Hello everybody! I am really happy to present you this story!

I have always been fascinated by Greek mythology. Apollo is one of my favorite gods, not because I think he is the best, but because of his big complexity!

It is sad that he never found true love so I wanted to write a story for him.

I got the idea of this fanfiction when I discovered that Delphi, the main sanctuary of Apollo, is named after the dolphin.

The dolphin is my favourite animal. And it also has been a sacred animal in Ancient Greece. So, I am going to explore through this story the huge symbolism of this species for the Greeks.

Disclaimer: I don't possess Greek mythology. Only Delphina belongs to me.

Chapter 1: The Goddess of Dolphins

It was a beautiful day. The water was as blue as the sky. The sky itself was cloudless, leaving the sun as the ultimate ruler. A nymph was swimming in the wonderful sea on a sandy beach of the island of Crete. Faithful to her kind, she was incredibly beautiful. She possessed long blond curly hair and bright blue eyes. Her skin was soft and her body perfectly shaped.

Her name was Delphina.

This day, she was accompanied by her twin sister Calypso, a black-haired braided woman as pretty as her, and the Nereids who are the fifty daughters of Nereus, her adoptive father. They liked to spend time together in the water, sitting on the rocks, either dressed in white clothes or naked. They were away from men, after all. They talked about their hair, about gossip, about handsome guys… Well! The kind of stuff that girls loved to discuss!

"So, a week ago, I encountered a satyr on my walk in the forest." Dynamene, one of the sea nymph, narrated. "I was about to pee when he took me by surprise by behind."

"A satyr?!" Halia, another of them, reacted. "You know it is dangerous to go in the forest alone. Satyrs are known to lust for nymphs. They are such perverts! Father will be mad if he ever learns!"

"She was not alone! I was with her!" Their sister Melite answered. "But wait until you know what happened after…"

Delphina listened to the stories while playing with her hair. She pretended to be interested, but in reality, she was bored. She loved the Nereids, but sometimes, she missed the old time.

When they were children, they swam in the water as far as they could to explore their environment. They challenged each other to see who was the fastest (and Delphina must admit she usually liked it just because she often won). They tried to catch fish, they splashed each other. Ho! So much fun together.

But time passed, they grew up and they seemed to only hold discussions about subjects she cared not that much. It was not like she was never interested at all, but she grew bored of it really fast. She always ended up with her eyes staring at the wide sea.

There was clearly something wrong with her! It was like if her inner child was still pretty strong. She craved action! She craved exploration. She wanted to jump out of the sea to express fully her freedom.

"Delphina, are you hearing me?" Her sister Calypso suddenly called.

"Euh… Yeah."

"I just wanted to know if you were done with the hair brush."

"I am. You can use it."

"Thank you." Calypso took the tool and began to brush her hair.

But she didn't miss the attitude of her twin. She knew her by heart. She knew her mind was distracted. She knew she was already tired of talking with the Nereids. At the same time, she could not blame her. Delphina was an adventurous girl. She was simply not made to just sit down and talk all day.

And like usual, Calypso got an idea.

"Eh! What if we let the Nereids with their gossips and go together for a swim?"

Delphina smiled. This was exactly what she wanted to hear.

And then, the close twin sisters easily escaped their fifty friends to plunge in the deep water. They transformed their legs into blue tails. They laughed with each other.

For Delphina, the definition of happiness was simple. To become a mermaid and to just wander in the sea all day. To say hello to the huge diversity of fish and other marine creatures. To be amazed by the beauty of the corals. To let herself be transported by the waves. And if her dear sister was with her, it was even better.

That kind of activity always sounded dull to most people, but she didn't care. That was of ideal of peace for her.

But she didn't know that her life would change forever on this fateful day.

Delphina was bringing her head out of the water. Then, an object completely caught her attention. She suddenly saw a boat, on the horizon, near the long coast on the right side.

Now, that was freaking interesting! She never saw a boat before. She never had been close of any mortal neither. Usually, since the place was really far from the closest village, they didn't come here. Eventually, this was one of the reason the nymphs were living there. To avoid humans.

"Look, Calypso!" Delphina said. "There are a boat! A real one!"

"They must be lost. We should go back before they come closer and notice us."

"No way! Who knows when an opportunity like that will happen again?! I want to see it in details!"

And so, she swam with excitement toward the huge floating object. Calypso panicked.

"Delphina! What are you doing? Come back! There are a lot of wind on this side of the coast. It is dangerous!"

But her sister didn't listen to the warning. She wasn't afraid of the power of Aeolus, God of Wind. She was a good swimmer and her curiosity was stronger. She increased her speed.

Seeing her stubborn sister leaving, Calypso decided to follow her. She was sure that her sibling was running after trouble!

Meanwhile, the blond-haired woman managed to get close to the boat in a record time. But not too much, just to avoid getting noticed.

She was amazed. It was bigger than she expected! The wood structure was longer than larger. The bow had the shape of a snake. There were many men bare chest on board sitting in line, manipulating long paddles.

That was impressive to see that for real!

But then, the wind awoke.

It was becoming harder to swim. Delphina knew it was better to catch the nearest rock and to hang on it. She did it. But she couldn't suspect that the presence of rocks meant trouble for the boat with the strong wind out there.

Suddenly, she heard a huge sound. The boat just hit an obstacle really hard! She also heard the screams of panicked people! Delphina didn't understand.

Why did they panic?

Then, after a while, she noticed that the boat was beginning to sink, bringing the people on board to jump to the sea. And at the moment, by observing the poor men, she understood.

They didn't know how to swim!

The current was too strong for them. Some of them hit their head on the rocks, while other tried to hang on them like her but still failed. The waves were absorbing them against their will!

They will not survive.

Hearing their cries was too painful for Delphina. It hurt her soul to hear their fear to drown. She wanted to help them. No! She needed to! She couldn't let these innocent mortals just die like that!

She would forever feel guilty for watching their death and doing absolutely nothing.

But she will never have the time to save all of them before it is too late. She was alone and not a swimmer experimented enough to go against the powerful waves.

Damn! Why was she so powerless?

She closed her eyes and prayed. She was a nymph. She possessed some magical powers. Notably the power to manipulate water like every water nymph but even that would not be enough against the wind.

But she might possess something else! The Nereid Thetis had the powers of a goddess. Why not her too? She might be able to do something useful in that important moment!

Her mind was focused on the men she had to save.

And her will was so strong that a miracle happened.

…

Why Calypso couldn't be as fast as her sister when it came to swimming? Anyway, she had to hurry! She didn't see the boat anymore. It must have fully sunk in the sea. She hoped nothing bad happened to Delphina! She loved her twin more than anything else!

But when she arrived, not only did the wind calm down but she also found something that she had never seen before.

What is that? She thought.

There were creatures large as sharks. They looked like fish but not at the same time. They had something human in them. With their long mouths, they seemed to smile. They had a hole on their back to allow them to breath like land animals.

They were colorful. They had shades of black, gray, white and yellow on their body. Truly beautiful.

But what struck her the most was the fact that they were surrounding her sister, playing and laughing with her. Her sibling seemed so happy to have new friends. Even her tail changed! No more blue and looking like a fish one, but a tail similar to this new animal.

"Delphina, what is the meaning of this?" Calypso asked. "Where these creatures come from?"

"There are the humans from the boat. They were about to die but I succeeded to transform them into animals that can live in the water!"

"You did that yourself?!"

Calypso was truly impressed. After all, there were just nymphs, not goddesses. That meant that they had limited powers. Well, it was not impossible for their kind to develop greater magic (the Nereid Thetis was a good example) but it was rare.

"Ok!" She spoke. "Now that they are saved, are you going to turn them back into their human form? Probably they have families to go back to."

"I don't think so. They told me they were slaves abandoned on this ship for an unknown reason. Such a cruel treatment! But now they want to stay with me! Ho! They are so beautiful!"

"You understand their language? Anyway, I am surprised to learn that you have this kind of power. I have never seen an animal like that."

"I am going to call them "dolphins" since I am the one who created them."

"But there are only males. They will not last."

Calypso was right. But Delphina came up with an idea.

"I am a nymph. I have the power of fertility. I will impregnate myself with the dolphins so the species can be perpetuated. I will be their mother!"

Wait! That meant that she intended to keep them!

"Delphina. I think you are making decisions too fast."

"But please! They need me. And I want them to become my companions. In fact, I think the Fates send me a sign. I didn't create them without a good reason. I must protect and guide the mortals at the sea and these creatures are there to help me. That's it. That's my life purpose."

Calypso was impressed by the determination of her sibling. But she was still unsure and hesitant.

"Please Calypso!" She insisted. "You know that I have never been made to follow the way of life of the Nereids. Just let me be!"

"Ho! Calm down, Delphina! You are grown up, now. You don't need the permission of Nereus anymore or my blessing neither. But if you need it, then, you know that I want you to be happy!"

"Thank you so much, dear sister. It means a lot for me!"

Calypso looked again at the "dolphins". They truly seemed as playful, as caring and as adventurous as her twin sister. And they made her happy. Maybe it was her destiny after all. She had always been unique and this was why Calypso loved her.

So, she accepted her decision.

And from this day, the story of a nymph who saved men from drowning by changing them into dolphins was spread through the Island of Crete and later through the whole Greece.

Delphina went on a mission. She helped anybody in trouble at sea. She considered herself the protectress of sailors. She even allowed her "children" to assist fishermen.

Really soon, the dolphins became sacred creatures, even divine for many. They were allies of the mankind. They were intelligent, gentle and peaceful. Great qualities to inspire respect from mortals and gods alike.

The name of Delphina was also becoming famous. To her own surprise, she began to be worshipped by sea travellers who asked for luck and protection. She always complied. She was more than happy to help people!

And with her growing importance in the domain of the sea, she finally caught the attention of Poseidon.

Thank you for reading!

I have taken some liberties with the origin of dolphins. Some authors said they were transformed by Dionysus (I will talk about that myth later in the story). But here, I wanted the animal to have its own divinity.

The choice of Crete is not random. The Minoan civilization is one the earliest greek civilisations and they were already using the image of the dolphin in art (just look at the fresco in the Knossos palace).

So, of course, I wanted to honor that historical fact.

Calypso is a character who strangely doesn't belong to a specific group of nymphs like the Pleiades or the Hyades (although there are some authors who place her among the Nereids). So, because of that, I took some liberties with her. By the way, I hope you don't mind that I gave her black hair (she is often blond in painting). I just imagine her like that!

The quality of my writting is very important to me. I will always come back to correct if I see grammatical or spelling mistakes. But since english is only my second language, there are some rules that I may not be aware of yet, so if you notice a frequent mistake in my story, just tell me so I can learn.

Also, I want to tell you that the dolphin represented here is Delphinus delphis.

Don't forget that reviews are alwalys appreciated when a story is enjoyed.

See you soon!