Dream Big

The sea is a wonderful place.

Filled with unique animals of each type, the ocean is diverse and beautiful. Amazing scenery and colorful creatures are just to start- the sea has so much to hold. Fish swim around in schools, crossing the paths of dolphins and turtles, who veer around them happily, glad to be able to move around In such an open space. octopi who swim around on the ocean floor, swordfish who ride currents, and even blobfish who hang over underwater volcanoes in the depths of the great sea. In deeper waters, there lay creatures of the dark, such as eels, jellyfish, angler fish, and even monstrous creatures like the giant squid and dragonfish. And while all the creatures of the ocean are wonderful in their own ways, there is one that is often overlooked. A small, seemingly insignificant creature with the power to camouflage and hang onto coral with its curled tail, nicknamed the horse of the sea…

The seahorse.

Indeed, a seahorse. Although they are small, they are, in some cases, more interesting than other animals.

And this is their story.

~*~

Fin is a seahorse.

A small yellow, sunshine-colored speck in the big blue sea. A ridge of red scales runs the length of his spine, ending at the very tip of his tiny, curled tail.

He lives on the sea floor, gliding along the bottom of the sand and clinging to coral of all colors and sizes. He always felt as if he were meant to do something big, what a poetic thing it would be, but no opportunity was ever presented to him. As he made his way across the ocean floor one day, however, his dream came true.

As Fin was swimming around that day, he saw something barreling towards him, and had no time to think before a burst of bubbles flew past him, and he was thrown into a stalk of coral. Fin’s tail instinctively curled around the nearest branch, colors flushing through him until he matched the smoky red of the coral. His heart raced with fear at what animal it could possibly be, and he hoped it hadn’t seen him before he had time to change colors. Surprisingly, he found himself wondering if it was someone that would lead him to his big destiny. He cracked open his right eyelid and glanced at the thing, but, almost immediately, a flurry of water and bubbles rushed past him again, and this one spoke.

“Get back here!”

Fin yelped as he rocked backward, and quickly propelled himself forward with his little flippers to stay upright. He kept his eyes screwed shut for a few seconds, then, eventually, chanced a glance at the two creatures. And what he saw shocked him even more than his first time seeing a great white.

A mermaid!

He squealed and threw up his head, crowing with joy as bubbles rose from his snout. A broad smile crossed his tiny lips, and he quickly bobbed forward to get a closer look. From behind a stalk of mint green coral, he was able to see all the details of the mermaid.

She was as pale as the sand below him, and yet her eyes sparkled like the stars above. Her blonde hair flowed above her like an upside-down waterfall, streaming with traces of shimmering silver. Her chest was wrapped with layers of green seaweed, but he thought he saw some pink and blue strips, too. He hadn’t known pink and blue seaweed even existed! Her torso was bare, and from her hips extended a huge tail, with the scales of a fish and the length of a shark’s. The scales at the top were purple and slowly faded out to burnt orange at the bottom. A large dark orange fin protruded from the bottom of the tail, like a dolphin’s, and the tips were purple. To him, the color mixture was beautiful, although he knew most would say otherwise.

The mermaid was thrashing around wildly, and Fin squinted as hard as he could before he saw why. She was pinning down a huge stingray who was at least four times the size of himself, and nearly as big as the mermaid. She pushed hair out of her face and scowled. “Stop wriggling!” She yelled, a furious stream of bubbles flushing from her mouth as she spoke. The stingray thrashed harder, and he caught the Mermaid on the arm with his electric tail. She yelped, yanking her arm to her chest and cradling it. A growing black welt on her arm marked the area where she had been shocked.

Fin gasped as he saw the stingray smirk smugly, swimming down to the ocean floor and making his way across the sand. Before long, he had disappeared completely, melting into the sea floor as if they were one. Fin thought for a moment, then darted out from behind the coral to present himself. He had intended to stop before her but couldn’t slow down and ended up bonking his head into her back.

The mermaid whipped around with a cry of surprise and looked startled to see no one there. Confused, she glanced around, and Fin felt small all of a sudden. Standing next to her, he felt like a piece of algae next to a humpback. He gulped down his terror and opened his mouth to release a small bubble- so she would know he was there. Sure enough, she saw it and looked down with a small gasp. A smile spread across her lips, and she reached down her hands to scoop him up. He squealed and tried to escape her grasp, but she shushed him and kept two fingers closed around his tail. She was obviously someone who knew how to deal with small creatures.

“Well hi, little guy,”

Fin looked up into her eyes, a beautiful ocean of cyan and turquoise that captivated him like a fish trapped under a net. His fear vanished as soon as it came, and he perked up, returning her smile. She patted his head and began stroking him down the ridge of scales on his back. “My name’s Sil. Do you need something from me?” She asked him, kneeling on the sand, curling her tail into a sitting position. She released her grip around his tail, and he gratefully floated upwards until he hovered over her shoulder. He pointed his snout-like nose to the last place he had seen the stingray go, and the mermaid followed his gaze, almost immediately letting loose an angry growl.

“Him? Well, he’s a traitor.” Sil hissed, crossing her arms and lying on her back, letting the water carry her, “He disobeyed a direct order from Her Majesty, Queen Serena. There’s a trio of sharks terrorizing the northern reaches of Mermaid Trench, and although we’ve tried to fight back, we couldn’t drive them off. He’s the only one who could defeat them. We told him to go electrocute them so they would leave, but instead, he shocked me. Multiple times.” She scowled again, frown lines creasing on her forehead. Fin felt sorry for her, so he floated forwards and allowed a steady stream of bubbles to tickle her chin, and she grinned at him. “You’re a cute little guy, aren’t ya?” Sil giggled, “Want to come with me? I’ve got to head back to the Queen now to tell her… well, the bad news.” The smile dropped off her face, and she sighed. “I tried my hardest not to let her down, but I think in my heart I knew I would.” She drooped forwards, her hair falling over her face like the water around them. “I let everyone down.” She sighed.

Fin was sure that wasn’t true, but he was determined to cheer her up in any way he could. He bobbed forwards and burbled, poking the inside of her palm with the tip of his tail. He swam under her arm and stared into her eyes until her smile returned. “Alright, come along then!” She said, grabbing him with two hands and holding him up to her chest. He screwed his eyes closed as she flung her huge tail from side to side, and he felt a rush of water pushing against his face. He kept his eyes closed even as Sil placed one hand in front of his face to stop the water from hitting him. He felt himself going forward for a while, but eventually, the world began to turn, and he sensed he was going down.

He cracked one eye open and was terrified to see only darkness before him. An endless abyss- one that you could lose your body AND mind in. He squeaked in fear and pressed his face into Sil’s warm hand. She cupped one hand over and under him until he was in his own personal globe, safe from the outside world. He knew that for small creatures like himself, safety was always the #1 rule.

And he always followed the rules.

After what seemed like an eternity, Sil slowed down and eventually came to a stop. Fin opened his eyes and was startled to see light surrounding him, and he had to let his eyes adjust for a moment before he was able to see what lay before him. He noticed that his colors had changed to match the color of Sil’s hands. He hadn’t even done it on purpose- it was an automatic thing whenever he got scared. Then he looked up, and what he saw nearly made him faint.

An entire civilization of mermaids laid before him, each a different color and size, and beautiful decorations covered every nook and corner of the town. Small bioluminescent creatures coated the walls, and strange glowing stones sat in piles all around, giving the town a look as though everything was lighting up. The mermaids seemed to have a faint glow to them too, he realized. Everywhere they swam, the floor under them lit up. Huge shell-shaped homes lay in rows going on into the distance further than Fin could see. Green, pink blue, purple, and many other colors of seaweed grew from the floor and stuck out of cracks in the wall. Where did they come from?! He looked up and saw walls curving inwards deeper and deeper until it was nothing but the roof of a cave. He turned around and wondered where they had come in from, as there was darkness all before him. I think we went down a trench, he thought, We must have- It’s probably where the name “Mermaid Trench” came from. He twirled around, more elated than he’d ever been before. Usually, new things were bad, but he was beginning to think that… maybe not all of them were as terrible as they seemed.

He was barely able to enjoy a moment of peace in having seen this wonderful new world when a loud shout came from somewhere to his left. He turned around and saw someone barreling towards them fast as a swordfish.

“Help! Help! Miss Sil!”

A mermaid with a star-shaped helm stopped before them, and he panted before continuing, “Two Merlings got too close to the sharks- they knocked huge boulders onto them and now they’re trapped!” The mermaid’s blue-green tail quivered as he spoke, and he grasped Sil’s hand. “You have to help them! No one else will get too close- the sharks are hovering around them! You have to save the Merlings!”

At the word ‘Sharks’, Fin knew he had to leave. He was going to swim back up to the surface and stay there for, say, the end of time. Nope, nope, nope, he wasn’t going to get anywhere near them.

He squirmed away from Sil, trying to escape. As beautiful as the Mermaid village was, it couldn’t cover up his terror of facing a huge shark who could eat him faster than he could blow a bubble. He swam at lightning speed towards the opening of the underwater cave and kept going until he reached the outside of it.

“WAIT!”

Fin stopped in his watery tracks.

He turned around, watching Sil swim towards him until she was able to grab then cradle him in her arms. Once his heart stopped racing as fast as it had earlier, she spoke to him.

“I think you can help.” She whispered to him.

All at once, his thoughts aligned.

…Was this the big thing that he had always known he was meant to do?

Diving under her elbow, He swam a little way back toward the mermaid village. He stayed there for a moment; staring, wondering,

Thinking.

It was risky, facing a shark, but it was big. And he knew he was meant for big things. It was a tough decision for such a small creature, but…

His mind was made up.

He took a deep breath, then darted back at top speed towards the messenger who had told them of the danger the Merlings were in, then turned and gestured for Sil to follow. She was by him in an instant, and it wasn’t long before they were following the messenger to the site of the sharks.

“Little guy? I just wanted to tell you something… I’m the princess’s Lady-in-waiting. That’s why they called me ‘Miss Sil’. I just thought you’d like to know.”

Fin wasn’t sure what a lady-in-waiting was- he hadn’t put much thought into wondering why they called her “Miss Sil” either, but he was sure she was important. He knew she was important.

Fin slowed to a stop as the messenger rounded a corner and pointed to some large moving shapes. Fin gulped down his fear and peeked.

Sharks.

Huge, monstrous, sharp-toothed creatures that looked like they would sooner eat him than negotiate with him. Huge, ripped fins and scars across their bodies ensured that they had been in more than one fight before… and it looked like they hadn’t been the ones who lost. Fin was nearly startled into zipping away again but remembered what this would do for him.

He would be hailed a hero!

Well… at least he hoped he would be. If not, he was okay with just knowing he had saved someone. Two someones. Two someones who are in trouble right now! He reminded himself. He turned to Sil, who looked almost as terrified as him. An odd feeling grew inside of him- the new knowledge that he wasn’t the only one in the sea who got scared of things. He gently floated up to her nose and tapped it with his own. Blinking, she shook her head rapidly, then gave him a small, forced-looking smile. “Sorry,” She said quietly, “It’s just… I don’t think I can do this. This is bigger than anything I’ve ever been assigned to do.” Fin wanted to explain to her that his heart was pounding just as fast as her’s, his mind telling him to turn around and his muscles unable to unclench- but he knew one thing that he could do to help.

Something he would have to do alone.

Taking a deep breath of the oxygen embedded between the molecules of water, he swam forward until he could see two pairs of eyes in the darkness under a huge boulder. But luckily, he had an idea of how to get them out.

But he would have to get past the sharks first.

He let himself fall down to the ocean floor, where he coiled his tail around a small pebble that was easy enough to carry while also not slowing him down. He powered his way up to the height of Sil’s shoulders, then darted forwards as fast as he could. He knew he couldn’t get by unnoticed, so he was hoping to use the sharks to free the Merlings.

It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was the only plan he had. So he zipped forward and, bracing himself, hit his head into the shark’s dorsal fin. He put the pebble down on the shark’s back and curled his tail around the fin. The shark almost immediately whipped around, and Fin was glad that he held on, or else he would’ve gone flying into the distance. It turned around rapidly, confused, not knowing why there was something touching him that he couldn’t see. Once the shark was facing the opposite direction of the trapped Merlings, Fin grabbed the pebble and swam quickly to the huge boulder. They stared at him as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. But before he could reach them, one of the sharks blocked his path, snapping its jaws shut in front of him, nearly cutting his nose off. He screamed in fear and heard Sil utter a noise of bewilderment behind him.

And the sharks heard her.

All three of them swam towards her at once and Sil backed up slowly, obviously frozen with fear. Fin was equally terrified, but he couldn’t let his friend get hurt. He couldn’t let anyone get hurt. He needed to prove that small creatures could do big things too. Not just for himself, but for all the other tiny animals out there who were too afraid to do anything because of the fear of being eaten or attacked.

But he knew that creatures like himself were more capable than they seemed.

So, steeling his nerves, He spun around several times, causing a flurry of bubbles around himself and, once he was sure it would go far, threw the rock as hard as he could at the shark’s back. Of course, it wasn’t very hard, since he was only a small creature, but it was hard enough to make the shark whip around. The other sharks did too. Before Fin could clear away the dizziness clouding his vision, the sharks swam at him, at full speed.

And Fin knew what to do.

Fin swam towards the boulders as fast as he could, and once he reached them, he stopped, turned around, and faced the sharks. They kept swimming towards him, but he didn’t budge.

“No!” He heard Sil cry from behind the sharks. But he had a plan.

Once the sharks had nearly reached him, he swam up as fast as he could. The Merlings below him screamed as the sharks swam towards them, but Fin wasn’t scared (well, not as scared as he was before, that is). He swam up as the sharks below him smashed into the boulder and the entire cave wall seemed to shudder, and Fin looked up. Above him, there lay a gigantic boulder precariously balanced on a smaller one, and it shook as they slammed into the wall. Fin swam up to it and went behind it, then pushed as hard as he could with his little head. It shook slightly, so Fin pushed harder. After a moment, the boulder rattled, and the one below it cracked. As it shattered, the huge boulder slipped off the edge of the pile it was on, and it fell down, down, down until he heard a scream below him.

Not a mermaid scream.

He dove until he had reached the bottom of the sea and smiled as he saw the crushed tail of a shark sticking out of the bottom of the boulder. The other two sharks who were hovering around the dead one circled for a moment, then swam as fast as they could away from it. When they were nothing but a speck in the distance, Fin turned to Sil. She was swimming towards him, so he met her halfway. She embraced him with a cry of joy and gestured to two guards behind her, who had probably been drawn to the noise, to come forth. They grabbed their shell-tipped spears and pried open the boulder, opening a crack just wide enough for the two Merlings to escape. They twirled in the water and giggled happily, obviously glad to be free. One Merling with fluffy brown hair took hold of him and gave him a squeeze. He gasped for air the second she let him go and gave her a wry smile. Then the second Merling grabbed his small fin and said to him the words that he’d always wanted to hear:

“You’re my hero.”

Fin felt like his heart was going to explode. His lifelong dream, the thing he had yearned for all his years…

Had finally come true.