Okay, next chapter:
Eric woke up the next morning giving a yawn. He was up all night last night.
He was still coping with the fact that his father was the best friend of the sea King. And more than that, Mermaids were real!
Now that he thought about it, he wondered if it was a Mermaid that rescued him.
He went down the hall to see his father, Orlin, who was laying on his bed. "Eric, good morning son!" he rasped. He was not feeling well. "Something on your mind?" Orlin continued.
"Actually yes, I was wondering about my rescuer on the night of my birthday." Eric began. "Ah yes, I heard about the accident from Grimsby." Orlin interrupted. "Well, after the explosion, I fell unconcious, next thing I know I'm back on the beach and being sung to by a woman with, a beautiful voice!" Eric explained.
"Let me guess. You think it might have been a mermaid?" Orlin guessed. Eric nodded. "What did she look like?" asked Orlin. Eric tried his best to remember. "She had long red hair, greenish eyes, red lips, and I think she was wearing a seashell bikini." said Eric, trying to describe her.
"Hmm, she sounds alot like Princess Ariel. Daughter of King Triton." said Orlin. He began to cough loud and hard, and was giving a laboured breath. "Dad?" Eric asked, alarmed. "I'm sorry son, but this is it. I'm dying." Orling rasped out of his laboured breath. Eric was in shock. "Wha... No! No you can't die! Not now! I need you! Triton needs you! Atlantica needs you! Ariel needs you!" he pattered.
"No son, you don't quite understand. I should have been dead the night that I woke you up at midnight and took you down to the beach to meet Triton and Joussha. I've been holding on this whole week. Now, it is... time to... go." Said Orlin, running out of breath. "Dad, what about the battle?" Eric asked, panicking and tearing. "You... Son... will lead... them." Orlin struggled to say.
Orlin Pulled Eric in so he can whisper. "Save Atlantica... save the ocean... save the... Wor...ld." Orling whispered his last words into Eric's ear.
Eric looked up to his fathers open-eyed face. He was dead. Eric cried for what seemed like half an hour. He closed his father's eyes and left the room.
Eric held a funeral for his father that afternoon. He was buried in the castle gardens. The tombstone read:
HERE LIES: King Orlin. Father of Prince Eric. Husband to beloved Queen Katherine. Lifelong friend of Triton, King of the sea.
"Rest in peace father. Watch over us. We need all the help we can get."
Another one gone.
Reminder: this is fiction, so no tears, just a story.