Analia swam around the island, she knew her mom would be upset at her for coming this close to land but she didn’t care, she had to see him again. She peeked her head above the water, making sure there was nobody around, there was, but it was exactly the hybrid she was looking for, she didn’t know his name, or anything about him, he could be like the other rabid animals on this island, or he could be different, Analia hoped he was different. The boy she was watching stood tall, his pointy ears sticking straight up, as if he were listening for something. He had soft facial features that you didn’t typically see on dog or wolf hybrids, although his eyes were sharp, probably the only other indicator besides his ears that he was a wolf hybrid. Those sharp eyes zeroed in on her and she was quick to hide under the water. She peeked her eyes back up, the boy was still looking in her direction, they made eye contact, and Analia freaked. She quickly turned around diving back into the ocean. Oh! Mom is going to kill me, if she finds out, Amalia thought.
********
Rendall watched as the girl of the sea swam away, the power of her golden tail causing a large wave, in the previously calm waters. Rendall had only seen her for a split second, had only seen her sea green eyes, but he knew she was beautiful, nothing that had eyes like that could be anything but beautiful.
“Rendall! What are you doing out here? If any of those mer creatures see you they’ll spear you down in a second!” Rendall turned to see his older brother Raiden.
“The seas are calm right now, there is nobody out here besides us,” He responded calmly.
“Still you shouldn’t be out here, especially by yourself, come on mom and dad will have a fit if they catch us out here,” Raiden said, grabbing his brother by the arm, dragging him back into the large forest.
********
Analia swam back to the corals as fast as she could, heart racing in her chest, how could she let the hybrid see her? Whatever crush she had, she needed to get over it, because it would never happen. Although it wouldn’t stop Analia from dreaming about the he held his mouth in a straight line when he was confused, the way his ears perked up, the way his eyes followed her as she tried to evade his sight. Setting her delusional thoughts aside, Analia swam around the large coral and into the underwater kingdom, her home. Entering the large castle which she’d been born in, almost two decades ago, she made her way to the meeting room. Analia was late, but she didn’t care these meetings lasted from sunrise to sunset and were extremely boring, her mother would chew her out later, but Analia had at least a few hours before she got yelled at.
“We have the trident now, we’ve won the war and they don’t even know it!” Analia heard as she entered the room, causing her to stop in her tracks. They had found the trident? It had been missing for centuries, no one had seen it since King Triton hid it away after the death of his youngest daughter Ariel.
“Ah! Analia, just in time darling, come now there’s a rock right here,” Her mother said, noticing her presence, Analia slowly made her way into the seat beside her mother, “We’ll talk about your tardiness later.” Analia groaned and nodded, turning her attention back to the conversation.
“When shall we strike?” Her eldest cousin, Kindras asked.
“This coming Friday, four days from now, the plan is to use the trident to summon a powerful storm, powerful enough to blow their island away and kill all of those filthy hybrids!” The mermaids and merman cheered, Analia, however, sat there in shock.
“Why do we have to kill them?” She asked, “We live down here and they are up there, we don’t even have to interact with them… the only time they come into the sea is when they need food, so why are we at war?”
“Stupid child, we’re at war because they are ignorant,” Analia blinked, waiting for the man to elaborate, rolling her eyes in frustration when he deemed that an acceptable answer and turned to talk to another council member.
“Well it seems like this meeting is over, I’m leaving,” Analia said, quickly exiting the room.
********
It had been three total days since Rendall had seen the mermaid, he hadn’t stopped thinking of her since. He knew he’d probably never see her again, as he’d seen the terrified look on her face when she realized Rendall had seen her. Rendall wished he could tell her that he wasn’t a threat to her, wished he could tell her that he didn’t think the same as his village did, or wished he could just learn her name.
Rendall sat at the edge of the island, where the water met the sand, the water was cool against his bare legs, he watched the waters hoping, just hoping he could see her face again, hoping he could speak to her. He was getting ready to leave when he saw them, those sea green eyes, peeking above the water, just as she’d done three days ago.
“Hey! Please come here, I promise I won’t hurt you,” Rendall said, sounding desperate.
The girl eyed him distrustfully, and Rendall flashed her one of most charming smiles, praying to the crown that he wasn’t coming off too strong. The girl began to swim closer, but at an extremely slow pace. Rendall urged her on, excited to finally get to meet a real mermaid.
“Hi, I’m Rendall! What’s your name?” Rendall greeted once the girl stopped a few feet away from the island.
“Analia. Look I’m only going to say this once, the Water Kingdom is going to attack tomorrow with a storm, do whatever you need to prepare or don’t, but this is me warning you.”
Rendall’s mind went blank, as he stuttered, “I-I don’t- why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t want to be at war… I don’t want you all to die, which is what my family is planning, frankly I find this entire war to be stupid, there’s no reason for us to be fighting, this whole thing was started over a piece of jewelry, a crown, that holds zero meaning.” Rendall squinted his eyes.
“I wouldn’t say it holds zero meaning, it has sentimental value,” Analia rolled her eyes.
“Sure buddy, well whatever you do, don’t die, I would hate to see a pretty face like yours underwater,” Rendall blushed hotly, stammering dumbly, as he watched Amalia swim away. A few minutes passed and Rendall finally regained his composure, running back to his village to warn his people.
Once everyone was alerted of the storm and attack, a plan was drawn up, everyone too young or old to fight would stay in the kingdom, the most secure place on the island, it would be the last thing to fall if all failed. The plan was to kill the mermaids and merman, before they could start the storm, Rendall tried to protest but no one listened to him.
The day of the battle was a sunny one, however no one was smiling or playing outside, everyone was huddled in the castle waiting for blood to spill.
Rendall stood beside his brother, who’d sharpened his claws last night until they were as sharp as his sword which hung on his hip, Rendall held no sword his job was to contaminate the ocean with poison, he wouldn’t of course, but he had to keep up the appearance.
Suddenly the sun went away as the sky grew dark, it didn’t take Rendall long to figure out what was happening, the war had begun. The wind picked up causing the trees to sway violently, the rain coming soon after, hitting his skin like rubber bullets. Rendall looked out into the ocean, seeing a mass of mermaids and mermen, the one in the middle holding a trident, it was Analia, she was the one causing the storm. Then he heard the word that set everyone into motion.
“ATTACK!”
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