Prologue
Location: Yopa East
“Faster, Zara!” Miss Lola panted as she pulled teenage Zara, running deep into the woods.
Why were they running?
Miss Lola loved the ocean. She was so obsessed with it. One day, she came across a mermaid. They became friends, promising to keep each other’s secrets.
Years later, suddenly, mermaids and mermen were hunted by humans. Miss Lola’s mermaid friend, Melissa, knew she and her clan wouldn’t be able to keep running forever. Humans would never stop hunting them.
Melissa had a baby, and it was time for the baby to come to Earth. In nakedness, pain, and blood dripping down her legs, Melissa ran to Lola’s house at midnight.
Lola helped her. She put Melissa in her bathtub as she laboured in pain.
The baby came out successfully, and then Melissa handed the baby to Lola to nurture.
Melissa said she’d come back for her baby but didn’t promise. She didn’t know if she would completely escape the hunters.
And that’s how Lola took Melissa’s baby as her own. She loved her and taught her the ways of the surface, but she kept warning her never to reveal she was a mermaid.
She named her Zara.
Miss Lola was a well-known scientist. She worked in the most biggest laboratory in the city of Yopa, popularly known as Bentley Lab.
Her boss, a scientist and owner of the lab, was obsessed with mermaids. He was the founder of the hunters. According to his scientific whatever, mermaid and mermen were real, “…they do exist.” But people didn’t believe him. All he needed was proof. A proof that mermaids and mermen do exist.
He had a son named Trent who didn’t believe in his theory as well.
Trent and Zara were very close friends, as were Mr. Bentley and Miss Lola.
As time went on, puberty hits, and Zara and Trent started finding each other attractive.
Their relationship moved from friends to best friends to lovers.
She was so in love with him that she revealed she was a mermaid to him, and that was how everything changed overnight.
Zara and Miss Lola’s peaceful life crumbled after Trent Bentley, a sixteen-years-old idiot, spilled to his father out of excitement that Zara was a mermaid, that his scientific theory wasn’t false or stupid at all.
What he never expected was his father to hunt Zara.
They were all so close. He thought.
So naïve.
Trent was heartbroken. He refused to meet or speak to Zara out of shame.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bentley threatened Miss Lola to hand over Zara to the lab so he could prove to the world that mermaids do exist. He wanted Zara as his lab rat. He would be rich! Zara’s tears could transform into pearls. Not only that.
Miss Lola rejected his offer to give her forty per cent of any income he made from Zara. Mr. Bentley got mad but gave her a day to reconsider.
That night, when Miss Lola got home, the house was quiet. Usually, it was always quiet, but ever since Bentley’s confrontation, Lola had been on high alert.
She rushed to Zara’s room, but Zara wasn’t there. Then, she immediately ran to the basement, where a large tub of saltwater was stored for Zara to shift whenever she liked. When she got up to the basement, Zara was sleeping in the tub in mermaid form. She curled her tail around her body as she slept peacefully, unaware of the danger ahead.
Miss Lola sighed in relief, smiling as she walked up to Zara, and then knocked on her tub, waking her up. She gestured for her to come out. Zara quickly slid out and then shifted back to human legs, naked.
Zara was fifteen years old.
“Hey, pumpkin, we need to move now. It’s urgent. Mr. Bentley somehow knows you’re a mermaid.” she rushed, slipping an oversized gown on Zara.
Zara gasped in disbelief. “Ma, I’m so sorry. I…I told Trent. But he promised to keep it a secret,” she muttered, confused as they exited the basement.
Miss Lola was angry but asked in a calm voice, “Didn’t I warn you to stay away from that boy?”
“I’m sorry, Ma. He… he…”
Zara burst into tears that started transforming into pearls.
Miss Lola hugged her and then whispered, “I told you not to cry, Zara. No matter what, DO NOT cry. Don’t cry for anything. This is the human world you’re in. Tears won’t get you anywhere. They’ll only slow you down and make you look vulnerable. The world you’re in is full of selfish people, betrayers, and many other dark things, dear. They live to hurt those as precious as you. If you’re hurt, Zara, never cry. Don’t let them see your weakness.”
“Okay, Ma,” Zara said firmly as she wiped her tears.
Just as they exited the house, Mr. Bentley and his men drove in. Miss Lola spotted them from a far and rushed back inside with Zara. They ran to the basement as someone tried to break down the front door.
When they got to the basement, Miss Lola opened a secret passage, a mirror, but behind it was an underground tunnel.
They crawled through the tunnel, which led to the edge of a forest, and they quickly ran into the woods.
“Faster, Zara!” Miss Lola panted, holding her tightly.
“Ma, where are we going?” Zara asked, gasping for air.
“I’m taking you to the nearest sea. And once you’re in, swim fast. Don’t stop until all the stars are gone and it’s morning.”
“What about you? You’re coming, right?” Zara asked.
“No, Zara—” Miss Lola cut herself off as she fell heavily, breaking her ankle. “Ahh!” she screamed in pain.
“Ma, sorry, sorry, so…sorry. Come on, let’s go,” Zara sobbed, leaning down to help her up but she couldn’t walk.
“No, Zara, you have to go. Go without me. The ocean's where you belong—”
“No! I’m not leaving without you. You said there are none of my people left in the ocean, so how do you expect me to survive? I’m not going to the ocean, Ma. I’m going where you’re going,” Zara said firmly, holding back tears as she healed her mom’s sprained ankle.
Miss Lola winced as Zara healed her. “Please, Zara, GO! They’ll do awful things to you! You don’t know Bentley. He’ll find us wherever we go. THE OCEAN IS THE ONLY SAFE PLACE FOR YOU.” Lola shouted.
“Come on! Let’s go. I swear I’m not leaving you.” Zara snapped adamantly.
Lola followed just to make sure Zara reached the sea, but their race was cut short when they reached an empty tiled road.
Another forest was ahead. All they have to do is cross the road to the other forest, and ahead was a huge sea, Zara’s escape.
As they crossed towards the forest ahead, a bike appeared out of nowhere and hit both of them.
With deep bruises, Zara got up and then rushed to Miss Lola, who was now soaked in her own blood.
She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t breathing.
“Ma? Ma? MA! Wake up! COME ON Let’s go! Wake up, Ma. Please! Don’t…Don’t leave me. I beg you. You’re okay, right? Tell me. SPEAK TO ME! PLEASE. You promised we’ll go on a trip to Sassa. What…what about the coffee you promised I’ll make for you? Wake up, please. We-we have a lot of things we haven’t done yet, Ma. So please don’t leave, don’t please. Come on, ple-please.” Zara voice cracked.
She boosted into tears, shaking lifeless Lola.
Zara turned to see frozen Trent still on his bike. He was the one who hit them.
It was an accident.
He slowly pulled off his helmet and froze in shock.
Zara thought he’d been sent by his father. “How could you?” she groaned, not humanly.
Trent jumped off the bike, fell, got up, and then ran away, falling clumsily on the way.
First, he caused her pain. Now, he’d killed her mother?!
Wow, Trent.
“Hey! Where are you going, Trent?! Help me, please! Please, Trent, come back! Help me take her to the hospital. Help me…” she screamed, sobbing as she shook Miss Lola Vigorously.
Zara had no idea it was an accident. All she saw was betrayal. The guy she had fell in love with, had betrayed her. Her heart hardened. She couldn’t cry anymore. She didn’t have the strength to cry anymore, but one thing for sure was that she would have her revenge.
She heard Bentley men approaching. She got up quickly, pecked Lola on her forehead, and then ran way into the forest ahead, leaving Lola. She knew Bentley would find her.
When she finally reached the sea, she took off her clothes and then dove into the sea.
Zara did as Lola told her.
She swam until morning and then shifted back to human form, floating on top of the sea, pretending to be dead, hoping someone would find her.
She'd hoped for some rich couple, heading for their honeymoon in a yacht.
But alas!
A poor fisherman found her. A teenage girl, like Zara, was in the boat with him.
Zara cried internally as he carried her into his boat. She pretended to be unconscious, but when the fisherman tried to give her mouth-to-mouth, she jumped up, faking a cough.
Lola’s Story That Isn’t a Story
Lola taught me about the world I lived in. What my mother, a mermaid hundreds of years old, told her.
I am a Jsayian. Just like the seven continents in the world, South America, North America, Africa, Asia, and so many others, J-SAY is a continent too. One of the continents in the world but never mentioned or hadn’t been mentioned. No matter how far you search, J-SAY cannot be seen. Why?
Decades ago, J-SAY was formed with four small towns, the only towns known: Jin, Sassa, Adis, and Yopa. These towns were all made up of people like me, supernaturals. And who the hell knew beings with no special gift or power even existed? We all lived in harmony, governed by the four elements also known as the Goddesses, who lived in Central Heaven.
Lola kept repeating the same story like it was a fairytale bedtime story. Little did I know there was something more to it. At twelve, she told me it wasn’t a fairytale. Normally I wouldn’t have believe her but I was a full prove.
The story always begins like this. Lola would say,
"My sweet pumpkin.
Once upon a time, there lived four kingdoms full of fairies, mermaids and mermen, werewolves, and dragons. Each kingdom had its own ruler. All rulers, the Elements, also known as the Goddesses, lived together in Central Heaven and blessed their subjects with everything they needed. Every subject could go to Heaven at any time to file a complaint or report. Every single being was supernatural, not until…
A human named Hills discovered the kingdom. They welcomed him, accepted him. In no time, humans started tripping in millions, billions, even more than the supernatural. Humans built houses, schools, and even civilized them. Humans taught them where they came from and everything.
Suddenly, humans wanted to rule in another man’s world. It was chaotic, fights here and there, discrimination, racism.
Hills came up with what humans do. They called it Election.
Because they were more populated than the supernatural, they won.
The Goddesses were not happy with that, so they signed a deal. All supernaturals would leave the world for the humans only if the humans were ready to give away their memories of the supernaturals.
Even though there was a lot of chaos between supernaturals and humans in J-SAY, some humans fell in love with supernaturals. Wiping their memories meant forgetting who they fell in love with. It would be like supernaturals never existed.
It wasn’t an easy decision, but Hill, the representative of the humans, agreed on behalf of the world. Suddenly, we heard that he and his robotic-scientist wife, Elena, were murdered, but not before she created a variant of herself to take care of their son, Travis Hills.
Their murder happened on their way back from the agreement with the Goddesses in Central Heaven.
He was a popular man. He was to be president since he started this whole mess. The news of Hills and Elena's death went viral. Reporters said it was definitely the Goddesses or the supernaturals. They angrily protested for all supernaturals to leave.
One of the Elements, a fairy, was the only one who could erase memories, and another Element, a mermaid, was the only one that could recreate.
During the huge protest, the Elements ascended. The fairy element said, “The decision has been made. Since we can not live in peace together, and we can not send humans back, we will have to…” and then she froze time and erased all human memories.
All supernaturals started fading away from existence.
Humans, since they had no memory, did not know where they came from. They all started afresh. Anytime they tried to explore beyond J-SAY, the Elements stopped them, one way or the other.
Another Element, a dragon, used her ability to expand the land because the population was increasing every day.
Everything went back to normal. The Goddesses ran the world behind human eyes.
But many years later, in the twentieth century, the Elements started fighting over possession. Who would rule? Who would be the head?
They saw that the world was becoming prettier day by day, then they started quarrelling about credits, forgetting that it was all their handwork that made the beautiful J-SAY.
They once lived in Central Heaven together.
After many years of conflict and tension, they finally split into various parts of Heaven.
The fairy moved to the northern part of Heaven, created her species, and named herself Fairy Godmother.
The dragon moved to the western part of Heaven, created her agents, and named herself the Queen of Flare.
The wolf moved to the eastern part of Heaven, created her pack of lycanthropes, and named herself the Moon Goddess.
The Mermaiden moved to the southern part of Heaven, created her clan inside the seas and oceans, and named herself the Goddess of Waters.
They lived peacefully afterwards. The Dragons operated solely in Jin, the western part of J-SAY. The Fairies operated solely in Sassa, the northern part. The Wolves operated solely in Yopa, the eastern part. The Mermaids operated solely in Adis, the southern part.
The Goddesses had the power to do anything except come down to Earth for the human eye to see. A deal is a deal.
They sent messengers to Earth frequently, but no human saw them. Only supernatural beings could, but even then, they were careful. If any human saw them, they erased his or her memory of them only.
Note: Dogs have the ability to see them. They bark at them, some even chase them, but they couldn’t hurt them because they are like spirits.
As time went on, the Goddesses agreed to open a portal for the humans to go to the real world. Humans could go and come back, but only humans of J-SAY could return. Any outsider would never find the place. The portal would never open for him or her. So, the humans knew the rules.
Even though the Goddesses eliminated the first supernaturals and wiped the first humans' memories, there were still books, photos, and stuff in the world.
Humans used them, tried to study, and fill in puzzles, and they understood supernaturals and the Elements once existed. But what they were concerned about was how they ended up here and where all the people went.
Many believed and some didn't believe, but most said they were just folktales. They even reduced them to silly fairytale stories.
The Goddesses weren't happy that some humans knew they once existed and used it as folktale stories instead of histories. But that did not stop them from operating.
Stage two.
Everything was perfect until strange creatures started entering J-SAY from God knows where. J-SAY’s former supernaturals were only mermaids, fairies, dragons, and werewolves, but these other creatures were foreign.
Some were pale white beings who fed on human blood. They were called vampires.
Some were creatures a hundred feet taller than any being. They were called giants.
Some looked like humans, but the hair on their heads wasn’t hair but snakes. They were called Gorgons.
They were few but became countless.
Now, the humans realised their fairytales were true. But what confused them was that the pictures and stuff they discovered didn’t look like these monsters.
All they knew was that the Goddess of Waters created them since she was the only one with that ability.
But behind the whole scene, it was Lucy.
Lucy? Let’s just say she was like a female Lucifer.
After the Elements separated and the mermaids lived in the southern part of Heaven, the Goddess of Waters created Lucy as a warrior in case of any battle.
Lucy was the only species in the mermaid kingdom without a tail. Her tail was replaced with multiple large snakes. She was like an octopus but half human and half snake. Even with her unique difference, she was treated equally since she could breathe underwater. But as time went on, Lucy wanted to be superior. She was powerful and wanted the position of Goddess of Waters, but the sea Supremes disagreed, saying there was already a Goddess of Waters, and they respected her.
Lucy got angry, saying the Goddess didn’t deserve the position because she was weak and less stronger.
One day, Lucy stole the Goddess’s crystal and secretly started creating bad energy on Earth. She enjoyed it. She created all the strange creatures, vampires, giants, elves, and more, giving them powers and negative spirits so they could destroy everything the Elements created.
Their mission was to destroy, and they did.
That is why Adis has the most populated villains because that was where the Goddess of Waters operated and where Lucy started creating before they spread across J-SAY.
The Goddess found out, took her crystal back, and banished Lucy from Heaven, blocking every portal so she could not return. Lucy then nested under the Earth. While the Elements operated in Heaven, she continued operating beneath the Earth.
She vowed not to stop.
Then, in 2028, the chaos was too much. The Elements had no choice but to hold a meeting.
Since, the Elements took care of the villains but the rate was increasing and Lucy was growing stronger, they needed close agents to handle them.
That was when the rise of the J-SAY heroes began.
The Elements gifted seven human teens with unique powers from all over J-SAY.
The mermaids chose Phoenix Drill from Adis.
The fairies chose Travis Hills and Joe Martin from Sassa.
The wolves chose Rose Smith and a robot named Thelma207 from Yopa.
The dragons chose Jay Parker and Vivian Duke from Jin.
J stands for Jin, S stands for Sassa, A stands for Adis, and Y stands for Yopa. That was the origin of the J-SAY heroes.
And ever since then, there has been peace. There are a lot of damages every day, but the heroes never fail. Goodnight, pumpkin."
I heard this torture of a story from Lola for years. I normally liked stories with heads being exploded, blood dripping on people’s heads while they sleep, guns, bomb explosions, and many more.
Yeah, that kind of stuff.
And the J-SAY heroes?
Nah, I am not a fan of them AT ALL.
But I am a fan of Lucy. Full time!
And my room says it all.
