Ajax

Calibur was sixteen when he was taken. Dragged out of his home by the tail. A metal object wizzed by, then cut into his bottom fin.

Joshua was eighteen when he found a miracle of nature. He always knew he was going to have something happen to him, something out of the ordinary, something to make him special.

Joshua went to a new fishing spot, a small lake that jutted out from the forest. He parked his pick-up truck next to the trail. It had been over a year since he last got to use his fishing lines. He pulled a large cooler out of the back, this lake wasn’t protected so he could bring any catch home. The faint aroma of rain still weighed in the air, mud collected under his shoes. It wasn’t just the act of fishing he enjoyed so much, but the connection to nature. A precious hobby he never grew out of.

He collected some worms off the side of the road, saving money on bait. Most of them were dead by now, yet the first one he used was still alive and squrming. It didn’t take long for him to feel a tug on the line, he started reeling it in. Somehow the fish gets free just as the hook passes by some weeds in the water. Live bait turned out to be a waste, he reels it in again when there’s another tug on the line. Something smaller, likely the size of a sardine. It was a fighter for sure, thrashing around, splashing water all over his cooler.

The hook just rises out of the water, revealing a palm sized merman. The metal is pierced through their fin, dripping small amounts of blood. Small screams and sounds come from the creature. Joshua pulls them off the hook, only making the damage and blood loss worse. The creature shrieks. He sets them on his truck bed for a moment. The merman tries to drag himself off the warm surface, only serving to dry him off faster. His now fully dry tail morphs into two legs. His right ankle has a large hole through it, bleeding profusely.

With more nerve endings in his foot, the pain skyrocketed. His screams are no longer filled with shock, there’s no room for that when the pain is so severe. Both creatures are in panic now. Joshua scoops up the being and places him into his cooler. The tail reapears, and the merman gasps.

Calibur had never been in such severe pain or rage before. He already hated the pollution humans caused, and now one was personally torturing him for what? Fun? The lid on his cold prison slams shut, giving him privacy in his suffering. The box moves around, smacking the water and him against the walls. The splashing calms down eventually, reduced to waves as the container moves forwards with the vehicle. After so long in the darkness and mild waves, the box is retrieved and moved around vigorusly again. Up several flights of stairs, too fast to keep the waters stable.

Light floods his cold prison, his abductor lifts him out and into a large tub. The human procures a small container, pouring out a burning liquid onto Calibur’s wounds.

“AH MOTHERFUCK?! What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill me?!” The human turns his head in response to Calibur’s words.

The human dries off Calibur’s tail, failing to clean the wound or relieve any pain. Another sharp zap spreads through his body during the transformation. The dull pain from his tail is yet again replaced by a vibrating sting from the hole. The human tries to move Calibur’s ankle around, but the extremity doesn’t react.

“Poor thing probably won’t be able to use this anymore. Amputating it would spare him the recovery and some pain.” Joshua left and returned with a paring knife, not even sanitized.

He swifty removes the bloody foot, discarding it down the toilet. He retrieves some gauze and wraps it around the stub.

Shock and pain seemed to be the only words Calibur could remember. He was apalled, the human just cut off his ankle like it was nothing. How would he be able to swim again? He wouldn’t be able to walk. What the fuck was wrong with this human?