[CONTENTID1]♒ Fanthoms Below ♒ [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

There were juicy worms, there were fresh clams, there were boiled cavern mushrooms, and sweet kelp aplenty. All laid atop a beautifully detailed magma slab were Ulla’s favorite foods, treats, and desserts. There was even a small puffy candied sponge with her name shaped in seaweed.

Surrounding the generous display was the Great Sea Witch, as she liked to call herself, Ursula; her moody sister, who picked her nails as if she’d rather be anywhere but there, the Sea Witch Morgana; a family ‘friend’, in the loosest of terms, Glut the Great White whose giant body took up most of the space in the ‘Serpentine’, their family home, and at the very head of it all sat the much smaller, much slimmer, Ulla.

Ulla, a slim, confused looking girl that called the depths of the Ocean her home; an oddity to the sea, Ulla was a child of mixed decent. Her mother, the Great Sea Witch herself, gifted the girl with ice blonde hair, deep set black eyes, full rosy lips, a stark black tail with a swishing fin that held veins of a brilliant violet, and most importantly, at least to her mother, the developing power of a sea witch. Unlike her mother, her father was of a very different type of sea dweller, and that of her maternal people’s greatest enemy, the Mer. Ulla took after her merman father with a naturally sun kissed tan, a strong muscular form that gave her both strength and a regal beauty, and most telling of her Mer ancestry, a fixed Mer tail. The only difference with it being a natural Mer tail was it’s dark color, smooth texture, and the fact that it ran all the way up to cover her chest.

Being different made Ulla a target growing up, much to the dislike of her mother and aunt who favored strong charisma and a sharp tongue. That is why, on this beautiful sea day, Ulla’s own twenty-fifth birthday, only three were in attendance; two of which were family, and third being a follower of Ursula.

The half mermaid didn’t care about that though; she took after the Merpeople in nature and found happiness in just being able to celebrate with the ones she loved. She smiled widely, and clapped amicably as the three sang to her, and thanked them profusely when she was given her gifts.

The first gift, a new necklace with a small sharks tooth at its center. It turned out to be one of Glut’s very own teeth that had fallen out when the two of them had pretend wrestled a few days prior. Ulla grinned gratefully, knowing he had been thinking of her and treasured their time together.

The second, coming from her Auntie Morgana, was a few bags of barnacle chips. The birthday girl tried not to feel slighted and smiled still, despite the impersonal present. It couldn’t be helped after all. Everyone knew of Morgana’s dislike of her sister, and in turn her sister’s only child.

The next two boxes were slid over by her mother, and were wrapped elegantly in dyed seaweed. “These are on behalf of our dear departed Flotsam and Jetsam,” Ursula explained. Flotsam and Jetsam were two eels that the sea witch had befriended and taken in after the birth of Ulla. The three grew up together and considered each other siblings until their untimely death a few years back. Every year since their departure, Ursula gave Ulla gifts in their name and left two seats empty on either side of her as she did today.

Ulla nodded forlornly, still saddened by their loss, and unwrapped the pretty gifts. Inside were two squarely carved rocks that when the lids were taken off, held a small black pearl, respectively. They were a pair of onyx pearl earrings that when Ulla immediately put on, twinkled dreamily in coordination with her eyes and tail. She loved them immediately.

The fourth came in the shape of a purple clam whose lips where shut softly. Ulla to her mother expectantly, knowing the gift was from her and would somehow match the earrings she had just received. Her and the eel brother’s gifts always matched that of her mother’s; today would be no different. When Ulla lifted the clam’s head she was presented with a sparkling row of onyx pearls that held one, small shell in the shape of a fin. It was a bracelet to match the earrings. The little half mermaid’s eye’s twinkled in endearment. She loved it just as much as the previous gift.

“Thank you mother,” she said softly. She clipped the pearls in place and lifted her head ready to dig in to some delicious food, but then one last bundle caught her eye. It was in the corner of the room almost hidden behind a dish rag. It was definitely not their yesterday, or any day before; Ulla would have remembered. “What is that?” she pointed at the object.

Automatically knowing what her daughter was referring to, Ursula waved her hand dismissively. “Oh that thing? Nothing of importance, let’s eat now!”

Ulla frowned at her mother and moved to look around her. She noticed a half clam attached to the bundle, and on the shell was the golden print of a trident. It was the Sea King’s seal, the seal of Trident, the seal…of her father.

Excitedly, Ulla swam up and over the table, dodging her mother’s grab for her. She picked up the light weight bundle, cradling the marked shell lovingly in her hand. Father, she thought gently. It wasn’t often she heard from him, on holidays and her birthday only; and it was even less that she saw him.

“Just throw that crap out,” Auntie Morgana drawled, “it’s not like that good for nothing floor dweller actually cares about you. Look where you live after all: the darkest abyss inside a long dead Leviathan. Please, giving it a name like ‘Serpentine’ doesn’t make a magma rock a coral reef.”

“Be quiet!” Ursula shouted, slamming her fists on the table. She may not have warm feelings toward the King, and at one time may have tried to usurp him from the throne, but that was then and this is now and he was her beloved daughter’s father. She would not stand for anyone speaking ill of him in front of Ulla.

She leaned close to her sister and gave her a menacing look. “We’ll have no such words spoken in my home; got it Sea Hag?” Morgana glared back, but turned her nose up at the situation. She couldn’t care either way after all. On the other hand, Ulla was clutching the bundle to her chest, lip trembling. “He too cares,” she whispered thickly, “He loves me just as much as my step sisters. I’m just as important!”

Her mother turned her burning stare to her daughter. While she would defend her child against her hateful sister, she would not allow Ulla to feel anything but resentment to her father; the same way she has since the moment he choose the Princess Athena over her.

“He...cares?” Ursula said carefully; her voice low and threatening, “He loves you? You think you’re on the same level as those sea cows that barnacle faced woman birthed?” Ursula’s voice rose in pitch, but not in sound. She gave her daughter a scathing, haughty look, aghast at the stupidity. “You really think you’re as important the Princesses of Atlantica? Oh how I love you my daughter, but your mother is just a lowly Octipid to the Merpeople, and if you were to come upon one of them they would not see a half Merperson; they would not see the daughter of the King or princess of the crown despite you having been born first. All those jelly belly guppies will see is a half Octopid and the daughter of a Sea Witch!”

Ulla stared at her mother incredulously, eyes wide and tearful. Her mother has done, and said a