A Merfolk's Tale

Chapter Three

Izuku looked around, mesmerized at the huge cave the came into where Shota brought them. Gamma Cove was rumored to be a haunted cave for humans wherein not all would come out alive and if they did, they'd come out with their wits out of order. However, to Izuku's kind, it was a historic place as the first mermaid was born here-- out of seafoam and by the will of their gods. Having it rumored as a haunted cave was an advantage to their kind as this was one of a merfolk's sanctuary when the haunting for mermaids was still fresh.

"I never dreamed that we'd be able to come to this place...!" Ochako whispered next to Izuku, eyes twinkling in excitement.

"Yeah..." Izuku said as he looked around in awe and admired the drawings carved along the stone walls.

The drawings tell about the story of how mermaids came into the world when the god of sea figured that if the land had humans taking care of it, the sea should too. Upon bundling up a bunch of seafoam and breathing life into it-- the first mermaid was born-- who protected the seas and its creatures. Generations passed and the population of mermaids increased along as it survived many timelines that went by-- making contact with humans for the first time up until they were started to get hunted down.

However, their legend has been twisted by humans in two ways: One saying that the god of the sea envied the goddess of the earth and made caretakers of his own territory who were destined to be mankind's enemy-- just as how the god of the sea and the goddess of the earth were once, the other though was a much nicer version taught by humans who welcomed their kind before-- a love story that involved the god of the sea and a human that brought the rifting worlds apart and bore the first mermaid. But the latter version had been rejected since both kinds weren't encouraging their new generation to come across each other to fall in love... thinking that both races were savages and baying for each others' blood.

"Alright, since you're done being awestruck, get to land for our lesson to start," Shota said and went unto the surface, resting on a boulder as he waited for the rest to settle down on rocks of their own.

"Now what I say your heart and mind, I meant it literally," Shota said. "You have to want your change, any doubt detected in your system and your transformation would falter. Second, you have to picture your transformation, what it would feel like when you have legs-- to be able to walk among the human world in disguise and--"

"Why would we even want to have stupid human legs if we're forbidden to interact with them in the first place?" Katsuki spoke at the back and Shota shot him a glare.

"The world is dangerous, even more so for us creatures of the sea that are portrayed as abominations. Yes it is forbidden to have any kind of interaction with the human world but we are only doing this to teach you to be safe, just in case that we are found out," Shota said, "Generations before you have been on the run and on the move to get away from humans, but land and water will always... always be connected and we and those barbaric humans would always find our paths crossing each other. We teach you to control your abilities so that when the time comes, we will be relieved to know that you will be able to hide and keep safe and continue on our bloodline,"

Silence and Shota seemed to be satisfied.

"Now if you're done yapping, go on and get to transforming," Shota said as he lazily laid back and prepared to sleep. "You have until sunset,"

The fear that Shota made them feel was replaced with excitement as every young merfolk grouped themselves up and started trying out their transformation, some faltering halfway but very few could do it successfully.

"Wow, Katsuki! You're the first to transform!" Voices of their excited classmates drew Izuku's attention and saw Katsuki in his human form. His legs were a bit shaky but he still stood with confidence and a giant smirk on his face.