pursuit on Al Krelin; you won't have to worry about him."
I could tell he really meant what he started saying. "No no, you don't have to apologize for that disgusting creature. You are like an angel, Svelte, you have nothing to apologize for."
"I guess but isn't calling him that a but harsh?" He looked at me with concern in his eyes.
"Yeah no, it fits. Besides I doubt I'll be seeing him again anytime soon." My brain clicked and I realized if I was going to stick with him for a little longer, I'd need a nickname. "Here, since we'll basically be buddies, I'll be calling you Svel from now on."
"All of a sudden?" Svelte could tell I was being serious. "Um, okay, how about Lix?"
"Nice!" I smiled wide and held two thumbs up in my hands. "Alright, it's official, we're buddies! That means we look out for each other."
"Uh huh... well, Lix, I'll be in one of the next rooms if you need me." He slowly got up from the chair and headed into a room, leaving me at the table.
I quietly slapped myself as I stared and grabbed my staff to head outside. The sun was being covered behind a few clouds by then so it was safe to go out a little while. I limped over to sit next to a tree and let the wind brush against me. I knew something was bound to happen between us, I just didn't know what. I told myself not to be too focused on it and just relax until we were going to head out to Al Krelin.