Lovely_Cala_Maria

My father was a sailor, my mother was a fish.
Since I was little girl I only had one wish.
A tiny dream belonged to me
To be known across the seven seas.

I started small but my ambition grew.
Now I’m known across the ocean blue.
All my life, what I wanted to be
The fiercest monster in the deep blue sea!

It’s a lonely life, but the only life
I would ever want for me.
But I’ve come so far, and now I’m a star
And everyone knows me!

Yes, I am number one sea beast!
I am the CALA MARIA!

You want to know what it's like to lose your soul? Just ask me and a bunch of other folks over on the mainland of Inkwell Isle, who lost our souls to a couple of lousy brats!

See, I wasn't always this towering behemoth of a sea creature feared by pirates and fishermen everywhere; in fact, a while back, I was the smallest little runt of a mermaid you could ever find, the end result of a sailor who fell in love with a mermaid. My fellow mer-sisters would always tease me about my small size, giving me the pet name of "Minnow", which I absolutely hated! They'd always push me around or leave me trailing behind on hunting trips all because I was smaller than them and couldn't swim as fast! One day, I had enough of their bullying, and swam away from them as fast as I could, not even caring where I was going; I just wanted to be alone to cry and let out all my frustrations where no one would find me... Unfortunately, where I ended up got me sucked into a nearby intake pipe, which dropped me right into a large fountain in the middle of the one place in all of Inkwell Isle no one in their right mind would ever go--the Devil's Casino!

What I could see from what limited space I had was truly a beautiful sight, though with a feeling that something dark and sinister lurked behind it... Suddenly, I felt someone grab me by the tail and lift me out of the water, bringing me face to... face...? with the sleezy manager of the casino, King Dice!

"Well, lookie here! Another mermaid for the ol' fish tank! Kinda small, though..."

I couldn't stand it with this slimeball calling me small too, and began to struggle angrily in his grip, trying to swing my fists at him and at least appear threatening. Just then, a deep booming voice sounded from the shadows...

"Now, now, King Dice, where are your manners? We must entertain our new... guest... Bring her to me!"

King Dice took me to the VIP suite of the casino, where I was brought before the fiery throne of the Devil himself! He looked me over with his cruel grin, as if he was sizing me up...

"So, little mermaid, does my casino intrigue you?"

I nodded nervously, trembling in fear...

"I-it's a lovely place, but... it's just that I--"
"Aah, but one such as yourself would have no use for such riches, is that it? Being a creature of the sea, you have all that you need down below... However... perhaps I can offer you... something of greater wealth than just riches? A chance to go from being the smallest minnow in the pack... to the largest and most beautiful of all mermaids???"

I stared wide-eyed as the Devil produced a red potion seemingly from nowhere, holding it out to within my reach...

"Your sisters are so vain to value their own size over the well-being of their fellow mermaid... Just imagine the looks on their faces when you emerge from here, towering over them!"
"A-and... all I have to do is drink this?"
"Well... there is one other thing... I can let you take your revenge on your sisters, but I will be expecting some form of... repayment... I'm pretty sure you can guess..."
"M-my... soul...?"
"Exactly! It may be now, it may be later, it may be when you're old and gray, but I ALWAYS collect on my debts..."
"And... what happens if I say no?"
"Then I let you go on your merry way, back to your old life of being pushed around and ridiculed by your sisters, always being the runt of the pack... And trust me; you'll never get a chance like this again..."

I knew I shouldn't have done it... I knew what would eventually happen... But I couldn't let an opportunity like this slip away... I took the potion from the Devil's hand, and immediately chugged the whole thing down! He seemed... genuinely surprised about that...

"Uh... okay then... I guess you'll be LITERALLY towering over your sisters... and pretty much everything else in the sea... We might want to get you out of here before that stuff takes effect..."

King Dice carried me to another pipe leading out of the casino, though I noticed that he was struggling to lift me this time, even with both hands... Though my size hadn't increased yet, my weight was starting to grow, and soon the potion would take its full toll on me! I swam at full speed with the current to get out of the pipe as fast as I could, only just barely making it before I hit the eventual growth spurt that would outgrow the pipe! My growth would end at over 50 feet from head to tailfin, so by the time I found my way back to my sisters, they were in for a MASSIVE surprise!

"C-Cala??? What... what happened to you???"
"Hey, girls... who's the minnow now??? Aaaaaaaaahhhhh..."

After getting back at my sisters in the best way possible, I knew I would have to prepare for the eventual day the Devil would come to collect his due. I wasn't about to give up my soul without a fight, so I began to seek out the best mystics of merkind to teach me how to absorb the souls of my prey and use them to increase the power of my own soul. This would not only allow me to command other aquatic creatures to come to my aid, but would also let me tap into the hidden Gorgon abilities of my ancestors. I could make my Gorgon side emerge whenever I got significantly upset or angry, or when I got an intense electrical charge through my body, like those produced by giant electric eels! The creatures of the sea would all learn not to get me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry...



After obtaining this knowledge, I spent most of my days preying upon all manner of fish, merfolk, and sailing ships, becoming a true terror of the sea! I even slew a giant octopus, and wore its carcas upon my head as a fancy trophy! I even gained a few admirers, like a certain Captain Brineybeard. I was confident I could handle anything the Devil could throw at me!

And then... THEY came!

Now, I don't blame Cuphead and Mugman for what they did; they were just two kids caught in a horrible situation, and unfortunately, the only way to get out of it was to take my soul, along with the others on the Devil's hit list... Still... do you know what it feels like to have your soul literally ripped from your body? It feels like someone cut you open and tore out all your insides, and yet somehow, you're still alive to feel the pain! Like your skeleton decided to leap out of your skin, leaving you a shambling mass of flesh! That is what it felt like to me... and to make matters worse, I was only just a head at the time! That's when another feeling started to set in... one of unimaginable, insatiable hunger... like I hadn't eaten in weeks... I had only read of this phenomenon, but now... I was one of them... I was... a Soulless!

A Soulless is as the name implies--a being with no soul. As such, a Soulless is condemned to always feel incomplete and empty, cursed with a never-ending hunger and a desire to be full, but never the satisfaction of feeling full! I could eat and eat and eat an ENTIRE FLEET of ships, my belly stuffed and bloated to the point where I literally couldn't eat another sailor, and I would still feel hungry! The only sense of relief I get is from digesting the souls of my prey, and that's only if I can digest enough to sate me for the rest of the day! And that rarely--if ever--happens... I need souls, I HAVE to have souls churning away inside me, or... I just... feel so empty...

Overtime, my body began to regenerate as I lured people to the cave that I found myself trapped in... By the time I was completely whole again--save for my soul--Cuphead and Mugman had emerged from the Devil's Casino victorious, saying that we were all freed of the Devil's debts! But if that was the case... where was my soul??? Where were the other souls those two brats had taken??? If the Devil was defeated... why were we still Soulless???

It turned out, once they defeated the Devil... THEY BURNED ALL OUR SOUL CONTRACTS!!! THOSE IDIOTS!!!

I guess once again I can't blame them for being unaware of how soul contracts work... What they were supposed to do was give the soul contracts back to their original owners; then we could destroy them ourselves, causing our souls to re-enter our own bodies. Since they burned up the contracts instead, all those souls--including mine--went flying out of the furnace to who knows where! Now I'm doomed to wander the oceans as a Soulless forever, in the vain hope that I might swallow the one person in a million that has my soul inhabiting their body! That's the only way I'll be fully restored, but I don't see that happening anytime soon...

--On 11/23/2017, I proposed to the most beautiful and amazing girl I have ever known, my GF_Dragoness, Amora! She is my sweet and perfect fiance, with her lovely smooth scales, incredibly thick curves and figure, and ravenous and insatiable appetite, and I love my darling dragon fiance with all my heart!
—-On 8/19/2022, I officially converted to Greek. How do you like my new voice?