corals & love; aarmau

Chapter One

✎Edited: 4/25/18

Chapter One

Aphmau looks up and wonders what it's like to be living up there. On the surface. At the place, they call 'land'.

She's starting to get sick and tired of living in the sea. Corals, seaweeds, and fishes were the only thing she could see.

She never has a chance to go up the surface and see the rest of the world because of her mother, Queen Sylvanna, prohibits this.

"It's dangerous and you'll just get killed when you go up there," Sylvanna says to her daughter the moment Aphmau asked her about it on her 10th birthday.

But that was 8 years ago. She thought. I'm already 18.

Nothing's wrong if she just goes up the surface for just a tad bit. I'll just check what's up there then I'll go back here right after. She thought to herself more.

I mean, I'm already 18 years old. I can take care of myself. She reasons out.

She smiles to herself at her thought. Aphmau starts to work her way outside the kingdom. Being sure to check every direction before moving forward. She moves her tail faster as she approaches the exit of her kingdom.

Just a little bit more.

"Aphmau!" She stops dead in her tracks. I'm doomed. She thought to herself. She could already imagine her mother's face filled with anger and giving her a lecture about not going to the surface ever again.

She slowly turns around and faces the person that had called her. She then discovers that the voice had come from her best friend, Garroth.

"Where are you planning to go?" He asks Aphmau while both his hands are placed on his muscular, and well built back.

"Please don't say where I think you're going," He says as he places both his hands beside him. He expects an answer from Aphmau but Aphmau remains silent. Which is a silent answer that means yes.

Garroth slowly approaches Aphmau and puts both his hands on Aphmau's shoulders. "Please, be careful." He says straight to Aphmau's face. His eyes place and focus on Aphmau.

Aphmau then lets out a breath of relief and smiles at Garroth. Garroth wraps his arms around Aphmau's waist and pulls her tightly towards him and hugs her. "Take care, now go! Before anyone sees us." He says before continuing his way as if nothing has happened.

Aphmau then quickly exits her kingdom, her safe place, and swims towards the surface. Moving her tail back and forth as if there was no tomorrow.

She smiles happily at the thought of finally seeing what she was so wanting to see for the past couple of years. She continues to swim towards the surface until something catches her eyes. A sight of a black object moving closer to her direction.

What's that? She never saw anything like this.

She swims closer to the object and notices that the closer she gets to it the bigger it becomes.

Maybe this is what they call the ship.

Her fellow mermaids have been talking about what a ship looks like and all of it fits on what Aphmau is seeing right now.

She moves closer to the surface until her head's already on top of it.

Wow.

The ship's bigger than she expected. A flag was planted right in the middle of the object, Aphmau notices.

Aphmau then observes that there's a skull printed on the black flag.

What does this mean? She asks herself.

"Ye, m' boys!" says a voice that was unfamiliar to Aphmau's ears.

She has never heard a voice like that. So low, and grunty. She turns her head towards the direction of the voice and looks up. She then notices it.

Is that what they call humans?

They look exactly the same as us but instead of tails, they have two pairs of...legs? Is that what they call 'em? She thought to herself.

"Garv, pull it! Now!" Another of the men yells loudly. The men agree by yelling out with glee and putting their fist-shaped hands on the air.

One man, by the name of Garv, nods approvingly and grabs a rope in front of him that was wrapped around a wooden pole. Garv starts to unwrap the rope and pulls. "I'm not going to get done here if y'all don't help!" Garv yells.

The rest of the men curses and groans but then gives in to it by walking towards Garv's direction and helping him pull the rope.

Pull.
Pull.
Pull.

Aphmau watches as the men use all their strength just to pull the net like object in front of them. As the net starts to go upwards, leaving the sea, Aphmau then notices what it was filled off. Fishes. Her friends.

Aphmau's eyes then widen at the sight and she doesn't hesitate to quickly swim towards their direction. She grabs every one of the fishes and puts them safely back in the water. But one fish was left on the net that Aphmau hasn't saved yet. Aphmau tried to reach for the one fish but it was no use. The net was too high. She has no choice but to do what she has in mind.

She reaches for the end of the net and pulls herself up. She was heavy, nobody can doubt that, but mermaids, like her, have unbelievable body strength.

"What the?" The men thought of the sudden weight change. "Just keep pulling!" One of 'em yells which snaps some of the men away from their thought and they continue to pull.

Aphmau then sits on the net and grabs the one fish before letting it dive back again in the ocean.

Aphmau was about to dive back herself but not before her vision starts to blur. Her skin was starting to dry, she thirsts for water. It was as if all her body strength was taken away from her in a blur and now...she has no energy. Now...Aphmau was lying on the net, with no idea of what was happening to her until...

Water.

I need water.

But she was too weak to move.

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I hope you guys liked this first chapter!

Please VOTE⭐️ before continuing💜! Thank you, potatoes🙈.

-Nicole🦄

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