Claw's Bridge(Discontinued)

31. Back To Serek

Serek was apparently the name of the country of the merpeople. Taehyung had morphed while Yugyeom and I sat on his back. Taehyung was not as graceful when landing as Namjoon was, because Yugyeom and I almost fell off when he landed on the ground with a thud.

The illusion of plain lands faded into the scenery of a beach. King Hyungsik and Queen Gina walked out of the water, somehow completely dry, but their hair seemed to be damp. Taehyung dipped his head while Yugyeom and I bowed to them in respect.

"Prince Nighter, Prince Taehyung. To what do we owe this pleasure of meeting you?" Queen Gina asked.

"I want answers," I went straight to the point. "No more beating around the bush, I want the truth."

King Hyungsik pursed his lips as if he were reluctant, but nodded. "Then answers you shall get," he said. "Follow us."

I passed Taehyung his clothes and he morphed back once we had our backs to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highnesses," Taehyung said, walking beside me as we followed the two royals of the merpeople.

-

"You think that I am your son," I stated.

"It's a hypothesis, yes," King Hyungsik said.

"Why?" I asked.

"We had a feeling," Queen Gina said.

"We could prove that with a DNA test," Taehyung cut in. "That's the only way we can be sure."

"I will consent to that only after I get my answers," I demanded. Taehyung nudged me, silently telling me to be formal, but I ignored him. "I have never expressed any features that would indicate that I am a merman, so how am I your son? Moreover, I have lived in Jupiter my whole life."

"Merpeople are immortal, so naturally, we were infertile to prevent overpopulation. It was around 6 years after we formed a treaty with Hitzor when King Seokjin's father started using us to gain immortality. When we denied, he bombed us. Fortunately, we survived since we didn't provide him with any information about our security system, but we did become weaker. We tried to protect ourselves by going into hiding as the former King of Hitzor started seeking us out. It was a few months after going into hiding that I found out that I was pregnant. Seeing as we barely knew about raising children or even pregnancy, we passed it as an illness. I took some medicines prescribed by the doctors, but none seemed to work," Gina said.

"Medications and improper care should have killed the fetus," Taehyung said.

"It should have, but the medicines had no impact on my health or my body. That's when a doctor built an ultrasound machine to help one of his patients. I'm sure you can imagine the shock we had when we saw a living being in my womb. In my second trimester, a Hitzorian stumbled into a land. We made a deal: she would be set free once she taught me about pregnancy and children. When my son was born, he was not a merman. At first, we thought that the baby would develop the features over time, but the doctor instantly shut that idea down after running some tests. Turned out that the medicines caused a mutation. People protested against the new disfigured royal. It was one year after our son was born, that we had no choice but to send him off with a letter. The very ship that you, Nighter, came in," she explained.

"There have been multiple executions in the past which included exile. Any of them could have been your son," I interjected.

"Yes, we have encountered those lost ones who were sent off. None of them had our DNA. We sent you in a ship with a letter addressing whoever was to find you. The letter stated that you should be kept safe and on the down-low. You were to be sent back once you turned 18. It was worrying when you didn't come back when you were 18, but now I can see why. They needed a reason," she said. "That's why it's a hypothesis."

"What about silver? Jupitarians have silver in their blood. I do too," I said.

"That could be a result of injecting you as a baby. Your body was still developing and was more prone to accepting foreign things," King Hyungsik pointed out. "If you consent to the DNA test, we can figure it out once and for all."

The story almost didn't make sense, but at that point I was accepting whatever came my way. "Okay, I consent to the test."