Raju

The ocean raged against the high peaks of the land, spewing upward. Narumi had been trying to get onto that land for ages. Today, conditions were just right. The tumultuous ocean was in a rage, churning and turning. Massive high waves, almost tidal waves were beating against the sides again and again. One after another. What Narumi wanted more than anything was to get up to the land and look around. She was all by herself now, no parents, no nobody. And that meant that nobody could tell her no. She was an independent young woman and she could take care of herself. She was the determiner of her own destiny. And her destiny was to explore the land, the land which the people back in her village and her mother had forbade her to explore. None of them were here now after the attack by fisherman which had wiped out the village. Narumi had swum off alone, wandering the oceans for as long as she saw fit. It was a life of freedom. At last, she had come upon land and she was more determined than ever to get up and onto it. To see what terrestrial beings lived there. When the next massive wave arrived, she was ready. She rode along the wave like her whole body was a surfboard, flickering her tail to keep pace. It had all been orchestrated perfectly. Narumi arrived near the crest right as it reached its highest point. The wave was much higher than anticipated. It reached all the way to the top of the peaks. Seeing over the edge, Narumi swam upward with all her might and jumped right out of the breaking crest. She was airborne for a long time until gravity gradually kicking in to bring her trajectory back downward. The young mermaid landed flat on her face in the grass at the cliff's edge. The grass was soft, but the impact had knocked the wind out of her. There were no further injuries, fortunately.

Narumi rolled over onto her back, gasping and heaving in an attempt to suck in air. It felt like her lungs were turned inside out. Now, interestingly enough, she immediately wanted to go back in the water so she could use her gills instead. She lay there in pain, still gasping as she tried to obtain oxygen. The pain was slow to subside, but she was able to refill her lungs just a little bit at a time. It took maybe thirty minutes before she was able to get back her full lung capacity. Narumi had fallen into a meditative state during that time, her eyes closed. When she was sure that she had recovered, she sat up and immediately screamed at the top of her lungs. For the first thing she saw upon opening her eyes was not at all what she had been expecting to see. Her tail. Her fishtail, it was gone. Transformed. Something else was in its place, two things in fact. Two elongated appendages of some sort. The ends had fingers just like her hands did, although they were shorter. What was this? Were these... legs? Legs that she had grown on land. From a distance, Narumi had observed creatures moving about with such legs. She wondered if it was difficult at all to move in that way, as opposed to swimming. But now she had a chance to find the answer to her question. What was it like to move with legs on land? Was it harder than swimming? Did it feel more or less free?

"WEEE weee weeeeeeeeee!" came an animalistic calling sound from above her. She glanced up and looked at what appeared to be a monkey-goblin of some kind hanging from a tree overhead. It was pointing and shouting at her. A symphony of such calls were heard in the distance. It was calling others to their location. Narumi was immediately alarmed. What did this animal want with her?

She clumsily pushed herself up onto her new feet, crying out in pain as she fell over. Oh, to put pressure on her new feet felt like walking on knives. It hurt so bad! She would need to adapt to walking slowly. But she needed to get away now! So she dropped to her hands and knees and started to crawl. She crawled through brush and grass and dirt and even over rocks, scraping herself. Whatever these creatures were, they seemed to be after her. She could hear them coming. There had to be somewhere to hide from them. What did they want with her anyhow? Did they plan to eat her? Throw her out of their territory? Kill her or maim her? She had to escape from them, yet by crawling she was going at a snail's pace. She tried to get up on her feet again, and again fell over. It was so painful, but she had to try. Ack! Take one step. Stabbing pain. Take another step, more stabbing pain. Again, more pain. Eventually, she could take it no more and collapsed to her knees. At last, she regretted her decision to come on land. That was the very last thought that went through her mind as her consciousness faded and she passed out cold.

Narumi descends into Precaria.

Narumi arrives, coming from Raju.