Aquata Cove: Epilogue 01

"Triton Aalton? Do you know why we are here?" Merrick asked.

"No."

Moments later, a large and vicious looking merman swims into the chamber. His body is elongated with heavy plate-like scales along his body. His eyes are almost pure black with a deep sheen within them, with a claw of pure pearl along each fingertip to the knuckle, and mast-like horns on his back with large fins, and willowing whiskers on his face.

"I know you. You were there at the battle of the Lightning Mask." Aalton says.

"I do not remember you." He said deeply, "There were too many others in my sights..."

Soon, a disciple swims in with a seahorse mermaid -- a Coshiton. Ular's eyes go right for Merrick with surprise, "Oh, Merrick. I did not expect to see you here."

"None of us have, it seems." Merrick replied. Promptly, a ray mermaid is taken inside the chamber too, slowly flapping her wing-like body as she comes, as well as a luminous and eerie merman of a transparent body with bioluminescent lights shining and twinkling within his form.

"And all seven are here..." Says a Disciple.

"What do you mean? Why are we here?" Asks the largest and draconic merman in the room.

"In the final days of Atlantis, only seven members of the royal family of Atlantis were alive to be our salvation. They sacrificed themselves so that we may exist today."

"And what does that have to do with us?" Asked the ray mermaid, "Seven of us, were we chosen at random?"

"The seven statues in this sacred chamber best renders the ancestors of the royals of old -- their holy auras still resonate to this very sun, though their souls have long since wandered. Even now, we do not know which was the king, which was the queen, or of their children thereof."

"What is this leading to?" Aalton asked, "Can you tell us the main point?"

"As best as we blind and all-seeing disciples are able to see, you merfolk in this chamber are the most similar to the ancestors who gave their lives to evolve their kin.

"You are suggesting that we embody the souls of the royal family? As if we are their incarnations?" The deep-sea merman asked.

"It is uncertain if your souls are the ones who once hailed from this temple, but your own auras are the ones most identical to that of the statues. Tritons and Noitas both only carry these seven souls."

"Wait, but I am not a Noita." Ular says, "At least... I do not think I am..."

"I can see you are." A Disciple says, "It is in your body, the power that flows..."

"How? I've known her for years, and she's never shown any sort of power that Noitas have." Merrick said, "Like me, she is a Coshiton who dwells within a pod of rogues... Then again..." He turns to look at the seahorse, "Ular, how long ago did you say were with the Kenovani?"

"All my life, they took me in when I was a meryin. I cannot remember my pod, all I know are of the Coshitons."

"And you had no idea you are of mystical blood?"

"Can we focus back to why we are here?" Aalton asked impatiently, "With all due respect to the wisdom of the Disciples, I personally find it impertinent to herd the seven of us here without a proper explanation beforehand."

"We humbly apologize for the secrecy to you," The Disciple responds, "The identity of the chosen few must be kept secret for the first of many gatherings of the year -- for we cannot trust all who belong in our Kingdom until you have all been sanctified as such."

"So... I assume we are here to discuss the ways of our kind..." Merrick says, "And our laws?"

"Precisely. Every century, the chosen souls are gathered, and talk of the future of our kin..." The Disciple answers, "But first, we must give way to our most majestic ruler of all of Atlantis."

"Atlantis has a ruler?" Umiato asked, "I have always known the Kingdom to be kept by the Disciples and Ningyo."

"Indeed, but one mermaid must rise above us all, to be the voice of the Sea Mother, to be one who oversees the struggles and the truths and virtues of all us merfolk; all three of the Kingdoms has their own Majesty, and very few know of her existence."

"We are ready." The dragon-like merman says.

"So let it be." A pair of Disciples swims into an 8th corridor, and into the dark way. A few minutes later, they see a distant twinkling light, which soon illuminated the hall within. They all watch as soon, a wondrous mermaid is escorted by two of the Disciples and two Ningyo into the chamber. Her very flesh shimmers with its own light, the scales on her body reflecting light from every angle. She wears treasures of coral around her wrists, neck, and waist, including a tiara formation upon her head as her mirror-like eyes gaze upon them.

All seven merfolk gathered here felt compelled to bow before the holy mermaid as she comes to them. "I thank you all for coming to our sacred temple." She says, her voice echoing within itself, "I am the keeper of Atlantis. I am the voice of every merfolk born of our descendent, and I am the humble being of sight for our Shining Sea Mother. I am Vessel Lorelei."

"With all who are assembled here, we begin our first of 13 assemblies of the royals of old." A Disciple starts, "Let all who have come here be gathered, and state their name as well as their creed and their status, past or otherwise."

Each of the merfolk are guided to a spot around a large intricate growth of coral, specifically placed before a particular statue. "You must start," The Disciple tells the large merman, "And then you will follow to complete the circle." He said to Umiato. The eight Ningyo who have been summoned stand at the doorways to guard the merfolk in the chamber, the ever-radiant eyes trained upon every direction in front of them.

"Very well." The armored merman nodded, "I am Triton Phorcys of the Dragon Glare merfolk."

"I am Noita Umiato of the Arctic Veil merfolk." Umiato stated.

"I am Noita Delja of the Celtaray merfolk." The ray mermaid says next.

"I am Triton Theros Aalton of the Arrow Shark merfolk."

"I am Triton Coshiton Merrick of the Navyn Bolt merfolk."

"Then I suppose... I am Noita Coshiton Ular of the Wayward Seahorse merfolk." Ular says.

"And I am Adra Triton Yamini of the Phantom Sky merfolk."

"I welcome you all to this generation gathering of merfolk, and I think you all for your due reverence in our sacred home." Lorelei says with her arms held up, "I am the Vessel of Atlantis: Lorelei of the Sea Mother."

"So what do we do now?" Ular asked.

"I believe we talk of the current state of our kind." Aalton says, "Talk what must be improved or what must be done."

"Then if I may start?" Merrick says, "If it does not seem too bold to request at the very start, I ask that we reexamine some of the Sacred Laws, and I ask if it be necessary to abolish one or a few."

"Abolish the Sacred Laws?!" Delja says with a shocked glare at Merrick, "The Sacred Laws have been with us since the fall of Atlantis! You dare even suggest removing one of them?!"

"They are also some of the most foolish posturing of our ancestors." Merrick retorts, frankly making Ular a little nervous.

"How dare you, Coshiton..." Delja scowls, "Have you no respect?"

"I ask that you at least hear my Son out for his request." Umiato says, "Surely you reserve he has reason behind his words."

"You are his Mother, are you?" Delja sneered, "Then you are biased for his brazen position."

"Are we not here for a reason?" Aalton asked her with a glare, "If we had time for child-like accusations, we would not be here."

"He calls our ancestors foolish!" Delja ranted, "He shows very little regard for the ones who made our lives possible!"

"I beg to differ." Aalton says, "Who are the ancestors but simply those who existed before us? Were they nothing like us, both as rational yet foolish as those of us alive today? They deserve nothing but our respect, but I also do not recall Triton Merrick directly calling them unintelligent."

"The allegations alone are-"

"That is enough!" Triton Phorcys bellows, "I grow agitated with your ranting already. Let him get on with it." Delja glares back at those beastly eyes, before silencing herself.

"As I was saying," Merrick continued, "I am not declaring all of the Sacred Laws need to be abolished, but some of them do not require existence."

"Such as?" Yamini asked, "The Sacred Laws, as I understand it, are absolute and unquestionable."

"For example. Noita Ular was exiled when she was a meryin, so she claims, and the previous Triton and Noita of the Kenovani pod testified. Her mark is the crime of Unjust Thievery, and yet she cannot remember any sort of life before the Kenovani took her in."

"So she was granted two chances, and she was punished for it. Plain and simple, as it always was." Delja retorted, "I see little point in pursuing this further."

"She was banished when she was too young establish lasting memory." Umiato tells her with stern eyes, "Your voice carries much hostility -- have you no sense of mercy?"

"Triton Aalton." Delja turns to him, "I hear you were a Theros of philosophy and order. How can you not object to Triton Merrick's demands?"

"..." Aalton takes the question into consideration as he bows his head and crosses his arms, "I agree the Laws were established for a reason: to keep our kind within the borders of sanity and organization. However, I have heard of several Sacred Laws of the Holsien and Amnien merfolk that have struck rather irrelevant with me. Following the rules given to us by our ancestors is important, but there is also room for reason and circumstance. To blindly discriminate while hiding behind ancient borders is the pursuit of a coward."

"You hypocrite..." Delja frowns, earning a sharp and angry stare from the shark.

"Would you like to repeat that?"

"Your mate is Triton Merrick's sister, is she not? It is in your soul as well as his," Delja speaks, "You are also biased in Triton Merrick's favor, as is Noita Umiato. You speak of reason, yet I can see where your loyalties REALLY lie."

"Noita Delja, I believe you are throwing words around where they do not belong," Yamini says.

"And you! An Adra! Should your Father not be here in your place?!"

"Noita Delja." Says Lorelei's echoing voice, gaining the attention of all seven of them, "Each of you have been gathered and placed here for your souls' resemblance to our most sacred ancestors. Age and species matters not in this hallowed chamber. Your anger is disturbing the balance between all of you. I plead you stay your words, and give others their chance..."

Once again, the ray mermaid quiets herself.

"Back to what I was saying," Merrick goes on, "I understand if we cannot move to abolish the Sacred Laws, but at the very least, I believe leniency must be exercised by a significant count."

"I see no reason to truly extend the range of leniency for the laws myself." Yamini says.

"Hmph..." Ular scoffs, "You have never met a Coshiton, it seems."

"I cannot disagree with Triton Merrick," Phorcys talks in his mighty voice, "If I may give testimony of a personal experience; I have always been one to give credit and gratitude where it is due. Years ago, my Son was entangled and trapped within a human-made web. He could not sever the ropes that cut into his flesh, and I was not made aware until he was captured for too long. However, before I could reach him, I saw a human female take him from the water."

"Is this going anywhere?" Delja asked, "Does this really have anything to do with the Laws?"

"Yes." Phorcys glared at her, "I could not allow myself to act further, lest I risk exile for violating a Law. I thought that human had taken him away. But I saw something that truly rearranged my views on humans. It seems the female had a blade of her own, and she broke the webs that endangered my Son, and he is still alive today because that human helped him."

"You are a Triton." Yamini points out, "Could you not save him beforehand and just take your second chance? And even then, you are no doubt strong, surely you have easily slain that human before she had the chance to touch your Son."

Phorcys gives a deep breath of a sigh as he closes his eyes, "I have already used my chance a long, long time ago. And we dragon merfolk do not resort to monstrous brutality, despite what you would believe..." He looks back upon them, "I at least wanted to reward the human for showing mercy and compassion for my Son... The Laws made a useless coward out of me." Phorcys's fist shook, "Everyone in my pod did not question me, they did not berate me for the bound weakling that I was, and the very notion of it all brings all of my anger to light over and over."

"I still do not see the point." Delja says stubbornly, "You are not the only one who faces unfortunate events in our lives, and yet you want the Laws to walk around your personal needs?"

"You are a very self-centered mermaid, Noita Delja." Ular says, "Most of the Sacred Laws are petty and useless, and punish many of us as sinful monsters for the weakest of mistakes."

"If the Laws have always been as severely obsolete as you say, would they not be removed from the last gathering within Atlantis?" Yamini asked.

"Vessel Lorelei," Aalton spoke up, "Has there ever been a time where one or several Sacred Laws have been revoked?"

Lorelei closes her eyes for a moment, and reopened them, "In fact, some the Sacred Laws have been removed before in the past, when they were deemed unworthy of significance."

"See?" Merrick says, "It seems we do have some sense from times gone by."

"You continue with your brazen disrespect." Delja glares at him with disgust, "You would have us change our ways from your suffering alone."

"How do you think my Son is the only one who has suffered from the Laws' ire?" Umiato asked.

"We all have our trials, we all must suffer." Delja says, "What gives us the right to uproot our ancient ways for the hindering of a few?"

"A few?!" Ular says, "The ocean in all its might is cruel enough as it is now! How can we just allow future generations to toil away at Laws that we do not even need?? And to be exiled at the hand of the merfolk whom we love?? Why must we cast each other out as if we meant nothing to one another??"

"To the best of my views," Merrick says with his arms crossed, "Most of the Sacred Laws are little more than glorified guidelines that act as invisible enemies that create evil and pain where there is none. They demand we erase our existence for crimes without so much as a true trial. Even the hierarchy's advantage only delays the inevitable at best."

"The Sacred Laws are indiscriminate as well, as I have observed," Aalton says, "Triton Merrick. You speak of an Amnien merman who also was exiled when he was a meryin, the same for Noita Ular. What was your friend's sin?"

"Human Association. He was too young to understand the severity of his crime, and he repeated the violation until the Ningyo came and forced his Mother and Father and Razirah to banish him."

"Such is the penalty of our ways." Delja says, "Do you realize what kind of uproar would arise if we abolish even so much as ONE Law?? The idea alone could outrage so many, let alone the execution.

"Come now, Noita Delja." Phorcys growled, "At this point, surely you see SOME sort of compassion upon hearing all of this."

"I... I still need to hear more reasoning..." Yamini says hesitantly. "My Mother and Father taught me the absolution of the Laws are what keeps stability intact for the sake of our survival."

"I see no reason why the leash of authority cannot be loosened." Aalton says, "I see it as harsh to paint a Coshiton as a nonexistent deviant if they are guilty of little else than a misunderstanding. Not to mention the trust the Laws withholds from how we live."

"I can recite other such laws that are utterly obsolete." Merrick goes on, "An Amnien law prohibits them from hunting without the permission of the leaders, or else they cease to exist. A Holsien law demands one finds his or her mate within the span of 50 Red Moons, or they are exiled. One of our own Piscien laws forbids us from partaking food of any kind above the surface. The harshness of these laws is beyond laughable, as well as suggesting that we limit the flexibility of survival in most cases."

"We cannot control the Laws of the Amniens and Holsiens." Yamini points out, "I think we should keep focus to our own kind."

"The principle is the same." Ular tells him.

"Noita Umiato," Phorcys turns to her, "I am curious. You and Triton Merrick are Mother and Son, correct? I would like to hear the personal experience of what transpired to banish your own kin."

"..." Umiato thinks upon this sadly, "At the very moment when it happens..." She holds her hands gently together, looking at the palm that burned Merrick so long ago, "It feels like being forced to execute my own child."

"Oh come now." Delja scoffs, "I find it hard to-"

"Let her speak!" Phorcys barks threateningly, immediately silencing her, "Continue..."

"My Son..." Umiato's eyes start to weaken, "Was a very exceptional Adra Triton. His skills of combat and hunt mirrored the efficiency of his Father. Yet with such strength, he possessed simple wisdom beyond a few years and shown compassion and goodness to anyone... Even showing mercy when his Father would not. I placed the mark of his sin somewhere he could not see it because I myself could not bare to look at my own hand when I stained his flesh with my own fire."

"My Son was exiled for the crime of Forbidden Love." Umiato continued, "He is mated to a human male. The Red Moon chose a man to protect and cherish my child. And I have seen this human and known him to be a loving and humble man through his eyes. My Son lived with secrecy for fear of losing his pod... His family... He was forced to lie to me as well as his Father." Merrick cast his eyes down, "I confess I secretly condoned whatever deception he spoke of; I feigned ignorance because I did not want to believe he was acting out a forbidden practice, if he was doing something so incredibly sinister that he could not tell us."

"But my Son was merely doing what his heart commanded. He was innocent and terrified, and the Laws made him feel he needed to steep into hiding within shadows and deception. Our love is decided by the night of the Red Moon, and what came to be after that was beyond his control. That was not his fault!"

"Your Son committed several sins as a Coshiton, and he paid the price." Delja tells her venomously, "You cling to pain to one who did you a silent injustice constantly. It is your own doing if your heart bleeds more than you allow it."

"I have had just about enough of your cruelty." Aalton says.

"Cruelty..." Delja sneered, "I am what reality would have of me."

"What happened to you to make you so harsh in nature??" Ular asked, "You are practically mocking us for our hardships."

"Suffering is part of our lives, or did you forget that??"

"Then tell me." Umiato says with anger-filled eyes, "How would YOU respond with the impossible task of forsaking your children? Would you cast them out and call it right, despite of the reasoning?"

"I wouldn't know." Delja scowled, "My children died years ago. They were eaten alive before my eyes, and I could not save them." Her scratchy voice tells them. A pause goes by before she talks again, "We merfolk exist only to entertain the Waves of Fate. Why should we bother to change the rules now? What will be the point? It would not change..."

"I understand your pain," Merrick says, "But it WOULD make a difference, for so many-"

"You know LITTLE of pain and loss!" Delja says, "It happens in every second of our lives, and you must armor yourself to take it! My children were mangled devoured, and I heard their screams until fate's mercy bid them to die. And my mate, my Triton, he was too old and senile to even know they were ever truly gone. I have led my pod on my own for decades, long before you were born, Triton Merrick." The ray mermaid spits, "You whine and cry from your pain, and yet I see you do not take precautions."