As it turned out nobody came forward with any tales of intimidation so Father had to let the vote stand as is. So now my fate would be decided with a duel to the death between my brother and Draclith. For Draclith it really would be to the death since he would receive a lethal dose of radiation within seconds of reappearing in the real world. I didn't want that to happen so I had to hope that he won.
I'd rather forget about the duel. Needless to say it was long and brutal. There were parts that I had to turn away from and so did a lot of other mers, though many of them eagerly watched when Draclith was on the receiving end. At the end my brother went down and Draclith approached for the kill. I had to close my eyes because I didn't want to see it. I heard a great cheer erupt from the crowd which I wasn't expecting. Looking back down into the arena I saw the reason for it. My brother was up and looking like he wasn't hurt as bad as I had thought. I figured he had pretended to be hurt worse than he was to lure Draclith in before plunging a spear through his heart. I could see the surprise in his eyes and then the realization of what had just happened. He looked up at me and smiled before he started to fade out. I saw him mouth the words I'm sorry before he completely faded out. My brother raised his hand in victory then he saw me and looked ashamed at having celebrated his win knowing what that meant for me.
It has been twelve years now that I was banished but I still remember the look in my brother's eyes when he banished me. He could have waited a few years to take the throne but he took it right away so Father wouldn't be the one to banish me. My brother stuck to the letter of the law forbidding me from having any contact with any mer even my own child. That really tore at my heart and I had pleaded with him to let me see my child once he or she was born but he had said the law stated that there was to be no contact with any mer. He reminded me that I had chosen this when I didn't shun Draclith when given the chance. So I was banished and when I gave birth to my daughter my brother showed up with several guards and took her promising that he would raise her as his own.
There's been many times during the years that I have thought about exiting the cyber world. Two things have kept me here however. The first being the hope that I'll get to see my daughter somehow and the second is I didn't want to leave without Tina. Also there was the tales of radiation and since Draclith hadn't come back that seemed to bear the stories out. Of course he could have appeared back in the real world several stories in the air and fallen to his death. I didn't know which one I would prefer to have happened. Well anyway I haven't been able to track down Tina. I had asked the fairies if she had joined them but they never gave me a straight answer. I had also asked around if any new people had come into the cyber world but people were adamant that no one new would be coming in. I even sent out messages telling her that I was looking for her but I haven't heard anything back. There's the possibility that she has left the cyber world for some reason. If that's the case I wonder what she's doing. Is she waiting for me? As I lay down and drift off to sleep I wonder what the future holds.
------
I was on a train with my friend Amethyst, my sister Dashea, and her friends, Twila and Reiko. Well I guess you could call them my friends too since we all got along and shared something in common. Most people didn't notice but our ears came to a point. Sitting across from me Dashea was a tomboy with her short yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple hair. She was wearing her favorite oversized sweatshirt, tight shorts, and high tops. On the hem of her sweatshirt there was a cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming from it. Her eyes were purple and seemed to have a mischievous twinkle in them. On her right was her friend Twila who was of Asian and Native American descent. She had black hair with a streak of purple down the middle and purple eyes. She was seven, the same age as my sister, and she was wearing a Japanese school girl uniform. To her left was her other friend Reiko. She was eight, the same as me, and had really pale skin, blue eyes, and medium to dark purple hair. She was wearing a white sundress with three diamonds embroidered on the bodice just above the skirt part. On my right there was my friend Amethyst, who we called Amy, who was a little more than just a friend. How much more remained to be seen. However she was a year older at nine and had purple eyes and long violet hair. She was wearing a T-shirt with three diamonds down near the hem (these looked more like the diamonds you see in jewelry than the ones you see on playing cards like the ones on Reiko's dress), a pair of pants, and sandals. As for me I have long pink hair and blue eyes. Today I was wearing a pale yellow T-shirt with a white training bra underneath (I already have AA sized breasts), a denim skirt that had three pink butterflies on the hem, sandals, and an odd ring on my right ring finger.
Reiko was laughing at a story Twila was telling and I turned my attention to her and heard, "…And you remember the time at Gregorskies, when the only way to leave was to go through one of the cubicles in the girl’s toilet?" Dashea smiled and started to comment when the train suddenly stopped and we were thrown from our seats. As I hit the floor I started to curse and the scene shifted.
I was in a forest that I knew but didn't know. I was wearing a white sun dress, white sandals, and my odd ring. My small breasts were itching a bit and since I was alone I reached up and scratched them through my dress and bra. Coming to a field on the edge of the woods I stopped and looked at the night sky. With a smile I began to will my body to change. Of course the first thing that happened was my clothes disappearing. The only thing that I was still wearing was my ring. All my fingers and thumbs,with the exception of my ring fingers, began to melt into my hand getting shorter as pale yellow fur began to sprout all over my body. As my fingers and thumbs disappeared my ring fingers began to widen and darken a bit becoming hooves. My ring stayed on and grew with my finger. My toes started to merge together and become hooves themselves. As this happened I bent down so my front hooves were touching the ground. As I did my feet lengthened and slimmed while my thighs shortened. My hips suddenly shifted from a bipedal form to a quadrupedal form so I couldn't stand on my hind legs. My small breasts shrank as my face pushed out into a short muzzle. The final changes were a tail growing above my rectum and wings from my shoulders. When the change was complete I was a Pegasus with pale yellow fur and a pink mane and tail. Stretching my wings I hunched down and jumped up. Flapping my wings I soared higher and higher reveling in the freedom of flying. I knew Dashea liked to come out and fly too but I didn't see her. I was soaring over the forest wondering if there was anyone else below that could notice me. I doubted they could however as I was too far up for anyone to see with the naked eye. To them I would probably look like some type of bird. With a joyful scream I started to do a loop when everything went black.
-----
I woke up in a bed that wasn't my own. I had worn a nightgown when I had fallen asleep and now I was naked, even my inventory pouch was gone. I felt something on my head however and reaching up I felt something encircling my head. I tried taking it off but when I tried a terrible pain shot through my head causing me to scream. As soon as it subsided I said, "Oh great. Well I'm not going to stay here this time." I had the feeling that my dream was actually of the future or a possible future and that staying here wasn't going to get me anywhere close to it. So with a sad little sigh over the fact that I was giving up on seeing my daughter again I began to say exit but all that came out was the e and then pain lanced through my head and it turned into a primal scream of pain. The only thoughts I had was wondering how long the pain would last and what was going to happen to me after.