Just one favor 1

“Dad, I think there is a good camping spot over there.” Rick pointed down at a small place in the middle of the forest, that had opened itself. With the grass around dry covered with a thin layer of snow as most of the thick of white frost settled up on the treetops. The pale grass underneath his feet crinkled slightly under his boots as he walked on. The trees stretched themselves up the sky as the afternoon was already starting to find its way to set in. They opened to give what could only a cozy spot for setting up a small camp, even though it was fully shrouded by the flora of the place. “Here, Rick?” his father asked making his way through the vegetation, being careful as to not trip over a thicket. Stopping for a moment to catch his breath, dropping his bags and resting his hands on his knees. “No, I do think it is somewhat cluttered,” he said lifting up his gaze to look around at the small area filled with bushes and some stones lying around and stare past the snow covered caps of the trees. “Where… look, that must be the hill we saw on the way in.” His dad pointed out where the trees and ground seemed to rise up higher. “Come on son. We have some time to travel and the sun hasn’t set yet, lets see if we can make it before the night begins. It’ll be nice to watch,” he said with an optimistic smile, reaching over to place his hand on Keegan’s shoulder. “I…” Rick was about to object right before turning around, and finding something stringy and thin slip onto him. A thin natural web that could only be that of a spiders “Geez!” he exclaimed surprised as he began to rub it off his face, rubbing with his glove’s back hand against his face to get the sticky strings away, making an effort to not swear. “Are you alright?” His father asked concerned. “Yeah, I just think I swallowed up a fly,” Rick coughed to the top of his lungs, trying to gag whatever remains of the bug were left there. “Why do we have to go up the hill?” “I don’t see what is wrong with trying and making an effort,” He simply said adjusting his backpack and walking ahead “Let’s get on to it.” For a moment, Rick thought he was joking, he wished he was just to avoid spiting on his father’s reckless curiosity for the world around him. But he was doing it for him as well. He did need the fresh air every now and then, plus the exercises wouldn’t hurt his rather pudgy figure. His resolve was something that most admired about him. With a resigned sigh, he jogged after his father "Come on son,” His father cheered “Take the hardest challenge or path and see how much you grow when you get where you wish to get. If everyone chose the easy way out, then perhaps the experience isn’t really worth the bother," One thing he never understood all these eighteen years was why his father always chose the hard way out while everyone chose the fastest and still didn't. “Dad, was it really necessary to come all the way here? I mean, there is a dirt road leading to the camping area. We would’ve just needed to follow it and look for an open spot. There,” Rick complained some time and several steps northwest later, just as the ground ahead started to grow steeper with each step they took. The path ahead had been overgrown for the last hundreds steps on the way there, covered with snow much to the point he almost suspected his old man was deliberately trying to get him lost. “In life, there are many paths laid down before you, that which you can take to follow. But there can always be a beaten, uncharted territory that will lead you to new places.” He explained in his lecturing and wise tone of voice. “Is this all to teach me a lesson about exploring?” Rick asked amusedly. “It is more of a lesson of conviction. A metaphor for courage and perseverance,” his father stated. “You will be finishing school soon and set of after your career. I know from experience how terrifying dipping into the world of adults might be. At times, dreams and goals seem like a million miles away but you have to remember there are more than one road to wherever you wish to get.” “It is not useful if you have no idea where you plan to go after school is out,” Rick said with a bit of a pleased smile as he began to think about moving on to greener fields. School had been a rather boring part of his life. With an institute so big it was hard to keep friendships close for more than a year, it wasn’t a surprise he was longing to see it over. Yet at the same time, he wasn’t sure what he would be doing once it was over. “So you are still on the fence regarding the career?” His father asked, taking a moment to lean on the grayed bark of the tree. “I have some plans, applied to some universities, but I am still not clear as to the subject matter. So I think I will just take Industrial engineering for now and then switch for another career later on down the road.” A small frown appeared on his father’s brow but nodded with a smile “But be careful about procrastinating it. Wasn’t there something you wished to do since a kid?” his father took a moment to steady himself before getting himself to continue the walk. Did you want to work in accountancy since you were a kid?” Rick asked, finding a fallen tree on his path. His father took a moment of silence in a rather long time as he kept on walking. “Dad?” Rick asked again as he began to move away, forcing him to vault over the large tree trunk steining him. “Yes…” he said paused, which Rick thought was himself running out of breath. For being am an in his early to mid forties, his father was in a bit of a bad shape as this was among the only physical exertion he’d had in about a year “I set my goals to it, entered to college and did my best to get where I wanted.” “I see…” Rick answered as they to the point where the steep climb normalized for them now. His father swept a branch aside to reveal a large plateau overlooking landscape before them. Before them was the sight of a green curtain of a forest overlooking the place, with the sound of running water in the air, but the lush at the top of the trees was so high it became rather hard to see much around. After dropping the camping bags, he took a moment to walk closer to the edge, being careful to not stand less than a meter away from the rock tip just to overlook the place. The camping spot wasn’t as steep as he imagined. Just a downward hill. He looked onward trying to keep on staring above the tree lines. He took a small moment to search his travel pack just to produce a large slab of folded paper, opening it to show over a map of the area. Even though the letters on it were so little to show anything around, he was rather surprised to see that way ahead. The forest itself seemed to be open for kilometers ahead. Oddly enough for Rick, the map only showed it all green with no discernible landmarks. Looking further west, there was the opening to the pacific ocean. “If we travel another day we could get to the ocean,” he muttered to himself while thinking it would be best to not point that out to his father for he might as well give that trip idea a try. “Better get this camp started,” Rick’s dad said at last after taking a deep breath “Help me with the tents.” “Coming, dad.” ———— “This is perfect,“ His father said after a long while as he got out of the camping tent, dusting his hands off. “Ah ha,” he said pointing out at a fallen tree. He made his way over to the fallen tree, revising the its holes on the trunk, making sure it wasn’t rotten. “Something must’ve knocked this tree down. All is well, though,” he said with an optimistic smile, looking up at Rick who was sitting on a stone slab listening to his ipod. His father took a moment to concentrate, gathering his strength he asked as he began to push the trunk “Son, how are you doing?” he asked sympathetically. “Handling the breakup?” “It’s not a breakup, dad.” Rick groaned, lowering the volume of his music as his father began to grunt, dragging the trunk towards the spot where the snow had been brushed aside, for the campfire. “And I am not really heartbroken. Carly and I ended up in good terms,” he said with some annoyance to both the question and the breakup matter. His father panted for a moment, now sweating as he made the effort "Rick, how is the fireplace going?" his father asked between shove after shove, forcing the trunk to move or role across the snow. “I see some wood we can make a fire off,” Rick looked over at the large fallen trunk. “No, this one has no branches we can break off. You will have to walk a bit for them,” he said wheezing and sweating. "I’ll get more timber," Rick said, putting his music player in the bag within the tent. He frowned for a moment and sighed. He disliked being dragged to this sort of camping trip, in the middle of his winter break while at the same time being bossed around by his dad. “I won’t take much time,” he added. "Okay sonny, just don't stray too far,” he warned he wasn't the expert camper or ex boy scout but for some reason he insisted in doing this sort of stuff with his only son. As any teenager he wanted to spend time with his friends back home, playing games or just being a couch potato. "Sure, dad," he replied dismissively as he wondered the forest. Despite that, he thought of this as a perfect place to explore around the place, to use his digital camera, perhaps the only thing that was being carried in his backpack along with a compass and his cell phone and camera to snap out some pictures. “Forests and trees are classic watercolor images. How hard could it be, it’s worth the try.” He took his path down the hill, finding himself almost tempted but to slide down the snow way only to remember at the bottom of the hill that he would have to make his way up. “Well… at least I am on my own.” With no much trouble, he set off towards the west, taking his moment to stare around the place. From the ground level, the forest felt huge and like a maze, Rick had to be cautious of not getting himself lost. The trees stood way above his head and with snow covering their branches as the bushes were few but not overgrown. So far the place seemed rather large if not easy to get lost within. His path led him over to small hedge of white snow and pale green that couldn’t be over a feet high. For a moment Rick thought it was a pile of snow and leaves and tried to kick it only to find his foot stopping hard upon impact. “Crud! Crud! Crud!” he cursed as he rubbed his foot against a bank of snow as the leaves and frost of the edge began to slide down revealing thick stone brick lying in disarray into what looked like an improvised wall. Staring at the small hedge, his eyes traced from one side to the other only to see the little wall continued on around. On some sides up higher than the other. “Did I just found some ruins?” Rick asked himself with interest, his hand reached for the camera and preparing himself for snapping some pictures. For a moment, the thought that he was barging into private property concerned him. But the stones seemed old and the forest was supposed to not have any residents around. Rick took a step forth, carefully getting himself over the small cobbled stones of the hedge. Following the path head, he stumbled onto the middle of a dirt road, or at least it felt as such as the trees were moved apart, opening a road leading down to the aisle, almost bent as if forming an archway while the treetops and branches seemed to try intertwine above his head, leaving a gap opening there. “This is promising,” he said taking a photo of the scene before planning on following ahead with the path. A branch nearby snapped and a fell on a bank of snow. Rick turned to look and was startled to see a giant bird creature posing up high on the tree. For a moment he stared at it startled getting a mental snapshot. It was huge, like a crouching person, with large gray wings and feathers that were lifted up on the crouched body to cover the rest of it. His second reflex was to lift the camera to take a quick picture of it, but before he could, the large bird spread its wings and took of into the forest. “Wait!” Rick asked, prompted by the best of curiosity as he began to chase after, sprinting after it. His steps started to quicken as he was able to see the large bird traversing through the woods at a speed he felt he could match up. The creature was nimble and fast, but the more time Rick kept on chasing after, the more he began to notice fleeting details before the creature spun around a tree, disappearing for a moment. In the haste, Rick noticed a large tail flapping behind the creature, closer to the size of a an arm along with a pair of intimidating talons. In Rick’s mind he imagined he would be famous for having discovered the worlds’ larger flying bird. Yet there was something wrong with the feather color on its body, but it was hard to discover what. Rick panted as he began to feel tired from running. The bird was wearing him off as he kept up with it. More than once he lifted the camera to take a picture of that thing, but every time he tried to snap it, the bird flew to the side, hiding itself behind a tree making it impossible to catch. It wasn’t until that, while taking a photo of the creature while running. Aiming through the reticle, zooming in, as he took his strides got him to get a better view of the bird’s back, close enough for Rick to see what could only be described as a bun of hair at the back of the bird’s head, human hair. Rick’s feet bumped down against the thick root of a tree, sending him off balance and tumbling down the on the grass and snow. His camera went out rolling on the floor, crashing against the tree trunk with an audible crack. “Shit, so much for the thousand dollar picture,” he muttered getting himself back up. Sighing, Rick stood up and dusted the bits of grass and snow off. Defeated, he stood up to pick up his camera and see the damage. Rick winced “My father will scold me for this,” he muttered to himself as he stared at the direction he was heading. The large bird creature was now gone from the scene and she could hear the sound of the flapping wings fading away in the distance. He was about to turn around and walk back, picking the timber in the way, but stopped on his tracks as a sound entered his ears. It was a melody, a beautiful song and had a mystic echo all around it emanating from deep in the forest. Rick was enchanted by the sound, finding himself compelled by curiosity and its tune to follow it just to see where and who was causing it. With drowsy steps he made his way through the forest. His mind captivated by the melody and calmness of the music. His ears caught the sound of a soft and soothing waterfall that was echoed in the same direction he was heading. The more thought about it them more he realized it was a voice a pair of supernatural voices that seemed to be saying “come to me” even if there were no words in the song. Eventually he arrived to the end of the forest, an area where the trees opened up and the song grew more intense. A large lake was before him, a waterfall falling on the right side and sets of rivers that made their way back into the forest, with the surface clear and calm with a supernatural aura around the place. For a moment, Rick thought he saw colors dancing about in the strange overhanging mist floating above the water. And there in the middle of the lake, he thought he saw something. Two figures, hidden by a strange mist danced about uttering the song. “Who are…” he muttered as he tried to get a better look at the figures, trying to get a better look. But before he could take a closer step, the song came to a sudden halt and the two figures disappeared into the water along with the dancing aurora and the mist. Rick stared for a moment dumbfounded at the lake before shaking his head. “What was that?” he asked, holding his forehead for a moment, to rub the sweat off his brow. His mind was a bit of a haze. “I have been running for a while,” he muttered looking back “Think I have gotten lost.” He let out a sigh as he approached to the shore, seeking to wash the sweat off his face, dropping his backpack on the side of the shore. “I will just have to travel east from here… good thing I have a compass.” He took a couple of steps towards the lake, dismissing what he just saw as a trick of his imagination, the lights, the mist and the figures. Kneeling before the cool water, he splashed his face for a moment, just to freshen himself up. “Dad will be worried,” he muttered to himself as he looked over at his reflection the water. The water was so clear and the sky and trees. Staring back at him was the reflection of a boy who just not long ago turned eighteen years old. His blonde hair standing short yet unkept on the stilled reflection of the lake. “Looking good,” he said to prompt a small smile, preparing himself for the scolding he would get from his father for the broken camera when his eyes refocused on the lake. Something was beginning to appear below the water and with each passing second it became clearer, overlapping his reflection. It was the face of a woman, a beautiful one that was looking at her with with a dry and sad expression with her long black hair waving about around her. “Wha-” was as far as he got just before a pair of arms emerged from the water and hooked themselves around Rick’s neck’s and arm. The woman’s head surfaced, proving herself to be the real image of a gorgeous woman. Rick was smitten by the her face, not reacting in time as she pulled him down into the lake. His hands slipped on the shore and soon he fell down face first into the water. He immediately found himself struggling against the woman in the cold water of the lake as she pulled Rick deeper and deeper into the lake. He opened his eyes to gaze don into the abyss below, seeing how steep it was from the shore. It looked as if it was about five or seven floors deep. He kept on struggling with the girl, trying to break free, only to find out he was having trouble when pushing her away as the water slugged his moves and her grip was strong, with her arms holding his own and his neck. Kicking he proved just as useless. The biggest effort he could to strike on the woman’s legs trying to slip while doing his best to hold his breath. But before it could actually work, something long and thick tangled itself around his legs, binding his efforts and making struggle impossible. The woman looked down at him with a rather stern look. Rick stared up at her, begging, but she didn’t utter a word as the two sank deeper into the depths of the lake. The rippling surface seemed to getting farther up. The sight of that was already terrifying him throwing his mind further into despair as a knot in his throat was tensing at the idea of taking a deep breath. His gaze went around looking at the woman that had dragged him down. And it was then that he noticed his captor wasn’t human at all for as his gaze went down he noticed how her body flaked around her hips into dark brown scales, almost ebony. A long tail stood long and wrapped around his legs, it was what was keeping him down from moving, coiled like a snake trapping its prey in its coils. A long set of wavering fins tipped the end of it. He was in the presence of a real life mermaid, one that was trying to drown him. He struggled for a moment just before a song began to echo in the middle of the lake, sounding as it would in the middle of a cave with a lingering note and long ringing. Rick’s gaze moved to the side urgently, overlooking the mermaids shoulder just in time to see another figure darting past in the water, another mermaid swimming around them. Her hair was red and her tail was a bright maroon and red as she began to make her way around them at a swift speed singing, in words this time. Her words were strange to Rick’s ears, speaking in a strange language he didn’t have time to analyze while struggling to keep hold of his breath, to keep himself from drowning. The mermaid holding him, the black haired one, opened her mouth just to let out another resounding voice to add on the red mermaid. Singing in tandem and unison. Rick didn’t understand what was happening, his eyes kept on going up just to look at the surface of the water, trying to follow the sunlight that was squeezed through it and to hold his breath as much as possible despite the dire and desperate circumstances. He didn’t have the time to hear the beautiful song and was more than hope inspired when he felt the mermaid’s grip around his legs loosen up. Seizing the moment, Rick sank his teeth into the mermaid’s arm, making her shriek, briefly interrupting her song. The mermaid looked at him with scorn before shoving him down into the water before swimming away to join the other mermaid orbiting around him like sharks preparing themselves to attack a prey. Prioritizing his own safety, he failed to notice something going on around him. The water around him started to gain a different coloration, a colorful white aura swimming around him. “Come on! Come on!” he thought to himself as he tried to make his way upwards through the curtain of magic as the mermaids danced around him. His arms flayed up trying to pull himself out of the danger. His legs felt exhausted and were barely doing a good job, but his strokes began to turn more and more desperate the closer he got. The swirling cloud of magic suddenly compressed itself around Rick for a moment stunning him for a brief moment. It was like being in the middle of an imaginary giant clap, he felt stunned, even numb, feeling cold phase through his bone for but a brief instant. He lost no time recovering from it and struggled to swim up with renewed strength. He wasn’t sure what just happened, and wasn’t planning on figuring it out right away. His concentration was on getting himself as far away from the mermaids as possible. The two creatures were swimming about, still singing around as Rick made his ascent, singing more words as he was hit by another pulse that made her body spasm. Rick still pushed through, recovering quickly, his hands sweeping and pulling himself up and his legs kicking about. It was as he outstretched to reach for the surface that took a brief instant to stare at his fingers just to see something was off. His fingers were slightly thinner than before as the small membrane between them started to slowly to spread. “It is a trick of the eye,” was the brief thought that coursed him making him keep on. He kept on making his way up to the surface just as another pulse hit him by surprise, forcing him to open his mouth and release bubbles of air, now on his last reserves. He began to panic just as he started to feel his body twitch and shift uncomfortably. His scalp tingling much to his annoyance now. He dragged himself up, no far closer than a couple of strides when a third pulse struck him, but he pushed himself through it as he made it to the surface, feeling the cool air of the winter caressing his skin. He took a most needed gasp of air. His gaze urgently going down at the water, trying to keep an eye on the mermaids, hoping they wouldn’t try to drag him down. He tried to kick out with as much force as possible just in case, feeling his shoes slip down into the depth of the ocean in one of those swings. Yet no matter how much strength he placed in his legs, he couldn’t feel them cooperating as great as he would have wanted to. He muttered as a breeze began to hit his soaked skin “Shit, I am gonna have hypothermia,” he said as his voice cracked. Too concerned to notice as he began to pull himself towards the shore of the lake with as much urgency as possible. Another pulse struck him as his pants started to feel loose around his waist and snug against his hips while his underwear was strangely tight on the backside. “I have to get out!” Rick muttered to himself as his hand touched the shore, taking it as the small victory it was. “Come on!” Rick groaned to the top of his lungs as he pulled himself up. Something was wrong with himself. As gravity hit him, he realized his body felt different. “I just have to stand up and get to my father,” he said once he was up on dry land. “Mermaids can’t walk on water, can’t they?” he muttered. It was only once he had crawled out of land that he noticed what was wrong with his voice. It was higher pitched and definitely girly. “What?” he blurted out as he felt another pulse hit him, making him cringe as his hair started to grow longer, draping before his eyes. Or so he wasn’t sure if it was his breath, as it was no longer blonde, but a teal colored, and long enough to drape over his shoulders. He began to notice more of the changes that had taken place on his body. His chest was starting to feel puffy and his skin was paler than he remembered. It was dawning him that he was changing into a girl, but how? In urgency and panic, he tried to get himself up and sprint into the forest, but as he did, something back there would trip against itself and his pants would end up sliding off his waist. His leg felt as if it would snap the moment he rested his body on it and soon found himself falling to the ground again. He barely had a time to say something before he turned around just in time what had happened to his legs. He was more than baffled to see the changes that had take place there. His hips were covered in scales of a shimmering blue, teal and white that started to grow on his skin, slowly spreading down to cover his legs. “Oh no,” Rick muttered in panic. His eyes widened as he noticed his underwear had been pushed down by a large thick appendage, a large tail, that suddenly sprung to live once he realized it was there. Wiggling about like a fish out of the water, only for him to see his tip was growing something, something thin and soft like a handkerchief. The real shock came the moment he saw his legs, making him let out a scream that cracked itself into a higher and more feminine pitch. His legs were now stunted, shorter and thinner, almost bony with now less meat and muscle to them. They couldn’t keep him up because they were thin and weak now and as more time passed, even less feeling he would get back from them. A big pulse hit her body, announcing itself to be the last one. The changes were more pronounced, hard and general. Rick let out a groan as his voice changed further, becoming a more alto and softer. A melodious voice as his hair grew longer down to her shoulder blades length. His chest pushed out as his hips swelled, making the curves more pronounced. He gritted his teeth at the uncomfortable sensation of the scales covering his genitals. He felt as if something melted, entering him. He… or rather she, tried to reach for it but was cut short by the feeling of her tail growing. Seeing it grow thicker and even bigger, forcing her legs apart startled and horrified her. She stared at it grow longer and longer with each passing second. With the membrane and fins growing at the end of the tail grew into one like the mermaid’s. Finally, she stared as to how her feet began to disappear. Her legs shrinking, losing bone muscle and figure. Her toes shrinking and merging into a rather amorphous mass. At one point, they looked much like baby leg’s, looking even more pathetic when compared to her now womanly thighs, and deteriorating even further past the point until soon they were gone. Exhausted from the change, Rick made an effort to drag herself further. “Dad…” Rick muttered, feeling lightheaded, out of the shock and exhaustion. She barely pulled herself half a meter from the lake before fainting.