Ocean Blue

Chapter 52

Xxx

"Ma'am?"

Sandas looked up at her head caretaker. "What?"

"Your mermaid is- it's not doing so well. It won't eat. It just sits in the water, not even swimming. It's wasting away."

Sandas' eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I suppose that it has human feelings after all."

Another caretaker ran up, whispering to the head caretaker. He bit his lip nervously. "Ma'am?"

"What?"

"Your mermaid- it's dissolving into sea foam!"

Xxx

Lance watched his fingers slowly dissolve in front of him, turning to sea foam as he looked on. It didn't hurt, as he thought it would. It was simply his body dissolving, from his fingertips and his tail, moving closer towards his chest and head. He was a mermaid, and therefore didn't have a soul. He wouldn't go wherever his friends had gone. But that didn't matter. He'd rather be consigned to the void than live life without them. He grinned a haunted, hungry smile as Governor Sandas came across the lawn towards him.

"Looks like you can't keep me," he whispered as the last of him dissolved, "You lose." Lance felt himself rising up. "What?! What's going on?!"

"You have become a spirit of the air," the wind whispered to him, and its voice was eerily familiar, "Like Coran. Like me. Mermaids do not have souls, and neither do spirits of the air. But we can gain one if we do good for three-hundred years. Coran has gained one, and he has gone to the beyond, with your other friends."

"I can see them again?"

"Yes, Coralance."

Lance's blood chilled. "Veronica?!"

His sister, who had fallen in love with a human and dissolved into sea foam after her end of a bargain with a witch failed, whispered happily. "It's me, Lance."

"You- you're here!"

"I'm here, Lance. I won't leave again."

Xxx

Lotor closed the image of Lance turning to sea foam. "The race is nearly finished. There is only one runner left." He glanced at the four amulets in his bare hand. He had retrieved the other three from Haggar's cave after she had died.

His four guardians stood behind him, waiting. He turned to face them.

"Acxa. Take care of the island. Lead them in my absence."

"Are you sure that you have to do this?"

Lotor nodded. "There is no other way. If I were to survive, someone could recreate the amulet. That is why they had to die. This is why I must do this. Farewell, my friends."

His guardians nodded and exited the cave, standing guard outside for one last time. Lotor turned to the amulets, and all four rose into the air, supported by the power of air. The other elements bloomed into being, and Lotor drove them into the gems of each amulet. The gems shattered, and raging spirits burst out of the gems.

We will find a host and return to our home.

Lotor nodded. "Spirits, you have spoken me from your prisons. You have given me prophecies to find you. I will be your host."

A blue one looked at him. A child of water, a mermaid once. You will be my host. It zoomed into his chest, and Lotor coughed, trying to hold its energy.

One that was a swirling white also turned its attention on him. You who now live upon the air, you will be my host. It entered Lotor's mouth, and he staggered back with a gasp.

One that flickered like flames looked at him as well. Creature of heat, of fiery passion, you are mine. It hit him, and Lotor fell to his knees, gasping.

The last one, a dark brown and grey, regarded him. You shall not be my host. You are not of the earth. The ground itself shall be mine.

Lotor's eyes widened, even as he attempted to hold the energy that threatened to consume and destroy his body. "No! You can't! You'll destroy the whole island!"

Nevertheless, I shall make this land my host.

The spirit sank into the ground.

"NO!"

The whole island started to rumble, and Lotor heard screams outside coming from the village. "NO! It wasn't supposed to go like this! I was supposed to be the only one!"

Be at peace. You have three of us. Is that not enough for you?"

"It doesn't matter if I have three of you, if he is left free! He'll destroy the whole island!"

Did you not sacrifice a whole group of righteous people for this mission of yours, simply for the small possibility that they might be used to re-ensnare us? What is one small island to you if it sends us home?

The energy burst through Lotor, and he screamed as it consumed his whole body. It wasn't- supposed- to go like this... I was supposed to be different from my mother... She wanted power... I only wanted to free you...

And you have,the spirits whispered, you have returned balance. We will return to our home. And for that, we thank you. Thank you, Lotor. We will not forget your sacrifice.

Xxx

Lotor's island of refugees was collapsing. If there had been any ships nearby, they would have seen the whole island shaking and breaking apart. They would have seen the whole island begin to sink.

But there were no ships. There were no ships to see the whole island crumple into the sea. There was nothing nearby to watch it collapse, the whole thing falling into the waves. The island and the people on it were lost to salty brine without anyone's knowledge, leaving nothing behind for future sailors to find.

Nothing but Ocean Blue.