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Description

Two divers, a man and a woman, swam through the waters off the coast of Germany. They swam around a recently unearthed ship wreck. They bagged several artifacts. However, one stood out. So much so that she swam up with it carefully to avoid the bends from the pressure change. She swam to shore and rose awkwardly on her flippers. She took off her breather and her mask to gaze at the trident unobstructed. It glimmered in the sunlight, which it couldn’t have seen in centuries.

The man rises out of the water and swims to shore to join her. He takes off his mask and respirator
“Maria, are you okay? You scared me.”

She kept her eyes fixed on the trident, “Sorry Bruce , I found this and I wanted to make sure it was what I thought it was. Almost seems like a prank.”

He sighs in relief. “Good, here leave it here and we can go and get the rest.”

“No!” She shouts in fear before reconstituting herself, “… someone might steal it”

Bruce sighs “Fine, stay up here I can get the rest if you can catalogue it.

Maria reaches out to him. “Deal”

Bruce shook on it, then let her have her trident and as he did all the rest of the work. When he got it all up, his muscles ached but he felt accomplished. She already took off her diving suit and put back on her "don't care what happens to em" jeans and an old t-shirt. She also traded her contacts for her glasses. She was pouring over the trident and jotting down notes in her notebook.

Bruce set down the last bag. “University is coming with a truck, let me guess you want to hang into that.”

She nodded, “Of course, I'm not done yet.”

Bruce sat down with her and looked to it and wondered what he missed. “What's so fascinating about it?”

The arrival of the trucks interrupted her response, and the two rose to help load them. Maria never let the trident out of her grasp, and threatened all who looked at it with the pointed end. She only let it go so they could box it up to fly back to the United States. Her soul looked crushed that she could not take it as a carry on bag.

One eleven hour flight later, Maria made sure the first objective was to grab the trident again. She secured its box and got a cab before anyone could tell her she left her own bags. Bruce sighed and once he settled back home, he was too tired to take her bags over to her.

Bruce took the bags to the University the next day and went about his usual schedule saving giving Maria back her bags last. He tried to email, text, and call her. However, she did not respond to any of them. He ventured over to the archeology department. He went past the students to the warehouse where they stored finds. He entered and there Maria stood alone with the trident on the table. She ran a microscope over it muttering to herself as she jotted down notes.

Bruce set the bags by the door and then knocked on it surprised she didn’t acknowledge his presence. She gasps and jumps from her seat.

Bruce raised his brows startled “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She said as she adjusted her glasses, “You scared me.”

Bruce raised his hands “Sorry, I just wanted to check on you. I was trying to get back in touch with you, you left your bags at the airport.”

She blushed and glanced over to the trident. “It is a masterful work of art. It’s a miracle we got it first, like it’s destiny.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow concerned over her obsession. “Do you have minions helping you?”

“Nope, no grad students.” She replied as she diverted her attention back to the trident. “This is a bit above their pay grade.”

“Okay… did you file the rest of the findings?” Bruce asked as he came closer to it.

She nodded as she pours over it, as if acknowledging him was a distraction. “Of course. I just need to figure out this trident.”

Bruce tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand reflexively. She gasped and withdrew, “I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me…”

Bruce stared at her for a moment, and then bowed on his way out. ”Forgive me for wanting to touch the precious.”

Maria laughed and threw a wad of paper at him. “Get out of here goofball, I need to marvel at the precious and get me some fishies so juicy sweet~”

Bruce chuckled as he left, but he still felt the pain on his hand. She hit him like she meant it. He resolved to keep an eye on her.

A week passed since the recovery, so check up on Maria again he did. Much to Bruce’s distain, she showed no signs of improvement. In fact, things looked worse. She looked like she had not showered in a week’s time, and a makeshift bed lay next to her. She poured over it with the same fanaticism as the first day.

He burst into the lab and slammed his hand on her desk. “Have you really been here these past week with that thing?!”

She grew mousier and shrunk under his gaze. “Yes... But, I just feel there is something I'm missing….”

He grabs the trident, and she grabs it reflexively. He grunts as she resists his efforts to pull it away. He underestimated her strength. “Yeah, your sanity. Do you sleep with this thing?”

When she hesitated, he shook his head and let go of it. “You know what, I don’t want to know. C'mon, you didn't get a PhD in archeology and spend all that time in diving school just to lose your mind over something just because it's shiny.”

Maria’s grip loosened on the trident reluctantly, and she backed away from both him and it. “Right...”

Bruce put his hand back on it. “I'm going to take it”

She labored over her words. “Wait...”

Bruce shook his head and picked it up. “No, I'm taking it.”

“Oh, alright.” Maria lamented, “Just,.. Put it where I can't find it.”

Bruce found the place where he thought she would never find it. He stood on the seaside cliffs and hour away from the school. The lights of what the locals referred to as Hilton Hell shone over the beach not too far away. Some idiot may find it from here, but Maria certainly would not.

“This has to be a movie prop or something.” He muttered to himself as he looked down to it and finds his eyes caught in it, it is a beautiful…. He closed his eyes and javalined it as far as he could. He saw it splash and sink into the waves. “Good riddance.”

That next morning, Bruce spat out his coffee when he saw the news report that a professor that greatly resembled Maria walked on the beach naked. He quickly made himself presentable and drove over to the university again. Surely enough she sat in her office naked save for a towel around her midriff and ate shrimp. The accursed trident lay next to her.

Bruce stormed over to her. “Did you really go skinny dipping in the ocean and then come out in the middle of hotel hell?”

“How did you find out?” Maria asked plainly as if talking about the weather.

“The news, Twitter, Facebook!” Bruce spat out as he counted each off on his fingers.

She takes another bite as he waited for her reply. She swallowed, dabbed her mouth with a napkin, and crossed her legs. “Sorry.”

Bruce blew his top. “Sorry!? The cops are probably on their way!”

Maria laughed, it sounded like waves upon the surf. “They came, and told me not to do it again”

Bruce stared at her beyond incredulous, “…What? And how the hell did you get that back! I threw it into the ocean!”

Maria winked, “I had a refreshing dip in the ocean, saw it, and got it.”

Bruce paced furious more from her attitude about the whole matter at this point. “It's a miracle you weren't killed by a shark or something!”

She glanced to him as if he made the stupidest statement she ever heard. “Sharks don't usually feed this time of day.”

Bruce threw up his hands and marched to her his eyes on the trident. “Okay this is nuts, I'm taking it with me and-“

Suddenly, Maria picked it up with the greatest of ease and stopped him with the three points. Bruce stared wide eyed at her casual threat. As if that was not the craziest thing he had ever seen, Maria began to sing. She did not sing a particular song, just beautiful notes it stopped him mind thought and he hung there. He looked to her with different eyes, she was no longer a colleague, but a beautiful woman who serenaded him with her beautiful voice. Her voice danced over the notes so purely he dared not interrupt her. As she entrances him, a voice in his mind whispered “Sleep, sleep sleep….”

He sat down on a seat, leaned back, and feel asleep instantly.

He woke back up startled not remembering how he passed out. What was more concerning was the fact that hi hands and wrists were tied with ropes. Bandanas ran through is mouth and over it.

“Grumph?!” He growled as he tried to fight the bindings. He saw he sat on the cliffside where he tried to dispose of the trident. Before he could work out a way to escape, someone placed their hand on his shoulder, and a soothing voice entered his ears ceasing his struggles.

“I figured it out.” Maria whispered as she came into view naked holding the trident. “That the trident, it isn't native to Germany... It's from Greece, the Mediterranean. The Mermaids of Atlantis, the sirens of old, brought it as a gift to their cousins the Lorelei and Nixe for peace between their kingdoms.”

As Maria explained this extraordinary history, a chill struck Bruce like a bucket of water. Electric pulses surged through him. She began to sing again, but this time a different song. It only stimulated this strange sensation that swept through him. He watched in horror as his fingers and toes lengthened to sharp fins and webbing grew between them. He took shallower breathes as what could only be gills flapped on his neck. His face jutted outwards from his nose and his neck shifted disappearing all together and his eyes migrated to the top of his head shifting his field of view.

The song purged any thoughts of pain from Bruce’s mind as a mighty dorsal fin pushed out from his back. His legs fused and became a mighty cutting tail that resembled a shark’s. He bulked up his muscles burning as they built up more mass. From the waist up, his skin grew a darker and tougher hide to withstand pressures of the deep. From the waist down, his skin shifted to tooth like scales that covered his tail like a suit of mail. His teeth grew razor sharp with his mouth and ripped through the gag as if it were paper!

Bruce laid thrashing on the ground feeling mightier than he ever had in his life, yet pathetic like a fish out of water. He used his hands to work his way to the water and shove off the cliff into the water below. He swam around for the first time as a shark man his mind assaulted by new senses and perspectives. He heard a splash of water behind him, and he swerved on a dime to see Maria joined him. However, despite his adrenaline pumping and his hatred for Maria, he couldn't make himself attack her.

Maria’s own legs merged together and beautiful, sparkling blue scales sealed them together. The tail ended with a powerful fin that could give her great speed as well. Scales also covered her bare chest. Her hair floated around her head hauntingly as she swam closer to Bruce. Despite his might, the sharkman felt a twinge of fear as she got into his face. However, instead of harming him, she pet the top of his shark-like head.

She giggled and her voice rung in his ears as clear as a bell. “Soon my dear, you and I will greet create a great empire of old.”

Description

Two divers, a man and a woman, swam through the waters off the coast of Germany. They swam around a recently unearthed ship wreck. They bagged several artifacts. However, one stood out. So much so that she swam up with it carefully to avoid the bends from the pressure change. She swam to shore and rose awkwardly on her flippers. She took off her breather and her mask to gaze at the trident unobstructed. It glimmered in the sunlight, which it couldn’t have seen in centuries.

The man rises out of the water and swims to shore to join her. He takes off his mask and respirator
“Maria, are you okay? You scared me.”

She kept her eyes fixed on the trident, “Sorry Bruce , I found this and I wanted to make sure it was what I thought it was. Almost seems like a prank.”

He sighs in relief. “Good, here leave it here and we can go and get the rest.”

“No!” She shouts in fear before reconstituting herself, “… someone might steal it”

Bruce sighs “Fine, stay up here I can get the rest if you can catalogue it.

Maria reaches out to him. “Deal”

Bruce shook on it, then let her have her trident and as he did all the rest of the work. When he got it all up, his muscles ached but he felt accomplished. She already took off her diving suit and put back on her "don't care what happens to em" jeans and an old t-shirt. She also traded her contacts for her glasses. She was pouring over the trident and jotting down notes in her notebook.

Bruce set down the last bag. “University is coming with a truck, let me guess you want to hang into that.”

She nodded, “Of course, I'm not done yet.”

Bruce sat down with her and looked to it and wondered what he missed. “What's so fascinating about it?”

The arrival of the trucks interrupted her response, and the two rose to help load them. Maria never let the trident out of her grasp, and threatened all who looked at it with the pointed end. She only let it go so they could box it up to fly back to the United States. Her soul looked crushed that she could not take it as a carry on bag.

One eleven hour flight later, Maria made sure the first objective was to grab the trident again. She secured its box and got a cab before anyone could tell her she left her own bags. Bruce sighed and once he settled back home, he was too tired to take her bags over to her.

Bruce took the bags to the University the next day and went about his usual schedule saving giving Maria back her bags last. He tried to email, text, and call her. However, she did not respond to any of them. He ventured over to the archeology department. He went past the students to the warehouse where they stored finds. He entered and there Maria stood alone with the trident on the table. She ran a microscope over it muttering to herself as she jotted down notes.

Bruce set the bags by the door and then knocked on it surprised she didn’t acknowledge his presence. She gasps and jumps from her seat.

Bruce raised his brows startled “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” She said as she adjusted her glasses, “You scared me.”

Bruce raised his hands “Sorry, I just wanted to check on you. I was trying to get back in touch with you, you left your bags at the airport.”

She blushed and glanced over to the trident. “It is a masterful work of art. It’s a miracle we got it first, like it’s destiny.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow concerned over her obsession. “Do you have minions helping you?”

“Nope, no grad students.” She replied as she diverted her attention back to the trident. “This is a bit above their pay grade.”

“Okay… did you file the rest of the findings?” Bruce asked as he came closer to it.

She nodded as she pours over it, as if acknowledging him was a distraction. “Of course. I just need to figure out this trident.”

Bruce tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand reflexively. She gasped and withdrew, “I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me…”

Bruce stared at her for a moment, and then bowed on his way out. ”Forgive me for wanting to touch the precious.”

Maria laughed and threw a wad of paper at him. “Get out of here goofball, I need to marvel at the precious and get me some fishies so juicy sweet~”

Bruce chuckled as he left, but he still felt the pain on his hand. She hit him like she meant it. He resolved to keep an eye on her.

A week passed since the recovery, so check up on Maria again he did. Much to Bruce’s distain, she showed no signs of improvement. In fact, things looked worse. She looked like she had not showered in a week’s time, and a makeshift bed lay next to her. She poured over it with the same fanaticism as the first day.

He burst into the lab and slammed his hand on her desk. “Have you really been here these past week with that thing?!”

She grew mousier and shrunk under his gaze. “Yes... But, I just feel there is something I'm missing….”

He grabs the trident, and she grabs it reflexively. He grunts as she resists his efforts to pull it away. He underestimated her strength. “Yeah, your sanity. Do you sleep with this thing?”

When she hesitated, he shook his head and let go of it. “You know what, I don’t want to know. C'mon, you didn't get a PhD in archeology and spend all that time in diving school just to lose your mind over something just because it's shiny.”

Maria’s grip loosened on the trident reluctantly, and she backed away from both him and it. “Right...”

Bruce put his hand back on it. “I'm going to take it”

She labored over her words. “Wait...”

Bruce shook his head and picked it up. “No, I'm taking it.”

“Oh, alright.” Maria lamented, “Just,.. Put it where I can't find it.”

Bruce found the place where he thought she would never find it. He stood on the seaside cliffs and hour away from the school. The lights of what the locals referred to as Hilton Hell shone over the beach not too far away. Some idiot may find it from here, but Maria certainly would not.

“This has to be a movie prop or something.” He muttered to himself as he looked down to it and finds his eyes caught in it, it is a beautiful…. He closed his eyes and javalined it as far as he could. He saw it splash and sink into the waves. “Good riddance.”

That next morning, Bruce spat out his coffee when he saw the news report that a professor that greatly resembled Maria walked on the beach naked. He quickly made himself presentable and drove over to the university again. Surely enough she sat in her office naked save for a towel around her midriff and ate shrimp. The accursed trident lay next to her.

Bruce stormed over to her. “Did you really go skinny dipping in the ocean and then come out in the middle of hotel hell?”

“How did you find out?” Maria asked plainly as if talking about the weather.

“The news, Twitter, Facebook!” Bruce spat out as he counted each off on his fingers.

She takes another bite as he waited for her reply. She swallowed, dabbed her mouth with a napkin, and crossed her legs. “Sorry.”

Bruce blew his top. “Sorry!? The cops are probably on their way!”

Maria laughed, it sounded like waves upon the surf. “They came, and told me not to do it again”

Bruce stared at her beyond incredulous, “…What? And how the hell did you get that back! I threw it into the ocean!”

Maria winked, “I had a refreshing dip in the ocean, saw it, and got it.”

Bruce paced furious more from her attitude about the whole matter at this point. “It's a miracle you weren't killed by a shark or something!”

She glanced to him as if he made the stupidest statement she ever heard. “Sharks don't usually feed this time of day.”

Bruce threw up his hands and marched to her his eyes on the trident. “Okay this is nuts, I'm taking it with me and-“

Suddenly, Maria picked it up with the greatest of ease and stopped him with the three points. Bruce stared wide eyed at her casual threat. As if that was not the craziest thing he had ever seen, Maria began to sing. She did not sing a particular song, just beautiful notes it stopped him mind thought and he hung there. He looked to her with different eyes, she was no longer a colleague, but a beautiful woman who serenaded him with her beautiful voice. Her voice danced over the notes so purely he dared not interrupt her. As she entrances him, a voice in his mind whispered “Sleep, sleep sleep….”

He sat down on a seat, leaned back, and feel asleep instantly.

He woke back up startled not remembering how he passed out. What was more concerning was the fact that hi hands and wrists were tied with ropes. Bandanas ran through is mouth and over it.

“Grumph?!” He growled as he tried to fight the bindings. He saw he sat on the cliffside where he tried to dispose of the trident. Before he could work out a way to escape, someone placed their hand on his shoulder, and a soothing voice entered his ears ceasing his struggles.

“I figured it out.” Maria whispered as she came into view naked holding the trident. “That the trident, it isn't native to Germany... It's from Greece, the Mediterranean. The Mermaids of Atlantis, the sirens of old, brought it as a gift to their cousins the Lorelei and Nixe for peace between their kingdoms.”

As Maria explained this extraordinary history, a chill struck Bruce like a bucket of water. Electric pulses surged through him. She began to sing again, but this time a different song. It only stimulated this strange sensation that swept through him. He watched in horror as his fingers and toes lengthened to sharp fins and webbing grew between them. He took shallower breathes as what could only be gills flapped on his neck. His face jutted outwards from his nose and his neck shifted disappearing all together and his eyes migrated to the top of his head shifting his field of view.

The song purged any thoughts of pain from Bruce’s mind as a mighty dorsal fin pushed out from his back. His legs fused and became a mighty cutting tail that resembled a shark’s. He bulked up his muscles burning as they built up more mass. From the waist up, his skin grew a darker and tougher hide to withstand pressures of the deep. From the waist down, his skin shifted to tooth like scales that covered his tail like a suit of mail. His teeth grew razor sharp with his mouth and ripped through the gag as if it were paper!

Bruce laid thrashing on the ground feeling mightier than he ever had in his life, yet pathetic like a fish out of water. He used his hands to work his way to the water and shove off the cliff into the water below. He swam around for the first time as a shark man his mind assaulted by new senses and perspectives. He heard a splash of water behind him, and he swerved on a dime to see Maria joined him. However, despite his adrenaline pumping and his hatred for Maria, he couldn't make himself attack her.

Maria’s own legs merged together and beautiful, sparkling blue scales sealed them together. The tail ended with a powerful fin that could give her great speed as well. Scales also covered her bare chest. Her hair floated around her head hauntingly as she swam closer to Bruce. Despite his might, the sharkman felt a twinge of fear as she got into his face. However, instead of harming him, she pet the top of his shark-like head.

She giggled and her voice rung in his ears as clear as a bell. “Soon my dear, you and I will greet create a great empire of old.”