Poisonous Love

Chapter 21: A Mermaid's Will

Age: 12

After my time fixing Karmillia kingdom and spending time with my maternal family, I left towards the location the Fairy Queen had given me.

When I arrived as a small secluded cove of beautiful blue waters and soft white sand, I was forced to part ways with Ricin who I ordered to report back to Frare and check on my family and wait for my return.
It would be difficult without him... after all, he was my first helping hand and trusted person in this strange world when I first woke up with my past life's memories.
Yet I knew I needed to grow independent, stronger... I needed to be so strong, I wouldn't be tricked, captured, or defeated in battle. Whether that battle was of words, fists, or fate.
I needed strength.

I was given the space ring that Ricin had always carried, which allowed me to camp on the cove and wait.

Wait for? The song of the mermaids. So beautiful and captivating, it led millions to their death at the hands of cannibal mermaids who ate the flesh of adulterant men. Or so I heard... I did not know the truth.

It took over three weeks of waiting, before I heard a single singing voice. During that time I practiced meditation, yoga, the sword, and cataloging and capturing medical plants which I could use later in Ricin's ring.
I had even found a native plant of this world which was made of a poison that could make the entire body go numb like anesthetics. It was stimulating and a wonderful discovery.

When the mermaid sang, I followed her voice to a side of the cove I had only visited once.
I saw her first before I saw the ship she was lurking into dangerous and spiked rocks.

She was enchanting. Seductive and surreal unlike the cute and pretty Fairies.
Her strong blue and gold tail looked like gems in the moonlight. Her dark tan skin glowed, like bronze instead of human flesh. Deep black hair was darker than onyx, but shined and nearly reflected the fairytale like image of the ship and calm sea. Her back was to me, her shoulder length hair allowed me to see her toned and strong back... which was also bare of any cloth. Her top was likely naked.

I stayed silent and cringed lightly when I saw the ship crash. I could see the sea glow with a bright light as the seamen screamed and tried to swim. It was a like a movie, serene and fictional, as more mermaids emerged and took the men away beneath the water like dolphins and toys. It happened quickly, my blood boiled and my heart squeezed but I bit my lip and stayed silent.
Those men would die.

I knew this world was not fair. It was cruel, ugly, and full of despair.
I knew it from my past life as an ignored and ugly woman. I knew it in this life through haunting nightmares of fate which still follow me like a plague. I knew it as I watched human trafficking, theft, poverty, disease, murder, and execution.
The day the King of Karmillia publicly executed his brother who I helped take down, I did not turn my head away or hide from it. I watched, holding the Queen's hand. I watched the citizens scream horrendous slurs at him, watched them throw rotting food and waste at him, rocks and dirt. Watched the malicious hatred in the people's eyes. Watched a single tear leave the King's stony face.
I watched a man lose his head.

These fishermen or merchants would die today. At the hands of mermaids who retained their immortal life and beauty through their flesh and souls.
It was part of the life cycle. Mermaids protected and healed the sea, they were necessary to nature like a lion. It just so happened that those men were the gazelles in this instance.
Their screams finally subsided, and the mermaid that was now only 25 feet away from me, finally spoke as silence filled the chilly night air.

"Go home child. You are too young to seek this path" Her voice was like velvet, and when she turned to face me my breathe left me.
She was too enthralling. She looked more like a goddess than a mermaid. Her gaze more gold than eye- so striking, like a cat. Blood red lips were curled in a cruel smile, yet she still looked so lovable and gorgeous. Her sharp straight brows were raised mockingly.