Surviving Little Mermaid

Chapter 2: The oracle

If this was a dream, Natalie would've woken up by now, her lover beside her, cuddling with her under the comforter as she shares her ridiculous dream.

But it's not. Instead of someone close to her, she found herself standing in front of another mermaid, one with a light blue tail and emerald eyes. She seemed to be in her early twenties, going by human standards.

"Is everything alright, Your Highness?" Feeling anxious from the fervent gaze, the mermaid asked in a careful tone. Judging by her demeanor and attitude, she was either younger or lower in status than whoever Natalie was.

"Yes." Natalie replied, keeping her answers as curt as possible. Without enough information to determine why and how she was here, and what her identity was, she wouldn't take a risk to test things out.

"Great!" The mermaid replied cheerfully. "I'll help you get ready for the day. Shall we get started?"

Natalie nodded, and followed the mermaid to a table in front of a large treasure chest. The mermaid lifted the heavy looking lid, revealing the pile of jewelry.

"So, what will Your Highness be wearing today?" The mermaid inquired as she arranged all the jewelries on top of a golden tray.

Confronted by the array of choices, Natalie took more than fifteen minutes to pick out some simple jewelry. She wasn't used to wearing accessories, mostly for the sake of comfort, but now... There wasn't much of a choice, was there?

She picked out a small bracelet, made with gold threads and rubies to form a intricate pattern of corals. Pretty little thing that would've easily cost a month rent.

Maybe this life isn't so bad after all. Natalie smiled a little, forgetting about all the troubles for a brief moment.

"This is nice, I knew this would suit the Your Highness!" The mermaid said in a happy tone.

A cold voice rang from behind. "Mind your manners, Pam."

"Yes sir." The mermaid, Pam, immediately bowed her head and scurried away with the golden tray.

From the corner of her eyes, Natalie saw a merman draped in white fabrics, appearing out of nowhere. A thin veil covered his face, adding a touch of mystery to Natalie's unfamiliarity with this new environment.

Not knowing how she should react, she turned to the merman, not saying a word.

"....Blessed day, Princess."

A moment passed before the merman greeted her.

Natalie returned a smile, "Blessed day."

"The priest requests that Princess head to the temple immediately." The merman said, bowing slightly at the mention of the priest.

"The priest? May I know what this is about?" Natalie blurted out without thinking.

The merman seemed a little taken aback by the reply, but still answered her question.

"God had sent an oracle for Your Highness."

There is a God??

Natalie was getting more and more troubles by this situation. As if not having any clue about whatever was happening wasn't bad enough, now there's a God in this world?

If this was the same God that Natalie had been hearing about in her past life, she had no idea if she could survive an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent God. Wait, maybe she wouldn't have to, the God's all good and kind, right?

It didn't seem like she had much of a choice in the matter, so she followed behind the merman, begrudgingly of course, dreading every stroke of tail along the way.

They stopped in front of a small box, no larger than a refrigerator.

"Please enter the temple." The merman gestured.

Confused by the lack of entrance, Natalie paused for a while.

How?

Suddenly, she felt a strong attraction coming from the box, pulling her like a magnet. Cautiously, she approached it.

"Come in, just come right through." A soft voice rang inside her head.

Before she realized what was going on, she was already swimming towards the box at full speed.

Not even slowing down, Natalie could only imagine how bad it would hurt as she hit herself on the concrete wall-

But she didn't.

Instead, she found herself in another space, vast emptiness with nothing but a mirror and a window. Through the window the stars shine brightly in the dark blue sky, a sea of cosmos just beyond reach.

"Hello, Newcomer. I am what they call God." The voice reappeared in her head again, like a faint whisper, or a thought to self.

Seeing how God knew that Natalie wasn't whoever she was supposed to be in this world, she dropped all façade faster than a hot potato.

"God. Why am I here?" She asked nervously. She might not have the need to hide anything anymore, but she wouldn't want to anger God in anyway.

"I see that you are confused, and I understand why. " The voice spoke in a soothing way that calmed Natalie a little.

"You are an outsider. To return to your world, you must fulfill the prophecy, and the story that birthed this world must come to an end."

"How, God? Couldn't you just send me home?" Natalie pleaded. "Aren't you supposed to be all powerful or something?"

"If you think I'm the God that you know from your world, I am not." God replied coldly. "Besides, even gods have their limits."

Sensing God's change in attitude, Natalie's jitters were back again? What if she displeased God and God decided to smite her or something...

"Don't worry, as long as the story ends as it should be, you shall return to your own world."

"You mean like, restoring the fate of this world?"

Hearing that, God chuckled. "Fate has nothing to do with this, but yes, it is a similar concept."

"So, what story is this?" Natalie asked.

"I thought you'd have guessed." God said. "As you now reside in the body of Sora-"

"Speaking of which," Natalie cut in mid-sentence, "Could you give me her memories or maybe the plot of the story, or even, say, a superpower? I've always wanted to have a special ability."

A frozen silence took over for a moment.

"No, you'll be alright. You are the chosen one after all." Even if she didn't see God's face, she could imagine the anger boiling up in him as he spoke.

And somehow this amused her. "So, how am I going to pretend to be Sora?"

"You don't have to. All you have to be is the mermaid fulfilling the prophecy, you can live as you like. If you want more information on this world however..."

A book dropped out of thin air. Across the cover were the words "World History for Royalty", in silver pearl embroidery. Natalie picked up the book, fingers trailing along the pearls.

How fancy.

"Read it. If you haven't figured out the story by the next full moon, come and see me again."

Natalie could feel herself losing consciousness, gradually slipping into darkness. Before she completely blacked out, she heard God add something.

"Just a word of advice, never bring a human into Atlantis."