Your Servant Sabrina

I was drowning. 

You would think that the freezing ocean water would leave me feeling numb but all I felt was fire. Fire in my skin and fire in my lungs. I could feel the burn as I was gasping for more air but only taking in salt water.

As I was slowly sinking deeper into the depths, the light diminished from the surface and my outlook slowly closed into an inky blackness. My ears rang with alarm. It was so loud and yet there was no sound. I would find myself on the bottom of the sea floor at any moment now and that would be where I would stay. I resigned myself to this fate. 

My body felt heavy and weak. My lungs were already filled with darkness. My head felt as though it was a boulder balanced on a precipice. My thoughts were the only presence left in me and soon those would cease too.

If only…

I pushed this plea out into the void as I fell even further.

If only someone could witness my distress— 

then I would not die alone, surrounded by this deafening chaos.

I was gone.

I knew not what direction was above or below me. I visualized nothing and felt no foundation to tether me here nor there. 

Perceive me.

A spark in the void flashed. This spot was a soft glow and it grew. It grew until it was so large that my sense of being felt dwarfed beside it. I was no longer in the dark burning depths but rather encompassed by a soft glow that illuminated everything within me. It was much cooler here. I swayed as the glow washed and waned, creating a warm breeze that drifted past me. It was comforting, yet brisk enough to wake me. I gave a bracing gasp and my eyes flew open. I began to feel my chest rise and fall. I could feel cool air swirl towards my center.

I saw a woman. She towered over me. She was covered from head to toe with flowing clothes. They were the color of red wine in the sun. The clothes that covered her head and framed her face were gauzy and translucent; they fluttered in the warm, sweeping breeze. She wore three separate brooches; each brooch harbored a polished, white, quartz gemstone in the midst of a delicate, gold setting. The brooches held up her garments, one on each shoulder and one just above her forehead attached to her headdress. The only skin visible was from her face and hands. Her skin glittered like peach moonstone and her face reflected the glowing light.

She gazed down at me as I gaped up at her. Our eyes met and a new wave of warmth flooded through me. Her eyes were a dark brown like the bark of a tree in a dim wood. Her eyes held me transfixed. I could feel the solemnity in her look but also the openness of her countenance. These dark brown eyes saw me fully.

Out of the corner of my perception, another lithe figure glided toward the Lady in Red. She too wore flowing clothes that covered everything but her face and hands, and the movement of her garments reflected an opalescent sheen.

“You called for me, my Lady” the opal figure spoke softly.

The Lady in Red turned to acknowledge the opal figure, gracefully nodded once, and turned herself back to look at me. The opal figure met my eyes and spoke a little louder.

“My Lady wishes to know your decision.”

“M-my decision?” I rasped.

“Indeed.” 

I racked my memories for anything useful. I recalled nothing. 

I cleared my throat. “My apologies. I barely remember who I am or know who you are, let alone have any recollection of a pending decision.” The opal figure gave a slight pause and looked up to the Lady in Red. The Lady in Red gave a slow and deliberate nod. The opalescent one continued—

“You have perished in the sea, have you not?”

I let in a small gasp. The cool air swirled inside me. Shadows of my last moments clung to the walls of my memory.

“I— yes.”

She nodded at my confirmation. “Forgive me, and you are a virgin?”

I looked up at her face through my eyelashes, my brow knit together in disbelief as I drawled, “Yes.”

She nodded quickly again. “Yes, I believe that is it. You are a young woman who has not been defiled by men and due to unfortunate circumstances you have perished in the sea. My Lady heard your calls of distress underneath the waves and has brought you here,” she gestured to the reality in which we spoke, “for you to make your decision.”

“Which is?” I hastened impatiently.

“Do you wish to serve my Lady or do you not wish to serve my Lady?”

“I don’t understand, in what way would I serve her? I don’t know who she is.” I quickly looked over to the Lady in Red who still stood there serene and quiet, her clothes rustling and her face shining.

“She is one seated high in the heavens. There is only one other who is greater than she. As for how you will serve her, that is for her to decide. You need only answer yes or no.”

I looked at her sparkling face and her dark brown eyes and felt the warmth again that had waved over me when I first saw her.

“Yes.” I breathed.

It is decided.

The Lady in Red reached out her glittering hand to me. I took hold of it. Her fingers were smooth like polished stone, but they were warm and alive.

We begin.

Waves shushed and wind whistled. I tasted brine on my lips. I brought my hand up to shade my eyes from a harsh light– my hand. My hand glittered with many tiny scales and where my legs had once been, there was now a single tail.