ITS FINALLY WINTER BREAK! Goodness Golly, this semester has been crazy! Unfortunately, I have a hectic break as well. But never fear! My idea train for this plot is really rolling now. We're getting into the thick of it. And again, I warn this will probably end up being at least 20 chapters. So much to write! But all amazing! Hopefully?! We shall see! Okay, I'm gonna stop rambling now and go to bed as it is 2 am. Lol, goodnight! And remember, review!
Zen woke to the sight of a beautiful mermaid, dying. He jolted up. "Shirayuki!" He tried to touch her, but a jolt of electricity lashed out at his fingertips and he backed up. He felt the water swirl around him. His heart pumping, he turned and saw the Queen of the Ocean pressed up against the massive glowing Vidre. Where she touched it, an angry red color was growing like an infection. She struggled in vain, her teeth clenched as she glared at Zen from the corner of her eye.
Zen's tail lashed out in defense as something brushed against it gently. A dead electric eel was floating listlessly through the swirling water. Its eyes were dark, it's mouth open and sharp teeth stained with blood.
Zen looked up. No one was around them, but as he watched, a slither of light moved into the room from one of the many holes high above them near the roof. The light took shape – by now Zen knew the shape of a mermaid when he saw one. "What is this? Who's there?!" He shouted.
The light shifted more and more, until color began to seep into the shape of a mermaid. Her tail filled with a million colors, her skin a dark brown that caught all the light. Her face was still lost in the light, but her hair fanned out in beautiful blue waves, decorated with green highlights and white sparkles that made Zen think of the surface of the ocean.
Zen looked down at Shirayuki. She convulsed every now and then, a few clouds of blood being pulled from four spots where Zen assumed she had been bitten into swirling water. The current pulled on his head and every fiber of Zen's skin tingled, as if the water had been filled with colors he couldn't see. Shirayuki's tail was completely still. Zen looked up to the mermaid again. "Please, help Shirayuki!"
The mermaid smiled serenely. She spread her arms and the swirling of the water stopped. She looked down at Zen and Shirayuki, and the coral withered and died around them. The color drained out of it and it snapped into pieces, floating down to the far below floor.
Zen gasped as the current pulled him off the edge, into open water and towards the mermaid. He still couldn't make out her face, so he looked down instead. He didn't bother trying to fight the current, he was honestly too stunned to. He saw Shirayuki was lifted like him. He flared his fin and hesitated just enough to have her catch up. She left red tendrils like slowly unraveling ribbons. She moaned slightly with each motion, which at least made Zen think she was still alive. "Who-Who are you?" Zen asked. The current released him as he found himself right in front of the mermaid.
"Come." She spoke. Her voice seemed to come from a million places at once.
Zen had to start kicking his tail. "Shirayuki…and the Queen…what just happened?"
"Later." The mermaid shushed. Her colors vanished into the light again, and she swam out to the open water.
The water kicked up and seemed to follow her, carrying Shirayuki along. As she passed him, her eyes fluttered just barely open. "Z-Z-e-"
"I'm coming." He blurted. With one last glance at the Queen, still pinned against the Vidre that was still turning red, he followed the current out a large hole and into the dark water.
They swam until Zen experienced a sore fin for the first time in his life. He didn't want to say anything, but luckily he didn't have to. The water current accelerated and carried him alongside Shirayuki, giving his tail a break. As they moved, he worried about her. She lie unconscious in the water, occasionally she would groan or twitch and Zen would hope he was still alive. He wanted to touch her, but every time he tried he just got shocked.
The mermaid in front of him stayed a light. Zen kept looking back, but they had left the castle far behind.
The current carried them down into the seafloor where a small rock overshadowed a large cave. The cave was filled with Vidre, and live sea life swam around its many winding passages and caverns. Zen stiffened when he saw a cluster of electric eels, but the voice spoke again.
"Do not worry. They will not harm you."
The current suddenly stopped for him, nearly sending him sprawling before he spread his fin and kicked back against the water. Shirayuki was carried on and around the room once before floating over what looked like a small volcano. Bubbles rushed up through it and somehow Shirayuki levitated over them.
Zen looked around. The room was filled with soft white lights. On closer inspection, Zen realized they were still Vidre, but he had never seen Vidre glow like this.
The light went around to the other side of Shirayuki and solidified again. This time her face became clear. She was astonishingly beautiful. Her lips were thick, her eyebrows light and her eyes sparkling with all the colors of her tail. Her skin was smooth as sea glass. But while she was beautiful, she was also terrifying. Something almost evil looking glimmered in the depths of her eyes. She was mysterious and unknown, powerful in more than just her beauty. Zen's whole presence trembled in front of her.
"Who-Who are you?" Zen asked.
The woman brushed her hands through her hair. "I am the Sea." She spoke.
Zen blinked. "Like…the ocean? The Sea?" He waved his arms through the water. "This ocean?"
She smiled. "Yes, Zen Wisteria."
"What…Why…" Zen had too many questions. His fin was flicking agitatedly, sending him further up towards the roof of the cave.
The Sea smiled. She put her hand underneath Shirayuki. The bubbles running through her fingers turned a green color, floating up and blending in to the unconscious mermaid's tail. "You and Shirayuki both have grand destinies ahead of you." The Sea started. "I couldn't let Kay kill ether of you."
The words reminded Zen of what Obi had said. "Obi said…he said you thought that we could save you?"
"And your land as well, Prince of Clarines." The Sea agreed.
Shirayuki moaned slightly.
The Sea spread her fingers and the bubbles increased, surrounding Shirayuki in flurries so thick his view of her became a little jostled. Zen looked to the roof, where the bubbles gathered on the top and were slowly forming a greenish cloud the color of emeralds. "Kay and Jules have partnered with a powerful figure Above Surface – you'd call that land. He is a Prince as well, though I am not sure who."
"Why would they do that?" Zen desperately tried to think of any Princes who would be out against Clarines Kingdom. The Kingdom had a lot of enemies, this was true. But specific Princes'?
The Sea sighed. Zen felt the water move behind him, and yelped as a Great White Shark slipped through the entrance and into the room, close enough to scrape against his back. It glanced at Zen, before moving around the outskirts of the room. "Oh, do not be afraid." The Sea murmured. She raised her free hand and the shark moved to rest its chin on her palm. "This is Kollo, he is one of my many children."
"Um…."
"Kollo is here to send a message to Obi. Tell him we're here, will you?" The Sea asked.
Kollo didn't do anything to affirm or deny the message as far as Zen could see. The Great White swam out the entrance, blowing past Zen with little more than a glance.
Shirayuki stirred slightly, then seemed to relax.
The Sea twisted her hand and the bubbles turned pink. "You're quiet, something on your mind?" She asked it softly, with a small smile.
"Yes?" Zen blinked. "I'm just…confused."
"As you should be."
"Great." Zen took a second to close his eyes and breathe. It was a harder thing to do when he was breathing salt water and through gills, not his mouth, but he did his best. Then he looked up. "Is Shirayuki going to be alright?"
"She's still alive, and she will get better. But it will be a while before she can move again." The Sea sighed. She reached her hand up and gently ran her fingers through Shirayuki's hair. "The poor mermaid."
"How will Shirayuki get around if she can't move?" Zen's fin flared out. "I read that if sharks stop moving they'll die, is it the same for mers?"
The Sea scoffed. "How little you humans truly understand about my realm." She pulled her hand back from the bubbles and the colors stopped. She looked at Zen. "My dear Prince, you have surely been a mer long enough to know that you can remain still without suddenly dying."
"Well, yeah."
"Shirayuki will not need to worry about moving around the Sea for a while yet." The ocean sighed and swam around to play with Shirayuki's hair. "I wish I could keep you in my domain, but I fear that this war will have to be stopped on the land."
Zen's heart skipped a beat. "We're-We're going back to the land?"
The Sea nodded sadly.
Zen resisted the urge to spin in a circle of joy. "How?"
"I will have Obi take you to the Circle of Tides near your land." The Sea said. Seeing his face, she explained with a small wince. "It is the only way to turn human. You and Shirayuki will be put in a whirlpool. Don't make that face, Prince. A royal should remained composed."
Zen scoffed. "I'm not great at following the rules of being royal."
The Sea smiled warmly. She swam around Shirayuki and towards Zen, getting a little too close. She grabbed his hand and studied it. "I think you're a fine royal." The Sea promised.
"You'd be the first." Zen muttered. "Down here, I feel like every mer hates my guts."
"Because of how your kingdom sunk Atlantis?"
Zen nodded. "I know it's not my fault, but every mer I've met thinks differently."
"You haven't met enough mers, my dear Prince." The Sea smiled and flipped his hand over. She trailed her nail carefully down the lines of his palm. Zen shivered, although he wasn't sure why.
Zen had to agree with that. "When are we leaving for the Circle of Tides?"
The Sea finished tracing his palm and switched to his other hand. She looked up at him, her eyes a rainbow of colors, swirling like they themselves were whirlpools. "I'm afraid not for a while." Instead of tracing his palm, she let his hand go and looked over to Shirayuki.
Zen's heart dropped into his fin. He sank – literally, a few inches in the water. "How long is a while?"
The Sea sighed and put her hand on his cheek. "Shirayuki must heal. I can't cure her overnight."
Zen closed his eyes. "Why can't there be a way for me to turn back alone? Why do I need her?"
The Sea's hand was warm, like a ray of sunshine. "I haven't seen love sickness in hundreds of years, its effects are lost in my memory. I could feel your pain when you were separated. I could feel your life forces waning."
"There has to be a cure." Zen sounded desperate, even to himself. It was hard to hold composure in front of the Sea.
"There is. I have Sharkmen all across my domain hunting for a lead. You have to hold on a little longer." The Sea promised. She reached behind his head and gently pulled him down to her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around his back. "You're very brave, my dear Prince."
Zen allowed himself to relax into the hug. He felt like a small child, but he appreciated the comfort. It was the first real bit of sympathy Zen had really felt since entering the underwater world.
After a minute, the Sea pulled back. She stroked his head and looked around, then whistled softly into the air. After a small moment, where she completely pulled herself away from him and let him gather his composure again, a large manta ray drifted into the room. It looked more intelligent than Zen would have expected. Zen had only ever seen sea cows from afar, only now was he realizing how big they actually were.
It's back was a smooth black and its stinger was long. It looked nonthreatening, but Zen wasn't fooled.
"This is Lioj. Lioj can be Shirayuki's support animal until she is healed."
"Support animal?"
Lioj moved to Shirayuki and slowly spun around her, causing her hair to be pulled with the currents. She murmured and Lioj stopped, coming over to the Sea. The Sea lifted her arms and Lioj affectionately swam into her hug. She laughed as she was spun once by the ray, who was just bigger than her by a little. "Lioj, thank you for your service." The Sea fearlessly grabbed Lioj's stinger and used it to pull him back into her. She faced Zen. "Once Shirayuki is healed, I will send Obi. He will take you to the Circle of Tides, and there you will finally be human again."
"And…Shirayuki will be human, too?"
The Sea nodded, pursing her lips. She let go of Lioj, who lazily glided around the room. "Not forever. I would never condemn my creatures to that fate if I could help it."
"What, coming on land?"
"Being human." The Sea corrected. There wasn't a hint of coldness in her voice that Zen could sense.
"Why is it seen as such a bad thing?" Zen almost asked if the Sea bore a grudge against him and Clarines too- for sinking Atlantis. That was a fact he was still trying to process. "Being human isn't too awful."
The Sea raised her hand. "I meant no offense." She stared down at her tail. "I used to be very lonely, you know." She waved her hand, and two large stones rumbled out of the ground. She sat down on the taller of the two and gestured for Zen to come sit next to her, against the wall. Zen swam forward and awkwardly pushed his butt (if he even technically had one; that is) onto the rock. He curled his tail around himself in a way he had once seen Shirayuki do. It was comfortable enough, he supposed.
"This was back before anything living existed, of course. I was born from the tears of stars, many millions of years ago. I filled this planet, and gained conscious. I was alone for thousands of years. But then, I had an ingenious idea." She lifted her hands and cupped them. Just in the base of her palm, a small sparkle appeared. It wasn't white, per say, it was more just the absence of color. "I had all of this power. I could feel it. So, I created with it. The first few attempts were horrible messes. My power of creation is so easily mixed up with destruction." She rolled her eyes, as if this was an everyday issue.
Zen tried to bit back his sudden terror of the little sparkle.
The Sea continued. "I persisted, and one day, I made something. That something was only an atom, only a miniscule speck that didn't even have the capability to do anything more than breathe. But that was enough. I was so proud." She smiled faintly at the little sparkle, as if it were a living thing that needed reassuring. "Sadly, that was all I could do. I made millions of atoms, but they didn't fulfill my loneliness."
She closed her fist over the atom, and the light died under her fingertips. She smiled at Zen. "Then the Moon saw me."
"The Moon…saw you?" Zen pictured another deity like the one he spoke to, casually leaning off the edge of the crescent moon and talking to the ocean.
"Yes. She called out, and I must have scared the stars out of her with my response." The Sea chuckled. "But She came to me, and has been my best friend for millions of years." The Sea looked at Zen. "For you, the moon is lightyears away, yes?"
"…Yes?" Zen answered.
The Sea hummed and shrugged. "Anyways, she is still my very best friend. No, I dare say She is my lover. I respond to her call constantly. I can always hear her chattering, and I never fail to listen."
"So…"
"So, when my atoms suddenly began to have life, I was shocked. I had all but forgotten about them. The moon advised me to let it grow and see what happened. Years passed, and now we are here. With you. With humans."
Zen swallowed. He wasn't sure if he would like where this story was going.
"When the first few creatures entered the land, they left my domain. I can't see past my own self, you see. But humans? You stayed in the water for many thousands of years."
"What? But we're from the land."
"No you are not. You were originally mine. You were the original mers. But overtime, some of you grew restless and curios." She ruffled Zen's hair affectionately. "My little curious ones, as the Moon always liked to call you. Those who left to see the land saw so many things, I bet." A sad, wistful look crossed her glowing gaze. "They didn't come back for so long. The Moon told me of the things they did, and suddenly they were everywhere. They built boats and they come back to me now still."
"What does this have to do with me? Or Atlantis? Or why being human is so bad?"
The Sea removed her hand from his head. He absent mindedly tried to fix it. "Oh, I'm babbling a little. Forgive me." She took a deep breath. "I gave Atlantis as it was, fully formed, to the humans. When you hear-or, have heard that the mers were forced to come to be because of the loss of their home, you are hearing a wrong legend. I wanted the island to remind the humans of what they once were to me. I wanted them to…to come home." She held herself sadly, looking away from Zen. "But, they did not. Instead, I lost my remaining mers to the land that was meant for the already formed humans. It was horrifying to me."
"So…all the mers were human at one point, then?"
She shook her head. "No. Atlantis was both on land and in the ocean. The city moved down with the beach and into my domain. I hoped that would be enough to prompt them to come back. But instead, my mers morphed into something like amphibians." She moved her hands as if to indicate the shape. "They had webbing between their fingers and toes, they lived out of the water but always returned to it for moisture and food."
"This is a weird image."
The Sea shrugged. "I couldn't stop them, and so thought that my work was limited. Therefore, when the Moon told me that the Atlantians had made contact with the humans I wasn't too bothered. But when She then told me that they were fighting, I worried."
Lioj had been circling Shirayuki during this story, but he turned and swam to land on the ground in front of the mers.
"The night of the war…" The Sea murmured, her eyes far away. "It was carnage as I have never seen. I tried and tried desperately to get them to stop, but both sides ignored me. Clarines laid waste to the Atlantis."
"That part is true. It really was my country that did that?" Zen murmured. It didn't surprise him, true. But a part of him so desperately wished that it wasn't so.
"Yes." The Sea held her hand out for his.
He took it after a moment of hesitation.
She held it tightly, but only as if she wanted support. "Clarines razed the land. My gift to them, they ripped it apart. No blade of grass was left unsullied, no column left standing. The people fled to the water, and there my biggest regret lies. I was so busy screaming at the humans to stop, that I nearly killed out my Atlantians."
"The Atlantians could not rebuild?" Zen asked. "The amount of destruction you're describing – how long did this battle last?"
"The battle was pathetic, it took little more than six hours to send all the people into the water. It was the destruction of the island that took so long, and the reason the mers became what they are now." The Sea took a deep breath. "Three months I watched helplessly as the humans turned the island into nothing more than a mulch pit."
"Wow." Zen felt heavy. "Wh-What on earth could have caused such violence?"
The Sea looked up at the roof. "The Moon told me She wasn't sure. To this day I cannot be sure."
"And that is why being human is bad." Zen murmured.
"Yes. I am always afraid of them. Do you not understand? Their rage was incomprehensible. Who's to say that this will not happen again? Humans' emotions are too uncontrollable, too powerful."
"Mers aren't?"
"I can control mers here. Why do you think I created the Sharkmen?"
Zen stared at his fingers as they clasped around the palm of the Sea. "I…I'm sorry." He didn't want to hold it anymore, but for that reason he squeezed it tighter.
The Sea laughed. "I appreciate your apologize, but Prince, it was a long time ago. Wounds have healed. I reclaimed the land that was Atlantis so my mers could now use it safely under my domain."
Zen nodded mutely. "If…If you aren't mad, then why do you let mers sink ships like they do? Shirayuki told me it was for revenge."
The Sea pursed her lips. "It is. I do not deny that." She let out a great sigh. "I cannot stop my mers from singing. If I must admit it, I believe it brings me a bitter satisfaction as well. If I couldn't have my humans in life, their death surely must belong to me."
Fear flared up in Zen's chest, but he hid it well. He even kept his fin from flicking in and out anxiously. He looked to Lioj, who looked at him blankly.
"I am sorry to have offended you." The Sea said. She let go of his hand and swam off the rock. It sunk back into the ground as she circled Shirayuki again. "That is the true story of what happened to Atlantis, and why I worry about condemning Shirayuki to the Above Surface for a time."
"How-How long will she remain human?"
The Sea looked at Zen through a myriad of bubbles. "Anxious to get rid of your bond, aren't you?"
Zen snorted. "She just makes me nervous."
The Sea laughed and spun once in a twirl. "She will heal first and foremost. Then she shall turn human until-" The Sea stopped. She turned, facing out into a corridor. Her tail stilled, then lashed angrily. She turned back to Zen. "I cannot stay in this form for much longer. I sense a large disturbance far away."
"A disturbance?" Zen got up, swimming forward until she put a hand out to stop him.
Her mouth was just barely open, her head lowered as she seemed o obe listening. Then she winced. "No." She paled, and looked at the manta ray underneath Zen. "Lioj, take Zen and Shirayuki home immediately. I want all the mers inside their homes now."
"What?" Zen blinked. Lioj shook himself free of the sand and swam into the bubbles. Shirayuki dropped onto his back, and he easily glided forward with the mermaid curling up on his back.
"Do you remember my failed attempts at life? Someone is releasing one – many, of them right now." The Sea swam through the bubbles fearlessly and grabbed Zen's head. Her multicolored eyes were a glowing haze, he was barely able to pick out the outlines of her irises. "Now remember, my brave Prince. Keep faith, and believe. Take care of Shirayuki for me, and please, don't let the past control the future." She stroked his hair as she spoke, when she finished she pulled his head forward and kissed his forehead.
To Zen, it felt as if he had just been slammed into boulders. He jerked back, shaking his head dizzily as the room spun. The Sea began to glow, her form fading. "Remember our talk, brave Prince. Do not let the past control the future."
Zen sunk like a stone, but before he hit the ground, he felt Lioj roll underneath him. He looked over to Shirayuki as they moved away, and that was the last feeling he had before sleep grabbed him and pulled him down like undertow.