A Merfolk's Tale

Chapter Seven

He tried to silence his sobs as he hid inside his wardrobe and prayed that his father didn't see him. He was tired and did not want to train today, however, his father didn't simply care and still forced him.

He has had enough. As an eight-year-old, he should be playing along with his siblings not training like a soldier; he should be holding toys, not wooden swords to fight; he should be smiling and laughing with the other children and not fearing for his life like this-- not fearing his father.

'You are unlike your siblings, Shoto,' his father had said, 'You are a born ruler, unlike those mistakes,'

But his father never understood that it was him who was a mistake, because if he wasn't born then his mother wouldn't have to suffer by protecting him all the time.

Shoto flinched in fear when the wardrobe door opened and tears filled his vision at the sight of his mother's face who looked like she had been running around the castle, trying to find her youngest son. "There you are, Shoto..." her voice filled with relief as she knelt down and opened her arms. "Touya said you'd be here hiding,"

"Mother..." Shoto's voice trembled as he launched himself to his mother and started crying. "I hate him...! I hate him! I don't want to be like him...!"

He felt his mother caress his hair. "Shoto, what do you say we get out of here for a while?" she said.

Wiping the tears away from his eyes, Shoto looked up to his mother in confusion. "Where... will we go...?"

Rei smiled at his son as she wiped the remaining tears. "But... you have to promise that this will be our own little secret, okay?"

Shoto nodded, wrapping his pinky finger over his mother's as a small smile tugged his lips. Rei wrapped her son in his cloak after putting hers then called for her guard to accompany them until they reached the beach.

Heterochromatic eyes widened in amazement at the sight of the waves splashing on the shore then coming back to the sea, the sun beaming up at them at the most beautiful way possible and made the ocean look like it was made of diamond-- the water sparkling before his eyes-- and the wind blowing at their faces as if they were flying with the birds in the sky.

"Wow..." Shoto mumbled and Rei smiled, putting Shoto's hood down and let the wind caress her son's hair. "It's so beautiful, mother... I want to stay here forever,"

Rei chuckled. "You'll have to be a mermaid to stay here, you know," she answered and Shoto looked up at her.

"Tell me stories about mermaids, please...?" Shoto said and Rei scooped her son up with a smile before sitting down on the sand.

"Y-you're highness...!"  Rei's guard, Tensei, called in shock. "P-please at least let me take my cloak off as to not dirty your clothes,"

But Rei dismissed him politely. "Tensei, do you know the legend about how mermaids started to exist?" she asked. "Your mother used to tell those to you and your brother and sister, right?"

Tensei looked surprised and confused but still nodded. "The god of the sea... envious of how the land had its caretakers given to it by the goddess of earth, made caretakers of his own-- mermaids-- who were sworn to defend the sea and its creatures," he said.

"Well, that is both right and wrong," Rei said then turned back to Shoto. "It was true that us humans walked the earth first before humans, but it wasn't jealousy that brought them out-- but love,"

Shoto's nose scrunched up in disgust, making Rei giggle. "One day, the god of the sea decided to visit the land to see what humans looked like and met a lovely maiden on his visit. the god of the sea was entranced by the woman and instantly fell in love with her, thus resulting him to visit the land more often than usual just to see the maiden again and again,"