Nara opened her eyes for barely a moment before squeezing them shut again. The sky seemed unusually bright for some reason, and burning hot. After a while, she tried again.
Trees. She could see trees.
She could also see that she now lay prone on dry ground. Why was she outside of her lake?
Slowly, she tried to move. Then, pain hit her, causing her to cry out.
"Easy there. Don't try to move," a voice said. The language was foreign, but Nara's innate abilities allowed her to understand it.
The figure of a man stepped into her line of sight. He looked a bit on the older side with gray in his hair and a short-trimmed beard. On the other hand, his physique was impressive, fit for a man half his age, and he filled out his grey muscle shirt and brown fatigue pants very nicely. Only the awkwardly long broadsword in his hand and the sadness in his weathered face marred the image of a seasoned adventurer.
Suddenly, it came back to her. The human intruder! Her enemy!
Immediately, Nara tried to lash out, but her body refused to respond. In a fit of frustration, she grit her teeth against the pain and lifted her head to survey the damage.
The diagnosis was grim.
A deep gash split her abdomen and separated a good portion of her lower torso. If she had been flesh and blood, she would no doubt have been dead already. Even as a creature of magic, she did not have very long. Already, her body had lost most of its color, becoming more transparent by the minute. Soon, her life-energies would deplete, and she would dissolve into the waters that had sustained her for centuries.
"H-how?" She gasped. "Human weapons cannot harm me."
The man hefted his sword. "Well, this is where it helps to be a hunter of magical artifacts. This isn't exactly a human weapon. Some claimed it was the sword of giants used by Beowulf to kill Grendel's mother. I rather doubt it, since that sword was said to be destroyed, but this is certainly made by a similar race. I hadn't expected it to be so strong, though. You actually went airborne back there."
"You talk too much, human," Nara snorted. Then, her voice took on a more melodious quality as she ordered, "Carry me to the lake."
Her enemy winced, but he recovered and gave a lopsided grin. "You caught me off-guard there. If your energies weren't deteriorating right now, I'm sure I would've had a difficult time resisting that command, if what I've heard of your kind is correct. But it was a valiant attempt, my dear. It wouldn't have saved you, but you could still have taken me down into a watery grave alongside you."
Setting the sword down, he sat on the ground and wiped some grimy sweat from his brow. "Now, while there's still time, I just have to ask. Why did you attack me?"
Nara glared. "You violated the boundaries of the sacred lake. I am its guardian."
"I was only passing through to the island."
"No human may set foot on that island. No one may, not even I."
"Oh. Well, too late for that, I'm afraid." He gestured around them. "Guess where we are."
Nara's eyes widened with horror. "No!"
The man shrugged. "Couldn't help it. This is where you landed."
"Then that means-"
"That I've already reached the hidden vault and retrieved the artifact?" The man finished for her. Digging into his pocket, he produced a small reddish stone.
"I-I have failed," Nara whispered. As if spurred on by her despair, her body began to melt into a pool of water, starting with her feet and slowly progressing upwards.
"I'm sorry it had to be this way," the human said. "What's your name?"
This question brought on a brief puzzled look from the creature. "I am Nara."
" Nara? That's a pretty name for such a fierce little thing. I'm Dan, by the way. Dan Gibson." Holding up the stone, Dan pressed for more answers. "Why were you guarding this, anyway? I've never encountered your particular species before, but I'd guess you're a water nymph of some kind, possibly related to a siren. According to my research, water nymphs in this region aren't exactly the fierce guardian type. You have considerable power - I experienced that first-hand - but you're not violent by nature. How did you end up like this?"
Nara could see that her legs were almost entirely gone. Resigned to her fate, Nara decided to indulge the human's curiosity. What did she have to lose?
"I was once peaceful, yes. The humans came to my lake and hid the stone on this island. Being then young and naive, I let my curiosity get the best of me, and I showed myself to them, hoping to learn more about the odd little stone. Rather than explain, they used the stone to bind me to this duty before sealing it in a vault, inaccessible even to me. They left soon after. To where, I know not, and they never returned to reclaim their treasure. Since then, I have kept this ceaseless vigil. I hated it at first, but as ages passed, I accepted this purpose as my own. Now, in this purpose I have failed, and now I must die."
The man watched as the melting reached Nara's torso. "I see. So this stone really is magic. And you've had to watch over it for all this time." He shook his head. "I sympathize with what happened to you. I really do. Your whole existence was tied to this one task that even you couldn't fully understand. It's such a shame. I just I just wish you didn't have to die like this. I wish you could get a fresh start on life."
Suddenly, Nara blinked as the world around her turned to blackness. I must be dead, she thought, before she knew nothing more.
Meanwhile, Daniel Gibson stared at the empty spot left by the vanished water nymph. Looking down at the stone in his hand, he realized his mistake. "This thing grants wishes! I'll really have to watch my words from now on," he muttered. "Well, I just hope she's happy, wherever she is."
A month later, he returned to the states and received the wonderful news that his daughter and her husband were expecting a baby.
It would be years, sixteen in fact, before he learned where Nara had truly gone.
