“?!”
Lawkey opened his eyes in a panic, as if his consciousness was pulled back into reality before it could wander off.
However, he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing was actually reality, or some kind of weird dream.
His body was sluggish, heavy. After all, he was still underwater.
However, when he realized his situation, he was no longer helpless or sinking as two girls supported him, one on each side.
“Hehe~ Uncle, you can breathe normally now!” Sana giggled as Lawkey turned to face her first on his right.
Although she only seemed to be a human like him, she was kicking her feet like a true master of swimming.
“A-ahh…!” Lawkey instinctively tested his voice as he reached for his neck, “What is this?’
With his fingers, he traced an object just under his Adam's apple, outlining the shape of a scallop. From its sides, a rubber-like choker emerged and surrounded his neck, creating an air bubble around his entire head and allowing him to breathe underwater.
“Be grateful. Fortunately, I always carry one on me, either for when Sana has trouble breathing or if I come across any poor souls while diving.” Riana explained, holding Lawkey up by his left shoulder, “You can breathe and talk with that on.”
“!!”
Ignoring her explanation and the curiosity of knowing where she could possibly have had that on her with the revealing outfit she was wearing, Lawkey’s eyes widened in shock as he turned to face her.
Her upper body was the same as before, but her lower body had transformed into that of a fish tail. The sight of her scales shimmering between green and blue made her look like stunning mermaids he had heard about before setting for Sweet Scylla.
“Y-you got a tail and a fin now?!” He blurted out without any consideration, watching her tail moving and light crimson fin fluttering.
“It’s my sign! Don’t be rude!” The mermaid shouted back at him, her face turning completely red to match her crimson ear fins.
“So, are you a siren or a mermaid?” Lawkey asked with puzzled brows, not knowing how to classify it.
“Hmph! It’s the same thing. Siren on land, mermaid in the sea.” With a scoff, Riana turned her head away.
He didn’t know why exactly, but Lawkey felt like he had stumbled on a sore subject. He made a mental note not to get those mixed up in the future.
“Wha-!”
Following Riana’s gaze and turning his head forward, Lawkey finally noticed the ancient underwater ruins that covered his entire vision from left to right. While some reached out to the bottom of the island he had previously seen back when still on the ship, that part only felt like an extension to the rest of the descending structures spanning all the way down to the depths of the sea.
He stood in awe, mesmerized by the scenery as the moonlight broke through the constraints of the water surface, and seemed to only get brighter as it shone on the immediate structures in front of him. Fish and sea creatures of different kinds separated him from the ruins, among the many multitudes of colorful luminescent floral and plants.
“Woah!! What is this place?” He finally let out as he came back to his senses. As soon as the words left him, he realized that the ruins were completely abandoned and there were no other merfolk in sight.
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“This is where our ancestors and our clan used to dwell before we were forced above water.” Riana made sure to hide her unintentional grimace.
The history of her clan and race aside, the current state of the merfolk wasn’t looking too good.
There were many factors that directly influenced the downfall of the Undine Clan. Despite their resilience and even though they had survived centuries of constant threats, the mixture of their current situations proved to be their darkest hour yet.
After all, they were literally on the verge of extinction now.
“Anyway, I don’t think it would be a good idea to go up too quickly.” Riana slowly let go of Lawkey, allowing him to move his left hand to swim, “It’s a miracle the water pressure hasn’t affected you yet, looking at how fast you sunk down, but we should play it safe and only go up a bit at a time.”
“Sure…” Although he didn’t quite understand what she meant, Lawkey simply agreed. He wasn’t in a rush to leave this scene in front of him.
Sana, who was still holding onto Lawkey’s right hand, smiled and pointed forward, “Uncle! Let’s go and explore!”
Did she just get over the whole dad thing? Isn’t that a bit too quick? Lawkey questioned, Not that I’m complaining…
“Ah, but we can’t stay long either. Sana can only breathe for a certain amount of time underwater.” The mermaid took advantage of her bottom half and swayed around in the water.
“I can just switch with Uncle every hour!” Sana gestured to the scallop on Lawkey’s neck, her turquoise eyes practically beaming with excitement.
“Wow, hold on! I don’t think I can survive for more than a few minutes down here without this thing.” The fully human man out of his element tried to explain, but he was quickly dragged by the arm towards the ruins.
Although he didn’t know what to expect, he was still looking forward to experiencing everything this place had to offer.
It was rare for him to take a break like this, after all. There was a reason he had decided to visit the location where many went to enjoy themselves.
Although he had lost track of the exact date due to being lost at sea, he didn’t forget that his birthday was still coming up.
And as his old mentors all told him, birthdays are meant to be celebrated, no matter where, when, or how.
**👑**
After that, Lawkey was taken into the ruins and got shown around.
They invaded a couple of old houses and he learned about how the merfolk’s ancestors had lived in them. Instead of beds and futons, they used vine nets that hung tightly in the middle of the room, allowing them enough space to sway around while sleeping.
Their pillows consisted of a soft and fluffy translucent bubble that he couldn’t know how to classify. It was apparently put together by crab-like creatures at the very bottom of the sea. During spring each year, when the crab-like creatures are ready, they collectively release the bubbles to ascend to the surface.
Wait, isn’t that too similar to the lantern festival? Lawkey was reminded of his time in the Kage Clan. To think even crabs at the bottom of the sea would have their own festivals…
He imagined a scene of crabs and sea creatures living it up at the bottom of the sea, dancing and enjoying themselves. He didn’t know how to feel about that, so he kept it to himself.
Part of him really wanted to take something to show everyone back in the clan, knowing they would probably never be able to see such sights.
Maybe we can come together again in the future… He thought to himself with a somber expression as the three of them entered what seemed to be a dining hall.
“Yay! Let’s eat!” Sana swam forward, not realizing everything around that once was edible had long been picked by the small creatures.
Thankfully, Riana had picked some grape-like fruits that ranged from blue, pinkish and green.
“They’re called Lŭrvas!!” The mermaid proudly proclaimed with a puffed up chest for some reason.
While they snacked on those, Lawkey noticed the lack of cutlery around. It seemed the merfolk enjoyed eating with their hands, only using seashells as plates.
Apparently, they had used seashells as the main material for most of everything, from clothing all the way to grinding them and mixing them in with clay to build their structures.
Lawkey was thankful he was born into the time and place where soft cotton cloth or silk were the main material for clothing. He couldn’t imagine being covered in seashells, not that he actually believed the merfolk covered more than just their private parts.
“Okay, it’s about time we slowly made our way back up to the surface.” Riana announced after a while of exploring. She knew Sana wouldn’t be able to stay awake much longer at this rate. As half human, and a kid, swimming usually took a toll on her.
“Not yet!” Sana pouted, then looked down while fidgeting with her fingers, “I-I want to get some flowers for mommy…”
“...”
“...?”
While Lawkey noticed a slight frown on Sana’s face, Riana forced a smile before swimming towards her niece and patting her gently on the head.
“That’s a good idea, Sana. Let’s get a bunch of them, okay?”
“Okay!” The little girl practically beamed.
Seeing their expressions, Lawkey decided not to pry any further and joined their flower expedition.
Before long, they had swam all the way back to the surface and found themselves on the beach of Sweet Scylla, east of the ship harbor.
“?!”
As soon as Lawkey cast his eyes on the island, he was taken aback by the overwhelming contrast he was faced with in comparison to what he had experienced underwater.
The streets were bustling with activity, but almost half of the people looked like human adventurers or ones from other races. Perhaps only another half barely out the actual race of this clan, with mostly sirens.
What the hell? Such a small island, and it barely feels like a home to one specific clan…
Lawkey couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly have led to this kind of situation.
He had the feeling the answers would come to him soon enough once he entered the island.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]