Ocean Kings

One hundred years after The Demon's Light had been found, the long war between the four races had finally ended. Peace was restored and civilizations began to flourish once again as mankind regained control of the planet. Alchemilia Corporation was forgotten and destroyed, and Gabriel Alchemilia was put in prison.

Elaine Carpenter lived in Dawnia, a small town focused heavily on education and science. There were beaches galore around and it laid upon the coast of Thales, with seemingly neverending oceans. Despite being in the middle of a lecture, Elaine's mind wandered.

As the clock above her ticked, she imagined the life from hundreds of years ago for the people who lived on Euclid. Elaine watched as her teacher wrote information about the war on the board. She raised her hand.

Her teacher, a towering man named Jonathan Sanders, turned around and faced his class. Noticing Elaine's raised hand, he began to address her, "Ms. Carpenter, do you have a question? I'm quite shocked, you seemed to have been daydreaming for this entire lecture."

"Umm... yes sir. So, I was wondering, since demons and angels existed then, did mermaids exist too?" Elaine perked up, excited at the thought of mermaids.

The class erupted into laughter at her question, with Mr. Sanders having to quiet them in order to speak. "No, no. Mermaids didn't exist. Never have," he said with a slight chuckle.

Elaine's head hung down low, ashamed after being laughed at by the class. She sighed, watching the rest of the lesson.

As Elaine got off the school bus, she stopped at her house and walked in. "Hi Mom, hi Dad!" she called out.

Khalia arose from her leather chair, placing a mysterious black book on a nearby wooden table. Walking across the red carpet, she went to greet her daughter. "Afternoon, Elania! How was school?"

"Not good. My class thought I was a laughing stock. We were talking about the history of Euclid in history and I asked if mermaids used to exist..." Elaine sat in a chair nearby her mother, sighing.

Hearing the words said by his daughter, Alaster walked over from the stove and glanced down at her. "Mermaids obviously don't exist. You shouldn't waste your grades on silly questions like this."

"I'd suppose there are none..." replied her mother, smiling.

"Why doesn't anyone believe in mermaids?" Elaine sulked, arms crossed.

Khalia chuckled. "Of course there are no mermaids dear. You only hear of that in stories ... the Lord did not grant mermaids in his insurrection."

"How do we know what the Lord did and did not give us! We weren't even there!" Elaina snapped at her mother, biting her lip.

"Ehehe, not *that* kind of Lord. . " Her mother was largely secretive about her religion. Elaine's father was always indifferent to it, so he was never sure about what exactly her belief consisted of. It was certainly unorthodox - if she didn't tell you about her 'scriptures', most would assume it is the standard story of an omnipotent being who gave the universe life. "Why don't you calm down with some dinner, sweety?"

"I don't want any dinner. I'm not hungry!" Elaine stormed off into her room, shutting and locking the door.

"Teenagers..." Her father muttered under his breath, returning to the stove.

Elaine stared out her window and looked at the vast beach beyond. With a tear rolling down her face, she grabbed her swimsuit, pinned up her hair, and snuck out of the window.

Elaine walked up to the beach, sighing. "If angels and demons exist," she thought, "Then why can't mermaids? It doesn't make sense.."

She dipped her toes in the water. Her mother and father did not let her wade in the water too long, as they said there was too many chemicals in it nowadays to be safe to swim in. She found it nonsense.

"If I get chemicals in my system, oh well. At least Mom and Dad aren't here to police me." She got into the water and waded around to about waist height. The longer she stayed in, she started feeling a bit dizzy.

"Maybe Mom and Dad were right..." she tried swimming to shore, but got pulled back by something.

"don't go......." a deep, loud voice belted out.

"don't go........" more and more voices began to yell out at her. Strange, dismantled figures with scales began running towards her and making inhuman noises, digging their claws into her.

Blackness. Blackness was all she could see.

Alaster paced around the kitchen, looking down at his watch every few minutes. "Hmm....she's late," he said aloud and to no one in particular.

"She's coming back soon. Give it a few more minutes," responded Khalia.

Silvia was swimming, looking for something, anything, to go with her new recipe. As she approached a clearing, she saw something strange on the ground. What is it? As she drew nearer, she realized the figure was a young girl - one that appeared to be passed out. What is a human doing underwater? Silvia thought. She looked at the girl again. I better bring her to land before she dies. She picked up the young girl and swam towards to surface. This, of course wasn't easy, because the girl was heavy, but Silvia managed to drag her to shore. What do I do next? Do I just leave her there? Silvia thought. She looked at her again. Wait... are those scales on her legs? Silvia took a closer look and realized that the strange girl has distinctive scales on her legs. Has this human begun... transforming? she thought. There is so much stuff I don't know about this girl. Maybe I should wake her up to ask her. But how? Silvia gazed at the girl. Maybe I can extract the water from her lungs! Silvia touched the girl's forehead and closed her eyes. Immediately, the girl started to hack and retch water.

Elaine opened her eyes to see a scaly, monstrous creature holding her. Frightened, she squirmed a bit in her arms. "What are you doing?!" she yelped, coughing and hacking.

Silvia let go of Elaine and moved away from her.

"I was simply healing you. Unless you wanted to die," Silvia said. She moved away a couple more feet and said, "A thank you would've been nice."

"I'm sorry, your appearance just startled me. What exactly are you, might I ask?" Elaine inquired.

"The answer is quite simple and obvious," Silvia said. "I am a mermaid. And what are you? You clearly aren't human."

"A MERMAID?!" Elaine perked up, not listening to her second half of the statement at all. "Been waiting for this day for 14 years! You are real! Oh man, I gotta show Mom and Dad!"

"NO!" Silvia recoiled. "I mean, that wouldn't be a good idea. They would be disgusted, horrified! You cannot tell anyone about this! Actually, forget you ever saw me. I am just a dream, a figment of your imagination."

Silvia sighed and then shook her head. She turned around and started to drag herself to the ocean.

Elaine sighed, looking down at her legs. She shrieked. "I can NOT go back home like this! With all these scales! Please, take me with you! You must have given me some mermaid disease!"

Silvia turned around and laughed.

"Mermaid disease? You think I've given you a MERMAID DISEASE? You humans are always so ignorant." Silvia closed her eyes then re-opened them. "I shall take you home until your transformation is finished. Then, I shall bring you back to the surface before anyone says anything. Deal?"

"Deal.." Elaine replied. "But let's get there fast, my legs are burning!"

"That's not a good sign" Silvia muttered. She moved back next to Elaine and was about to reach for her arm but something caused her to hesitate.

"May I touch you" Silvia asked?

"Sure, I guess." Elaine replied.

Silvia grabbed Elaine with one hand and used the other to drag them into the ocean.

"Since you can breath underwater, it's best we go deeper if we don't want anyone to see us" Silvia said. She dragged them deeper into the ocean but stopped before it was too far from the shore "just in case".

"This is going to take time," Silvia said "and very painful so brace yourself".

"Alright.." she sighed, following the girl. "Why is this so painful? My legs are going numb."

"I do not know," Silvia replied "I was born this way so I don't know how a transformation feels. Just take deep breathes, okay? Oh, and try not to pass out again".

"I passed out?" she gasped. "I don't remember anything.."

"How do you feel?" Silvia asked as she watched Elaine's face turn pale.

"Not so good. I don't know what's happening to me. I just hope I'll wake up on the beach and this is some scary dream. This is a dream, right?" Elaine looked at the mermaid.

Silvia sighed and looked up at the sky, then at Elaine.

"I'd love to say it's all a dream and you'll wake up tomorrow morning safe and sound in your... uh, bed, or on the beach, but no, it's not a dream."

Silvia looked up at the sky again, then narrowed her eyes. "Elaine, do you think we can swim further in?"

"Sure, I guess we can," Elaine coughed a bit. "Why is the water down here so dirty?"

"Wow, you're quick," Silvia said. "The water is mainly polluted around the beach, but as we get deeper, it's cleaner. Come."

Silvia grabbed the shivering Elaine and dragged her deeper into the ocean. "How are you feeling now?" Silvia asked. She sounded a bit concerned.
"A little bit better, I guess," she swam along with her, her legs merging more into a tail. "Where are we going?"

"We'll head over to my place to think about what we're going to do next" Silvia said, as she swam faster. "Do you think you can keep up? We don't have a lot of time left."

"Alright, I'll try." Elaine continued along. "I'm not used to swimming like this though. Will there be other mermaids there?"

Silvia hesitated before replying.

"Of course there are other mermaids, but we don't have time to see them right now. We need to get you back home before your parents get too worried, and before any night creatures come out."

Silvia grabbed Elaine and swam faster. After swimming for around 10 minutes, they finally entered a ravine filled with caves.

"This way," Silvia said pulling Elaine towards one particular cave. They swam inside and Silvia waved her hand. Immediately, the cave lit up.

"Wait here and DO NOT touch anything," Silvia swam behind a curtain of seaweed.

Hearing Silvia's words made Elaine want to touch things even more. She looked around at the small cave and noticed a small, black book, similar to her mothers. Her mother, however, had never let her read it, due to her secretive nature. "Maybe mermaids and humans believe in the same things?" she glanced at the book. She decided to open it up and flipped to a drawing of a mermaid, but it didn't look like the mermaids she had met. It looked like what one would think of a mermaid - beautiful.

"The lord did not designate for half-mermaid/half-human variations to occur -- they are monstrous and inhumane, as most believe. However, we should still respect them, as they are equal to us. All beings are equal."

She flipped a page.

"The lord believes that in part of our prayers, we should pray for the halflings. Half demons, half angels, and half mermaids. One day, they may be cured of what one would believe to be the ugliest of them all. Humans and mermaids should have never mixed."

As she read, a shadow loomed over her. It was Silvia.

Silvia carried a tray of what appeared to be seaweed and putted it down on a table near Elaine.

“Ah, it appears you’ve found the history book,” Silvia said, not the least bit angry that Elaine had disobeyed her “all mermaids have one. Well, most mermaids have one.”

Silvia peeked at the page Elaine was on and shook her head before motioning towards a cluster of... rocks?

“Go and sit there. You can bring the book with you if you want” Silvia said.

"Rocks?" she asked. "Won't that hurt?"

"Hm? Oh, no, you wouldn't be able to feel it. I guess those are the perks of having a tail."

Silvia reached for some seaweed on the tray and gave it to Elaine.

"Here, eat some. It will help return your energy."

Elaine swam over to the rock, plopping down on it and grabbing the tray from Silvia's hands. "Thank you for all this." she said. "When you do think I will be able to return home?"

“Soon, hopefully” Silvia replied, “your parents are probably worried sick. Plus, I’m not sure certain merpeople would be happy that I brang you here”.

Silvia picked up the book and flipped through the pages.

“Do you need anything else?”

"I'm fine, thanks." Elaine replied. "Why do humans not believe mermaids exist?"

“Uh... well, we’ve made a big show of hiding ourselves for centuries” Silvia looked up from the book, “humans were never really that nice to us, always insulting us and making fun of us. Eventually, our ancestors got tired of this and decided that instead of declaring a war they might lose, they erased all trace of mermaid existence. Of course, some humans were able to spot us to create what you call “myths” or “stories” about our kind”.

Silvia sighed.

“Your images of mermaids are mostly incorrect, of course, you know nothing about us, so I can’t expect you to know, but we aren’t as pretty as humans like to depict us as. We are more fish than human. The only exceptions are half mermaids, who are more human than fish and because of this, they are greatly resented therefore deemed an ‘abomination’”.

Silvia glanced outside.

“We should go”.

"Alright." Elaine followed behind Silvia. "Thank you once again for all of this. I don't think I'll ever go in the water again."

Silvia looked at her a bit warily before continuing.

"Mermaids are attracted to water, so I don't think that's avoidable, but give it a try and see."

They reached the surface. It was already dark outside.

"Good luck" Silvia said before she disappeared underneath the water.

Elaine dragged herself out of the water, realizing as she reached land her fin became more like legs. She began the trek back home, not before being stopped by her parents shortly thereafter. She looked up at them wearily, praying they had not seen her in the water.

"Where have you been? Do you even know how late it is?" Her father snapped, visibly angry at her.

"Dad, I-" Elaine was at a loss for words, not wanting to be dishonest with her parents, but knowing that she was not allowed to tell her parents about being a mermaid, and knowing that she would probably be looked down upon for saying such, she kept her mouth shut. Torn between words, Elaine looked up at her angry parents.

 S2: