Sea Caves of Ireland

Nine-year-old Bella Hartley becomes a mermaid in the Sea Caves of Ireland

“	I was nine-years-old. We were living in Ireland at the time. My parents were busy, so I went exploring, and there was this place. I walked down by the ocean at the bottom of the cliffs. I felt, I felt drawn there like, like I was looking for something, only I didn't know what. There was a cave. I felt so peace in there, like, like I belonged. And then, something magical happened.	”
	— Isabella Hartley explaining her mermaid history to Will Benjamin[src]

The Sea Caves of Ireland were a set of sea caves located somewhere on the Irish coast, where a Moon Pool was found facing the North Atlantic Ocean.

Story

In ancient times, an impact of a celestial object created a part of Mako Island, approximately 50 kilometers off the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where the first known Moon Pool was later established at its heart. It was believed that several of its shards impacted other places on Earth, creating the set of sea caves at the Irish coast, and possibly other Moon Pools across the globe. The rock of these caves was the same material as a comet, creating a magnetic attraction that regularly pulled it to Earth.

Pre-Series

In early 1700s, a young Irish girl (believed to be a mermaid) named Eva used her abilities to save those around her from a comet that was later named after her. Once the comet's eventual impact was repelled, she disappeared, and her fate remained unknown.

Many centuries later, in late 1990s, a young girl named Isabella Hartley underwent her metamorphosis in the Irish Moon Pool at the age of nine, granting her power to turn water into a jelly-like substance, and to solidify water into another substance similar to glass. Years later, Bella found a crystal at the bottom of the pool, tied it on a string, and wore it as a necklace.

Through the Series

H2O: Just Add Water

The Irish Moon Pool was last mentioned many years later in 2008 by a recently teenage-year-old Bella when she relocated to the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and became a part of a group formed by her and her new friends, Cleo Sertori, and Rikki Chadwick, the latter two underwent their metamorphosis together with Emma Gilbert, who had departed to travel the world with her own family, in another Moon Pool at the heart of an ancient and mysterious Mako Island back on February 13, 2006.

Features

The Irish Moon Pool, like any Moon Pool in its active state, possessed the rare ability to turn any regular human being that entered its waters into a merperson, when the Full Moon was up. In addition to it, the recently-turned merpeople were gifted with special powers to gellify and solidify the liquid water that could later be enhanced to greater levels of strength, and elemental and weather-related abilities under the Elemental Moon in an active Moon Pool itself. Natural-born merpeople native from the Irish pod also naturally inherited all the regular and elemental powers granted by the Irish Moon Pool to them at birth.

The metamorphosis in the Irish Moon Pool seemed to take place almost instantly, turning a human-turned into their new, true merperson self while the full moon was still up.

Also, human-turned-merpeople transformed by the power of a Moon Pool were placed under a powerful spell that allowed them to grow legs when dry, and to turn back into their true forms once only a drop of water made a physical contact with their skin. This also applied to mermen and mermaids bewitched by the Tailless Spell, whose true self and magical powers were restored by the power of an active Moon Pool.

In all pods, letting human beings undergo metamorphosis was strictly forbidden. During Full Moons, fledgling members were tasked by the Irish pod's Mermaid Council's elders to protect the Irish Moon Pool, and prevent land people from metamorphosing, while the rest of the pod was attending the Full Moon Ceremony instead. It was such an important task, and could result in them being outcast if they failed to complete it.

However, merpeople that were permanently bewitched by the water dragon's cold breath were completely immune to the effects of the metamorphosis in an active Moon Pool itself.

Every merperson, be it turned or native from the Irish pod, was magically linked to the continued existence and physical well-being of the Irish Moon Pool that served as the source of their metamorphosis, and magical powers, meaning that if it was deprived of its powerful, magical moonwater, mermaids and mermen were to perish and die along with it if the life-link to their source of magic was not resolved in time. Human beings that underwent a certain "metamorphosis" were given a special relation with the Moon Pool itself that turned them, and were susceptible to all of its effects, except its partial destruction.

The water in all Moon Pools appeared normal to scientific experiment, but it was a type of magical Moon Water, which held the power of the moon itself. In addition to it, the water from the Irish Moon Pool adapted itself to its native aquatic climate of the North Atlantic Ocean.

The metamorphosis in any active Moon Pool was the only known counter-spell of the Tailless Spell, which returned a bewitched's true merperson self, and magical powers, and created a special type of connection between the Irish Moon Pool and a recently turned merperson. In additon to it, there existed a powerful potion that amplified the power of full moon to fifty, and likely allowed to recreate the dangerous, metamorphosis-reverting effects of the Moon of Fifty Years on a bewitched merperson at other times. When a merperson was bewitched by the Moon Spell, the Moon Pool was able to break the enchantment, and return them to normal while it was still in its active state until the full moon set.

All Moon Pools around the Earth generated different magnetism and effects depending on the variety of different lunar phases and the planetary alignments, and it was still unknown if the merpeople native from the sea were completely immune to all of these following:

• Lunar Eclipse: During a partial Lunar Eclipse, any human-turned merperson who entered the waters of a moon pool in its active state during the event was temporarily reverted back as a regular human being and stripped of their magical powers for the duration of a period of twelve hours. After the period's deadline was met, the Eclipse's effects on a bewitched merperson were removed by itself, and a bewitched's true merperson self, magical power, and connection to the specific Moon Pool was completely restored by the time. It was unknown what the effect of the total Lunar Eclipse on a bewitched merperson was to result in.
• Elemental Moon: During a rare planetary alignment, which was implied to refer to the planetary conjunction of Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter, the moon increased the water-affiliated powers of any human- metamorphosed-merperson that entered the waters of a Moon Pool, while it was still in its active state, granting them weather aspects and upgraded versions of their original, inherent magical powers. They also likely received the powerful ability to alter and manipulate the aspects of the state of weather to varying degrees, which was very common among the merpeople, whether alone, or together. It was currently unclear if an elemental-empowered celebrant merperson was able to re-undergo the celestial occurrrence of the Elemental Moon in an active Moon Pool itself more than once in one's lifetime, though it was apparently very unlikely and uncommon.
• Moon of Fifty Years: Once at every fifty years, when all planets of the Solar System occurred in a perfect conjunction with the moon, any human-born merperson who entered the waters of a moon pool in its active state while the Moon of Fifty Years was still up, was reverted back as a regular human being permanently, and stripped of their magical powers as a result, which severed their connection to the specific Moon Pool that served as the sourced of their magical power, and it was still unknown whether they could undergo metamorphosis again following their fate, though it seemed unlikely. A powerful potion existed to recreate this effect on a bewitched merperson at other times.
• Comet Collision: When a comet entered within range of collision with a Moon Pool, the pool itself underwent changes. The known effects were only proven in the Mako Island's Pool, but historical data could suggest similar effects in the Irish Pool. These were as followed:
  • A rise in temperature in the air and the water of the Pool and surrounding cave;
  • A tentacle generated to warn nearby merpeople of the impending danger;
  • The ability to display a projection to merpeople of the events to come in order to warn them; and
  • The power to magnify the powers of any merperson in order to help divert the trajectory of the comet.
• Seventh Lunar Cycle: During a seventh lunar cycle in the life of a new-born or a recently human-turned merman hatchling, it was believed that a fledgling merman's magical powers and connection to the specific Moon Pool that served as the source of their metamorphosis was to escalate to greater levels of strength than before. It was not known whether this cycle was truly cyclical, and could be repeated more than once in a fledgling's lifetime.

Trivia

• These places were believed to be created after the impact of the celestial object in antiquity. It created a part of an ancient Mako Island in the waters of the Coral Sea, approximately 50kms off the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, where the first known Moon Pool was later established at its heart and acclaimed by a pod of Southern mermen and mermaids, and several of its shards were believed to impact other places on Earth, creating the set of sea caves with alternative Moon Pool somewhere at the Irish coast, and presumably other alternative Moon Pools across the globe wherever they landed, presumably somewhere off the coasts of Canada, China, and presumably somewhere in the seas of the South Pacific.
• Isabella Hartley was the only known human-turned mermaid to undergo her metamorphosis in the Irish Pool.
• Bella mentioned that she felt drawn to the pool before her transformation. It could be assumed that there was a power akin to fate at work. This aligned with Ondina's speech given at the end of Mako: Island of Secrets, when she affirmed that Rikki and her friends were 'drawn' to the Mako Moon Pool.
  • Bella mentioned she felt like she belonged and was at peace there. Ondina and Mimmi were noted to sleep in the Mako Pool, suggesting its a similar feeling to how one feels secure in their bedroom.
• Louise Chatham once implied that different lunar phases affected merpeople in different ways. Max Hamilton once explained to Lewis McCartney that once a merperson was bewitched by the power of fifty moons in an active Moon Pool, a bewitched's true self and magical power were permanently removed, resulting in them being reverted back into their old true human self, although it was unknown what would happen if a bewitched merperson attempted to undergo metamorphosis again following their fate, as neither Charlotte Watsford nor Gracie had seemingly attempted and been willing to in the first place after making peace with their true original human self.
  • There also existed a very potent and dangerous potion that amplified the magic of the full moon to fifty, and which could be seemingly used to replicate the Moon of Fifty Years' dangerous, metamorphosis-reverting effects on a bewitched merperson at other times. However, it was implied that merpeople native from the sea were completely immune to all the lunar and other celestial occurrences on an active Moon Pool itself, including the temporary twelve-hours Lunar Eclipse, elemental-empowering Elemental Moon, and the dangerous, metamorphosis-reverting Moon of Fifty Years, although the validity of it was never outright confirmed.
• It was unknown whether Bella ever re-visited the Irish Moon Pool after she was forced to relocate to another country sometime after her metamorphosis.
• The exact location of the Irish Moon Pool was unknown, as it was only known that it was nestled somewhere on the Irish coast, but it was never revealed exactly where.
• It was unknown if Eva was a natural-born or a human-turned mermaid, and if the latter proved correct, where she might had underwent her metamorphosis, although Bella, who herself underwent her metamorphosis in the Irish Moon Pool at the age of nine during the late 1990s, believed her to underwent her metamorphosis in the Irish Moon Pool as well. It was also unknown whether Eva was a member of a Pod, and even if she was a mermaid in the first place.

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