Author's note: I own nothing but the plot.
On the land, a celebration was underway. The tenth anniversary of their freedom was more than well underway. When there wasn't a human or wizard to be seen but a toxic wasteland in its place? Destroyed ruins of the planet to explore, it was easy to connect the dots. The people were gone, and they could reign above in peace even if the earth was now a fixer up? That's the beauty of magic. Less than a week after their escape, the planet has become lush and beautiful. There was farmland galore and homes, and monster society was booming, and the monsters had the run of the land now that they were genuinely free of the barrier. The wizard's spell was finally broken, and they were taking full of advantage of the earth that had never looked better or cleaner. Though the humans were gone, the remanents of their society were not. The libraries were mostly intact, as was the advancement they had left in their wake, which left a royal scientist and smiling skeleton to comb over their improvements and piece together what happened here.
A bright, sparkling, glimmer and the morning rose under the sea, and the blaring horn sounded far and wide. The early workers were setting up the catch of the day on the seafloor, allowing the bottom feeders to be the easiest catch. As always, they put a trap on the top of the waves in the vain hope that their might make a life out of the ocean's waves. On the orders of the higher-ups, you follow it. Even if the vain hope of change is what kept them alive when the world went belly up, it's all we had and all this time even when it was in vain; why fight against it now. They have never led us wrong yet.
Everyone got to work farming or getting down to business or getting to their jobs that they were assigned to. People were smiling and giggling, enjoying the responsibilities assigned to them. The cooks are cooking, and the bakers were able to make the bread somehow. On the other hand, the kids were not in school instead of having the time of their lives. Summer had officially taken it's hold, and the kid's tails were flapping, and some were spinning in a way they only could, doing insane flips and tricks and enjoying themselves. Children were enjoying themselves before their parents came back from working the day away. Among them was a quiet girl. While her parents could take care of her, they were notoriously busy trying to make the sea more like the home that we once knew thousands of years ago, but the kids cared not for that but their playtime.
And elderly merwoman called out to them.
"GATHER round, everyone! Gather round; it is time to remember our past! Most of you younglings think you know the tale, but most of you haven't truly seen or heard of it from a real historian! I will have a slideshow! So you can truly understand and take in what I have to remind all of you. Remember, children! You need to learn from their past mistakes! If we want to survive and thrive as we once did. Thousands upon thousands of years ago, we had legs to walk on land and breathe the sweet air. But we were foolish too ambitious for our own britches. We polluted our home. It was too unlivable for us to breathe the air; the soil was unusable. We would have died in a matter of months, so the solution was under the sea. It seemed simple we even made underwater city impenetrable to any all threats, but it wasn't made to last like everything we've done. And out of desperation, our protective seal started cracking, and our saviors and permanent guides came to our aide, giving us the ability to breathe and truly protect ourselves from the water, allowing us to survive. They gave orders and the tools to survive when our leaders have given us chaos. And ever since we started following their guidance, we have become a force to be reckoned with. We have free reign of the ocean. We have stability and a monarchy that's expanded the seven seas. The sea is now our home. But always remember, children, if you are smart enough and learn everything you need to know, you could be chosen to survey the surface or be apart of the retrieval and salvage team. Who knows, any one of you could be the heroes who give the all clear that the surface is safe!"
As always, the quiet little girl listened quietly to the story, a sense of hope bursting through her. When she would hear about the land about the surface and hoping one day, she would be one of the lucky mermaids to be allowed to see the world above. To see how it's doing after everything that happened, most of us have given up hope of a return to land to finally lose our tails and our gills and walk on two legs. It won't be easy, but we, at our core, still as human as we ever were deep down in our hearts. I hope the wizards allow observation teams since the program hasn't had an applicant in five years. As did my friends, my parents doubt me, but I was determined to get to the surface and indeed see if we can not come back to this place we once roamed.