One troublesome human he could deal with. Two is more trouble than it's worth. And one of them just so happens to be one of the most infuriating people to grace the planet.
Prince Oceanus heaves a sigh as he swims through the corridor. Servants clear the way, keeping to the pillars in stiff bows whilst he passes. No one dares to utter a single sound to him. Such has it always been. Everyone's too afraid of a negative reaction or some such nonsense.
Prince Oceanus couldn't care less. Let them believe what they will. If he makes any kind of outburst then it would be related to the two humans that he's forced to cohabit with in this palace. It doesn't matter how large the palace is, he's thoroughly aware of their presence and he wishes them gone.
Ah, and speaking of trouble. "Prince Oceanus!"
He inwardly cringes at the shrillness of the way she sings his name. He gives a tiny bow and says, "Lady Delmara." He straightens himself up—gazing upon her with little interest.
Lady Delmara Aquilus, the daughter of one of the most prominent nobles in the noble faction, Lord Hallmar Aquilus. As well as the self-proclaimed most beautiful mermaid to grace the ocean. A bold claim that shouldn't be made so lightly.
Luckily, no one ever pays much attention to such an outrageous remark. Nor would he say anything of it. The last thing he wishes to do is endure the shrill shrieking of his fiancée as she throws a temper tantrum.
Fiancée. He nearly recoils at the mere thought. Such an arrangement only came about to appease the noble faction who have been pressing their luck against the royal family.
It was Lord Hallmar's idea to arrange a marriage between Prince Oceanus and his daughter in the first place. Supposedly, it should silence those of the noble faction for a time. But they always find a reason to whine about something. It's only a matter of time.
"My Prince?" He clears his head of those thoughts as he finds himself staring into Delmara's dark eyes. Her strawberry blonde hair has been adorned with the rarest of jewels and pearls found only to the east—a place where sirens are said to dwell. Her tail's scales shine as brilliantly as the glittering treasures of Nautica, the kingdom in the Mediterranean.
Clearly, she had just come from a beauty treatment of some sort. She places such value on her appearance—believing it to be the thing that'll keep him. It is no secret that she highly values the crown and desperately wants to be a member of the royal family.
Unluckily for her, she never held enough interest for him to even remotely be taken with her. But she need not worry with such trivial things now, since their arrangement had been made.
A smile adorns her ruby painted lips. "I heard the most interesting rumor!" she states conspiratorially.
And it doesn't take a scholar to know what that rumor may be. But still, he plays along, nonetheless. "And what would that be?" He begins to swim down the corridor once more—Delmara hurrying to keep to his side.
"I heard that humans with tails have appeared in Aquaria! Can you imagine?!" A cynical laugh bubbles from her throat. Shrill, much like the way she calls to him. A frown settles back onto his lips as the doors to his office grow near.
And it is at this moment that all of his problems converge onto one spot.
"How did you learn so quickly? It took me days and a special exercise to learn!" Serena whines.
Rodion—he believes his name was—wears a cheeky grin. "Well it's to be expected given that I was a better swimmer than you."
Prince Oceanus had managed to go a blissful three days without seeing either of them. Truly the Sea Goddess must be angry with him if she has seen fit to cast on him this punishment.
The two don't seem to notice him and Delmara until Serena glances ahead and comes to a stop. Her pure blonde curls settle into place as she comes to a stop before them. Rodion, having noticed his sister's silence, stops and looks as well.
That blue gaze instantly hardens upon meeting Prince Oceanus's electric blues. Volatile electricity sparks between them. Prince Oceanus doesn't even notice when Delmara goes silent.
At least not until he glances at her from out of the corner of his eye. Her gaze is fixated on Rodion—a familiar longing present there. One that she might've given to many a lover she's had in the past.
Delmara murmurs, "Who might these two be?" The question is addressed to anyone in particular, but undoubtedly it's something she expects an answer to.
In all this time, Rodion has yet to cease his glaring. Even when his sister tugs on his arm and whispers his name.
Prince Oceanus suppresses a growl. He hasn't the time to indulge in this childishness. He already went through this once before when he brought the human siblings before his father three days ago.
Truly, such a shameful display must never occur again. Yet this man does not but bring the worst out in him.
Prince Oceanus is about to say something to the insufferable man, but before he can, Serena finally coaxes her brother's attention to her. With a few softly spoken words and a gentle touch to his shoulder, she has him acquiescing to her wishes. A minute after, the two depart further down the hall to turn down another corridor.
Prince Oceanus breathes yet another sigh. He briefly glances at Delmara. Her gaze remains fixated on the path the siblings had taken as though she'll receive another glimpse of Rodion.
Finally, she turns her gaze to him expectantly. "Who were they?"
But he shakes his head. "Do not involve yourself with those humans, my Lady. It would not due for a Lady of your standing to be entangled with their ilk." There's a sharpness to his tone that makes obvious the contempt he feels.
She's momentarily startled by this. Never has the prince dared to display such feelings in her presence. He can see the litany of emotions playing across her bewildered face.
Yet he has no time for it. He issues her a polite farewell, before taking his leave and finally disappearing through the doors of his office.
-
"Where are we going again?" Rodion asks tiredly—wrist stuck in his sister's iron grip.
Serena tries not to show any annoyance at the repetitive question—a feat becoming much harder the farther they go from Aquaria.
She blows a small raspberry. "We're going to see Calder."
"What the hell is a Calder?"
She groans. "Calder is the person who's going to help return us to normal."
Rodion says nothing more, simply allowing his sister to drag him along without a word of complaint.
Prince Oceanus had relayed strict instructions to Serena on where to go. He also sent along the two armed guards following close behind them to ensure they arrive in the right place. Of course, the pair would only accompany them as far as the doorway and return to the palace promptly thereafter.
A little bit excessive in Serena's opinion, but she wasn't feeling an argument with His Royal Highness today.
Like last time, it grows progressively darker the closer they get to the cavern. Even now, Serena doesn't know why this is. It could be that this is all Calder's doing.
From what Serena can remember of her childhood storybooks, magic users never quite liked all manner of people coming to see them whenever. Which probably explains the stifling darkness with ominous silence and unnatural chill.
She only wishes that he had just employed a guard shark or something. At least then she wouldn't have to worry about something jumping out of the darkness to rip her to pieces.
"My, oh my. Where I expected one beauty to grace me with their company I am brought with two instead! The Sea Goddess surely must have found favor with me this day!"
Rodion grimaces. "You sure this weirdo is even capable of helping?"
Calder's pleasant smile drops from his face with a twitch of his brow. "And then he opened his mouth," he sighs. He quickly turns his full attention to Serena with a smile on his face. He uses a little magic trick to appear behind her, hands on her shoulders causing her to jolt in surprise. "All well and good. I have no interest in men anyhow. My interests lie solely in a jewel like this one," he purrs whilst twirling his finger around a stray lock of her hair.
Rodion quickly jumps in and bats the sorcerer's hands away. "Alright, alright! You've made your damn point! Now hands off my sister!"
Calder gives a little shrug, easily dodging Rodion's hands.
Serena emits a sigh, shaking her head hopelessly.
"But all fun aside, we must now return to business." Calder crosses his arms over his chest, placing his chin in his cupped hand. He stares at the two thoughtfully. "Admittedly, I did not take this as seriously as I ought to have given that it was only Serena's condition that I had to tend to but with your appearance this begs the question as to how this is happening..."
"Do you have any idea as to what it could be?" Serena asks hesitantly.
Rodion has gone rigid behind her with clenched fists.
Serena's certain that if it were possible, he'd probably be sweating by now.
Calder casually shrugs, all previous displays of a serious attitude gone. "I have one theory, but such a thing hasn't occurred for thousands of years."
The two siblings wait in silence. Calder stands with his arms crossed, giving no indication of continuing.
So, Serena prompts, "What is it?"
Again, Calder gives a light shrug. "There is a story that originates from the beginning of creation itself," he begins sagely.
The two listen attentively as Calder swims over to a bookshelf. His fingers run along every spine until he stops upon a book, much larger than the others. Its silver gilding glints as he removes it from the shelf and returns to them.
He places the book on the nearby podium and continues, " This, is a legend of a time when the heavens were at war."
The book opens all its own. At first the pages are barren, but the book begins to emit a gentle golden light. Golden words begin to write themselves across the page in sync with Calder's words.
"Though, the war of the gods is not what this particular story is about," he pauses to let the book flip a page. "For the sake of time, I shall give you the short of it."
He waves his hand over the book causing it to open and its pages to turn with a will of their own. An image rises from the book. It was a human and a mermaid but this mermaid looks different from the mermaids that Serena and Rodion have seen thus far.
"I can see the confusion in your eyes. This creature is, indeed, a mermaid of a sort but they are called Sirens." The siren hovers over the pages of the book, swimming in place. Its tail fin is like a sting ray's body, and intimidating spiky fins run along its spine. There is webbing between the hands, but overall, it is nothing more than a silhouette.
"The war of the gods had a negative impact upon their human creation and what once was innocent had since become tainted with darkness. Creatures dwelling in the ocean were spared the negative effects of the war but we were not immune to it."
Calder's gaze grows distant, a darkness lingers there for a brief moment. He begins speaking again in a grave tone. "The humans began hunting merpeople with the belief that if they consumed them then they would gain their immortality. Of course there were humans who were not as naive and stupid but their reasonings were hardly any better.
"They sought profit by revealing merpeople to the world and putting them in cages. As such there were a group of merpeople that joined together to use their gift from the Moon Goddess to instill fear within the humans to discourage them from their hunts.
"These merpeople were called Sirens and were the most feared creatures in the ocean. Their appearance changed over the course of the years making them more beastly in appearance."
As fascinating as Serena finds this, she has a hard time discerning what this has to do with their current situation. So far, none of it relates to them in the least, and she's about to say as much.
However, Calder gives her a smile as though he knows exactly what she's going to say. "Do not look so confused for this is where your situation comes in.
"No one knows why or for what purpose but back then similar occurrences of humans turning into merpeople began to surface all over the world. This was in light of a great threat that sought to bring chaos to the world. The name of this threat was Proteus, a son of the Sea Goddess and brother to Poseidon.
"He was the reason that you two are where you are now. He is why you both suffer from what has come to be known as the Ocean's Curse..."
-
Here it is! I hope you all enjoyed this and I hope that this has answered some questions you all may have had as well regarding certain aspects of the story until now. I'm not quite certain but I'm pretty sure next week's update will be a bit delayed because I have grad parties I have to attend so I won't be able to focus on this as much. In any case let me know what you guys think as always in the comment section, follow and/or favorite as well. Until next time!