It was on one such foray into the city when he was returning, his arms full of treasure for the fishmother’s hoard when she called out to him. ‘My child, my precious one,’ she sang, her voice crackling and salty like the waves hitting the shore. ‘What have you brought me today?’
Viisvang was elated, she had noticed his efforts! Had acknowledged him as her son! This was the most momentous day of his entire life. Bubbles burst from his mouth with excitement, ‘Mother! Look what I’ve brought you!’ He carefully held up a polished obsidian mirror, made from volcanic glass, showing her glorious reflection. She eyed it, tilting her head to appraise her appearance, admiring her spotted skin. ‘You are so lucky, your mother is so beautiful,’ she said, smiling broadly, her lips turning crimson with blood from the force pressed by her smile on her glass teeth. Viisvang nodded enthusiastically. ‘Mother is the most beautiful fish in the entire ocean!’ She looked at him approvingly.
After that, eager to continue his mother’s attention, he brought her more and more treasure, striking out farther and farther to find more precious riches. She lavished praise on him wherever he did so, and he reveled in the appreciation. Eventually he approached the edges of the city, marking the borders of the reef. It wasn’t enough, he wanted to grow her hoard even more, to continue her praise forever. She had grown even larger with his additions, and he realized it wasn’t her diet of fish that was contributing to her size, but rather the size of her collection. His mother was the greatest fish of all time, and he was a contributor to her magnificence.
The ground rose suddenly beneath him, clouds visible from beneath the rolling waves and he realized that he was approaching the surface, nearing the beaches of land. Perhaps there would be more treasure up there? More living beings that could create beautiful things for his beautiful mother? He changed into his human form, his crab body jangling merrily from where it hung around his neck as he braved the serf, playful hippocampi snorting at him from the frothy white caps as they bucked and frolicked against the beach. Pink sand grit under his feet as he pushed himself up and out of the waves, smooth sea glass stones mixed in.
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Currently at high tide, the ocean right up against the jungle, the tides were often unpredictable to those without an innate grasp of them, the two moons high in the sky above interacting complexly to pull the great waters of the ocean. A mess of marine iguanas lazed about on the volcanic rocks, eyeing the small boy curiously as he climbed out of the ocean and onto the shore, water dripping off him, his long opal blue hair trailing down his back.
He looked about, his eyes wide with wonder at the new sights. Strange sounds came from the forests, creatures he had never seen before swinging from the trees and flying through the foliage. Everything was so foreign, as if he had stepped into a whole new world rather than just a couple miles away.
He walked towards the lush jungle, his curiosity overcoming his apprehension. As he got closer he could just make out rough voices over the crashing turf. He gingerly climbed into the forest, picking his way over vines and through ferns, the textures unfamiliar beneath his hands. A group of rough looking humans were digging in the soil, a woman with wild hair and even wilder eyes, a bandana keeping her hair back from her face, paced in front of those doing the digging, calling out encouragement and debasement alike in a raspy voice, inky drawings obscuring the scar across her throat.
Viisvang crouched behind a brush, not eager to engage without evaluating their friendliness. Another set of humans carrying an extremely heavy chest, judging from their rigid posture approached, dropping it with a call from the wild-eyed woman. A chest, those were typically filled with treasure from Viisvang’s experience. But when should he attempt to collect it? He was not convinced they would just allow him to take it, but he wasn’t sure he could over power so many of them at once. He had experimented with turning his body part way between human and crab, and could convert his hands into quite large pincers when he put his mind to it, but wasn’t sure it would be enough to chase off the humans. He resolved to wait for his opening, perhaps they would just leave it there, he thought optimistically.