Chapter Nine: War

Bom had been taking a nap when she first heard it.

It was almost minute, barely above a whisper, but she still heard the haunting melody floating idly into her ears.

“Come, fellow mermen,

Let us sing the song of the sea.

Let our voices carry,

The wrath we have for thee.

Sing, fellow mermen,

For thy grave we will bury.”

It was a song she was terribly familiar with, having heard the song multiple times when she was still just a child and her father would sob into the night over the loss of her mother. She had read the novels, seen the choirs of mermaids practising the eerie tune.

It was a battle cry.

Snapping her eyes open, she fought against the onslaught of light permeating through the glass of her tank. Swimming quickly to the front, she began banging her hands repeatedly against the glass, screaming at a sleeping T.O.P and Seungri to wake up.

The former awoke with a start, his reading glasses slipping haphazardly off the bridge of his nose. Alarmed, he shoved Seungri awake, ignoring the irate response he got from the younger man.

Hurrying over to Bom’s panicking being, he bent down in front of her tank. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s . . .” She hesitated, ultimately realizing that she had yet to tell the truth about her people.

Their song was becoming increasingly louder, and she knew it would be any minute now that they would reach the city. She could distinguish almost every voice, every chilling note ringing clear in her ears.

They were out for revenge, and Bom had to stop them before they freely sent Hades fresh souls.

OoOoOo

“Bom, what’s wrong?” Seunghyun questioned, eyeing her curiously.

Before she could warrant a reply, a flustered Youngbae burst into the lab, panting. He donned his uniform, sleeves cuffed up until his elbows, and his beret meticulously hiding his hair.

His eyes were wide with fright, fear overtaking the usual, calm expression he painted across his kind face. “We need to get out of here! A huge tsunami literally came out of nowhere, and it’s heading right this way for our city!”

“What? How is that even possible?!” Seungri exclaimed, standing up from his seat. “There’s been no earthquakes or tremors – our country hasn’t even experienced any natural calamities in a long time. You sure this isn’t a hoax?”

“Oh for ’s sake,” Youngbae cried, grabbing the television remote from off the table and switching on the decrepit TV that they owned.

The three men gathered around the ancient device, for once turning their backs on Bom ever since they’d first laid sight on her. Youngbae turned the volume up louder, fervently pressing the button until the announcer’s voice rang clear and precise throughout the room.

“. . .  president has ordered an emergency evacuation of the entire city to the nearest provinces. The tsunami is bound to hit the city within an hour’s time, and the typhoon occurring afterwards approaches the city with reported speeds of up to a hundred and seventy kilometres per hour . . .”

“Holy ,” Seunghyun breathed, disbelieving as numbers, maps and reports began showing up on the screen. “This is unprecedented. How the –”

“Talk later,” Youngbae advised, already moving into action. “We need to get going. One hour isn’t enough time to get out of the city. If the government – with all their tech – couldn’t predict what is bound to go down in history as the worst natural disaster South Korea has ever faced, we have little to no chances of making it out here alive.”

“But Bom–” Seunghyun adamantly protested, feeling a surge of fear not for his life, but for the existence of the mermaid he had fallen in love with.

Turning to gesture at said person, he froze in his tracks as he stared at the forlorn expression on her ethereal features. She looked beyond torn, as though she had heard the news and was frightened of it.

She was as still as stone, her eyes latching onto his with such shock and petrification, Seunghyun had to do a double take to ensure he was not dreaming, that the current transpiring events were merely a horrible nightmare.

And as she stared at him, her eyes filled with such sorrow and lament that Seunghyun couldn’t even begin to comprehend the cause of it, he realized she didn’t fear the oncoming catastrophe that was about to claim their lives.

She was terrified of the cause behind it.

It seemed as though she hadn’t been completely honest, after all.

“T.O.P . . . this danger that you speak of, I–”

“What do you know about it?” Seunghyun spat, feeling a wave of anger wash over him as he felt the odd sting of betrayal skin him alive. “I trusted you, Bom. I believed in every word you said.”

“Stop it!” Seungri cut in, putting himself between the older man and the mermaid. “What the hell are you going on about, hyung?”

“I’m sorry,” Bom cried, pressing her hands against the glass contours of her tank. “I did it for my family, for my people! I had to protect them from harm – in case any other humans would search and capture them as well! Please, I had no intention to harm any of you, I swear on my life!”

Youngbae gasped, drawing closer to her. “You were the reason behind all this?!”

“No!” She shook her head in despair, voice cracking. “I do not know how they came to the conclusion to wage war with you humans! I do not know why they have come here, please, believe me!”

“Wage war?” Seunghyun cut in, attempting to force a lid on the bubbling rage that clawed relentlessly to be let out. “What do you mean?”

Her obsidian eyes widened inexplicably, tearing even more so than she had previously. “You may not hear it but my people have sung the song.”

“What song?” Seunghyun punched the tank, his fury finally unleashed as he frowned scathingly down at the terrified mermaid.

She cried, “The song of war.”

OoOoOo

“Brothers,” Mino yelled as he rode the gargantuan wave beside King Hyunsuk, his fellow army of mermen swimming steadily as they wielded their staffs behind him, shouting in response. “Raise our colours!”

The frontlines of the army raised large spears carrying the banner of King Hyunsuk; the emerald-green trident of the sea god against the backdrop of a magnificent ocean. They screamed with tenacious ferocity that reverberated throughout the area as they continuously swam forward, bringing in the ocean with them as they heartlessly drowned the outer workings of a city underneath them.

King Hyunsuk stood tall and proud atop a giant shark – one that was known as the fabled megalodon. He had yet to reveal his true form, though, bound in a smaller frame that would later expand in battle.

The ocean responded to the sea god’s ire as he and his mermen ruthlessly swam forward, bringing watery deaths to those who came in their way.

Thoughts of his befallen wife and daughter – his precious, precious youngest daughter – encircled his battle-ready mind, and the god realized he did not want to bring death to the humans.

No, instead, he wanted to drag them all the way to Tartarus and let Hades persecute their bogus souls.

With a mighty roar, the sea god rose to his full size and charged forward.

OoOoOo

“So, to cut it short, you lied to us about being the only mermaid left to protect your family. Now, assuming that we’ve killed you, merpeople are on their way to kill us all?” Seungri asked innocently, eyeing the mermaid with a tilted head.

She nodded reluctantly, causing Seunghyun to grit his teeth in irritation.

Seeing this, the maknae scoffed. “What are you so angry for, hyung? She was only protecting her family – something you, too, would’ve done had you been in her place.”

That shut Seunghyun up.

He couldn’t think of a smart retort as he clamped his mouth shut, feeling the weight of Youngbae’s restraining hand on his right shoulder. The latter merely watched him in concern, though fear was still creased between his brows as he glanced nervously between them and the TV still relaying the disaster.

“We need to sort this out quick.” Seungri nodded, whirling around to reach for his handphone. “We need to make sure the merpeople know Bom is still alive and well, or they’ll kill us all.”

“Kill us?” Youngbae snorted. “We’re humans. We have weapons far stronger than any of them Swimmers do.”

“You’re wrong,” Bom whispered, eyes wide with trepidation as she hugged her trembling form. She refused to look at Seunghyun’s accusing stare. “We control the sea; and with it, we control your lives.”

Her sentiment laid heavily in the tensed atmosphere of the lab, causing the three men to stumble for words they were unsure of saying. Eventually, Seunghyun broke the silence, warily looking at the mermaid.

“You did not lie to us about anything else?”

“I swear it.” She nodded profusely. “I swear it on my life.”

He nodded, letting out a breath he hadn’t known he had been holding. “Maknae-ah, strap a recorder onto her. Youngbae, get rid of those guards outside. We’ll be getting our mermaid home.”

OoOoOo

A lonesome soldier, one forced to ensure the safe evacuation of the citizens against the sudden disaster coming their way, had been yelling at said citizens to move orderly and calmly amidst all the chaos.

Men, women and children everywhere had descended into a desperate struggle to leave the city as quickly as they could after news of a monster tsunami broke out, one that was recorded to be the height of at least fifty stories followed by a demonic typhoon hell bent on destroying everything in its path.

He was still a young man serving his mandatory enlistment, and he had been looking forward to a quiet graduation with little to no fanfare.

All that was hypothetically thrown aside as he felt the hair at the back of his neck stand up in rapt attention. The heavens suddenly unleashed their acrimony, large tears pouring incessantly down unabashedly, as the young man sneaked a glance to his left.

What he saw then jolted him right out of his exhaustion, for it was a sight so frightening he swore for a moment it might have been just a trick of his eye.

Then he squinted, and he realized that the maniacal figure riding on top of an atrociously colossal shark and the many mermen riding the same titanic wave threatening to drag them to a watery grave were not a figment of his imagination.

The tsunami drew closer, and with it, so did the titan.

And soon the young man was no more.

OoOoOo

“What is that thing?”

“Mermaids!”

“It’s God – he’s punishing us! He has come to doom us all!”

It was a complete turmoil in the streets as people everywhere attempted to outrun the tsunami. Many had seen the mermen, realizing that this was an actual occurrence and not one of disproportionate pranks.

The South Korean military had mobilized their army troops in an attempt to battle these mermen.

The two sides had finally collided in an all-consuming battle. Tanks as well as various other military machinery proved useless as the worsening weather attempted to eat them alive. The mermen, in complete control of the element, wielded their staffs expertly against the human soldiers.

Guns and bomb held no meaning as King Hyunsuk savagely rained hell upon the beings that had killed his wife and daughter.

Seunghyun gripped Bom desperately, waddling in the rising tide; the tsunami had finally reached the city, and people were now running up tall skyscrapers in a last ditch attempt to save their lives. Youngbae pushed people inquiring about the mermaid aside, while Seungri fiddled with his mobile device.

They were on the sixty-eighth floor of one of the tallest buildings in Seoul, with the water still continuously rising higher. Seunghyun couldn’t bear to look around, knowing that he would see dead bodies floating and people drowning; he felt beyond awful, but his main priority now was to ensure Bom would be seen by her people.

By knowing she was alive, by knowing she still existed, the war would end and less lives would be lost.

He had learned that the hard way, recalling unbidden memories of his time in Afghanistan. His actions to save strangers over his own comrades had resulted in a bitter end for everyone, and in spite of the dire situation presently, where Seunghyun knew many were already dying, he knew it in his gut that he had to ensure Bom’s safety first.

“Go,” Youngbae grunted at Seunghyun, pushing people aside. His beret had been lost in the crowd, and his eyes had turned into fearsome slits. “Quickly.”

Seunghyun turned to look at the now struggling Seungri, trying his hardest to remain afloat. The water clogged the stairwell, and Bom held Seungri afloat on her back. The youngest of them all struggled to breathe, eyes still fixed on his cell-phone as he pressed desperately across the screen.

“Seungri, what the are you even doing?!” Seunghyun screamed at him. “Your stupid programme can wait till later! If you die now, I’ll ing rip you apart, limb to limb! Now, move!”

They burst onto the rooftop, them and a few other survivors. Sea water pooled around their ankles, and Bom was forced to flop on the ground. He helped her up, hoisting her into his capable arms.

It took him a moment to absorb the catastrophic debacle of the scenario in front of him.

Water was literally everywhere, rain crying ceaselessly down the skies as mermen and human soldiers waged war with each other. Skyscrapers were slowly being consumed by the rising tsunami, thunder and lightning surrounding them in all sides, and in the distance, Seunghyun could see the typhoon hurdling towards their way – he could already feel the harsh winds whipping against his tattered clothes.

Beside him, he heard Seungri whisper, “Done.”

“Father!” Bom screamed, and her voice echoed throughout the entire city, encompassing it with her plea.

Her voice boomed loudly, almost as if she was speaking through a microphone, with numerous speakers sounding out her words.

Seunghyun turned to Seungri, eyes wide with questionable awe, “Maknae-ah . . . what did you do?”

OoOoOo

“I connected Bom’s recorder to every single working amplifiers, speakers and sound devices. Soon, the CCTV near us will connect to digital advertisement billboards.”

As soon as he said it, Bom watched in astonishment as grainy clips of her face, alongside T.O.P, Seungri and Youngbae’s, highlighted across large screens on top of skyscrapers flickering to life.

“Why?” She heard T.O.P ask, his breath caught in his throat.

“They’ll want to see this. The people . . . they’ll want to know why this happened.”

Bom felt water splash across her lower back, and knew then that she had no time left. Opening , she began singing a song she hoped her father would hear amongst the insanity that had taken over him.

Once a god was angered, one could attempt to take their own life in front of him, and he wouldn’t even bat an eyelid.

She sang, pouring her heart out, listening to her voice echo throughout the city, amplifying it.

It was as if time stopped still.

The battle between mermen and men halted as her melody rained over them, soothing their estranged nerves as her calming voice temporarily stopped the ongoing violence.

“Princess?” A familiar voice asked in disbelief.

Bom opened her eyes, having closed them in her breath-taking rendition. The voice drew closer, and the heavy sheet of rain paused, allowing her to glimpse who the merman behind the voice was.

The guard, Seunghoon, stood stock-still. His mouth opened in disbelief, his trident falling to the water as he stared at his princess – his living, breathing princess – in the arms of a human male.

Wielding his trident once more, he raised it, attempting to obliterate the man.

With an ear-splitting yell, Bom cried, “No! He saved me, Seunghoon! Do not harm this man!”

Her cry and T.O.P’s resounding shock caused the man to drop her onto the waist-deep water, shrouded with mud and what she thought looked suspiciously like blood. Before she could swim a step closer, she felt an emphatic force making its way towards them, and she turned just in time to see her father, in his true form, standing thunderously above them all.

“Bom?” He asked, voice shaking. “You are alive, truly?”

“Yes, Father.” She answered stretching her arms out towards him. “Please, stop this. These humans mean no harm. Most of them are innocent; leave them be.”

He shrunk then, and soon Bom found herself engulfed in her father’s embrace. She leaned onto his sturdy shoulders, allowing herself to cry like a babe in his arms. She could feel tremors coursing through his body as he held her tightly to him.

He mumbled, “I thought you were dead. I thought you were killed like your mother. I feared . . . oh, I feared . . .”

“Hush, Father,” she his back. “I am alive.”

The sea god pulled away, and under the sudden ray of sunshine piercing through the grey skies, Bom saw what her absence had done to her father.

He looked like he had aged far beyond his years. Eye-bags were heavily laden underneath his bloodshot eyes. Wrinkles lined his forehead and cheeks, and he hadn’t shaved in what appeared to be forever. His normally luscious locks had turned dry and frazzled, and he had lost plenty of weight.

Bom feared what her sister, Go Eun, would look like.

“Breathe life into the innocents, Father,” She asked of him, her eyes pleading. “They have done no harm to us.”

He straightened his back, hand clenching around his trident. “I will spare the innocents; but those who have wronged us will be sent to Tarturus.”

Leaving no further room for question, the sea god and his daughter disappeared with the receding ocean.

All that was left in the aftermath was befallen people regaining consciousness, a city that was thoroughly ravaged, and a broken-hearted man.  

A/N: I can't possibly afford to give you lovelies BIGBANG or expensive gifts but I can, however, release this. Hope you guys liked it! Merry Christmas, everybody! :)