Throx.

When Kai arrived by the riverbank, he was there. And Kai thought that he can’t be happier then seeing the man. Said man was staring at his own reflection in the clear water of the river, occasionally throwing rocks and watching them plummet into the shallow water. Kai took some minutes watching the man, wondering about why he’s here and what is currently in his mind for him to be so distracted. Usually, when Kai as soon as stepped on the ground, the man would notice him. This time though, he didn’t.

He then took some steps towards the man, wondering if he should just greet him normally or surprise him. After some seconds of thinking, he then opted for the latter.

Kai dissipated once again, before appearing in front of the man. He was bending down, his face only inches away from the man.

“Boo.”

He then can’t help the grin that broke on his face after seeing the man’s reaction. He first stared wide-eyed at Kai, widening his already wide eyes. Being that close, Kai could almost see his pupils dilating.

“Jongin,” the man finally uttered, “gosh you surprised me there. How did you manage to do that?” the man relaxed as he realized who was currently in front of him.

Kai chuckled and straightened himself.

“Well, you were very much distracted. Oh and good to see you too, Kyungsoo.”

Melkyr.

The letter came two days ago, in the shape of a small seashell. In his dream a mermaid whose face he can’t really identify reached out to him. She gave him a small seashell, making sure he enveloped it with his arm safely, before she went away just as fast as when she came.

The moment it came, Tao knew that it isn’t an invitation to a friendly dinner or a feast to celebrate anything. He knew that it wasn’t a letter on any happy occasion.

It’s a letter of emergency.

It truly is, he found out, after opening the letter.

Without waiting for any signal or anything, he travelled to Melkyr, using the travel trinket that his cousin Kai had given him long ago. As a result from that, he now finds himself inside the Underwater Palace, fighting some unknown force.

They look like humans, like those ninja agents he’d seen in Orbis. But as Tao is one who have a gift from The Tree of Life, he knows that they are anything but humans. They don’t have any definite Life Force inside of them, unlike humans, and they also look devoid of any emotions, which is, once again unlike humans.

There’s exactly six of them, attacking him like his head is the best trophy of all time that’s made from all kinds of gold in the worlds. Not that Tao hates it, if anything this feels like a good practice for him. It has been months since he last practiced his martial arts on any moving things. The last few months he had been using his moves on sheer air.

Tao moves swiftly, knocking one enemy to another. He realized that after knocking them out, they disappeared in a blast of shadow and black feathers.

When he had successfully knocked them all, he was left alone in the room. He was in the attic at the time, because that’s where he always landed when he visited the Underwater Palace. The attic was always empty of mer-people. No one would be shocked to see him appear out of nowhere. To think that there would be those dark creatures in the attic, something bad must’ve really been going on.

He hurried to the central area of the palace, the throne room to be exact, all the while hoping that he is not too late. As he rushed through the water, he heard a familiar voice.

“Tao!”

At the mention of his name, he whirled around, facing the owner of the voice.

“You came! That was fast,” the merman greeted cheerfully.

“Arion.”

“I guess you’re heading to the throne room? I’m heading there too, let’s go together,” the merman joined him.

The merman named Arion then proceeded to talk. He talked about many things starting from the weather to how the kingdom has been faring for the last several weeks.

He continued on his monologue as they walk, Tao half listening to him and half thinking to himself.

Arion is always like this. He’s a friendly merman, but also very talkative, which results in him having no problem befriending the most-of-the-time silent Tao. Arion also spends most of his time in the palace, as he is the descendant of Oceania, the oldest and wisest mermaid to live in the ocean.

As a result of that, Tao meets Arion almost all of the time he visits the place.

As they walked (well, he walked anyway, Arion swam) in the hallway, Tao then started to realize a thing.

Nothing is happening here. The palace is just like always, mermen and mermaids here and there, bustling around doing their jobs. Sometimes they passed by sea creatures too, fishes and all their friends, swimming around the palace. Of course, there’s this weariness in the water, and Tao also didn’t miss the tense aura around them, but nonetheless, it seems just like any other normal day in the Underwater Palace.

Then what were those black forms that he encountered just now? Those strange ninja-like forms that attacked him as soon as he came? Was it a new form of defense in the palace? Surely no, those creatures are way too… dark, for it to be the mer-people’s new form of defense. Tao, being one with a gift from the Tree of Life and all, of course didn’t fail to notice that those creatures are a result of some kind of dark magic.

Before Tao got to open his mouth and ask Arion, he realized that they have arrived at their destination. The massive and grand door to the throne room stands in front of them, giving off a majestic vibe. Anyone who comes upon this door would know immediately that beyond it lies an important room, the throne room, to be precise.

The door magically opened at Arion’s touch, displaying an equally massive room. A pair of ceiling-to-floor arched windows are on either side of the room, letting in the light. A massive chandelier made of shells and starfishes hung from the high ceiling, currently turned off due to it still being the afternoon. On the farthest side, stood the thrones, a bigger one, that of King Tritan’s, and a smaller one that have been vacant for years. Seashells and starfishes also adorned the walls, twinkling as Tao and Arion passed by.

King Tritan was sitting on his throne, a smile gracing his face as the two finally stopped in front of it.

Arion bowed, followed by Tao, respecting the King of the Underwater Kingdom.

“Herla, Your Majesty,” they greeted.

“Herla, respected friend, it is nice to see you here. You too, Arion,” the King greeted as both Tao and Arion straightened themselves.

“I have seen your message, Your Majesty, and came here as soon as I can. It would be an honour for me to help the Underwater Kingdom.”

“Thank you, Tao. It is also an honour for us to be given aid by a Gifted.”

“Ah, but I think I made a discovery when I arrived here Your Majesty, and you should know it,” Tao frowned.

“I believe that there are s-“ Tao continued halfway, his sentence cut by the opening of the throne room’s door.

King Tritan averted his attention towards the open door, as Tao and Arion themselves turned to look at the newcomer.

It turned out to be Oceania, along with a human at her side. And as soon as Tao landed his eyes on the human, he caught his breath. The man’s hair is brunette, the edges curling here and there, as if he’s been having a hard time trying to tame the curls. He walks with confident steps, like he has been walking down the room countless of times already, and there’s a glint of mischief in his eye, carefully hidden, but not unnoticeable by Tao.

The thing is, Tao knows this man.

He doesn’t know where exactly had he see or meet this man, but there’s a feeling of familiarity, like the man is a part of his memory that had been gone missing withouth him knowing.

“Herla, King Tritan,” the man bowed, Oceania bowing with him.

“Herla. You are quite in time, respected companion, as I have been wanting to introduce you to this friend of mine,” King Tritan signaled to Tao.

The man then turned towards Tao, the corner of his lips creating a nice curl as he smiled.

“Herla. It is an honour to meet a friend of the King’s. My name is Kim Jongdae,” he offered his hand.

“Herla, I am Tao, and it is also an honour for me to meet you, Mr. Kim.”

“Jongdae is the leader of the village by the beach, and the people of the village has always been our companion since ancient times,” Oceania stated.

“Ah, then it adds to my delight to see the leader of the village,” Tao smiled warmly. He’s aware of the friendship that have been kept by the particular human village and the Underwater Kingdom since long ago, and meeting the current village leader is pleasing to him. Amongst the leaders of Melkyr, the Village by the ocean on the north is always the most mysterious, so he himself doesn’t really know much about it.

“Yes, and Tao here is our long time friend also, my dear, he has the gift of the Tree of Life,” Oceania explained next.

Tao can see Jongdae’s pupil dilating out of surprise and delight.

“The gift of the Tree of Life? That must be wonderful!” for a second Tao thought that he saw a spark there flying out of Jongdae.

“Indeed, I will be happy to share my ability the best I can,” Tao closed his sentence with a little laugh, followed by Jongdae’s own.

“Now, what were you going to say, Tao?” asked the King.

“Ah, right, Your Majesty, it was when I came by the palace just now, I stumbled upon some dark forms. They were quite big in number, I believe around six of them, and they all attacked me the moment I arrived,” Tao explained.

Upon the explanation, he can feel everybody in the room tense up. The King frowned, while Oceania and Arion glanced at each other, wariness evident in their eyes. Jongdae, on the other side, only seemed tired and stressed with the whole ordeal.

“They might be related to the danger that is threatening us,” Arion stated after some moments.

“How can they enter the palace? This palace has been heavily guarded especially since we got those threats, and even if they transported inside, there are a magical barriers protecting the whole kingdom,” King Tritan continued.

“I believe that is what we must solve first. With the circumstances as it is, maybe their source is inside the palace itself, or maybe someone helped them getting inside.”

“That might be true. It saddened me that there might be a traitor amongst us mer-people” the King considered.

“Well, nonetheless it is nice to have you two here, and we’re truly sorry that you have to come here for such a matter. How about we suggest some rest for our guests, Tritan? Surely they are tired for their journey here,” Oceania cut in.

“Of course, we can talk about this later. For now, please take a rest. We will meet again at dinner I believe.”

At King Tritan’s words, they excused themselves.

“Arion, please them to their respective rooms, I believe I still have some matters to discuss with the king,” said Oceania.

They left the throne room soon after, walking down the hallway in silence. Even the chatty Arion said nothing as he escorted them to their rooms.

After escorting Tao and Jongdae, Arion also excused himself for some things that he need to do, and then Tao was left alone in his room.

Even the guest room of the palace was beautiful, seashells and starfishes decorating the walls, glimmering in th

e faint light of the sun. The Underwater Kingdom is no doubt very deep in the ocean, but they are also full of magic, which is why the sunlight can still shine through the water of their dominion. A circular window was at the end of the room, filling the wall beside the bed. The bed was queen-sized and blue in color, looking really soft and comfy.

As to why there can be a bed in the kingdom, he guessed it’s because this quarter is intended for human guests. It’s not a problem for human guests to sleep on the bed and not float in the water instead, because the magic of the mer-people can give humans a sleet of air surrounding them, allowing them to breathe underwater and to stay dry. Tao though, didn’t get the magic from a mermaid or a merman. When he became a friend to the kingdom, he was given a piece of pearl, that can give him it if he carry it around.

He guessed that the village leader Jongdae also have it.

His mind was full of thoughts, at that moment it was just a jumbled mess of this and that, but as soon as Tao’s body hit the bed, all of it dispersed, and he drifted to sleep.

*Herla is a form of greeting in mer-language, it is purely fictional.

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