SEA'S BRIDE (PHILMYTHO ROMANCE II)

CHAPTER 61

The last recollection of my memory was that I am inside Neyk's suite room with Florante. I remember suffering so much with that burning pain spreading all over my body and even taking away my sense of sight. And It was all after Florante kissed me.

His words even lingered to me, ''As I told you, I really hate explaining myself. But perhaps if I show you the least, you would finally decide to stop from here.' As if it was a reminder for me why am I back in this place?

Was this just an illusion? I can't be too certain but I am sure this is San Ildefonso's shore. My desire to find out drags my feet to look for people around but since it's almost after dark, I suppose I won't be able to find anyone here at this time.

This caused me to urgently find my way home only to find my parents welcomed me with rage. "Where did you go again this time?" asked mama Celia. The vision of mama Celia beating me suddenly came into the picture.

But my dad was so quick to lift me away from Mama Celia, telling me, "Oh no, don't tell me you tried sneaking to see the mermaids again?"

Mermaids? I tried pondering the situation even further only to realize quite late the odd setting. Why is it that I don't notice my twin siblings around? My parents look younger than how I last saw them, and my dad being home is all pretty much disturbing. All the more, scolding me for sneaking out to see mermaids?

All these are like something that would happen if I'm still a kid—right, a kid.

I quickly run to find a mirror and I'm so shaken to see my reflection as a six years old kid. My hands are indeed small as well as my feet. I saw two ponytails above my hair with purple scrunchies each as design. I look like a tiny clown with my glow-in-the-dark Barbie sneakers, adorned with a pairing of a mini blouse & skirt.

How on earth have I traveled back to my childhood days?

Does Florante have anything to do with this? If what he infused on me before can actually hydrate me, could the thing that he had infused me this time made me rejuvenate—too much to the extent of bringing me back to my childhood age? What I just wonder is if Florante is indeed behind all of these, why is he sending me back to a period when I was six years old?

He did say he wanted to show me something, now what could it be that he still has to send me back in this period?

"Emalia, aren't you coming?" Mama Celia called out. And like any other kid my age, I am expected to act excited to come with them—which I played well in front of them.

My parents brought me to a carnival in the plaza of San Ildefonso. It was kind of carnival that visits from town to town or city to city during their respective fiestas. And because of that, I finally remember that my family usually used to visit the carnival during these times.

We enjoyed our local amusement park widely known in the country as Perya instead of carnival. There are varieties of rides from carousel to roller coasters, even Vikings and horror trains too. The reason why it's being visited too was because of the funfair games which involve cash or token prizes. But what highlights these events are the mythical shows. As I grow old, I have always believed these are pretty much staged performances, the snake-man, human-bird, fire dancers, and even the mermaids.

It's because of the mermaids that's why my parents brought me with them today. They know how much I love the mermaids because of a popular cartoon character that resembles a mermaid princess. Most girls at my age back then were highly influenced by cartoon characters of princesses showcasing different personalities, my personal favorite would be the mermaid princess who had risk even her beautiful voice just to see her beloved prince that lives above the sea—which is the land of the mortals.

While my dad and mama Celia were busy paying for the tickets, my attention got caught by a wonderful voice coming from an adjacent tent beside the mermaid show booth. And since my parents were pretty much occupied at the moment, I decided to take the chance and sneak inside the tent which is the source of that amazing voice.

I don't understand but, it was as if, I am being lured inside the tent of this serene female voice humming into some kind of enchanting melody that I've never heard before. Upon my entry inside the tent, I was exposed to a pulsing luminescence coming from a seed-like object at the center. Adjacent to it is a life-size aquarium filled with freshwater and artificial coral reef and seaweeds.

Living inside a six-year-old body makes every move so hard to control. I may have an adult's mind but the body of a child I currently am in still wins over me. And right now, my body is being captivated by the presence of a creature with porcelain-like skin, long ebony black hair, and incomparable beauty, but what just frightened me was that half of her body is a serpent. She keeps swimming into the body of water across the large aquarium.

As my eyes were too fixed watching her, the beautiful humming from her suddenly stops. She opens her eyes that revealed an emerald green pair of eyes before me. 'Help me, little one. Save me.' she suddenly said. To my astonishment though, her mouth wasn't even moving when she began talking to me. It's amazing how I was able to hear her even just without thoughts, and what's even more fascinating was the fact that I could actually talk to her in return through our minds.