Get Out
How dare you?
The endless lake of black water in front of him rippled as the voice spoke. Kai looked around for the source of the angry voice, but he couldn't see anything other than the lake that stretched endlessly on every side of him. Above him, a black canvas had replaced the sky. It was too black to be the night sky and devoid of any clouds or stars.
He looked down and saw that he was standing on the lake, somehow. He instinctively knew that the lake was as deep as an ocean, but by some mysterious power that transcended him, he wasn't diving and was practically floating above it, the soles of his feet skimming the cold, black water.
How dare you? The voice, sounding even more furious, repeated.
"Who's there?" His wraith-like voice echoed infinitely.
Something told him to look down. He did. He thought he saw something move in the water.
Squinting into the water, he saw whatever it was move again.
His heart leapt to his throat. "What is that?" he couldn't help but exclaim to himself, but he kept his voice low, wary that whatever it was would hear him.
A brilliant golden light suddenly illuminated the depths.
The light was coming toward him.
He wanted to run, but something held him in place, like an invisible leash.
A scream bubbled to his throat, but before he could unleash it, whatever was in the lake shot out of it, splashing Kai with icy water. He gasped upon laying eyes on the Golden Merman, who now floated a few feet above the water, forcing him to crane his neck just to look at him.
Towering over Kai, he demanded once more in a voice that could chill even the bravest of people, "How dare you try to kill yourself?"
Rage twisted the merman's handsome face until he almost looked ugly. His golden eyes glowed brighter than they'd ever glowed before. They resembled a sputtering bonfire in their brightness and intensity, threatening to burn down everything in their way.
Kai was taken aback.
Until he realized what the golden merman was saying.
The memories of what happened to him returned to him in one go, like a gut punch, leaving him breathless. He would have staggered backwards if he could move.
Kai had tried to kill himself. And he'd almost succeeded.
He blanched and his blood turned ice cold as he recalled how it had felt to die. He'd never felt such despair and soul-wrenching agony in his life. He'd had a taste of what rock bottom felt like, had been driven to the very corner like some kind of small animal, and had been forced to do something that was initially intended to be a self-preservation move.
Luckily, it hadn't backfired in his face in the worst way imaginable.
The mighty Spirit of the Sea had seen fit to bless him with his emergence.
White hot anger bubbled through him, wiping away any traces of fear.
The Spirit was angry at him? Did the merman not realize that Kai had to slit his own wrist to force him to come to the rescue? That Kai had been so desperate to escape further humiliation under Marius' hands that he had had to do something he'd never imagined himself doing? And it was all to get the mighty Spirit of the Sea to keep his promise?
"And how dare you not keep your promise to me?! My life was in danger!"
"No, it was not. At least before you slit your own wrist like a fool!" The Spirit declared. How could someone -or something- that spoke without ever opening its mouth sound so amazingly furious?
And it was Kai who should be angry, not the golden merman!
"I was dying!" Kai roared, his own rage consuming him.
I was dying!
I was dying!
I was dying!
The three words echoed endlessly in the vastness of the lake, coming back to his ears more desperate and frightening every time. He felt it again, that same aching hopelessness and despair that had driven him to commit a grave sin against himself. It clawed his insides, seeking to get out. He wanted nothing more than to expel the wretched feeling from his body.
He wanted the golden merman gone.
He or it or whatever the hell it was was the reason he was suffering like this in the first place.
Initially, he'd foolishly thought that the power dwelling in him could be used to his advantage, that he'd learned to control it somehow, but how quickly he'd been proven wrong. And how it had cost him.
"Get out of my body." Kai abruptly said.
The Spirit's face changed expression. His anger faltered and his face showed signs of shock. He had not expected this, clearly.
"What did you say?"
"Get out of my body! You're no longer welcome. You were never welcome! I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask for any of this!"
"You do not know what you're saying, Prince."
"Who gave you permission to reside in me? By what right do you get to occupy my body like some... some parasite! You're risking my life and you have no right!" Kai glowered at the Spirit.
"I would not be so hasty to reject me if I were you."
The invisible shackles keeping Kai in place shattered away and he took his first step in this dark, watery reality. The moment he was free, he stepped a few feet away from the Spirit -he was still walking on water.
Pointing an accusatory finger at the merman, Kai commanded, "Get out of me right now! You're useless!"
He could still recall the feel of his blood, hot and thick and so very red, running down his wrists, staining the floor -bucket loads of it!
I'll never feel it again! I refuse!
And for him to keep his promise to himself, he had to get rid of the Spirit of the Sea.
"Why don't you latch onto someone who really wants you?"
"The Nostrazian King is not worthy of this power."
"Oh, and I am?"
"Not yet, but you will be."
"Fuck you. Fuck off!"
"You will regret this."
"You're useless to me. I don't need you!"
"I'm warning you for the last time!"
Kai raised his fist and punched the Golden Merman right in the kisser.
****
Kai awoke to a ruckus, followed by a skull-cracking headache. Groaning, he reached up a hand to rub his aching head. Even his hand hurt for some reason.
"Your Majesty!"
"He punched his Majesty in the face!"
"What traitorous cur did?! He will answer for his insult to the throne!"
"Um... His Highness the Prince."
"What?!"
"His Highness p-punched the King."
Kai's eyes flew open.
He'd punched Marius?!