Don’t tell anyone about the mer-creature in my bathtub, okay?

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Iais’i
Characters: Vivianus
Race: Deity – Fire
Age: Ageless, physically about 22
Current residence: Almir, Taylien
Final Word Count: 758 words
 

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As far as most who are around these parts are concerned, they are the only ones out and about. Bipedal, wandering tall and strong for the most part. Most believe in us deities but only seem to think that we have no physical form. I have no desire to confirm my origins to anyone and I am fine as things are. I still do answer the prayers that reach me when I can but that is about it, too.

What these people do not know, despite their lives being centred on the water that is just so close by to them, is that there are other things out there. Most come from the island; they are a by-product of our presence there. I know that the creatures that live deep in the water, further down than any of their nets can reach, much prefer to stay far out of sight.

There have been rumours that I’ve heard, however. People claiming to have seen half-fish, half-Taylien people. To most, these are nothing but made-up fantasies by the mind of those who have allowed themselves too much to drink in the form of the fermented liquids they make. To others—like yours truly—it is something a little closer to home though I’ve had to check it out recently as the rumours truly were all coming in from one particular area and they were becoming a little more common.

So check it out I did. What I found amused me more than anything else and I did set one inhabitant free from the bathing area it was stuck in.

To make a rather long story short, I’ll only say that one particular fisherman had managed to catch a far-too-curious young mer into his nets and the fisherman in question lived so close down to the water—something of a recluse—that most didn’t pay him much mind. I paid him plenty of mind. He’d been spreading rumours that he’d seen mer-creatures out in the waters and that didn’t do. The mers need all the peace they can get. They are part of my world, and they deserve their peace, like everyone else.

The man had somehow managed to drag the slight mer from the shores—probably wounded and weak by that time—into his home and into his bathing area. A fairly comfortable bath meant for a single person and not a half-fish mer who needs much more room to thrive. The poor thing was barely surviving while being only half in that water. It looked so relieved to see me.

I might or might not have threatened the man with bodily harm if he tried to get another mer back into his house. They need deeper waters to live. They need the pressure of being far under the water. Opal would be able to explain it better than I am, they are closer to being his creation than anyone else’s even though that’s not quite the truth. He didn’t make them, but they are part of his domain.

It took some careful handling to get the so-called creature back into the water. Its tail was dry and cracking and I was angry enough at the sight of it in that shallow water that I was a bit too hot to the touch. Still, with a bit of work, I had gotten the little one back to the water and it took no time at all before it was gone and back to where it belonged.

All through that, the man looked at me with wide eyes, as though he couldn’t understand what I’d just done. It was tempting to fling him into the water himself, but I knew that would have been pointless. Much as it was pointless to dream of setting him afire. He had done harm, but not because he knew what he was doing, that was quite the opposite.

I threatened him plenty that if he spoke another word of any of it, I would come back to take care of himself myself and I would not be as lenient as I had been just then. By the blanched look of him, I knew that my words hadn’t fallen on deaf ears and that, alone had been the important part.

One day, perhaps, I will tell her about the other things that are part of this world. They are rare and well hidden, the main one does reside under the water, but there are things out there that one would only dream of knowing about.

We can all see you’re plotting something and I’m going to find out what it is.

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Iais’i
Characters: Vivianus
Race: Deity – Fire
Age: Ageless, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 736 words
 

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Children baffle me. Not that this is anything new, not really. There are no children on the island. We all come to be as we are now, in the shell of what is considered an adult, though our height is something different altogether and we stand out. I don’t know what decides on whether we settle into a male or female shell upon our creation. I have never bothered to ask around if anyone had ever given it any thought and it hardly is something that keeps me up at night.

I’ve seen plenty of little ones coming and going since I’ve come to be here. Most don’t pay me much heed other than to stare and gawk as I tower over them and over every other out there. I hardly mind. It gives me a vantage point that few can claim to have. I know that people come in all shapes and sizes, but none will ever be quite this tall, I don’t believe so.

Children.

Where do I begin? They will play games as they like, they will hide behind their mothers when they are shy, they will run crying and screaming to their parents when they are hurt or when they believe themselves to be hurt but, most of all as I’ve noticed, they seem to be far too trusting. It is when they reach a certain age—teen years, I believe—that they seem to change.

Oh, just how many have I seen that had once played hide and seek together with their friends, or even touch and go, that, upon reaching a certain age, refuse to even spend any time with those they used to call friends only even just days prior? How many have I seen that have squinted at those they once called friends, glaring, huffing, and muttering about plotting something and working against them and… well it is strange but, on that same note, I can understand it.

You come to be of a certain age where you must decide what you want to learn, where you want to help. ‘Places’, so to speak, are limited. One can only teach so many at once and as I’ve seen it, it is on a first-come, first-served basis. Children—teenagers by that point—no longer seem to trust their friends so easily, not when several of them seem to wish to learn the same ‘adult’ work tasks.

As I see it, however, that feels a bit sad. It seems like such a young age for them to already be learning the rope for those things they will be spending the rest of their lives doing. In a way, I can still understand it, these people somehow are still of the mindset that their lives are short and, compared to my life and that of my peers, theirs certainly are short lives but they still live much longer than they believe. It has been quite a few generations since I last heard of any of them dying in their early to mid-thirties, so that young teenagers, barely out of their childhood, should be forced to learn the work an adult does, seems completely surreal to me.

Though as it stands, I’m certain that some would like to shake their heads at how I perceive things, if they knew of the life I lived up until this day, they would claim that I never have worked a single day in my life—that is, until I came here and I work my share quite well, thank you—and while that is partially true, it isn’t quite so either. Answering calls from those that need you isn’t really all that easy most of the time and every so often, I find myself having to find a quiet place to answer these still present calls. It hardly is because I’ve left the island that I no longer am Fire.

All of this because of how much I’ve noticed the distrust these teenagers have towards one another when not that long before, they still were such close friends. It is heartbreaking in its own way and while I have no desire to begin poking and prodding at these individuals to make them see that they have their whole lives ahead of them, I still can bemoan the fact that I feel as though they’re far too young to act as they are.

Congrats, you solved the mystery.

 
Timeline/World: Iais’i
Characters: Vivianus
Race: Deity – Fire
Age: Ageless, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 569 words
 

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Caspian’s death wasn’t brutal but it was unfair. It wasn’t his time. I can understand Water’s—Opal, as he prefers to be called—pain in the loss though he’s since then found another precious to look after and I think that they fit so much better together.

Finding the person responsible for that death wasn’t why I had come out there in the first place but it turned out into something of a game as I watched and learned. I might seem like I’m a dangerous person to be around—I do have a temper but it’s rather hard to set me off—and that I have a short attention span unless it’s pertaining to certain things or people but that is somewhat far from the truth. I observe, I listen, I pay attention.

There was no celebration in finding the reason for the boy’s death. Then again, a death—apart from a few scattered tribes who celebrate a death by reminiscing about the life—is nothing to be celebrated. A death is the loss of a life, a loved one, a friend, a lover. Though I am certain, the poisoner was filled with glee when the boy passed but justice has been served. My own kind of justice. The wrongdoer’s soul will be stuck in the whirlpool for all eternity. The souls of those who have wronged others in this deep way are not given a chance at another life. That soul is already tainted.

I had in mind to make the murderer suffer but I suppose that might be just one of those things, especially coming from me. I am, deep down, fire. Fire can be warm and comforting, fire can help with food and other items but just the same, fire can destroy and take away. I am both sides of fire and I am me. There is balance to be found and I think that opting for suffering would have taken away something from me, something I try to hold on to, a sort of… I don’t have words to explain it.

The boy’s sister now has a good grasp on me. I can’t begin to explain where it came from. Not that I am complaining, she’s a wonderful companion. I can’t claim to know what Lightning—Taliesin—feels when he’s with his chosen one, the one soul he’s been hunting for one lifetime after the other but I can still willingly claim that I find solace at her side, I find warmth in my heart and, well, I certainly find warmth in her bed in a few different ways but that’s not for anyone’s ears and eyes but mine and hers.

There is a peace that has settled within those who knew the boy. Now that they know that his death was, in a way, avenged, they’ve further moved on from what was a dark moment. Peace is a better feeling than anything else. Though War goes hand in hand with Peace and I’m certain they may never leave the island as they work best side by side.

The calm, quietness of knowing that safety has returned is likely what this is all about. It is a good feeling, a good sensation, a good… everything.

Not that every day is peaceful, there always will be those who rush about for this reason or that one but for the most part, things have calmed down.

I get an odd satisfaction from seeing you fail.

Timeline/World: Iais’i
Characters: Vivianus
Race: Deity – Fire
Age: Ageless, physically about 22
Final Word Count: 527 words

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I’m not evil, I’m not cruel. I’m just aware that there are some who deserve to fail, some who deserve to fall and not manage to get back up, or fall and just keep on falling. Those who are the scum of the land, the ones who pick on others, the ones who are too lazy to do anything for themselves, the ones who need to be taught a lesson.

This particular idiot is just one of them. Just a child, I know I should feel terrible for it, but a child who has done more harm to those who surround her than any others, at this point. She is the kind of child who has ripped bugs apart for fun, picked up small, wandering animals because she could, rendered some of the grazing animals lame because they were ‘too slow’ for her. How her parents have allowed her to carry a blade just yet is beyond me. If they have not noticed her behaviour, they must be blind, and I hope at all costs that they do not bring another child into this world as I am certain this one would likely do something more than terrible to the newborn.

So what do I do when I see she has been tasked with gathering particular herbs for their meal but I know she will avoid her task and merely go do whatever evil little thing her mind can think of? I set a few harmless traps on her way. A rope trap here, which leaves her dangling for a while, not far out of anyone’s reach but still far enough that no one will really come to get her down. It is something to watch her struggle to reach out to get to the rope to try and cut it down. It actually is quite amusing, really.

I know she won’t learn from this. Even when I’ll set her down, let her be on her way and watch as she sets foot in a sand pit. I’ll pull her out of there too, I’m not cruel. She won’t learn, however. She’ll just keep on acting out. I don’t know that anything would set her straight at all, but leaving her dangling and sinking for other animals to look in at her, sniff her and be on their merry way is entertaining enough for me. I am not her parent; I will never be a parent to anyone. It is not my place to discipline her and teach her that her ways are absolutely wrong.

Her parents will do nothing. I am more than certain they would do nothing even if she were to cause the death of another within this settlement, which is how I see things will eventually pan out, at the rate of things. It would hardly surprise me if we were to find the body of a child, her age or younger, floating down by the rocks at the bottom of the wall, lifeless, with either the neck broken or something else. Cruel children will be cruel to the very end; it is a fact of life that saddens me to no end.