Deleted Scene: Mirrors

The showdown between Dorian and Nemesio goes down much differently. Not as torturous as this was.

“It will only make things worse if you struggle, Dorian,” her voice cooed in the emptiness surrounding him.

At least, at first it was empty, just white space all around that the merman found himself able to swim in. Dorian kicked his tail harder to propel him forward, faster while his gills burned from rapid breathing. He knew not where he was now, but that didn’t take away the feeling of panic pounding the adrenaline through his veins.

“Why do you flee, Dorian?” the mermaid’s haunting voice echoed in the emptiness. “Where have you to go where I cannot find you?”

She was right; after all, the young merman still hadn’t an idea as to his current location. However, he could feel his body beginning to tire from his attempts at fleeing. Dorian slowed drifting to just float suspended. His chest rose and fell gulping in air through the gills, trying to slow the heart back to normal pace. Swallowing, he looked around, trying to get an idea as to where he was this entire time. This place didn’t look like the ocean, which confused him greatly especially since there is no such void like this in the sea. Or perhaps it does and that’s exactly where he is right now, Dorian considered.

“Confused little pearl?”

Dorian gasped, searching for the mermaid that owned that voice. “Where are you?” he cried out into the empty white.

Her giggle filled the place, “I haven’t left where you first saw me, and that is my problem. Let me in, Dorian. I only wish to help you.”

“I don’t believe you!” he snapped.

It was then, something clicked. Let her in? She hadn’t moved from where he had last seen her? That must mean, “My mind,” the merman whispered. “I am within my own mind… then why is it blank?”

“Dooooorian,” the mermaid’s voice sang in his mind. “Let me in, Dorian.”

Let her in? Dorian wondered, but there’s nothing here that she would be interested in. It’s all just space with nothing to fill it. Suddenly the merman was falling, but it was a short distance which left him plopping down onto some type of floor. The feel of it was smooth like glass as the merman ran his webbed hands across it to push up his torso. Groaning, Dorian gave his head a shake only to blink at what he saw below. His own eyes blinked back at him. “A reflection?” he said in confusion.

Looking around, more of the reflective surfaces rose to create a wall around the merman. Unable to swim away, Dorian watched helplessly as he was being encased in mirrors. All around the merman cast the images of himself going off of each other into eternity. He propped up his torso by anchoring the weight with his elbows. There was something about the images of himself that felt almost alien to him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen himself as a merman before; no he had plenty of times. Mermaids would find mirrors in human wreckage all the time, when lying out on rocks to sun himself, Dorian had been able to see himself in the surface of the water. Yet, this Dorian staring back was not the one he recognized to be himself.

The eyes seemed a little narrower, more determined in nature rather than large and innocent. His face more slimmed down, jaw set and firm. How could this be? What does it mean? Dorian questioned to no one but himself. Unfortunately, it seemed he was not alone in his ponderings.

“What troubles you so, little pearl?” inquired the mermaid from the outside. “Do you not recognize even yourself anymore? Has human life left you confused about your true nature?”

Dorian gasped at the image cast before him in one of the mirrors. He reached out, bracing his hands against the mirror below and pulled himself forward. Stretching out his hand it flattened to meet the un-webbed hand of the young man in the glass. Another Dorian stared back at him, but this one lay with his legs curled behind him instead of a fish tail. The real Dorian looked back; even wiggling his fin to be sure it was truly there. “What is this?” he whispered the panic returning to increase his breathing again.

“What is it indeed,” said the mermaid. “Were you truly meant to be a merman, Dorian? Or was it some cruel joke that the goddess has played on you?”

The human Dorian in the mirror stood, towering over the real one lying on the floor. Without truly realizing it, the merman shrank at the image of himself. “Stop it!” he cried, turning his face down only to meet the same image below.

“Stop? Why should I stop, Dorian? Does it frighten you to think that maybe you were supposed to be born a human?” challenged the mermaid.

“Shut up!” he screamed skyward. “Get out of my head!”

“Now why would I do that when I’m only trying to help you?” she purred. “Come now, think about it, wouldn’t you love to be with her again?”

In the mirror, Marie walked in to stand beside the human Dorian.

“You love her, don’t you?” the voice whispered through his thoughts like a soft breeze.

“She is my sister,” Dorian spoke while longing for Marie to be there in person to help him.

A sigh of pure ecstasy filled the room with a cold that sent shivers up and down his back all the way to the end of his fin. “I can feel your little heart’s desire for her company. How frightened you are to be without your little human of a sibling. A mistake created by your rebellious father. Yet, that makes her all the more desirable, doesn’t it, Dorian?”

“You’re sick!” he spat.

This didn’t faze the mermaid, continuing on to add, “I can grant you your wish, Dorian. I can make you human again, but this time for good. Wouldn’t you like that?”

Pain shot through his body as though someone were taking a carving knife to his tail. Crying out in agony, the young merman curled into a fetal position, writhing and twisting about. “S…st… stop! Stop it! Please!” he begged. “Please stop!”

Just as suddenly as it had come, the pain subsided to leave him gasping and trembling on the ground still reflecting his human form. Dorian reached a shaking hand down to touch the lower half of his body, feeling the pebbly smooth scales beneath his finger tips. Just an illusion, he told himself mentally. She can’t change me without my full consent. That still didn’t erase the hurt felt from the attack.

“I can make the pain go away, Dorian. I can make it all go away. The mission, the failures, the sorrows. You can be happy again with your beloved Marie whom you may never see again as long as you remain a merman. Don’t you want to be with the one you love?”

“What… would you… know of love?” Dorian gasped, working to push himself upright despite the soreness he felt to his muscles. “You know nothing of love!”

“I know plenty!” the mermaid declared, shaking the room violently. “I know enough to know that it shall give you what you most desire. All it would take is just a brief moment of pain, but it will all be worth it in the end.”

Another lightning bolt of pain shot through the merman’s body, sending him down low to the floor again, screaming. After the brief moment that felt like hours, Dorian struggled to get himself up to a sitting position. Arms shook violently trying to hold up his weight. “I do not deny… that I care for Marie… she is my sister… my friend,” he gasped at first. Yet, as his thoughts turned to his friends on land, strength seemed to leak through the memories. Images of his father and mother came to mind as well with some of his merfolk friends that he had left behind. How they care and must miss him right now. This was what real love is, Dorian realized, this is something worth fighting for.

“That’s it… I understand now,” he said softly as pieces began to come together. “The one you wanted to love you… didn’t return the favor, did he?”

“You are speaking nonsense,” the mermaid accused.

This only encouraged him further, rising to a sitting position since a merman cannot stand. Even so, the power he felt rising from his chest gave him what he needed. Warmth spread in his heart, which seemed to reach up to touch something in his throat. When he opened his mouth to speak, each word sounded more like a declaration, “He didn’t love you! He didn’t love you so you took matters into your own hands! You were the one who changed our people into who we are now!”

“Silence! Stop this at once!”

Dorian felt he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to. “You changed something in the ruins, somehow managed to steal some of the goddess’s power for yourself or something. Whatever it was, you did it so you could have who you wanted! That is why mermen don’t love other mermaids. That is why we feel nothing, but attraction in order to reproduce… and with that you also took our voices. The powers to weave dreams for humans whom you felt were not worth saving. It all makes sense now!”

“You’re one to talk! You’re no different from those heartless humans who continue to destroy each other! You are no different from all other mermen leaving to be with humans!” the mermaid screamed, but Dorian sat unfazed.

Looking skyward, the young merman grinned, “I think you forgot a minor detail in your curse. It only affects the mermen for as long as they are completely under water. Why else would mermen be falling in love with human women?”

The mermaid’s screaming did not cease, sending the room rocking violently. “It doesn’t matter!” she declared. “I shall have your voice and you shall die in agony!”

“NO!” Dorian’s voice sang out, ringing clear and strong. The mirrors vibrated as cracks appeared like spider webs across the surface. In one great burst from Dorian’s piercing note, the mirrors shattered everywhere. Once again, Dorian was falling, watching the shards fly everywhere as he descended quickly out of the illusionistic tortures and back into reality.

His eyes snapped open having expected a harsher impact. Instead Dorian found himself surrounded by cool, ocean water, kelp and rocks. Pushing himself up quickly, the young merman held himself afloat to see what had become of the mermaid that had held him. Below, sitting upon the seabed was not the young, beautiful mermaid he had recalled before. Her hair was pearl white, thin and resembled dead seaweed. The once youthful body was wrinkled, boney and shaking violently. Dorian couldn’t help but touch a hand to his throat, where she had him held earlier, at the sight of her long, cracked nails. Fortunately, she hadn’t hurt him badly.

There was stillness between them for a moment. He couldn’t help but feel some remorse for the mermaid. After everything that had happened, she truly was nothing more than this empty shell of a mermaid. A part of him wanted to reach out to comfort her, but that soon became the least of his concerns. Her head whipped around suddenly, eyes glowing like tiny flames in a severely wrinkled, thing face. Dorian gasped, paddling himself back in shock as she bared what few teeth she had left at him, growling. “This isn’t over!” she snarled.

Though the ancient looking mermaid, herself, was not very threatening, Dorian soon realized what her words were indicating to. Swimming up rapidly from behind her was one of the hybrid creatures that had attacked the sail boat. Yelping, no longer feeling brave, the young merman turned tail and fled. “After him! Chase him down and devour him!” he could hear the elderly mermaid scream. “If I cannot have that voice then no one shall!”

By the goddess, Dorian thoughts exclaimed, the sea witch in the ‘Little Mermaid’ movie wasn’t as scary as this! The terrified merman swam around a cropping of rock with the creature not too far behind. He reached a narrow part where two plates of the earth’s crust had shifted themselves upwards during an earthquake. Thinking fast, the merman swam between the platonic upheavals in hopes that the path would be too tight for the large creature. A crunch sounded behind him as the creature forced itself through, large rocks and other debris tumbled all around him. Tentacles flailed all around, knocking further rocks loose from the walls, struggling to reach out for the fleeing merman. One of the arms of the creature had managed to strike Dorian in the gut, smashing his back against the rocky structure.

A gasp of pain left him, too shocked to utter any further sound than that. With a groan, the young merman sunk down to the sea floor, his mind spinning. However, even though Dorian had been struck down, the creature had difficulty catching his drifting body. Regaining his sense of reality, the merman righted himself, shaking the dizziness out of his head. The creature pushed, wriggled and snapped trying to get at the merman. Not wishing to stick around to see if the beast would be able to make it through, he searched for a way out. Discovering a hole to be his means of escape, Dorian dove for it. He wasn’t given much of a chance to rest, however, as tentacle shot in after him, working to grab him with spiky suction cups.

Crying out in surprise, Dorian curled in to keep his tail at bay, pressing himself further into the hole. He quickly felt about in the darkness to find a small tunnel leading further into the wall. It wasn’t as large as he would have liked, but not taking advantage of an opportunity would cost him his life. Unwilling to pay such a price, the young merman dashed through while his fin barely missed getting snagged by one of the creature’s suction spines. The tunnel was even darker than the hole, insomuch that Dorian had to rely solely on his sense of touch to get through. Soon, there came a point where he was no longer swimming, but creeping like a crustacean across the rocks. Dorian stopped and laid where he was at to rest, breathing heavily in the darkness.

How his back ached terribly from the blow he had suffered earlier. Should he survive this in the end, he would leave with more than a few bruises. He considered in his exhausted state, whether or not to continue or to just pass out right there, but a vibration that made the rocks trembled made up the decision for him. It would not be safe in the tunnel. Crawling further, Dorian felt an incline in the direction of his path. Pulling himself further upward, he began to notice a change in the water’s temperature. A warmth that reminded him of being wrapped in one of Marie’s fleece blankets. Up ahead the way was becoming clear with the aid of a soft, white light. Dorian wanted to burst into laughter, having never felt so much joy in seeing a light before.

Arriving to the end of the tunnel, Dorian was stunned by the orb of light that had laminated his way. It was a rather curious looking white orb, drifting about the exit like it was doing a dance. Dorian watched the bouncing glow much like a cat would watch a piece of dangling string. The warmth felt from this light brought pleasant images to the merman’s head. Memories of lying out in the sun, snuggling in a soft blanket, drinking hot chocolate that gave him warmth inside and out pranced in his thoughts. Curiosity growing, the merman stretched out his hand to the object. However, it teased him, bouncing away from his reaching grasp. A smile played on his lips, “So it’s a game you want then?”

Swimming after the orb of light, Dorian tried to catch it in this game of keep away. He laughed struggling to grab hold of this thing that kept on eluding him. One minute it would be in front of him, but just as Dorian could even come close to snatching it, the light would appear behind him. Spinning about, the young merman gave chase, up, down and around in the water. Dorian never felt lighter or happier than he did right then playing with this object. Again, it bounced up to avoid another grab, but Dorian was ready for it this time. Whirling around, he dove at it, wrapping his arms around the warm, squishy orb that was about the size of a beach ball. Hugging it close to his chest, the merman declared,

“I’ve got you! I win!”

A gurgle of a growl rumbled nearby in the shadows.

Blinking, Dorian turned his head to look back where the sound was coming from. Two extremely large, yellow eyes stared back at him. Tentacles spread all around an overly large angler fish head with its jaw opened wide to greet him. His heart jumped to his throat only to plummet down to his stomach in terror. Dorian screamed as the creature lunged for him only to get a mouthful of its own illicium. Tumbling head over fin in the water in his, quick thinking, get away the merman paddled his arms rapidly to get himself moving. Kicking his tail frantically, Dorian fled as a tentacle came down to meet him. With an “Oof”, the young merman hit the sea floor, pain shooting up and down his back. He rolled over, trying to get away only to get blocked by more of the barbed tentacles. Yelping, Dorian backed away, pressing his back against the rock wall. All around were the creature’s tentacles, cutting off any means of escape.

“Great one spare me,” he sang out suddenly. Dorian paused, hand flying to his throat in confusion. Did that just come out of me? he wondered.

Yet, that musical outburst seemed to have given pause to the creature as well. The arms had stilled while the large eyes stared down at him at attention.

The merman shrank himself against the wall, curling in his tail in fear. He gulped, this is way too weird, he thought. Trembling, Dorian opened his mouth, feeling compelled to continue the sudden outburst of song. “You were not made for such a manner. A creation of the goddess you were to protect and aid. Return to her right hand, away from the evil that controls you. The one who holds the song is here to right what has been wronged.”

Dorian had no clue as to where these lyrical words were coming from, but they seemed to have done the trick. Slowly, the tentacles relaxed, pulling back away as the spikes shrank into the creature’s fleshy suction cups. Some of the thinner arms reached out to him, but began to caress against his skin, hair and tail. He shivered, wriggling a bit in discomfort then laughed a bit when they tickled his side. “Wh… what are you doing?”

A purr rumbled from the creature, giving a final stroke against his hair before backing away. Its head hung low, arms limp and draped across the seabed in shame. Dorian stared in confusion, blinking as his mind tried to assemble the broken pieces that made this situation a puzzle. “A… are you… trying to ask for… my forgiveness?” he whispered.

The beast glanced up at him as though seeking for approval. It moaned like it was suffering the pains of guilt.

Inwardly fearing that he may regret it, Dorian reached out to one of the tentacles, laying a comforting hand upon it. “It… it’s okay… I forgive you,” he said with a slight tremble in his voice.

This appeased the creature as it lifted its head back up, eyes brightening. With some gentle prodding, Dorian regained enough courage to begin swimming again. Though the presence of the beast still troubled him, it was nice to know that it wasn’t going to eat him anymore. With some caution, the merman swam out of the darkness to lighter, more open waters. He drifted tiredly down to a grouping of kelp to rest his battered and bruised body. The cool caresses of the plant life brought to him a sense of comfort of the familiar. Above, the creature cocked its head in concern. “I’ll be fine,” Dorian assured. “Just need to rest for a second here.”

His mind was a jumble of the last few moments, wondering what had happened back there. Why had he suddenly begun to, more or less, sing? Did it have something to do with the powers that were taken away from the mermen? If so, then what did this have to do with dreamweaving? Now, more than ever, Dorian became overwhelmed with questions that didn’t yet have answers. In frustration, he pushed himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his temples. “I don’t have time for this,” he muttered. “I need to find the ruins.”

Looking up to the creature that was lazily floating nearby, Dorian inquired, “Do you know about the Ruins of Mizu?”

Turning to the young merman, the creature gave a nod.

Rising up from the kelp in excitement, a smile grew on his lips. “You do? Then you must take me there! It’s important that I make it there! Do you understand?”

Another nod was Dorian’s received response.

“Take me there then, please,” Dorian insisted, making his way towards the beast.

Out of nowhere came a blood curdling scream that made Dorian’s heart stop beating for a few seconds in fright. The ancient mermaid appeared from below, rising up to tackle the young merman down to the sandy bottom below. He struggled to break free while the mermaid clawed at him to get a hold on his throat. “NO!” she screamed. “I shall have it! I shall have your power! I will be young and beautiful again! Give your song to me!”

Dorian let out a choking, gagging sound as the mermaid’s hand managed to wrap its bony fingers around his neck. He grasped at her tiny wrist, trying to pry it free while his mind began to spin again.

“Mine! Mine! Your song shall be mine!” she cried out in triumph.

However, the mermaid never got the song she had wanted so desperately. While distracted trying to rip it out of Dorian, the mermaid had failed to realize that the creature was no longer under her control. A roar sounded as the beast dove at the unarmed mermaid. Large teeth closed in upon her delicate body, tearing her away from the merman below. Dorian arched his back, heaving for breath through damaged gills. There was a burst of crimson in the water coming to his vision before Dorian felt himself slip away again. This time, he let the darkness take him into sleep’s welcoming embrace.