Across the Timeless Sea

Chapter IX: Liberation

Sand as white as the millions scattered at an uncharted coast never once touched by humans. Grey rocks of all shapes and sizes formed a small cliff where one could sit and relax. Below this cliff, there was a large body of saltwater with considerable depth, clear like a mirror, and at the bottom were corals of various colors. Lantern-like lights sat in multiple corners; some were placed at the base of the cliff, some sat in irregular distance from one another on the white sand, while some others floated on the clear water like shining lotus. It was a bizarrely beautiful sight, a bit like nature but at the same time obviously created by human beings. If someone had this interior built somewhere in their house, surely they must be someone of great wealth and possessed a good sense for the aesthetic.

Yet perhaps no one would expect that such a beautiful place was actually built to serve as a prison.

Inside this man-made "coast", Xie Lian was sitting on the white sand; his body on the dry land while his tail in the water. There were no more objects of nobility worn on his person, a plain half human-half fish whose silver tail had almost dimmed in color. Only a small flower hairpin he still kept on the bun of his black hair, and a lone red pearl on his left ear.

Amidst the silence with not even the slightest sound around him, Xie Lian looked up to the tall ceilings far above him. It was made in such a way that the painting would resemble the sky, the man-made lighting would be lit up sometimes, then put out some other times, resembling the changes between day and night. But whether they truly change on sunrise and sunset, the mermaid prince had no way to know. The walls were high, even taller than the biggest ship he had encountered at the sea. As for an access, there was only one door made of thick iron that remained locked for most of the day, heavily guarded on the other side.

How long ago did he last see the sky? How long ago did he last taste seawater in his mouth? How many days, months, years had passed? Back then, he was caught from the sea and was hauled back onto the pirate's ship. Despite the fight they put up, in the end they still could not defeat those ruthless men because he himself had been wounded in his attempt to save that young boy. Thus, he had no choice but to offer his service to these humans in exchange for his people's freedom.

...Ah, that young boy... Back then, Mu Qing once asked him if that youth was worth it. Back then, he answered that it was a redemption of some sort, for dragging that boy into such a fate because of his impulsiveness. Now that he was locked in this place with no one he could talk to, Xie Lian had more than enough time to look back on the years bygone.

True enough, if he did not cover for that boy, he would not be so seriously injured and would still have a chance to defeat those pirates with Feng Xin and Mu Qing by his side. True enough, if he did not arrange the mirage that night for that boy's sake, none of his people would suffer the capture and abuse they experienced that night. True enough, if he did not listen to the pearl's call and found that boy drowning during the storm, if he did not give his earring to that youth a long time ago, he and his people would not be involved in whatever conflict the humans caused to themselves because of their own greed.

If he hadn't tangled himself with that boy since the beginning, the merfolks of the Immortal Sea would still all be living peacefully in the depth of the ocean, free to travel both water and land without having to fear the capture of humans who wanted to exploit them for their silk and pearl.

But Xie Lian also thought if he were to do the opposite. That night, should he have left that boy to be stabbed and beaten to death by those scoundrels? That night, should he have not cast the mirage, and let those covetous men deemed the boy a deceiver? During that thunderstorm, should he have not heeded the boy's call through their pair of pearls, and left him to drown to his death?