Tale: Beyond the Sea

”Ugh… ”

”Awake now oaf? ” I heard a familiar voice the moment I woke up. It was a voice with an indifferent tone.

I let out a groan again, ”Augh… ”.

My head is spinning and my vision is blurry before it came to focus.

Sai was leaning against a pillar of stone.

”What happened? ” I asked while massaging my throbbing head.

He looked at me straight in the eyes before answering.

”You blacked out. Because you
e a weak ass fish. ”

Choosing peace over violence, I nodded my head and waited a bit more for him to continue.

I made it a priority to inspect how Im feeling while imagining him carrying me to safety in his shoulder like a sack of sand.

Wow, I was such a baggage huh? I thought.

I shifted my gaze at Sai. I waited patiently for his answer but none came out.

He lifted his head and stared at the blank sea, feeling the tranquility of the oceans breeze; He looks like he was deep in thought.

I wonder what happened at the night bazaar after I blacked out.

Come to think of it, Im no longer bloody nor do I smell rust.

”If you
e curious about what happened earlier, don . Those stupid bastards stole something from me. They should be grateful they aren dead yet. ”

I gave him a look, ”Weren you the one who stole from them? ”

He sighed. ”No. What do you take me for, are you also dumb? ”

”I picked this Island to land to, because I want to take back whats mine while I show you around. I had no idea, someone stole from them too. ”

I gave him a suspicious look before nodding my head.

wsshhhhh~~ This trip has become complicated.

Wondering what was stolen from Sai, I looked at the moon peeking at the shore, while choosing to wait for him to tell me.

There was a peaceful silence between us before Sai dropped a dynamite on me.

”I burned the town, ” he said.

…What?

Excuse me, WHAT?!

I chuckled while scratching my ear.

”Im sorry. I think I heard something weird just now, like you burning the town or something. ”

Swish, swish~sssswssh.

The crashing waves solemnly sang the night while Sai turned mute.

What the heck? Dude, spill!

”Don look at me like that. You look stupid. ”

He shrugged. ”They escaped anyway. I couldn chase them because of you. But they teleported away once Ive gone berserk after my fish for brain sister fainted. ”

”…I was wondering how extreme youd be…but seriously,- ”

Hes mental, I thought.

But I closed my mouth shut. I was the reason after all…. I was just glad to know that he wasn the type to leave a fainted mermaid alone.

I tried sitting up and stared at my legs instead.

We were just silent for a whole moment. The waves crashing on the shore and dawn almost passing by.

Sai was silent before he opened his mouth, only to close it again.

He did that back and fourth that he looked hesitant to say something.

Whats wrong with this absurd guy? He is acting weird.

He sighed before finally facing me. I subconsciously gulped.

”Are you bored? ” Sai.

No, not really… I answered mentally. I stared at him dejected, so he gets my cue.

”Yes. You
e bored. So let me tell you a story. ” He nonchalantly refused me refusing him.

He looked back at the sea.

His blue eyes was deeply staring at the horizon, as he parted his lips. ”There was once a stormy night. Rain falling and thunderstorms growling in the middle of the sea… ” He then looked at me directly.

He didn move his eyes at all.

Why is he telling me a story now?

I was puzzled but before I could even ask what he is talking about, he cut me off midway.

”Wh– ”

”It was the times of War. The Warian Era where races fought each other to death while seeking dominance over the other. And in the middle of one bloody night, Magicians, Mermaids and Pirates– fought to death. ”

He wet his lips and proceeded to tell the tale.

”Pirates were at a disadvantage…but they managed to sink magicians and kill mermaids through their pirate ships cannon and great navigation. They blasted everything. Mermaids propelled in the waves, sank ships and bloodied the ocean with their great submerge strength, and lulled pirates with the heavenly voices…

…and the mages, they were the first to cast magic for defense and attack. Of course they were the first to run out of mana. They casted spells and magic one after another, but because they were stranded and because they didn expected to be caught on the battle between the pirates and mermaids, their numbers were lacking;

30 mages fought with their life on the line, only five remained alive in front of hoards of mermaids on the right side and hundreds of pirate ship on the other. ”

The mages were caught in the middle… I tilted my head.

”How did the mages get caught up in the battle? ”

Sai shrugged, ”They were simply tricked by scheming pirates, and the dumb mages and witches was provoked to death. ”

Why is he telling me this?

Thump, thump, thump.

My heart was beating in anticipation for some odd reasons.

”Why…why are you telling me this? ”

He smiled bitterly but his eyes were full of confusion himself, he shrugged again,

”You asked me before didn you? You asked me who I am and who you are. ”

It can be… Is he telling me…

”F-Father and Mother…don tell me…did they ? ”

”Our parents met in that bloody war. Mother was dying when she fell off the ship. She was about to be struck by a Pirates spear when she desperately cried and asked for fath–your fathers help. She pleaded and pleaded until the merman submerged to water and engulf the fallen witch… ”

I gasped. I covered my mouth from gasping for air.

I have never heard the story underneath my birth.

I was curious why I am just a half mermaid, but it didn matter to me. I was actually delighted…because Ive always wanted to be a part of land.

I always knew though…my scales never glittered as Hannah, a pure blooded Trivadocean Princess, not even common merfolks like Coses. My tale shimmered more like Averys, a merman with dugong blood in his veins, a halfblood mermaid.

”Your Father hid her in a dark underground cave. He left the war and stealthily escaped to save Mother. Pff ”

Sai laughed but he still continued. I noticed how he refused to address Father, as Father.

”To be honest, Mother said she used enchantment to charm your Father so he would fall for her and save her. But I doubt that was the reason he saved her. ”

I interjected, ”Then why do you think did Father save her? ”

He mocked me with his grin and beamed, ”Mother is gorgeous with or without enchantment. He would fall for her no matter what. ”

I chuckled at his response.

”Anyway, he left her in the cave and came back to the war. When he came back after the war, he treated her wounds and gently took care of her. ”

I just smiled. I knew Father was a gentle kind of merman.

”Who won the war? ” I inquired, but he brushed me off, ”Who knows? Mother was in the cave during the war and I didn know the results either. ”

Mom…I have a mother…and shes…a mage..

”They met each other more often after that war and mother had us. ”

Sai stopped and clenched his shaking hands. He shook all emotions evident in his eyes and stared a me with shallow and empty eyes now,

”Mermaid and humans can have children. They can be together. Too much restrains on attributes, race and power will collide inside the woman, the bearer of the child will explode to bits or may die from giving birth. ”

He continued, ”Mermaids and Mages are pretty much incompatible. Might as well explode to dust if their affinity combines. ” Sai said that too directly without stopping that it shocked me.

Magic and nature looks similar but they are different. As mages uses the mana from nature, mermaids rely on their body to adapt to nature, the ocean. They do coexist, but they never mix in.

”A mage is born with heavy mana and that mana is stored in a core in the heart, mermaids does not. Mermaids have nothing to store mana with because they don use mana, what they are born with, is a body for water, with voices that bewitches people… ” Sai traced, I continued for him.

I nodded, ”Yeah. And if a child is born out of the two, as the rule of this world, the dominating traits of each race will be passed down to their descendants… So if the mages dominating trait is being born with mana, then for the mermaids, its their amazing build. In order words, a child of a mermaid with mana…. ”

He laughed a bit. ”A child with mana who inherited the build of a mermaid have no mana core to store magic. They would explode and die. ”

Emotions overflowed from my shaking eyes to my weak knees, in contrast, Sai stood like stone, unmoving, emotionless and empty.

”But were alive. ” I stated.

”Because she isn any ordinary mage. ” He sighed.

”She was an amazing woman who earned her title as a high grade mage. So she found a way…to keep us alive. Instead of killing us off, she willingly gave away her mana to her unborn children to increase even tiniest possibility of us surviving. It took her everything though, everything. ”

Thats strange. ”What do you mean she gave us mana? I have no mana. ”

He smiled warmly at me without answering. I was a warm but sad smile.

If one would look directly at his eyes, theyll find themselves lost at its deepness. His eyes looked like the sea that sinks beyond measure, filled with darkness and loneliness. Just looking made me sad.

Its depressing…

My face started to contort, and hot tears filled my eyes as I stared toward the blurry lonely figure of the man in front of me.

He is stoic and seemed unreachable.

”She gave us all of her. Everything. Without mana and inadequate lifeforce left, she perished… ”

Anger? Disappointment? Astonishment? Denial? Regret? or even burden? None were evident in his deep eyes.

”When she gave birth, she gave birth to twins…one with tail, one with legs. What she give births to, was a miracle. The first miracle during that Era. ”

He glanced at me. ”And there are only two miracles known during that time. ”