Saqui+Salvi's+Legend


 * The Legend of the Mystic Gate**

Many years ago, before the floating islands over Saqui Salvi had fallen to the bottom of the sea, there was a man named Crue Tiden who had an aptitude for crafting extravagant gates dripping with detail. His natural ability to work with coral, shells, and seaweeds was unmatched, which made him a huge name among the fabulously wealthy of Saqui Salvi.

Crue had never worried about completing a job, nor had he worried about his gates being anything but was commissioned by his clients, until the day when he was approached by King Naolin and Queen Revana. They asked him to build a gate to their garden. Crue accepted the job immediately and was given complete creative license.

Unfortunately, Crue had never gone without at least an outline for how the gate should look. Not only was he going into this job blind, but he was also trying to please full blooded royalty at the same time. Crue went to his drawing board and started sketching draft after draft, but nothing seemed fit for Naolin and Revana.

After many nights of troubling over a design for the royal couple, Crue finally got it. He would build a tall gate of soft blue coral, the same as was used on the fence that wrapped around the garden already, with a deeper color as trim. He would adorn the gate with shells left only in perfect condition, and only in pinks and purples. To top off his masterpiece, his crowning achievement, Crue would find the largest piece of aquamarine he could (which was only the size of a shell in itself) and place it front and center.

He filed the coral down for days to make it as smooth and straight as possible, because not a single blemish would do for this project. As soon as he had gotten every piece perfectly shaped, he started meticulously putting the gate together, and then the decorations. The gate was finished and placed at the beginning of the garden in a year’s time.

Naolin and Revana were very pleased with Crue’s handiwork, but something was strange about the gate. What Crue didn’t realize was that he had accidentally, for some reason, aligned the shells with the gem and made an impassable wall. Many have tried to get through the gate, but none succeeded. Crue was put to shame, for his gate was beautiful but it was not functional. Worse than that, nobody could uproot the gate and remove it so the queen wouldn’t have to swim over the fence to access her garden.

Many years later, the often foolishly brave son of the new royal family, Tristan, was celebrating his fifteenth birthday. He and his friends decided to go swim around the garden. As usual, the children all swam over the fence. Tristan, however, hung back. In an effort to show off in front of the girl he liked, he decided to be the first person in over 100 years to attempt the gate.

All of his friends expected him to fail. Most of them were hoping for him to fail miserably. It just so happened, though, that the prince had received an aquamarine ring for his birthday. In fact, the gem in his ring was taken from the same vein where the gem on the gate was found. The pairing of the aquamarine and his innate bravery put him in the perfect situation to go through the gate- and into the shock of immediate, dry land.

Of course, it’s well known across the land that it’s very hard to survive on dry land if you don’t ease into it slowly. The shock to a normal mermaid’s system would likely wind up killing her. This rule was no different for Tristan, at least in theory. You see, once Tristan passed through the gate, he never came back. Nobody heard from the young prince since that day.

And that, children, is the reason why you should never go through the gate.