Underneath his closed eyelids Daniel sensed the strong light of day slowly causing him to awake. Somehow it felt too early to be already morning. With some struggle and still half asleep, he opened his eyes. Nothing could have prepared him for what followed.
As his almond shaped green eyes kissed the first golden rays of sunlight, he got the shock of his life. Instead of the ceiling of his bedroom, he was staring at a clear blue sky, right on top of him. The sun was half visible, crowning on top of a series of tall mountains on the northeast horizon.
It was morning alright, but where was he? And why did he feel cold and wet?
Halfway into realizing that he was somehow floating on the sea, he lost all balance and went completely under. Unprepared, his mouth tasted salty liquid. He was totally lost, not quick enough to understand what was going on; everything was happening so fast. He kept going under without knowing what to do.
Lucky for him, his body recognized the circumstances, and instinctively kicked towards the surface and the air to breathe. As his head broke the water surface from underneath, Daniel inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air like he was doing it for the first time. And in a sense he was.
Fully awake now and struggling to stay afloat, he scanned the area around for land, and sure enough, the shore was not too far from where he was. He swam towards it and it didn’t take him long to reach. Dumbfounded, he got out of the water and just sat on the sandy beach, catching his breath. In front of him, a beautiful blue sea breathed peacefully in all its majesty, ignoring Daniel as if he’d always been there.
But where was he? What was going on? How could he fall asleep in his bed and wake up in the middle of a foreign sea? Fear began to overcome all of his other senses. Was this bad? Would he ever be able to go back home, see his dad?
Dad!
Right then it hit him. This must be a dream, it had to; there was no other explanation for it. The last thing he remembered thinking about, before he fell asleep, was diving with his new air tank. No wonder he found himself floating on the sea, he must be having his first dream; he was sure about it now. But this felt so real! Was this what dreams were like; so beautiful, so vivid and rich in detail?
He took a long look at the scenery before him and could not believe his eyes. This place took him back to his time in Corfu with his dad; sun, sand and sea to your heart’s content, and then some. The only thing that seemed to be missing, was the multitudes of people he usually found in beaches like this.
Feeling slightly more relaxed now, he figured he was in no immediate danger and thus slowly but surely the excitement started to kick in. Let’s see, what did he know about dreams? They usually don’t make sense, that’s a given. You cannot die in a dream; he’d heard that too. And of course, you’re bound to see and do some strange things in a dream, things that usually do not happen in real life. But what kind of a dream was this going to be?
Still sitting by the big blue, he was now feeling the warmth of the sun drying out his wet clothes. Daniel smiled to himself. He was still in his pajamas. He looked around; there was no one in sight. He decided it would be better if he stripped and hung them to dry somewhere. He wouldn’t want to catch a cold. Or could he? Could he get sick in a dream?
Behind him, a pine tree forest grew green and quiet, with each tree racing the others towards the sky. Daniel walked towards the closest ones, first taking his top off, when he noticed something odd. The pine tree next to the one he was heading towards, had something or someone hanging on it. No, not hanging, tied was more accurate.
He moved closer. Tied fast on the body of the old pine tree, hung what seemed to Daniel as a half human-half fish creature. Human because of its head, arms and torso; fish because of the big scaly tail that replaced the lower body and legs. Underneath both armpits, where the skin began to turn into scales, he could see five pairs of gill slits that were frantically moving up and down as if gasping for air.
This was a dream alright, and here was the proof; he was seeing with his own eyes a real mermaid.
Daniel got even closer, until he was standing just beneath the poor thing. There was a faint smell of fish that made him hold his nose with his hand at first. This couldn’t be good. He couldn’t see its face because its head was hanging down on its chest and wasn’t moving. He rose on the tips of his toes, and with a trembling hand reached for the dark red hair that covered the eyes. From the bare top, short hair and now his face, Daniel realized this was a boy. He tilted the head gently towards him and called.
‘Hey. Are you alright?’
The boy opened his eyes just a little and couldn’t even move them to look at Daniel. His skin was completely discolored and cracked all over, and he looked dangerously white. With all the strength he could manage, he moved his lips to form one single word.
‘Water.’
Daniel needed no time to decide what it was the boy meant; it was all too clear. He was a sea creature and someone had tied him up here, away from the water, to die. What he needed was to get back into the sea of course. He first looked around again to see if whoever did this might be coming back. There was no one in sight. He then studied the rope that was holding the boy to the tree. His arms were pulled back on either side of the huge trunk and a lot of rope was used to make sure he couldn’t move an inch. There were visible bruises and his tail and fin looked badly damaged, both by the rope and the harsh bark of the tree. Thick sap ran down his back, making the situation for the merman even more unpleasant.
The rope was passed over the body many times in a very messy way, and since Daniel had no knife or other tool to cut it, he would have to try and undo the knot. He dropped his pajama top and started working. He struggled a bit with it and his fingers got all sticky and dirty, but it proved easier than he thought. When he finally released the rope, the boy fell down on the ground, but did not move.
Daniel turned him around face up, and then slid his hands underneath his armpits. Walking backwards, barefoot as he was, he pulled the boy towards the water and did not stop until he was in neck deep and the merboy was completely immersed.
For a while nothing happened. Daniel was still holding on to the boy, not knowing what else to do. Then, suddenly, the merman’s body jerked once violently, and immediately after that he felt hands pushing away from him. In the space of a few seconds the boy snaked quickly deep into the sea and out of his sight. Daniel turned where he was, but the creature was completely gone.
He stood there a few moments, wondering, but nothing else happened. Minutes passed and eventually he guessed he would never see the boy again, so he began to head out of the water. He felt happy that he had been able to save the little guy, but wished he wouldn’t have left so soon. It’s not like he had a chance to talk to mermaids every day.
He kept looking back as he dragged his feet towards the shore and that’s when he saw it. Just in front of him, about 10-12 feet into the sea, he saw what looked like a vision of his bedroom shimmering on the surface of the water. The image was barely visible, almost transparent, blending perfectly with the invisible air around it. He figured this was just about where he first was when he woke up. Heading back towards it this time, he saw that the vision grew stronger and clearer the closer he got. He was now just about to reach the spot, when the vision was disturbed by the dark red head of the merboy popping out and swimming in his direction.
Daniel stopped where he was, his attention now fully focused on the creature. The boy, who would be about 15 or 16 years old, if he was human, had almost completely regained his normal coloring and was smiling. In just a few powerful strokes he reached Daniel and swam once very quickly around him. When he came full circle, he stopped in front of Daniel and rose a bit higher, in order to be in the same level. His dark black eyes made such a beautiful contrast with his red hair and pale white tone of skin. In total contrast with a moment earlier, there was such life now in those eyes, that it made Daniel wonder for a moment if this was indeed the same merboy.
r /> ‘Hi. I’m Nemo.’
His voice was very light and melodic, but that wasn’t what caused Daniel to chuckle.
‘I’m sorry. Did you..., did you say Nemo?’ he asked, forgetting his manners for a moment.
The boy appeared embarrassed by his reaction.
‘Yes, I did. Why is that funny? I’ve had this name all my life, but nobody ever laughed at it. Mother herself gave me it.’ He now drew back looking a bit hurt. Daniel hurried to correct his mistake.
‘No, no, I’m sorry; it’s not funny at all. I apologize if I offended you. It’s just that, well, I know someone else who goes by that name, and, you’re a lot different. I’m Daniel.’ He extended his hand above the water and Nemo shook it. He immediately changed into his happy self again as if nothing had happened.
‘Very glad to meet you Daniel; I mean that. If it weren’t for you, I would have dried out there. You saved my life, thank you!’
Moving arms and legs to help himself stay afloat Daniel replied.
‘I’m just happy I happened to be there. Umm, do you mind if we move a bit closer to the shore? I’m getting a bit tired here.’
Nemo was only too eager to please.
‘Oh, yes of course. Here, give me your hand.’
Daniel grabbed his cold slippery hand and with one stroke of his tail Nemo took him where the water reached knee high. Daniel sat there half immersed into water, while Nemo lay in front of him a bit deeper, splashing his tail. The water felt so nice and unusually warm for this time of day.
‘Thanks,’ Daniel said, shaking the water off his longish black hair.
‘Anytime,’ Nemo replied. ‘I’m sure I can do more than that. After all, you did save my life’.
‘I am sure you would have done the same for me, Nemo. But if I may ask, who put you up there?’
Nemo lowered his head as if ashamed.
‘I don’t have proof of this, but I believe it was my sisters.’
‘Your sisters? Why would they do that?’
‘They hate me. They always have. To them I’m nothing but a joke, a freak. You see, there’s never been a male mermaid in our entire history. There have only been them, the females. But when my mother, the queen mermaid, laid her last egg, me, I turned out to be different from the others. They are all afraid of what this might mean, and they hate me for it. But not my mother; she loves me and protects me. She says I have a great future ahead. I don’t know what she means though.’
‘But if your mother is the queen, how could they touch you? Aren’t they afraid?’
‘They cannot, not directly. It wasn’t them who tied me up that tree. But I think they set the whole thing up. They lured me to the surface with the pretense of a dare, and that’s when the sky-people kidnapped me.’
‘The sky-people?’ Daniel asked intrigued. What kind of a dream had he ended up in?
‘Yes, you know, the sky-people,’ Nemo said as if Daniel should know perfectly what he was talking about. ‘The Wingmen, the people who fly?’
Daniel kept staring blank.
‘Don’t you know who the sky-people are? Where have you been living until now, in a cave?’
‘Umm, not here,’ Daniel answered. ‘I come from a different place; a real place. In fact, I’m quite sure that right now I’m in my bed sleeping and dreaming all of this.’
This made Nemo jump out of the water as high as he could with excitement, just the way Daniel had seen dolphins do at the aquarium.
‘Oh wow, you’re a Visitor? Really? I can’t believe this. I knew there was something different about you. We haven’t seen Visitors in a very, very long time. I didn’t even think they existed anymore. Wow.’
‘What’s a visitor?’ Daniel asked, wiping salty water from his face. Nemo realized that he had just soaked him wet from his splash.
‘Sorry,’ he said, making a cute guilty face. ‘Visitors are people that come from another place, your place I guess. Some of them visit Endërland very often and ...’
‘Endërland?’ Daniel interrupted.
‘Yes. That’s what this place, our kingdom, is called. Anyway,’ he continued. ‘At some point they either decide to stay here forever, or they leave and never come back again. But it’s been a very long time since one has been seen here. And now, you’re here. Oh man, I have to tell mother. The whole kingdom will wanna know about this.’
Nemo was clearly very excited, but Daniel had no idea what this all meant.
‘Umm, I don’t know if I’m a Visitor or not, but I don’t think I like the idea of everybody talking about me, Nemo. Besides, I’m sure this is just a dream anyway. Very soon I will wake up and we’ll probably never see each other again.’
Nemo suddenly got a very mature look on his face. Daniel thought it didn’t really suit his young appearance.
‘It may well be a dream to you, but I assure you, Daniel, this place is real, we are real. And if I’m right, you will be back here again.’
‘Still,’ Daniel insisted, ‘I would prefer that you didn’t tell anyone about me just yet. I would like to know this place a bit better first.’
‘If that’s what you want, I give you my word. I will not speak of you. But you have to meet mother. She will want to reward you for saving my life.’
Daniel wasn’t sure. His timid nature usually got in the way of him meeting new people and trying new things. He tended to stick to people and places he knew well.
‘Me? Meet the queen of the mermaids?’
‘Actually, she’s the queen of the Seas,’ Nemo corrected, ‘mermaids are just its rulers. But don’t worry, it won’t happen today. If you still come back tomorrow, with your permission, I would like to tell her about you. She is very wise and very generous; I’m sure you will enjoy meeting her.’
Certain that by morning all of this would be nothing but a vague memory, Daniel agreed. This appeared to please Nemo a great deal. He then lay back again and continued to tell Daniel more about Endërland.
He spoke about the underwater city and his mother’s castle, where all the royal business and ceremonies took place. He told him of how she would soon leave the throne and the crown would pass to her successor, which still hadn’t been chosen. The tradition required that the candidates compete against one another, and the one to win would become their next queen.
He told him more about the sky-people, as the mermaids called them. They looked very much like regular people, except they were much taller and slender, and of course they had big and powerful wings attached to their backs. Also their toes and fingers ended up in sharp claws instead of nails. Their favorite food was fish, which with the Sea-Queen’s permission they were very skillful to catch.
The two people however were not in the best terms lately. They’d always been friendly, but recently the sky-people had become too greedy and careless about the fish they caught, thus causing a great disturbance to the mermaids, who were not happy about it one bit.
Then of course Daniel learned about the other group of inhabitants in the kingdom, the humans. There were many of them, most living in the great city of Endër, just a few days travel from there. But there were more living in other cities and villages spread throughout Endërland. They were just regular people, living simple lives, and they loved to celebrate many things and very often.
The mermaids never really had any problem with the humans. They were good hearted and hardworking, and they loved and respected the sea and its population. Their queen was lovely and kind, and she came to visit often and consult with his mother by the sea.
They spoke a lot and they moved a lot. Daniel wanted to see more of this place, so he got up and walked along the beach, while Nemo followed him, swimming only feet away.
Daniel still could not believe what he was experiencing. How could a dream be so alive and so beautiful? Was he really in a dream or something entirely different was happening here? And how could he find out?
Hours passed since he met the little merman, and he hadn’t eaten a thing, or
drank at all. Strangely enough though, he felt neither hungry nor thirsty. He kept walking and talking to Nemo, seeing more of the beach and hearing more about this place. Nemo liked to talk a lot and he never seemed to get tired.
As the day headed towards evening and the bright sun towards the western horizon, Daniel began to grow concerned again. He thought about the vision he saw above the surface of the water. What was that about? Would he see it again if he went back at the same spot? Was he supposed to go back there if he wanted to get home again? Maybe Nemo would know something about it.
‘Nemo?’ he asked. ‘These Visitors you spoke of, how did they travel back and forth?’
‘You mean from your world? I don’t know. Nobody ever knew much about them. Why do you ask?’
‘Well, thing is... I am not sure how I’m supposed to get back. I’ve never done this before.’
Daniel looked like a kid on his first day of school just then. Shy, afraid and ready to be told what to do and where to go.
‘I guess there are people who could probably give you some answers,’ Nemo suggested, ‘but only mother might know who they are; you know, Visitors that have settled here. But that means that I would have to tell her about you.’
Daniel thought about it. They were hours away from the place where he found Nemo, and the sun was now already sinking behind the deep blue sea. He thought of the night that was fast approaching. What would it be like, and where would he spend it? He was even feeling a bit tired by now. He guessed he had nothing to lose.
‘If you go to see her now, how long will you be gone for?’ he asked Nemo. The boy sensed a bit of fright in him.
‘Not long,’ he answered, ‘but you will be perfectly fine here. As soon as mother has told me what you need to know, I’ll come find you and then we’ll go see some friends of ours. They live farther down the beach. They are humans and they will take care of you and take you anywhere you will want to go tomorrow. Ok?’
Daniel was more reassured by Nemo’s tone of voice rather than his words. He told him to come back soon and waved goodbye as the boy disappeared underneath the liquid glass. The sun was now almost gone, painting the sky with his vivid orange.
He was alone once again in a foreign place, with no one around and nothing to do but think. He sat on the sand by the water and watched the last ray of sun sparkle far away in the west, where the ocean met the sky. Everything looked so peaceful and beautiful. He wouldn’t mind living here forever; a small nice house on the beach would be fantastic.
He remembered his dad telling him that it was his mother’s dream to live by the sea. If only she could see this. His thoughts ran again towards her and this time he found he remembered her a lot better. He could clearly see her long black hair, beautiful green eyes, feel her soft white skin and smell her unique scent, which he had always associated with her. He felt astounded at the clarity of her image now; he remembered her just like she had been, strong, beautiful and with a huge smile on her face. He was sure it was this place. He could feel it.
Night came quickly now that the sun had set, but it wasn’t nearly as dark as Daniel thought it might be. The sky on top of him was unimaginably bright and full of stars, and now he could also see the moon rise from the mountains up north. The majestic sight of it caught Daniel’s attention like never before. He had never seen a moon so big, so round and bright. She instantly claimed all of the night sky, as soon as she appeared. It was the most beautiful thing ever, and he felt so enchanted, that it was as if nothing else existed around him. He forgot about Nemo, the sea and even his mother for a moment. He could reach out with his hand and touch it, that’s how close it felt to him.
Daniel smiled and silently thanked whoever god had brought him to this wonderful place that seemed to offer all that he loved. He spent the rest of the evening staring at the bright celestial sphere rising above him, his wrists under his head as a pillow and his bare feet barely an inch from the always warm water. Eventually, his eyes closed and sleep took him. A cool breeze started to blow in from the sea, but he felt no cold, half naked as he was. Nor was he disturbed by the noises of the forest nearby at night. He slept peacefully and quietly as if he was in his own bed.