Chapter 25: Deep Lament
An eagle ray glides gradually along the water. It slowly flaps its flat wingspan as it breathes in the ocean, filtering peacefully as it flies steadily over in the water.
SHINK!
A tooth-lined spear suddenly shot right through the ray. A few wisps of blood seeped through, but no more from the injured ray as it simply floated in the water, instantly dead. A green tailed merman swam up to it, and took his spear, and looked at the ray. A clean kill.
The merman sighed sadly as he turned, and swam down, undulating his emerald tail moved up and down, sailing through the water, and found other merfolk of his kind. He removed the ray from his weapon, and put it into a sand bank with other prey. He turned around, and began to swim away, when a jellyfish mermaid came up to him.
"Brishen? What is the matter?" She asked as she loomed up behind him, and put her slippery, transparent hands onto his shoulders. The merman sighed as he looked at his harpoon, "You always love hunting... What is wrong?"
"I used to be so sloppy... Playful... Now I am far better than I ever have before... But... I cannot feel the joy of hunt I aspired for..."
"Brishen?" Penina asked. Brishen put his free hand to his brow, and looked up at the wavering surface.
"He was my friend... And I never knew the anguish he probably has suffered all those years..." Brishen inhaled a gulp of water, and turned his head to Penina, "I miss him... I will always miss him... Hunting shall never be the same..." Brishen closed his eyes as a thin wisp of glittering white wafted from his eyes, "Not without him..."
~~~
Merrick looks over the sparking, orange ocean as he sat on the cliff. The setting sun is illuminating the vast surface, reflecting the warmth of the sun. He puts a hand on the top of his chest, and feeling it bare...
Of all the times he's been on land, he has never felt truly naked until his necklace was taken away.
"... What will happen to them now?" He asked himself, "... Who will look after Sister, now that I am gone... Who shall guide Brishen to be the greatest hunter in the sea?" He shuddered as he whimpered, "Who will be there for my pod when Father..."
As he listened to the rhythm of the waves, he slipped his hand to behind his neck. He felt compelled to cry, just from knowing it's there. The mark that will always brand him, a symbol of his own shame as a merman, an outcast of the ocean.
The more he tried to look at the sea, the more his memories keep spiraling in his head.
===
"Greetings..." Said a very young, green meryin, slowly approaching a young Adra Triton, "My name is Brishen... I am not very good at hunting..." He looked up to the other male, "May I hunt with you so I can get better?"
Merrick would smile with glee as he nodded, "Yes! I have always wanted a best friend!" The green male giggled excitedly.
---
"Rrrgghh... That was a close one, Adra Merrick," Brishen said, injured from an attack of a giant crab. Merrick had one arm tucked over his shoulders as he helped his friend swim.
"You should not charge into giant beasts like that, Brishen. You were almost killed! Not even Tritons dare to challenge them!"
"Heh," Brishen simply smirked, "I cannot help it; it is my dream, Adra Merrick." Merrick sighed as he smiled too.
"Then at least get more careful about it. And please, just all me Merrick, Brishen."
---
"Just watch!" Brishen said as he looked up at Denizyr's smirk, "I will be the greatest hunter in the sea!" Merrick smiled as he patted Brishen's shoulder.
"And I will be right here to make sure you will be," Merrick said, "After all, you need to learn how to make a clean kill."
"Heh heh!" Brishen said, "What is a hunter without style?"
---
---
"As the Adra Triton," A large, navy blue mermaid said to a very small crystal blue and silver meryin, "It is your privilege and responsibility to wield the trident," He said as he gave a simple, wooden staff to young Merrick, "You must construct your own weapon," He then showed Merrick is own thick, heavy weapon, "Remember, Son," He said, "Three prongs. No more, no less."
The merman then backed away from a selection of various materials and items, all to assimilate his weapon, "Chose well, my Son."
The small meryin accepted the thin branch, and then swam to the items.
---
"As a Triton, your abilities alone are superior to that of any other merman of the pod," Kaiken said as he and the Adra swam.
"How do you mean, Father?" Merrick asked.
"You are able to see farther ahead. Your senses are more sensitive to your surroundings. Your combat intuition is much sharper than the normal merperson. Your own mind is more attuned to the embrace of other creatures. That is why we Tritons are the leaders of our kind, as they always have been."
---
"Your first catch," Kaiken said as Merrick carried a swordfish, motionless at the end of his trident, almost as big as himself.
"It was... Difficult, Father... It almost got away from me... I can do it faster next time..." Merrick said.
