The soft crunch of the sand could be heard as he walks around the beach late at night. His only light source was the moon in the clear night sky. He walks around here every late at night where people had now slept in their chambers. Justin only wore his night clothes and a coat to keep him warm as he stood on the beach barefoot as he left his shoes back on the way. After all these busy days as the son of the Duke Evans, he wanted to have some time alone. He has been helping his father everyday to handle the matters of Orona Empire. He looked up at the beautiful night sky as his head slowly filled with thoughts. The cold breeze ruffled his dark hair even further, some of them landing on his forehead. Minutes have passed and he still stood there. He liked this quiet place where he could have peace. Only the sound of the small waves and the cold breeze accompanied him. He closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the peace he rarely has.
Far far away from the kingdom of Orona, a group of fishermen sailed on the deep part of the sea. Strong waves keep their boat swaying making it difficult for them to keep in balance. Some say that at this time of the night, a lot of fishes would come out. The fishermen wanted to catch a lot of them to sell it to the big market. They have been struggling to feed their family and so came into a decision to fish at this part of the ocean at night in the hopes to atleast lift their family from poverty.
Her eyes darted at the bottom of a small boat as she was just passing by the coral reef of the sea. The other creatures like her have already rested in their cave after taking care of the ocean. Curious, she swam up and hid far enough for the fishermen not to see her. Seeing them struggling to atleast catch one fish, she had the urge to help them. They must be from that kingdom that helped her kind from being hunted by the kingdom of Orona a hundred years ago. The late king of Minora, King Davin I, helped their Oceana Empire who had now fallen because of the invasion of the Kingdom of Orona. The late King Davin I, had saved their kind from extinction. Because of that incident, the late king has decided to hide creatures like her from the world and so they were now known only as a myth. People now called them mermaids, sirens or merfolks followed with some scary stories of like how hideous and vicious they could be to scare their little children. But despite that, her kind had been thankful to their kingdom for protecting them and in return, they helped the humans in a way they can for a hundred years.
Suddenly, a swarm of fishes came out of nowhere and circlered the fishermen 's little boat making them stagger. "It's real! What they said is real!" said the oldest of the fishermen who was surprised to see a sudden group of fishes circling their staggering boat.
"This is a miracle! This will definitely sell big and we'll be able to atleast lift our family a little!" said the other fisherman who immediately grabbed his fish net and threw it to the ocean. It suddenly felt heavy as his net was about to burst out because of the enormous number of fishes that got caught on his net. Their buckets were now full of fishes and so they sailed happy back to the shore that took them an hour for them to arrive. One of the fisherman, who was the youngest, looked back to where they were fishing and saw a silhouette of a big tail of what seems to be a fish. His eyes widen. He has never seen any fish that big. He thought of coming back again later alone to hopefully get that big fish he saw.
The little mermaid smiled in joy as she had helped the fishermen from the kingdom of Minora. She swam back to where she usually sleeps. Their palace has shattered because of the invasion that happened a hundred years ago that left their beautiful home into ruins. Almost all the mermaids and mermans moved away from there for it only reminded them of that incident that traumatized a lot of them. As for her, she was the only one who didn't leave. For her, it still held some precious memories of her and her family that had passed away.
As she swam on her way to her home to rest, she felt a heavy pressure pulling her backwards. She turned around to see a fog caused by a current. Her eyes widen and she immediately turned back to swim away. She swam as fast as she can to get away from the fog but her tail failed her. The fog pulled her in. She tried to control the waters by swaying her hand but the current was much more stronger and this had her weakened immediately and pass out as she hit her head with a big rock. The current took her to the shore. She was washed up to the shore unconcious. Her tail stayed the same as she has weakened, unable to change into her human form.
