Prologue: Love's first Advent

Throughout all my years in life, I've always found myself mesmerized with the feeling of love. I would find myself questioning it indefinitely, until I gave in and collapsed from mental exhaustion.

As a child, I've asked my parents about what it was. They told me that it was a mutual feeling of affection and longing to be with each other, drawn and woven by strings of fate. They explained as though this social phenomenon was just a simple desire of company. Naturally, I was not convinced enough that this was it.

With that, I've asked my older brother, who recently married, as to what love embodied in his mind. He told me that it was a powerful feeling that enveloped him to intimacy with his partner, driven from the need for encouragement, someone by your side. That it felt like something similar yet different to coffee, powering and enabling him to perform better in different aspects of his life. He couldn't put it into words properly, and I also wanted to know more about this feeling that drove him to intimacy. Was that what love was? Or was it purely there to emit his pheromones?

Yet at the same time I thought of all the inconveniences that love would bring to one's life— For example, the need to pay attention to the other, yet accompanied with the unquenchable feeling of wanting to be with the other, regardless of whether you're up for it or not. The troubles as well, that came with the burden of taking care of your partner. It's a very contradictory phenomenon, that encompasses both the good and bad aspects of living.

Because of this whole dilemma, I personally found myself to be quite judgemental of love. I wanted to know what it felt like, yet I could not bring myself to try and find love, for it would seem like a hassle and seemingly forced, as relationships take time to foster. Because of this, I continue to observe couples and their exhibitions of love, while silently judging and observing each and every action they had taken. I went into a field in studying Human Relationships, as I longed to understand the workings of affection, through the use of various studies, in order to establish a cause and effect or correlation in how love is instantiated within people, and what it brings to each and every person, not to mention how the feeling can be maintained within a relationship. Breakups do occur quite often these days.

In this time and era that I find myself living in, love honestly just seems to become more convoluted with each passing day. No one seemed to bother with trying to understand what it was anymore— they all lived in the moment, wanting to experience the short-lived lovey-dovey emotions that came along with liking somebody, and their relationship would not last. What makes a meaningful relationship was unknown to all of us, and we would each experience it in a different way because of our experiences and unique interpersonal relationships.

"This won't do, huh?"

There I sat at the cafeteria, sighing to myself as I put down my pen on my table, tired of writing the report for a study that I had conducted the day prior. How do all researchers keep up with all their research, I wonder?

Sitting beside me eating sat an eccentric individual whom I never really respected in my life. She was always teasing me for the work I do, serving as a foil to everything that I condone. Her green eyes reminded me of jealousy, and the way she glared at my work never seemed to indicate sincerity— almost as if she was only there to insult me to begin with. Her long chestnut colored hair also never seemed to stop swaying, just like her personality which breezed through all the situations she throws herself into. That was who Livia was; it was funny how her name also meant "envy".

"Oh right, Arden! I attended your seminar from the other day. Quite an interesting topic you've discussed, if I do say so myself." Livia remarked, with a hint of spontaneous energy.

"You should be careful, you know. You shouldn't behave so nonchalantly around other people." I said, taking a sip out of my iced drink.

"Oh shut up. I hold all rights to speak and talk in a manner that I like right? Besides, my boyfriend doesn't seem to mind it." She responded, crossing her arms together.

"Not everyone is as tolerating as your boyfriend. Now leave me alone. You're interrupting my thought processing for my papers."

"You're no fun. Fine! I'll leave you and your nerdy shit alone."

With that, Livia stood up and left, leaving me to my own devices.

Sure, I may have been rude, but I disliked Livia. All she would do to me at campus would be to show off her daily activities and she had no manners around people when it came to communicating.

And that's what I had to deal with every single day. It was the norm within my life at campus, part of a vicious cycle where I get up early in the morning, attend my lectures, get bullied for being a nerd, and return home without a thought in the world. My socializing skills are poor because of this, but I've decided long ago that I would cease to care. I studied relationships purely through interest, but that didn't mean I'd need any myself.

As I was leaving for home one day after classes had ended, I decided to purchase some orange juice at the nearby cafe before returning. Their oranges were always rich and juicy, just the way fruits should be.

A man however, stood before me in front of the cafe. He seemed to be in his middle years, donning an old robe that had dried out splatters which gnawed at me. His hair was missing, revealing a bald top that reflected the sunlight off of his head. He glared at me, with an expression that greatly unsettled me. Something within me told me to make a dash for it, yet I stood there in front of him, his figure unwavering and appearance menacing.

"How can I help you, sir?" I smiled, greeting him nicely. It was important to remain calm and provide queries in order to resolve a situation.

However, this man did not respond. He continued to glare at me, pulling what seems to be a walking cane from within his large robe. Time seemed to have frozen, for there were no other pedestrians nearby. Even the cafe that we were in front of suddenly felt devoid of sound and movement, as if I was suddenly left all alone in the world, with nothing but this scary man in front of me.

"Excuse me sir, what are you doing...?" I asked out of fear and curiosity, as he was behaving strangely.

"D...o.....y..ou.....w..i...s..h......t...o......l..o..v..e?" The man whispered underneath his breath, seemingly trying to communicate in his best effort. Was he a foreigner? 

Nothing happened afterward. What should have been minutes felt like hours, and I was left there with the man, standing completely in silence. It seemed like nothing would happen unless I gave him an honest response. His eyes continued to stare daggers into me, and I realized that my next answer could determine the outcome of what happened to me.

And so with newfound confidence and concern for my well-being:

"I wish I knew how to love. People around me keep telling me different things, but I want to learn what love really meant. It is a journey after all..."

I told the weird man some of my thoughts on the topic, and I awaited his response. Around 5 seconds later, he responded in his raspy voice.

"T....r....u....l...y?"

Everything that had happened after that went by in a flash. I recalled the man clobbering me hard with his walking stick, causing me to collapse from the concussion it had caused. I then fainted, not knowing where I was sent to.

However, it didn't feel like any normal fainting experience. I was left adrift with my thoughts in an endless dark void. I could not open my eyes, yet it seemed as though I also wasn't fully unconscious. It was as if I was trapped in a small space, unable to do anything.

And when I came to, I was greeted by nothing but unfamiliar sights. There was a sky with a more purple hue than what I could remember, and I heard the sounds of an ocean. That wasn't what surprised me the most, though. What really caught me off guard was...

"Are you okay, Mr. Human?"

a girl with short, teal colored hair. She was a being of fantasy— a mermaid.