Chapter 1
~Princess Aqua’s POV~
I swam through the colorful reefs, admiring how the variety of species lived in a community similar to the ones merfolks did. My sapphire eyes sparkled, admiring the sea rainforest. I giggled as the schools of fish swam around my pink tail, admiring it, much like everyone does. I didn’t get the nickname ′diamond of the ocean′ for nothing. Compared to the other merfolks, my mermaid tail was the only one that sparkled as if the scales were diamonds.
“Princess... Remember that in two hours, we have to be back at the castle for the choosing of a potential partner.” Romeo, my pet clown fish, and best friend reminded me as he tried to keep up with me, his fins shaking a little in anxiety as he knew how strict my father could be.
“I know,” I huffed, rolling my eyes.
“The king won’t be happy if you’re late. Many mermen are coming in hopes of winning your heart.” Romeo informed me, and I couldn’t help but not be thrilled at all. Every merman who comes will try to win me over to become king of Atlantica, not because he has feelings for me. They all have eyes on the crown, not on me. I was merely a ticket to the throne. I didn’t understand why my father could have chosen my sister, Zendaya, for next in line on the throne.
She always made it known that she wanted to be queen, while I only wanted to quietly bask in the wonders of the ocean since my father had kept me for 22 years close to the castle and the kingdom. He never once let me enter the neutral waters. They were too dangerous, according to him.
I continued to swim deeper around the reef. Romeo and I had passed the border of the kingdom long ago.
“We should probably head back.” He told me in a shaky voice, and I shook my head.
“Come on. Only a few more minutes. It’s so good to finally see what’s outside the boring kingdom.” I told Romeo as we reached thick massive rocks, and the light seemed to diminish.
We seemed to reach an underwater cliff, and when I moved closer to the edge, my eyes widened at the sight.
“Wow! Is this another kingdom?” I asked with a huge smile, seeing the vast seafloor full of sunken ships of different dimensions down below. The vessels seemed to expand without ending into the darker corners of the ocean.
“Oh, no, no! This place is bad. We have to get back right now!” Romeo whispered-yelled, quickly swimming in front of my face and startling me with his panicked behavior.
“Woah, woah! Easy, buddy. What’s so bad about this place? And... what exactly is this place?” I asked Romeo, as he implied to know what this picture was about.
“What you see is the forbidden place of the ocean for the merfolks of our kingdom. Since the beginning, the sunken ships have fallen here and become the homes of the exiled ones.”
“E-Exiled ones?”
“Yes! The ones who have been banished from our kingdom! Bad, bad merfolks who didn’t submit to the royal family. There are also nasty creatures of the oceans, so ugly and dangerous, they aren’t meant to be seen. That’s why they live here... in the darkest level of the ocean.” Romeo spoke in an eerie voice, whispering every word as if he was afraid someone might hear. His eyes constantly looked around, and he was shaking like a seaweed.
I couldn’t lie. The story made goosebumps appear on my arms, but it also startled a curiosity deep down inside me. How come no one had told me of this place before? I knew everything there was to be known about humans and their adventures above the sea on these remarkable crafts called ships, but I never saw them for real. Only heard stories.
“I wanna see what’s inside them.” I declared and swam forward, passing the edge of the cliff and going down below. Romeo’s eyes widened, and he swam after me, tugging on the end of my tail in an attempt to stop me.
“P-Princess! With all due respect! We are not allowed! Sharks could eat us... Or we could get electrocuted by eels!” He attempted to make me change my mind, and as much as the danger made my nerves shake with anxiety, my inquisitiveness won over. They have kept me all my life like a pearl in a closed seashell. Now, I got the chance to look around.
“If there is any danger, I will protect you,” I assured Romeo, who had no chance but to swim with me, looking all around in fear something will pop out and hurt us.
“T-That’s very assuring, Princess.” He shuttered out, keeping his body close to my tail.
“Some sharks don’t scare me.” I boasted with confidence.
“I-It’s not the sharks I am primarily afraid of,” Romeo told me, and I raised a questioning eyebrow.
“Then what are you afraid of?”
“It’s not what... It’s whom. I am scared of him.” Romeo scooted closer to my shoulder, masking himself in my golden blonde hair.
“Him? Who is him?”
“The sea warlock,” Romeo whispered in my ear, and if I was curious before, not I was intrigued like a little girl who found out a secret everyone knew but her. “He was banished from Atlantica a long time ago because of his dark magic and... abnormal features. They say he is cruel, and sadistic, with a nasty personality. His presence was like mold for the kingdom, so... your father banished him. Exiling him into the depths of the ocean.”
Listening to this dark story, I couldn’t help but feel a drop of pity for this so-called warlock. Knowing my father and how judgemental he was, I could only assume this portrayed villain had been misunderstood.
“So, he has, like... magical powers?” I asked Romeo as we slowly approached the ships.
“Spells, potions, incantations... It is called thalassomancy. Ocean sorcery to make it simple.” Romeo replied.
“And what about the... abnormal features?” Romeo grimaced and shuddered.
“He is a cecaelia.” I didn’t understand the meaning of the word, but Romeo continued to explain it to me. “These types of merfolks have octopus tentacles for a tail.” My eyes widened, and I couldn’t help the excitement that bubbled inside me.
“Wow! Really? That’s so cool.” Romeo glanced at me as if I had grown legs, and shook his head.
“N-No. They are not cool. They are said to be the most devious of the merfolks... and this warlock... is the last cecaelia. They have executed the others for breaking the laws of the ocean.”
My smile dropped down, and I glanced at Romeo with a deep frown. “When you say they... You mean... My father?” My clown fish companion didn’t say anything, only glanced away.
I sighed, rubbing my arms as a coldness washed over me. “Typical of my father to erase something when it could be fixed.” I bitterly spoke.
“Princess... Your father did everything to ensure the safety of his kingdom and people.” Romeo tried to defend my father, and in a way, I appreciated his attempt at bringing me and my father closer in a genuine father-daughter bond, but when one is too stuck up in his own toxic ideologies, I don’t expect much.
“Let’s not open this conversation now. Please.” I begged Romeo, knowing how much it hurt to discuss the man who was part of my existence.
We swam through the land of dead ships, taking in their once sturdy structures and picturing how majestic they must have been above. Going deeper into the forbidden territory, a ship caught my attention. Even sunken, its beauty struck me. It was by far the biggest one, compared to the others. In its days of glory, it must have been a pristine white, with golden accents. My eyes widened as I saw the ship’s name.
Diamond of the Ocean.
It even has my nickname on it! Marveled by the ship, I swam toward an open window, entering it.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to enter it. What if someone lives inside?” Romeo objected, shaking beside me.
“Just five minutes, then we will leave.” I pressured my friend, continuing to swim through the endless hallways of the ship, taking in the decor, now covered by plants and corals. Judging from the opulence and architecture, the humans designed this ship for the royal ones with two legs above.
Kings, Queen, Duchess, and Dukes.
I stopped in front of an open door. Curiously, I entered it. It looked like a bedroom of a princess, with an enormous bed, grand furniture in intricate shapes with golden accents, and a vanity. I stopped mid-swim in front of a huge mirror, which caught my entire reflection.
My bright pink mermaid tail gleamed even in the deepest depths of the sea. A pair of fins on each side, just below my hips, and a fin trail on the rear of my tail. My tail’s tip was by far the most magnificent - considerably larger than the normal mermaid’s, shaped like kelp, and extremely complicated. I had immaculate ivory skin, like an undisturbed shell. The seashell bra that covered my bosom was the same color as my tail, and it was embellished with priceless diamonds, smaller shells, and sea stars, as well as strings of prized white pearls. My beautiful golden hair swirled about me like water currents, and I couldn’t help but sigh as my gaze settled on the spot on top of my head where the crown would soon be put.
Most would be over the surface of the water if they were to become queen of Atlantica, but to me, it felt like a curse because I was aware true love shall never be bestowed upon me.
“Princess... Can we leave now?” I snapped out of my thoughts at Romeo’s pleading, and I sighed, nodding.
We swam out of the bedroom chamber and down the hallways of the ship, trying to find the opened window we dove through. The silence of the dark ocean around us stopped once we heard voices in the background, as well as laughter, the kind that makes your skin crawl and create an unsettling bubble in your belly. Romeo and I stopped close to a window that gave us a perfect view of the outside of the ship, and what we saw made Romeo’s colorful fins drop down a few shades. Me, on the other hand? I couldn’t help but watch with fear, curiosity, and confusion.
Outside, good feet away from the wrecked ship I and Romeo were hiding in, was a group of sea creatures like I never saw before — sharks with scars littering their sturdy bodies, ominous-looking deep-sea anglerfishes with pole-like rods projecting from their head and on the end of this rod a sac of bioluminescent bacteria glowed brightly in the dark. There were also common fangtooth fishes as well as viperfishes, giant spider crabs, and eels. They all looked scary and disturbing compared to the more soft-looking sea creatures in the kingdom and around it.
What truly caught my attention were the pitch-black tentacles with royal blue suction cups on the underside part of these appendages. This creature wasn’t an octopus or squid. No, it was a merfolk! There were around eight tentacles that made up the lower part of his body. It was a man... a male cecaelia! My eyes raked over his torso, which made warmness spread in my belly. Not even the ancient statues of handsome merfolk warriors and kings could compare to the muscles underneath pale blue skin. The defined lines of his abdomen, and broad pectorals, and don’t get me started on these arms. Oh, sweet Poseidon... Why was I picturing these sturdy arms wrapped around my petite waist?
Shaking my head, I continued to look up higher. It wasn’t a good idea, because the sight made my cheeks heat up. He surely didn’t compensate with his godly body for his face. This octopus-like merfolk had a sharp jawline, high cheekbones, and eyes like two deadly daggers in a cold grey shade. His hair was as black as his tentacles, a little longer on top of his head, and moving to the currents of the sea like black flames of the abyss.
The part that brought anxiety in my system was the merman who stood in the middle of the snickering group of creepy creatures. The merman with the jade-green tail was bound by thick seaweed and glowing chains, making it impossible for him to swim away.
“T-That’s him...” Romeo shuttered, looking as pale as a white seashell.
“Who?” I asked my fish companion.
“The sea warlock. The banished one. His name is... Killian.”
Killian...
“L-Let me go!” The merman shouted, struggling with all his might in the unbreakable magical bonds. The warlock laughed, swimming closer to the helpless merman.
“You, pathetic fishbait...” Hearing the warlock speak for the first time, my stomach twisted at the huskiness in his malevolent tone. “One week was the deadline of our deal. You had one week to bring me the trident of the king, yet you came empty-handed.”
My eyes widened at the mention of the trident — my father’s source of power.
“P-Please, K-Killian! I did my best... b-but the royal guards were impossible to trick!” The merman wept, scared for his life as Killain scowled in disgust.
“Cowardly guppy.” The warlock clicked his tongue, the dark tentacles swirling around him, displaying agitation as well as annoyance at this merman’s failure.
“G-Give me another week!” The merman begged, his jade tail shaking like a bell in the cruel winds above the ocean during a storm.
The sea wizard threw his head back, and a mocking laugh resounded through the dark waters, making Romeo and I cover in terror. The creatures laughed along too, and I watched how one particular anglerfish in lemon-yellow and navy blue colors swam closer to Killian, as well as two eels with razor-sharp teeth. They looked to be the closest to the warlock, much like Romeo was to me.
“Isn’t this funny, boys?” Killian spoke, glancing at the deadly creatures who grinned. “This fool came here for help, to win over the heart of a mermaid who would never spare him her time. I offered my help in exchange for something that should belong to me, yet he came empty-handed and had the audacity to request more... time.” With each spoken word, I felt more afraid of this merfolk, who clearly wasn’t one to mess with.
“So many came to seek my help, to use my sorcery with their insignificant problems, and every time they cannot hold on to their end of the deal.” Killian continued with his monologue, and his speech made me wonder how many merfolks came here to seek his help, only for their demise to come upon them.
“And... you know what happens to these who fail me?” The merman trembled more and more as Killian swam forward until his grinning face was right in front of him.
“They vanish.” Killian rasped out before speaking something in a foreign, ancient language, his hands glowing as did the chains around the merman, and I watched with mortification as the merman turned into a small shrimp. The chains and seaweed bonds fell on the seafloor.
“Oh... I think it’s... dinner time!” The warlock announced, and the anglerfish next to him dashed upon the shrimp, eating him. I nearly puked at the horrific event but swallowed the bitter taste on my tongue.
“Enjoy your meal, Cuttler. I am sure more will follow.” The rest laughed at Killian’s sadistic joke, all amused by the horrible fate of the poor merman, whose existence vanished... just like the warlock promised.
“P-Princess Aqua... We should leave. Right now.” Romeo pleaded, swimming back, away from the window, not glancing behind him. The moment he hit the cuckoo clock on the wall behind him and the alarm of the human device went off, I knew we were in deep trouble.
