Wings and Tails

Chapter One

Curiosity overwhelming him, Thanatos flew over to the rock that the figure lay on. Up close he could see his chest rising up and down.

He's alive, Thanatos realised with wide eyes.

He climbed the rock, forgetting about his wings. Curiosity overriding his system. Making his head go blank. Making him put one hand above the next rather than flying up.

Thanatos reached the top of the rock, taller than he had expected. Looking down at the man he realised something. He didn't have ears.

Instead he had fins. His skin had a slightly scaled texture, sea green tinted. Hair unnatural blue, even for siren victims. The tattoos were definitely a status symbol, some words written in a language even Thanatos did not understand.

His eyes trailed down his bare torso. Unscarred green scaled skin stretched across muscle. Smoothly transitioning into dark green scales that split into two slick tails. The tails hung down off the side of the rock, finishing off with one fin on each. The fins were a lighter green than the tails themselves.

"Do you want to stare all day?"

Thanatos jumped back and fell off the rock. He climbed back up, the same curiosity overriding his system again. His wings folded against his back.

When he reached the top he saw the merman sitting up straight. His arms behind him, propping him up. Watching his every move.

His hair fell to the side of his face. Out of the way of his eyes, which Thanatos just simply stared at. They were a dark green, the same colour as his tails. Rather than white surrounding the circle of colour like mortals, they had blue around the circle of green. Spreading out like waves against the shore. There was no pupil in his eye, same as all divine beings had.

"I guess you are just going to stare then," it said. Making eye-contact with Thanatos. Not detered in the slightest by the aura of death that Thanatos had been told he had. He didn't try to move away to escape from him. Not caring that he had been seen.

Thanatos just play it cool, don't do anything stupid. Don't get soaked again, Thanatos told himself before attempting to reply.

"Um hi?" Thanatos said, looking away.

"Hi." The merman smiled, obviously amused.

"Do you want me to pretend that I never saw you?"

The way the merman's eyes bore into him made Thanatos feel like he asked a stupid question.

"What use would that be?"

"I don't know. Any other time I've seen a mermaid they always hid straight away."

"I'm a merman, not a mermaid."

"Sorry."

"Its alright, happens more than you think," the merman said, finally looking away from Thanatos. Choosing to look out at the waves instead.

Thanatos sat down hesitantly beside the merman, "So you really don't mind that I have seen you?"

"Not particularly, most merfolk are rather shy around those that are not of our kind."

"Did you cause the shipwreck?" Thanatos asked stupidly. It was obvious that the merman had caused it. All the dead bodies of the pirates were facing towards the rock.

The merman looked down at the bodies and at the ship, looking past Thanatos.

He hummed, "I guess I did."

Thanatos had no idea what to say. He had only asked the last question in hopes that it would spark a conversation. Or at least pave the way for one to start.