Aquata Cove: Epilogue 01

"Oh? Yes, Vessel Lorelei." Merrick swims to her, and follows the majestic mermaid out of the chamber, and soon comes to a large and empty throne room, overgrown with a forest of white coral. They move to a balcony before Lorelei looks down to Merrick.

"I wish to discuss with you about your... Corruption."

"Corruption?" Merrick says with a hint of fear, "What are you saying??"

"I see the darkness of the Black Sun inside of you..."

"Oh, that... Yes, I know of it now. The Disciples have explained to me that it dwells within me. They told me nothing more than that I am different."

"It goes deeper than that." Her moon-like eyes glow mysteriously, "Triton Merrick. Beware your shadow."

"What? What do you mean? Am I, are you going to punish me?"

"I wish to warn you." Lorelei says compassionately, "When your anger grew towards Noita Delja, hatred started to race faster than I have ever seen. Your essence was burning like the sun turned cold and malevolent."

"I see, but... Then you spoke up, and it suddenly vanished. How is THAT done?"

"I am the Vessel of the Sea Mother, one of three." Lorelei says as the light from the surface wavers on her, "I am the voice of all Piscien merfolk. I am the song of our souls and the life of our resonance. I am one of myself, and I am all of who is here. In that sense, this also means that I am you." Merrick's eyes widen at that statement.

"I don't understand..."

"The grace of the moon balances the brash of the sun; the radiant night embraces me, as the aphotic day has embraced you. I merely tapped into the imbalance within you with my own harmony, and the unnatural dark in you was entranced."

"I never realized I was this dangerous." Merrick says as he crosses his arms and looks to the side, "... Sort of."

"I apologize for interfering with you. But the obscurity inside of you is something no one has seen in what can only be described as countless time, I cannot remember how and when such a being held this sort of dusk inside them. Your negativity is so foreign and so rampant, it almost seems alive. I feared you were going to die right where you were talking."

"That... Does not make sense." Merrick says, "The humans have a similar problem of what you just described, but that is a common bodily malady for them. I have felt far worse than that before, in a lot more distressful situations, yet I am not in any pain."

"I can see, yes..." Lorelei concurred, "In past years, the darkness inside of you has raged and devoured far more than what I have seen."

"I have my Father's harsh temper... If that means anything..."

"This is no temperament. It is a poison you have come to live with in your life."

"I see..." Merrick sighed, "Is there... Is there anyway to cure me of the Land Father's shadow?"

"I fear not, Triton Merrick; for yours is an illness and an injury that does not exist, so healing of our nature will do nothing. That you have tamed yourself..." She says as her eyes gaze over the entire tapestry of Merrick's whole life in a matter of mere seconds, "How you have stoked and extinguished the black flare in you tells me you have dealt with this curse longer than anyone can fathom."

"I get by..." Merrick tells her, "Just... Tell me this, Vessel Lorelei... This venom that lives inside my soul... Will it... Will it get worse? Do you see it as a disease that will eventually claim me?"

"As I far as I can gaze inside your existence, Triton Merrick, I see this shadow as your darkest ally. It is not your sickness, but your ward. You have lived with this taint that weighed heavily upon your times of madness, despair, anger, for so many years -- half of your life, no less. It is a beast that is tamed and wild in the exact same instance. And though at times it has consumed you... You are surrounded by the light that cures you as anyone is healed."

"Alright. Thank you, Vessel Lorelei."

"And now, I must speak with the others."

"Wait, others?"

"To better understand and evolve our kind, it is wise for me to speak with the others after these gatherings."

"Oh, I see." Merrick nodded before Vessel Lorelei wanders off. Merrick swims up, and moves above from the temple's opening.

~~~

"Ok, so then you just hold the fish as you let the heat cook it." Naomi says as she coaches a glowing yellow-red mermaid, who is holding a rather large fish in her lava-like hands.

"The heat to... What?" She asked, "I don't understand what you're getting it."

"Cook -- it's how humans eat their food, it tastes better." Naomi said, "Normally, we should use actual fire, but we don't have any way to make any."

"You are still not making any sense." The fire mermaid says with a slightly annoyed look.

"Look, just trust me! There's a mermaid in my Father's pod who is the same species as you, and she always cooks like this."

"Riiiiiight..."

"Daughter." They turn to see Merrick swimming to them, "Let's go to the surface."

"Alright. Hold that thought." Naomi tells the other before she and Merrick swim up. They swim along the reef and onto the dancing aurora of sunlight above.

~^~^~^~

Merrick's fair hand grabs onto the rock as his foot pushes down on it, wearing his scale necklace as he climbs up on his human form, rubbing and scratching a little at the thin layer of light gold stubble on his lower jaw. Naomi puts on her own bracelet of white pearlescent scales to dissolve her veil-like fins as her long blonde hair folds and clings to her back as she too comes out.

Merrick takes his trident off of his back and places it down. He also takes off and digs into his pack to take out a small sundial and a compass, and sets it down to point it at a specific direction, "Right so... Noon, I guess...?"

"Tell me again why we couldn't just bring our phones, Dad?"

"Electricity can be sensed by any merfolk, and if we bring anything like that, we may get into trouble." Merrick answered as he adjusts the sundial to see where its shadow is pointing.

"So we just turn them off until we need them."

"Great idea. I REALLY wish I thought of that before Atlantis got rid of all their plug-in outlets."

"Oh God..."

"Grit and bear it, sweetie." Merrick says as he gets a few more things out, "You know, I was older than you way before I even touched an on/off switch."

"That was then, this is now." Naomi says with her arms crossed. She watches as her father takes out what appears to be bunch of parts of a device. After a few minutes of building it, Merrick turns a small crank for a minute, and lets it go, nodding as he hears a very low frequency coming out of it. "Dad, are we REALLY going to live here for an entire year??"

"Yes we are, honey."

"Can't we just stay a month and head back?? I'm already getting bored here."

"Somehow, I get the distinct feeling you will get by without the Internet for a year." Merrick says as he takes a very old-fashioned camera and winds it up.

"Ohhhhlll"

"You will be fine. Your instincts will keep you going, you'll get used to it."

"I don't wanna get used to iiiiiit. I don't want to have to live on raw fish all year! I'm already sick of tuna and squid, and I don't even like them!"

"Tell you what, honey," Merrick says, "Maybe I can get a ride over to Long John Silvers right around the corner and get us a couple of patties of artificial meat." He teases as he adjusts a strange artifact that has a crystal that sparkles brightly in the sunlight.

"Dad, just... Just stop. Please." Naomi groans.

"Relax, it's only for a year." Merrick says.

"Can't you just ask your friend if he can't get a couple of things when he makes it to Papa?" She asked. Merrick pauses as he thinks about that.

"Actually that didn't occur to me. I'll see what we can do." Merrick then goes next to his teenage daughter and held up the camera, "Smile, my sweet, deprived little angel." He said with a staged grin.

"Heh heh heh, bite me, Daddy." Naomi retorted with a smile covering gritted teeth.

CH-CHEEHH

A photo slips out from the camera, and Merrick takes it and waves it in the air a little. "That's weird. I believe that's exactly what I told your Papa right before we left."

"OH my God!" Naomi exclaims, "DAD!"

"Hey, you mess with the shark, you get the teeth. Or a bear, more like." Merrick smirks as he watches the photograph slowly manifests the image.

"Oh my God, Dad!"

"Hey, it's been a while, and it's going to be a while, gimme a break." Merrick puts the picture aside, "Ok, so lets get to th..." He takes a double look at Naomi, and sees something on her arm.

"Dad?" She says, noticing him suddenly getting quiet. Merrick takes a step over and holds her arm.

"What is this?" He asked with a frown as a shallow wound is brought to his attention.

"It's nothing, Dad," She pulls her arm from him, "I just scrapped myself on a coral branch a while ago."

"And why are you lying to me?" Merrick asked.

"I-I'm not lying, Dad."

"Naomi." Merrick stares her down with his strong arms crossed with his solid blue eyes giving her a stern gaze.

"Hhh... I uh... I had some trouble with some of the merfolk..."

"Hhhhmmmhhh..." Merrick closes his eyes as he tenses with a hard and angry breath.

"Dad, it's fine,"

"No. It's not. I'm not going to put up with this nonsense, I'm getting the Ningyo to keep them on constant watch, and then I'm going to make it CLEAR that-"

"Dad, please stop, I don't like it when you're like this. Brishen and Uncle Cotei showed up like 2 seconds later and gutted them."

"Hhhh... Fine." Merrick says, making himself simmer down, "But listen. Evidently, I'm going to have a full-time job one week out of every month. Mother too, she and I both will be summoned on occasion."

"A job? How do you mean?"

"It's a long story, but listen to me, sweetie." Merrick holds her shoulders, "While she and I are gone, I want you stay with the pod -- either Sister's or Brother's pod, they're both familiar with me, particularly your Uncle Cotei's pod, but Sister would probably be more reliable as a Noita. So stay close to my Sister if you can, I don't want you wandering off anywhere I can't see you."

"Dad, you're starting to go all 'Finding Nemo' on me again."

"Yeah! That tends to happen when I see my little girl get skewered behind my back!"

"Dad, I wasn't skewered! I already iced them the hell off before the others even came along anyway, I'll be fine."

"And that's another thing." Merrick pointed, "Do NOT get into fights. Atlantis is a sacred place, and if the Disciples catch you starting trouble OUTSIDE of a sanctioned duel, they will not take it lightly."

"I can't help but feel like everyone makes up these rules as they go along, Dad."

"Just stay close to your Grandmother, and you'll be fine, she wants to tutor you while we're here anyway." Merrick says as he goes to his pack and gets a black sharpie.

"So... Who is it again who's meeting us again? You were really vague about him."

"..." Merrick picks his head up, hearing a very keen buzz coming, and raises his brows as he sees the creature approaching them, "Oh wow, that was fast. He must've been in the area."

"Huh?" Naomi looks at the direction, "Whoa! What the hell is THAT thing?!"

"It's Taci." Merrick answers with a smile as the gleaming, beautiful insect creature flies to them with its vibrating and blurry wings.

"I thought you said we were meeting one of your Kenovani friends! This looks like a giant Jewel Wasp!"

"Yes and yes." Merrick says. Taci looks at them with his ruby-like glass orb eyes as he buzzes around them, before his metal legs clink onto the reef rocks. "Hey, Taci, it's been a while." He greeted the insect as it speaks a few clicks from his pincers.

"Dad, would you start making some sense? Not to be rude or anything, but who or what is this thing??"

"First things first. Taci, this is my Daughter Naomi," Merrick notes, "Please forgive her if she says something very... Well, anything."

"Wait, what's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Naomi, this is Taci. He was once apart of the Kenovani pod." Merrick explains as he stands by the large crystalline wasp, "He used to be a Flying Fish merman, but then he got stranded on land during a Black Sun, and it changed him into this. Ever since then, he's just been growing into his new form and even improving, evolving if you will."

"Ooook, I think I see."

"Keep in mind, he can't talk as we do, but he can still understand us."

"Oh uh... H-Hi, Taci, is it?" Naomi speaks deliberately loudly, "It is very nice to meet you! I really love your wings!"

"Naomi, he's mute. He's not deaf." Merrick says with a crooked mouth, "Again, Taci, don't mind her."

"And you wonder why I say the same thing to my friends, Dad."

"Anyway, give me a minute, Taci, and I'll have it ready." Merrick says as he sits cross-legged as he takes the photo and writes on the back of it.

{Made it to the Kingdom, we miss you guys already, please send something modern for the poor unfortunate soul right next to me.}

Naomi comes next to him and accepts the marker from Merrick and writes.

{My phone and some actual food would be awesome. Tell Mom I said 'hi'!} Merrick gives Naomi a roll of his eyes as he takes the marker and draws an X over the word 'phone'

"Come on Daaad, I'll keep it out here!"

"No electronics, young lady. Deal with it."

{Love,

Merrick & Naomi}

They both signed their own name at the bottom.

"Ok." Merrick puts the picture along with a couple of very strange and unique seashells and coral fragments into a pouch made of kelp and tied with hemp rope. Taci watches patiently as Merrick ties the package onto one of his armored legs, "You know where to go, right? Same as last time."

Taci clicks his pincer-like teeth with a nod as his reflective wings rise up. Those glass-like wings start to beat until they blurred into a loud buzz and he levitated up from the rock, and circles away from them before flying in a direction fast

"Still wish they can come over to us..." Naomi says as they watch Taci quickly disappear into the horizon, "At least once..."

"Yeah... Me too..." Merrick replies as he puts his arm around his daughter, watching some far away dolphins jump and race along the surface.

"Hey Dad... About Grandpa-"

"No. I don't want to talk about it." Merrick says abruptly as he turns around and walks off. He picks his trident back up, and rolled his head to crack it.

"Dad, wait. I just wanted to-"

"JUST" He turns a sharp turn at her as a shout escapes his mouth and holding his hand out threateningly to keep her at bay. Naomi gasps and halted. Merrick huffs with aggravation as his hand closes, "Just, drop it."

"Dad..." Naomi pushes, growing a little bold. Her eyes see the energy of his body spiking with very dark blue needles that seem to be darting in and out of his soul at the same time as streams of sharp rivers circulate in and around his chest, "I don't like how your aura is looking... You're starting scaring me."

"Naomi, I'm still trying to deal with it." He tells her with his razor sharp glare, "Before you get any clever ideas, do NOT pull any of Donna's therapy antics on me right now."

"I-I'm not, I'm not." Naomi pushes, "I get it, I just..." Merrick gives her a very impatient sigh before giving that dark and cold gaze -- the look that always told her she was walking on very thin ice, "I... Ok, Dad..."

"Hahh... Right, I'm sorry." Merrick says, "Lets just get back..."

"Son?" They turn to see Umiato climb from the surface. The water rushes and washes off and away from her body, the resulting sea foam and bubbles turning into a simple white and light cyan gown.

"Hello, Mother." Merrick says as he adjusts himself. Umiato walks deliberately to them, glancing at the strange mechanical set-up Merrick made with the crystal and the makeshift radio.

"And what is this contraption?"

"It's something I use to contact a friend. A former merfolk, changed by the Black Sun. It reflects sunlight so it can be seen from far away while emitting a sound that is specific to hear."

"I see."

"Yes..." Merrick stares at his parent for a moment before turning to his daughter, "Naomi, would you give me and your Grandmother a moment? I need to talk with her about something."

"Sure, Dad..." Naomi says as she walks slowly and looks at his aura, noting small hints and glimpses of a dark blue silhouette, as if they were a hologram in a fog of smoke. The vague images hold cavernous echoes of a voice she doesn't recognize.

Merrick's eyes stay to Umiato until he notices that Naomi is still present, "Go." He tells her somewhat impatiently after he catches her looking at him. Naomi steps further away and retreats back into the water. He turns to Umiato.

"Your face shows me anger... But your aura reflects different."

"I don't want her to see me like this." Merrick replies as he keeps his stern look while taking a second to wipe his eyes, "Mother. Why didn't you tell me Father passed? I had a right to know. Why."

"It was four moons ago, Son... I still needed so much time to make peace-"

"Then you could have sent Sister. Brother. Brishen would've done nicely." Merrick starts, "Honestly, one word, Mother. A hint, a message, if you didn't have the heart to tell me yourself, I don't care WHO would've told me.

"Son..."

"ANYone would have sufficed! How can you just let me believe that he was still alive?!"

"Son, I know," Umiato stammers slightly, her voice wavering with emotion, "This was my mistake,"

"This wasn't a mistake, Mother! This was cruel."

"Son..." Umiato looks at him with hurt eyes. "You are telling me..."

"Tell me something right now." Merrick growls lowly as he comes up to her, "Because I know with something this important, one of them would've gotten the nerve to seek me out. So answer this: Did you forbid Sister, Brother, and Brishen NOT to tell me that Father died?" Umiato's eyes glisten with remorse as she looks at him. Merrick scoffs with disbelief before he turned away from her. "Really? Really, Mother?"

"Merrick..."

"REALLY, MOTHER?!" Merrick yells. He turns away from her as his hands dig into his hair. He paces a few times as he tries to restrain himself. He turns back to glare at her as she looks at him with honest regret, "I never thought you would do that, Mother. All my life, you never lied or withheld something like this from me."

"And you have not?"

"I... This isn't about that!"

"True. But I am still your Mother, Son. And while furious, I will not hear hypocrisy from you."

"Tch."

"Yes... Now I fully understand your younger years."

"Don't change the subject, Mother." Merrick frowns, "And don't justify your mistake with my past."

"Fine..." Umiato sighs as she rubs her hands onto her head before looking back up, "Son, I am sorry. You have... Complete right to be furious with me. I understand that-"

"So why not, Mother?! Why wasn't I allowed to know?? That wasn't fair! Why did you leave me in the dark?! He was my FATHER! He was my FATHER, and now he's gone!"

"And he was my soulmate, Merrick!" Umiato tells him with her voice raised, "Kaiken meant the entire world to me! He held the life of my heart, and he guided our pod by my side for countless years!" Merrick continues to leer at her with angry tears, "When we fell in love, he promised me he would give spark of existence to protect me, and he..." Umiato closes her eyes as her hand went to her mouth. After taking a few seconds to gather herself, she continued her heated rebuttal, "Kaiken... Gave me you. He gave me your Sister, and he gave me your Brother. He gave so much to me even in times where it hurt him sorely. And after the miraculous span of time the Waves of Fate were generous enough to allow us to be together, he finally gave all that he had left."