Mermaid's Bracelet

"Where am I? And wait... that means... you are a real fairy?! ... A-a-achooo!" Marina sneezed.
"Maybe you should change your umm... clothes first? And you can take a warm bath too. We can all talk afterwards and try to figure things out." Fairy suggested.
"O-okay... thank you." Marina replied.
The bathroom was just as big and spacious as the previous room they were in. The walls were emerald green, and the floor was a soft peach color. Small bottles, soap packages, perfumes, and many other cosmetics could be found everywhere from shelves to boxes in the corner of the room. The fairy lady entered first while Marina was still standing at the door looking around. With just a spin of her finger, the girl opened the wardrobe without even touching it and moved the towel in the air. Next she sped up the process of filling the bathtub with warm water, creating a perfect bubble bath.
How is she doing that?
Marina thought in her head.
"There you go. Ohh, and here is shampoo, a towel, and slippers. I'll leave everything in this box alongside new dry clothes, and if you need anything, just call me." She smiled.
"Okay, but..."
"I know you're still probably in shock, but we just want to help you, honestly."
"No, it's not that. I don't know your name yet. " Marina finally said.
"Ohhh... Oops, sorry, it totally slipped my mind. I'm Camellia. Fairy reached her hand towards Marina.
"Marina." They both shook hands.
While walking down the hallway, Camellia was lost in her thoughts.
But if she isn't one of them... why does she have the mermaid's bracelet?
Fairy had a puzzled look on her face.
An hour later, Marina left the bathroom and found her way back to the bedroom, where Camellia was sitting at the table reading the book while waiting for her.
Marina walked in wearing a purple dress without sleeves, up to her knees, in combination with a just-as-purple long-sleeved bolero jacket. On her feet, she had silver sandals.
"I knew this dress would fit you. Looking gorgeous!" Camellia commented.
"Thank you, and for this beautiful dress too." Marina responded.
"You're welcome." Fairy smiled.
"Now, we're just waiting for Finn to return. That's the boy who splashed you with a bucket of cold water."
"Yeey, how could I forget?" Marina was being sarcastic again.
"I know; that was awful, especially without context, but he honestly feels bad about it. Yes, Finn is clumsy, but he has a good heart, and if you were a mermaid, that would actually save you."
Camellia spoke with a serious expression.
"Okay, honestly, what's the deal with mermaids?" Marina asked.
"I'm here!" The boy rushed in.
"Great. Let's all sit and talk, shall we? " Fairy put the world's map on the table.
"Hi, umm. I just wanted to apologize again for splashing you with cold water just like that. This was a misunderstanding, and now I feel so embarrassed and stupid." Boy said to Marina.
"It's okay, I forgive you, but only because I was in a swimsuit." She replied.
"Swimsuit?" They both asked at the same time.
"Yeah, don't you have... Oh right, if swimming is a no-no, then why would you even have swimsuits? It's a piece of clothing you wear for swimming, the one I had on before."
"Oooh, I see," Camellia said.
"Aghh, I'm so sorry, really I am." The boy still felt bad.
"I was just joking. If you stop splashing me and calling me a mermaid, you can sit next to me." Marina smirked.
"You are Finn, right? I'm Marina." She added.
"It's a promise!" Finn said.
It's true that I'm still very confused about where I am or what's going on, but I feel a bit better now, and these people seem just as confused as I am. They even helped me too.
"I... I'm also sorry for how I acted towards you two earlier. You saved me, and I only yelled at you." Marina said to both of them.
"It's okay; I'd be scared too if I woke up in an unknown place surrounded by strangers. We may not know what's going on here, but we can relate to you at least that much."
"Finn is right," they replied.
"Okay, Marina, for a start, please look at this map and tell me if anything on it looks familiar to you, and can you recognize any city, village, or just any place?" Camellia pointed at the map.
If I wasn't convinced before by literal islands in the sky and fairy magic, I am now because what are these names?! This clearly isn't anywhere on planet Earth. If it was, there would be our continents and oceans on the map, but this looks nothing like it.
"No, nothing looks familiar here. Are all of these on the map islands in the sky?!"
Marina was shocked.
"Yes, and I see. That's what I thought. Marina, I think you are not from our world." Camellia came to a conclusion.
"Huh?!" Finn was surprised.
"You didn't speak Alisian until I shared my language knowledge with you, and you also didn't notice when I switched to
Fragmenian, a human language."
"That's true. I spoke in both languages on the boat too. That's another reason why I thought you were a mermaid."
"Exactly, and it's true that I know barely any words in Coralli, the mermaid language; your language didn't sound anything like that. And you couldn't possibly be a Plamenian; you don't have any of their features. So if you're not from any of the four kingdoms from our world, then who are you, Marina?" Camellia sounded curious.
"Well, I am a human too, but from planet Earth, and on my world we have way more countries and languages. It's also normal to swim, and our land is surrounded by the sea, not in the air."
"Planet Earth," hmm, never heard of it, but this is incredible. It proves there is life on other planets!"
Those are exactly my words.
Marina thought.
"Well, your planet is probably not even in the same galaxy, so no wonder. Wait, what's the name of this world?"
"Aquantium. As I mentioned earlier, there are four kingdoms: Alis, the fairy kingdom, which is where we are right now; Flamterra, the Plamenian kingdom; Pragmenia, the human kingdom; and Corallium, the mermaid kingdom." Camellia explained.
"Okay, another question. Why is swimming weird?" As soon as Marina asked that question, the atmosphere in the room changed. Both Finn and Camellia were looking sad, especially Finn.
"It all started 500 years ago. At first, everyone thought it was just a tide, but then... The sea started swallowing all of the land. Century by century, more land was lost forever in the sea. Then, a century ago, people started massively moving out to Alis. Of course, some were stubborn too—
"Cough cough plamenians," Finn said.
"Yes, and that's why what happened 50 years ago was even worse for those who stayed down there."
"What happened?" Marina was worried.
"50 years ago land vanished completely. Now everyone lives on Alis, well, except for mermaids, of course, but because of what happened, we lost touch with them completely. " Camellia continued explaining.
"That sounds horrifying! Everything gone, just like that." Marina was terrified by this story.
"Did any land ever reappear?" She asked.
"As far as we know, it didn't." Camellia replied.
"But if no one goes near the sea, then no one is exploring the sea, right? Maybe there is new land, and you haven't discovered it yet because you are all up here."
"There were explorers in the past. People from all around the world who would gather together to sail the sea and wouldn't care if others called them crazy. I do admire their bravery, trust me, I do. Sometimes I wish I was as adventurous as they are, but unfortunately almost all of those adventures ended tragically, and even those who made it back alive to tell the story would never wish to return after facing the dangers out there. Also, they couldn't find any sign of land either after years of exploring, so it seemed hopeless even to the most determined. Everyone gave up...Well, okay, almost everyone. Camellia looked at Finn.
"You should, though." She muttered.
"I'm not giving up no matter what! It's better to keep trying than to abandon our homeland forever and remain in the comfort zone. What we do now isn't living; it's surviving." Finn was determined.
Ohh, so that's why he was in the boat despite everyone avoiding the sea. I was just wondering about that part, but now it makes sense; he is a rebel.
"It's not my place to say because I'm literally a stranger here, but I support you, Finn. Just because no one found it yet doesn't mean it's not there. You can be the first who discovered new land like Christopher Columbus!" Marina spoke words of encouragement.
"Who?" Camellia and Finn both had a clueless expression on their faces.
"Never mind. Anyways, despite how this world sounds—both terrifying and interesting at the same time—there is still one big question left... well, okay, there are definitely more than one, but currently the most important for me to know, and that is, I still don't know how I got here? We came to the conclusion that we're from different worlds. I saw and heard crazy things happening, but I don't get why or how I am here." Marina again sounded confused.
"I don't know why, but I think I know how you ended up in our world. That bracelet you've been wearing this whole time, it's a mermaid's bracelet." Camellia said.
"So I was half right! It still has something to do with mermaids." Finn was happy.
"In a way, yes. I wasn't sure at first, but then I checked in the book, and it really is one of those. Mermaid's bracelet is said to have special abilities, like, for example, opening a portal that could transport from one place to another or, in your case, from one world to another. If it managed to transfer you that far, then this bracelet must have belonged to someone powerful. Maybe even to the queen of mermaids! No, not maybe; it has to belong to her. Only a queen would have that much power to do that, and it is said that mermaids are the ones putting magic in the bracelets."
"Mermaid's bracelet... But how did it get in our sea on Earth?! And if I got here because of this bracelet, could I then get back home with a bracelet too?"
"I don't know how it ended up in your world nor the answer to your other question. I'm afraid only mermaids know that, sorry." Camellia sounded sad.
"Ohh, I know!" Marina had an idea.
"Then I must find the mermaids and ask them myself!"

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