The Mermaid's Egg

1 -- The Summoning

"Stop whining like a spoiled lass!" Kiandra's father snapped.

"That's grand!" Kiandra's voice unable to reach any note lower than high-tenor.

"The company requires an O'Sullivan at the helm! You are getting married and going to business school! Suck it up and do your duty and do not whine about it, or be disavowed from the family!" Mr. O'Sullivan slammed his fists on the table once again as the pearl rolled off to the side and fell into Kiandra's palm.

He grabbed the card and stormed to the only door leading out of the room as he slammed it shut and grabbed an iron hooked-bar from the stove and slid it through the brass handles.

A second later, the doors shook as his parents then realized that they were literally 'barred' inside. His father's voice shouting from the other side.

"Open this door at once!" he commanded.

"Kiandra! What are you doing!?" his mother then begged, hoping to reach his cold emotional side.

"I despise the company...and I despise my family name!" Kiandra told them, on the other side of the door, forcing back the tears welling in his eyes.

"I have watched the wealth of my family kill so many unborn children! Children that were cut down before they could ever dream! And when I lost my own ability to have children of my own, you both did not care about my future! You only cared about your own blood money and sinful fame!"

"That is enough!" Mr. O'Sullivan yelled, pounding on the door.

"I am leaving now." Kiandra said, looking at his ticket to Ireland "I disavow myself from the O'Sullivan name for as long as it takes for the both of you to disavow the drug that has left me barren!" his mother laughed, mendaciously.

"And just how long do you think that you can survive without our money?" his mom asked, bitterly "The same drug money that paid your schooling, fed you, clothed you, paid for your desires, and put a roof over your head?"

"Money will not be a problem of mine." Kiandra grinned. "Just what do you think that I have been doing with all of my allowances? Besides, I have to catch my flight! That pearl has brought our family nothing but coldness and wicked intentions to unborn life! I am going to save you both by tossing it back into the sea from which it came!"

"No!" both parents yelled, pounding on the doors with all their might. "You can't do that!?" They both yelled as Kiandra's mother screamed.

"Kiandra Muirgen O'Sullivan! Don't you dare damage the Pearl Of Lir! It belongs to your ancestors! The family will be punished if you disrespect the Spirits!"

"Goodbye, mom and dad."

Kiandra took the family car to the airport as the family's private jet was waiting for him on the tarmac. The pilot did not say a single word as Kiandra boarded the jet and gave the command to take him straight to Dublin. From there, he will travel to County Kerry, to Kenmare Bay, and throw the accursed pearl back into the ocean.

Or so...that was the plan...

***

Kiandra woke up, finding himself lying on the earth.

Somehow, he had traded the luxurious private jet for a secluded temperate tropical-like forest. The forest was filled with many massive deciduous trees and giant conifers that had never seen the blade of a saw before.

The sounds of the forests filled his ears with the melody of paradise. Even the birds and squirrels did not shy away from him. The air was calm, cool, and damp...like the early mornings that he experienced in the rugged terrain of northern Maine.

He slowly sat up as his non-existent muscles ached. His body felt like it was squeezed through a fiery exhaust pipe. His clothing was chard, and his hair disheveled as if he had gone skydiving.

"Oooo..." he groaned "...hurts! Wha—what happened?"

He glanced around for the jet. But all he saw was endless forestland. It felt like he had teleported to the Cretaceous period, standing in a forest that looked like it evolved from an ancient swamp. Even with the thick green, he could hear the melody of water nearby.

"I..." stunned "...I must be going crazy!" He wasn't certain how he could have survived the fall. Or, where he had fallen to. He then turned his attention to the missing object as he looked around for the missing pearl. He fears that if he does not find it soon, he will be asking for divine punishment!

'Great! Now where did it go!?' he grumbled as he then saw a glowing light near a black well. He crawled over to the abyss as he could not see into the void. And to make matters worse, the pearl was resting on a stone ledge, just about two feet down.

He looked back at the hole and then at the pearl as he shook his head.

'This is a really bad idea!'

He carefully climbs closer to the slippery ledge of the ancient well as the pearl was in his sights. He gripped a slimy root and with his other hand, reached out for the glowing pearl that seemed to be calling out to him.

His fingers gripped around the oddly warm pearl as he smiled and chuckled a laugh of unsettled fear. His fingers holding the root, slipped as he goes plummeting head first into the black void, falling down towards the inky blackness below.

With a splash, he plunges deep down into the black cavern, sinking deeper into the well. He floated there underwater, stunned as his hand cradled the pearl close to his chest. He could feel the water flowing through his fingers and flowing inside the pearl. Its dull glow turned into a blinding orb of light that banished the shadows and illuminated the underwater cavern with a calming blue glow.

'I...I need to breathe!' his mind cried out as his vision went dark '...I am going to die here!'

Something grabbed him as he was propelled towards the surface. Kiandra's eyes opened wide as his guardian angel had saved him! Emerging, he breathed in deeply and violently coughed as some of the water had slipped in.

He crawled to the ledge as he realized that he must have lost the pearl once again as it wasn't in his hand any longer. His panic settled as he looked at the calming glowing blue-white orb as it somehow was now resting on the ledge, within the well.

"How!?" He was stunned as he was certain that it was lost in the abyss.

Behind him, the water was disturbed as he turned and caught the flash of bioluminescent green shimmering upon a large fin that plunged quickly into the inky abyss.

"Ahhh!" he cried out, quickly crawling out of the well and onto the cavern floor.

He grabbed the glowing pearl and used it like a torch to find his way around the shimmering crystal-clear water that looked like a starry sky at midnight.

However, before he could actually make it to the narrow bend, a scaly webbed hand emerged from the black abyss and grabbed onto Kiandra's leg. The hand held his leg in place and the young man fell forward, hitting the rock hard.

He cradled the shimmering pearl, his body doing whatever it must to protect the precious heirloom. He laid there as something chilly seemed to slide across his back as something slimy and cold gently held his hand while he held the pearl within.

Salty drops of cold water splattered on his face as a voice whispered in a sweet melody, in his ear...

"Ki—Kiandra..." the woman sang "...Kiandra Muirgen."