🧜‍♂️While searching for conch shells 🐚 to gift to his beloved girlfriend, big gladiator angel James comes across an enchanting mermaid 🧜‍♀️ who offers an intriguing trade. 🧜‍♂️


The Dive
By Lonelyrider

James LightningSword the immense gladiator angel was riding along the seashore on his hulking percheron stallion, Thunder, looking for conch shells for his anthro white mule girlfriend, Lonely, as she loved to collect them.
"Ahh, there's one, boy." James said to his mount, who pawed the sand and tossed his head as James leapt off the saddle with a flap of his great ebon wings and placed a sandy shell into the burlap sack he carried, whistling cheerfully. James heard a splash and looked up, a little startled. There resting on a barnacled rock lay a beautiful mermaid, shells over her bosom and a long teal tail shining in the sun.
"Greetings, traveler. The best shells really are under the water, I could loan you a potion to temporarily transform you into a merfolk, for a trade."
James approached her slowly out of politeness.
"Yes, I'm looking for shells and pearls for my girlfriend, I'd be most interested in that, fair maiden. I have coin, weapons, some jewels, and my services as a fighter to trade, I'm a sturdy tanker." James offered with gusto, laying out all his items, she felt them over, settling on the ornate dagger he'd pulled from a sheath on his calf; James was a fan of larger weapons, but kept it as a backup.
"This one, yes. Here, drink this. It tastes horrid, mind you. Wear these red shells about your neck; when they begin to fade to orange, it is time to head back, for whence they turn white, the spell will be undone and if you haven't surfaced, you will regain your present form and drown."
James thanked the lovely mermaid with wonder as she took his dagger and he gulped the foul potion down, coughing but making himself chug it; his curious stallion nosed the mermaid, who patted him.
"I'll be back soon, boy." James told Thunder with a rough friendly pat on his muscled neck, compared to other more recent potions he'd ingested this one was painless, he slipped to the sand and beheld a long and strong red tail in place of his muscled legs, and red wings like a seahorse on his back and sides in place of his avian wingspan. His weapons even transformed into a golden trident, and James dove eagerly beneath the sea, marveling at how clear it was to him and how he could breath the water like air. He wasted no time in searching the sea floor for clams and spotted a huge one, he pondered as he swam up to it how to encourage it to open without hurting it, as he wanted to see if there was a giant pearl inside. James had a thought and used his usual lightning magic and channeled it through his bracers and trident, irritating the clam enough to get it to open but not enough to seriously harm or kill it. He did this with all the rest of them until he found not one but two giant pearls, one black and one white, and gathered many smaller clams to eat and hoping they too might contain pearls for his girlfriend. The mer lass had been right, the sea floor, the water pink and clear, contained many kinds of clean shells and soon James' pouch was bursting and he swam quickly upwards, looking at the sea life and coral around him and enjoying the view. A shadow fell over him and he paused and looked up, gasping as an enormous sea dragon rose from her deep lair and swam over him; she hadn't noticed him, and James had no wish to harm her unless he was forced to, he hid among the corals and waited as she went ashore with great splashing, hoping his horse would sense her approach and get away in time. James swam gently along the sea floor and came up along the sand of the beach, the mermaid jumped down from her perch and cast a spell his way, seeing he was finished, and James felt his musclebound legs once more and his gladiator skirt and tights wet & clinging to his skin as he stood up and headed out of the warm pink sea.
"Hail, milady! Thank you! Is my horse safe, did you see?"
"He is, he hid behind that great rock, and waits for you there." The mermaid shared, pointing, James could see Thunder grazing near it in the distance and sighed in relief. He held out a burly hand to her.
"I'm James by the way!" He introduced with a gallant sweeping bow, his black feathered wings to the side, the mermaid only giggled and leapt into the water, swimming away fast leaving him surprised. He waved at her though she had nearly gone out of sight.
"Thunder, let's get these home to my baby girl." James said to himself as he jogged over to his patient draft horse, his big pouch loaded and clanking with the treasures he'd earned. He couldn't wait to present them to Lonely when he returned to his sophisticated manor in a little while. James mounted Thunder and the two were off at a canter, sand flying from the huge beast's loud hooves as he bore his beloved rider to his ornate home.