Source: What I Vegan

There I was, standing on the beach in Daytona, FL just soaking up the amazing sunshine and fresh air. The salty air whisking by my face from the ocean breezes was tantalizing. As I stepped towards the water I heard someone say they could see Dolphin's out at the sand bar.

Having spent my entire life, up to this point, mesmerized by Dolphins I was determined to make the swim. I didn't realize at the time that it was a full mile offshore, but swam I did. By the time I got to the sand bar the Dolphins had moved on down shore and I just stood there, waist deep on the sand bar, hoping they would come back. Truth be told I was exhausted and needed to rest, so I waited and then waited some more.

Finally after almost an hour of standing there I could see them making their way back up the coast. They were only a few hundred yards away. Would they stop schooling fish and play with me, I pondered, as they got ever closer to where I anxiously awaited.

Then like magic they were right around me, swimming and playing and flapping their tales and signing the most beautiful song I have ever heard. It was almost as if they sensed I loved them and wanted to make me happy. Slowly, they one by one came up to me and let me pet them.

When they finally saw away I became scared, I didn't know if I could swim all the way back to shore by myself. As I stood there, reflecting on what just happened and trying to find the strength to swim to shore I found myself being circled. Wow, I thought, one of them came back. As it got closer I realized it wasn't a Dolphin. It was a freaking huge ass shark.

I became completely terrified and began hoping against all odds the Dolphins would sense my fear and come save me from the big bad shark that wanted to make me his lunch as soon as I was within reach of his massive teeth. Hoping I could find some shallower part of the sand bar where he couldn't reach me I began walking north up the sand bar. I was secretly hoping the dolphins would sense the danger, as well, if I got closer to them. I am not sure how far up the sand bar I walked, while that meanie shark circled me) but I was well north of Daytona by the time I stopped.

I may never know if the Dolphin's finally sensed my fear or if they had just turned around and headed south (again) on purpose but there they were, scaring off the shark. As one of them came close to me I grabbed a hold of it's dorsal fin and hoped it would take me to shore. It knew I needed help and the entire pod of Dolphins, with me holding on to the lead Dolphin, headed back towards the beach in Daytona. Shortly after arriving back on the beach I was promptly arrested for violating the Swim Barrier (I had no idea there was such a thing). The Lifeguard (police) were really pissed because one of their lifeguards had started out to rescue me and had to be rescued himself. He apparently developed a cramp enroute and almost drowned. They then searched the area for me for a while on Jet Ski's but couldn't find me.

The next day, they dropped the charges and I walked out of Jail. Straight back to the beach I went, I was homeless at the time and really had nothing else to do. But on the way to the beach I picked up a pair of binoculars and a good "Dive Knife". If one of them sharkies thought I was lunch again I was gonna show his ass; or so I thought! Upon arriving at the beach I held my binoculars up and started scanning the sandbar. First a few miles north, then down to a few miles south. Finally, I spotted them about 2 miles south of me. As I watched I realized they were heading north again so I quickly stored the binoculars in the pocket on my trunks and headed for the sand bar. I didn't make it 20 feet into the water and the lifeguard started raising hell. I ignored him and kept swimming.

I was almost to the sand bar when the Dolphin's made it back up to where I was headed. One of them came and got me and took me on to the sand bar and let me play with them for a good hour. Then as they started to move away one of them kept nudging me so I grabbed a hold and away we went. I wasn't really tired yet, but he seemed intent on taking me back to the beach anyway. So I went along for the ride and was promptly arrested again.

They left me in jail a couple days this time, I guess they thought they would teach me a lesson; they thought wrong. As soon as I was released I went straight back to the beach and swam out to the sand bar again. I didn't even look to see if the Dolphin's were around this time, I will wait for them I thought as I finally reached the sand bar. Wait for them is exactly what I did, for what seemed like hours I waited and scanned with my binoculars and they where no where to be found. So I kept waiting, then it was almost sunset and I didn't want to swim to shore in the dark so I finally left.

I only made it about 200 yeards from the sand bar before being pulled under by the currents in the channel I had to swim through. I had swam through it several times before, but they were absolutely brutally strong. I had heard if you get caught by rip currents to not fight them, just relax and let them throw you loose. I hoped this would work for major ocean currents as well so I relaxed and went limp. Slowly I began to sink towards the bottom of the ocean. Deeper and depper I went until I could barely see light. Then I noticed I was only going down and no longer moving south along the coast. So I started swimming, I had no clue which direction at this point as I had been tossed and turned so much.

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At first I swam horizontally towards what I hoped was the coastline, then when I though maybe I had passed the currents I swam up with everything I had. I wasn't sure how lung I had been under but I could feel the life draining from me, I knew I couldn't hold my breathe much longer and that even if I did I would soon pass out from lack of oxygen. Then it happened, I felt the currents hit me again and saw, for a brief second, stars before everything faded to black. This is it, I am going to die I remember thinking.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in a room, flooded with light. My senses were off, I didn't feel like I was back on land. Although I wasn't sure where I was, I knew it was some placed strange and mystifying just from the light. Could this be heaven I wondered. Then the most beautiful redhead I have ever laid eyes on laid her hand on my chest and said "just relax, you drowned and I saved you....but you need to lay still until your senses come back....don't try and stand just yet". So I layed there, thinking man I hope this is heaven and she is mine for all of eternity. Then my senses returned like a flood sweeping away a town.

As I stood up, with the help of Ariel, I realized I wasn't in heaven, or at least not the heaven that is spoken about in religious texts. Where was this place? It wasn't heaven, didn't look like hell and didn't feel like terra ferma (dry land). Could it be, is this Atlantis? Apparently I had began speaking out loud without realizing it and at that question Ariel began laughing loudly and trying desperatly to utter "now you got it".

As she began to walk me around, I soon realized I was in fact underwater. There were pools everywhere that appeared to be filled with Salt Water and there were mermaids and mermen coming and going into and out of the water. Holy mother of dragons, I uttered, as the realization of where I was began to sink in. Of course that made Ariel laugh even harder at me.

Source: e-sim.org

Slowly we began to climb up, it was obvious by now that we were in some kind of underwater cave and were heading towards land above sea level. Or at least I was hoping we were as my head and ears hadn't acclimated to the pressure of being that far below sea level. Even though it was dry (inside of a cave) it hurt like all hell. I could feel the pressure easing though with every upward step we took. Then there it was Blue Sunny Skies, birds flying around, trees a bloom, the scent of Lavendar in there air....wait Lavender in the middle of the ocean. Surely my sense are still askew.

Then it really hit me, I was standing in the middle of the mythological kingdom of Atlantis. It had survived and it was somewhere near Daytona, FL. This place looked like something out of "The Lost World" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. There where magnificiently enourmous trees that seemed to reach all the way to the stars, teradactyl's were flying through the air. Then there were the Wooly Mammoths and Dodo's frolicking about. I hope they let me stay forever, I kept thinking as Ariel led me from one spot of the island to another. From building to building she drug me, then off into the wilderness.

As we traversed a well traveled path through a dense forest I could sense we were being watched, hundreds of small primates lurked in the trees above us watching diligantly as if they were the Queens Royal Guard. Finally, we emerged into a small lake that had an absolutely massive waterfall at one end. Then I looked down towards the water and there were hundreds of Mermaids and Mermen swimming around, cutting up and having a good time.

As I stood there staring I heard Ariel calling at me, she had already entered the water and changed into a mermaid and i hadn't even noticed. Then I heard it again "Hey silly are you coming in" As I entered the water the strangest thing happened, my legs transformed. I was no longer a bi-ped, I now had a tail and fins. How is this possible I screamed, louder than I intended. Needless to say they all looked at Ariel and in unison said "landboy huh". Even I had to chuckle at that point.

After a few hours, Ariel took me to her home and there I found a new outfit waiting for me. "Get dressed" she said, we have a "dinner engagement". So not wanting to question her I put on the clothes provided and she promptly whisked me away to a Great Hall. This place was humongous and every Atlantean was there to enjoy dinner together. It was a tradition, if you weren't dead or mortally ill you came to dinner with the family, all 15,000 or so of them.

As we entered the hall everyone got quite and turned and looked at us, with a gentle whisper Ariel said "don't worry it isn't because of you" and then she led me to the end of the longest table in the hall. To where, I would soon discover, her father was seated. Her father as in the leader of the Atlantean people. She was the daughter of a king, or at least by my definition of King that is what he was. To them he was more like a Religious Elder like the Native American tribes would have.

As we sat down I almost immediately realized the gravity of the situation. I was in Atlantis, brought there by the daughter of the leader of the kingdom and I had just realized I was in love.....well at least lust......with Ariel. There is no way he will let me stay, a land boy, when he realizes how I feel about Ariel and how I hope she feels about me. Then without warning he stood.

"Attention everyone, we have a special guest with us tonight, 'what's your name son?'", "Richard" I uttered in shock. "Richard has joined us from the realm of the Land Dwellers courtesy of my daughter, Ariel" and then just as quickly as he stood he sat back down and began eating.

Was that "acceptance" I heard, or a warning that "I would soon be leaving". Well not to worry I thought, just enjoy the meal and see what happens. After dinner Ariel escorted me up the side of a mountain, overlooking the main part of Atlantis. It was facing east towards the US coast and was almost sunset. As we sat there staring out at the sun slowly disappearing over the horizon I felt a small peck on my cheek. At first I thought it was an insect and as I turned my head, wham, she lip locked me and began kissing me with a fiery passion like I have never seen before or since. After the initial shock, I pushed myself away and said "but your dad" and before I could finish she uttered "he knows" and moved in for another kiss. Well "fuck it" I thought, if I am destined to get sent back to land I might as well enjoy myself before I go.

Hours later we felt the heat of passion still moving us on that rocky ledge....oh wait that was the heat of the morning sunrise. We had made love, right there, all night long. When Ariel realized what I had just realized she giggled, stood up and took me by the hand. "Where are we going I asked" as she led me down the mountainside, through the town and back into the caves under the island.

You can only stay for a few more minutes, she finally stated. "The island will disappear again in a couple hours and I have to get you home and get back before it does." she continued. "But will I ever see you again, or this place?" I retorted as tears began streaming down my cheeks. She slowly whisked them away with her fingers, looked longedly in my eyes and said "I hope so".

Florida Memory

The next thing I remember I was waking up, face down in the sand in Cocoa Beach, FL some 30 miles away from where I had started my journey a few days earlier. I never saw Ariel or Atlantis again after that day, but some how I know there is a half mermaid half landboy running around that place raising hell right now.

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