Soudam Week Summer 2019

The Melody of Enchantment

Summary:

Gundham had the skill to tame any kind of Hellish Beast that roamed the mortal realm and could bring about chaos and destruction with their supernatural powers. However he finds himself with a new mission: Hunting a ferocious mermaid with the powers to control the sea and the minds of any mortal that crossed its path, that was stalking the harbours of a small fishing town.
The tamer's only problem; he can not swim.

Day 6 of the Soudam Week
Prompt: Illness/Sickness | Supernatural | Magic

AO3 version: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19756765 (Originally posted 20.07.19)

***

For as long as Gundham could remember he loved the nature and having the opportunity to be outside and enjoy the vibrant world all around him. For a young mortal as himself the world was a huge and magical place. Even more for a powerful mortal as himself, as even at a young age he had a hidden skill at communicating with the beings of the supernatural kind. On more than one occasion his mother, the angel, had found him sitting in the woods together with small fairies flying around him as they sang their cheerful songs, while he was petting a nekomata that has decided to nap on his lap, and on one memorable occasion he has been playing with a young hellhound that was hardly grown to its full height – though even as a pup it was almost as big as the young mortal.

Many mortals had decided that Gundham must be a cursed child for being able to commune with the mythical beings, as they were seen as dangerous as they had powers way outside of the abilities of mere mortals. They could curse, stalk and change the nature itself at their will, depending on what kind of being they were. Mortals feared them, however even at his young age Gundham knew that these beings were not the ferocious monsters that his kin believed them to be. They were only beings that were trying to protect their homes from the mortal kind that regularly invaded their realms. He knew that as long as you moved along their territory with respect and kindness, that they would return the same amount of trust and do no harm. However he was also aware that what brought up their wrath was the disrespect many mortals showed towards the goddess of nature, and Gundham wished that mortals would understand the truth instead of shunning these majestic beings that were older than time itself and far surpassed the existence of mortal kind.

One summers day Gundham and his mother had been visiting a feast that was held by his village every year anew at the cliff shore right next to the vast ocean, to thank the gods for another year full of health and prosperity. Gundham did not care much about these festivities as he was not that close to his fellow mortals, however as the angel enjoyed them he always accompanied her to make her feel the utmost joy a boy of his age could bring.

The adult mortals were preparing the annual feast while the young ones were playing a game down at the fields. Gundham however was in neither of these groups and instead watched a small field mouse chew on the berry he had gifted to it. He always enjoyed the company of animals, just as much as he enjoyed the company of the mythical beings that hid themselves in the realm around him. After the field mouse finished its meal, it looked up towards the young mortal in what he believed to be a thankful manner, before moving along it's way towards a set of bushes where its home presumably was hidden.

Gundham watched it go with a smile on his face. Until suddenly a hark, a hunter of the skies, dived down and tried to snatch the small mouse up. While Gundham knew that this was the course of nature and nothing he, an outsider, should interfere with, he still jumped up and ran towards the two animals to tried to chase the hark off as he came to like the small mouse. To his demise however he had not considered where he was currently located and missed to realise that the bushes where he mouse had hid were right at the edge of the cliff where the angel instructed him to never go as you could fall into the vast ocean beneath, which ended up to be his fate and he fell as she had once warned him could happen.