Before It's Voiced

Romantic Fantasy

romantic fantasy

a subgenre of fantasy fiction, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre. one of the key features of romantic fantasy involves the focus on relationships-- social, political and romantic

Over the years, Pete's kept more grudges than promises and friends. It's a habit of his, a rotten trait, and it's something critics and his mom have poked fun at him for. Peter, the man who won't forgive; Peter, the man who collects sin in his stories like characters and plots.

It's a rather large part of him and he considers that he has every right to such a wave of anger. Or, he did for a while. He believed in his self-satisfying bitterness until, hidden beneath the waves and shimmering like the stars, he sees the devastation left in Patrick's home and wonders how he could have ever been so cruel. He wonders how such trauma could have ever produced someone so kind.

It doesn't appear so broken at first, the trio of them swimming forward until the trail they've followed pauses before a shimmering blur— a mirage in the shape of a wall. Patrick swims closest, slowest, and presses his hand against the ripples. Starlight collects by his fingertips, kissing the skin there as if to forgive him for being gone so long.

Patrick's tension slips away and, with a look that can only be described as grown, he pushes himself forward into the place behind the wall.

Pete follows. It doesn't feel like anything to swim through a magical barrier and, he supposes, maybe that makes sense. Maybe it's only the knowledge that it's there at all that has him feeling so cold.

Or maybe it's what comes after he's passed through.

Buildings like crystals and homes like gems glitter around him though they're hidden in the depths of the sea. There are no windows in any structure but everything still glows like glass, nearly blinding Pete as he pauses and stares at the scene before him. No words could ever describe the grandeur, the certain shimmering glow of water passing through each home, and Pete's mind burns from its attempts to do so anyway. No language could comprehend the impossible light and shine within the dark; no mind could imagine the stars kept at the bottom of the sea.

But, just the same, Pete could have never imagined how hollow it would all be. Patrick rests beside him, still but for the gentle flutter of his tail as he stares at the abandoned homes, the empty places where his people must have lived. Pieces of buildings have been shattered and scattered across the ground, ransacking evident in the items tossed about outside of homes and other buildings. Past the shimmering beauty and the brilliant sights, Pete sees broken beds and burnt pathways. Though he knows no fire could have ever run through this kingdom, he imagines he sees the harrowing aftermath of such an attack. He imagines he sees the flames licking away the hope that had once filled Patrick's eyes. For a moment, he wonders if returning is worth the memories that are sure to join.

"I knew it would be empty," Patrick says, "but I never allowed myself to imagine this."

Pete's bones go cold at the sound of his voice, the drained emotion and tears kept at bay. He's close to Patrick and all it would take is the shift of his shoulder to brush against his, to reassure him that someone's near. Somehow, Pete can't bring himself to move.

"No one is allowed to enter," the mermaid says, her voice as brittle as her being. "All merfolk were banned from returning to the kingdom when the rebels were cast out and we still don't dare to come in. We found shelter further out. Another palace, less grand than this but—"

"It was my family's," Patrick says and his eyes are glazed as if he's seeing nothing but his own words. "Another palace, right? My siblings and I would play in sunken ships and my father was afraid we would get hurt. He had the ships taken apart and rebuilt into a home that became a second palace, a place to escape from the pressure of being something royal." Patrick's voice clicks as he jerks his head to the side, shaking as if the water is moving through him.