When Two Worlds Collide

Chapter 5: The Monster They Made

Arielle's POV

The storm screamed above me as I dragged him through the current. His body was heavy with water, limbs slack, head lolling against my shoulder. Every kick of my tail fought the waves, every stroke a battle against the sea that wanted to claim him. Lightning split the sky again and again, each flash blinding, each c***k of thunder rattling through my bones.

I gritted my teeth and pushed harder. I did not know why I cared. I could have let him sink. He was human, one of them. He might even have been one of the very ones responsible for the poison that rotted my home. And yet something inside me refused to let him go.

When at last my tail brushed sand, I forced us upward. Waves crashed against us as I hauled him onto the shore, water sucking at my fins. I pushed him onto the wet sand, chest heaving, hair plastered to my face.

“Breathe,” I demanded, pressing against his chest. “Do not give in now. I did not fight the sea for nothing.”

He sputtered, coughed violently, water spilling from his mouth. Relief flooded me as his chest rose again, shallow but steady. He was alive.

I knelt over him, strands of my hair brushing his face. His eyes fluttered open, dazed and unfocused, and for an instant they caught mine. A strange ache pulled at me, as if some thread had been tied between us. He tried to speak but only managed a broken whisper.

Then the shouts came.

“Sea monster!”

The words tore through the storm like arrows. My head whipped around. Figures were rushing down from the hill above, lanterns bobbing in the darkness. Men with weapons clutched in their fists, their faces twisted with fear and fury.

“She is attacking him!” one of them cried. “It has the boss’s son!”

Boss’s son. The words sliced into me.

The first harpoon whistled through the rain. It struck the sand inches from my tail.

I staggered back, stunned. My voice caught in my throat. Were they blind? Could they not see that I had saved him, not harmed him? My gaze darted between their lanterns and their weapons, between their snarling mouths and wide eyes. Did they call me sea monster because the storm made me a shadow, or did they truly see what I was? Did they see the mermaid and believe only a monster could look like me?

“Stay back!” I cried, though I knew they would not listen. “He lives because of me!”

Another harpoon shot down, and this one did not miss.

Pain lanced through my shoulder as iron tore into flesh. I screamed, the sound swallowed by thunder. My body arched as the force knocked me back into the surf. Blood streamed from the wound, clouding the water with red ribbons.

The humans shouted louder, their voices ringing with triumph.

“Kill it before it escapes!”

Fear crashed into me, but anger surged stronger. They would have ended me without hesitation. Not even a pause to wonder if they were wrong, not even a question as to why I had carried their precious heir to safety. My kind had been right all along. Humans did not see us as kin or equals. They saw only monsters to slay.

I yanked the harpoon free with a strangled cry. My blood pulsed hot around it, but already my body began to knit itself, the magic of the ocean working furiously to heal me.

The boy stirred faintly on the sand, coughing again. My gaze fixed on him, and through the haze of pain, realization struck.

Boss’s son. Was this him? The heir to the very empire poisoning my home? The one whose father I had been sworn to end?

“What were you doing here,” I whispered bitterly, water sloshing around my tail. “Reckless human. Foolish boy.”

Another spear cut into the water near me. I snarled and turned back toward the sea. One last time I looked at him, sprawled on the sand, pale and trembling but alive. His chest rose weakly, breath returning.

“This is your son,” I thought, fury churning in me like the tide. “Marcus Lysander’s son. And they called me monster while I saved him.”

The storm roared as I plunged back into the waves. Harpoons splashed behind me, their reach falling short. Salt stung my wound as I sped deeper, away from their shouts and their hatred.

The ocean embraced me again, carrying me away from the violence of the shore. I pressed a hand to my shoulder. Already the flesh was closing, though the ache remained sharp. My blood trailed behind like smoke, but the water diluted it quickly.

I swam hard, every stroke fueled by anger. My mind replayed the scene again and again. Their screams. Their weapons. Their blindness. Saving a life meant nothing to them. To them I was only a monster.

By the time I reached the palace gates, rage had consumed me. I stormed through the corridors, ignoring the startled looks of guards and attendants. My father still waited in the throne room, heavy crown upon his head, his expression stern.

“You have returned,” he said. “And in a storm such as this. What have you seen?”

I floated before him, fists clenched, eyes burning. “I saw the humans for what they truly are.”

He studied me in silence, reading the fury etched into my face. “Tell me.”

“I saved a drowning man,” I spat. “Dragged him from the sea at the risk of my own life. And what did they do when they saw me? They called me monster. They hurled spears at me. They struck me down.”

My father’s jaw tightened. “Did you say the man was drowning?”

“Yes. He was their master’s son. The son of Marcus Lysander himself.”

His eyes sharpened like blades. “You are certain?”

“They screamed it as they attacked,” I said, voice trembling with fury. “The son of the man who poisons our waters lay dying on the shore, and I brought him back. For that they tried to kill me.”

Silence weighed heavy in the hall. The currents stilled as though the ocean itself waited for his answer.

At last my father said, “Now you understand. They will never see us as anything but beasts. They destroy because they believe the sea belongs to them. They would rather kill their own savior than question their hatred.”

I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood. His words rang true, yet they twisted inside me. “Then why do I feel like the monster now,” I whispered. “Why does saving him feel like a betrayal of everything Mother died for?”

My father’s eyes softened for a fleeting instant, grief flickering through them before the mask of the king returned. “Because mercy is heavy. Heavier than vengeance. But you will learn, Arielle. Their world does not forgive kindness.”

The ache in my shoulder throbbed, fueling the fire in my chest. “Then I will no longer waste kindness on them. Tomorrow I will return to the surface. I will do what must be done. Marcus Lysander will fall by my hand, and his empire with him.”

“You speak with fire,” my father said, nodding once. “Do not let it die. The future of our kingdom rests on your resolve.”

Resolve. The word echoed through me.

I turned away, every movement sharp with fury. My tail lashed the water, scattering trails of bioluminescent light. My thoughts burned with images of the men on the shore, their weapons glinting in the storm, their voices crying monster.

Let them call me monster. If that was what they saw when they looked at me, then I would give them reason.

Tomorrow I would walk their world in human form. Tomorrow I would hunt Marcus Lysander. Tomorrow I would bring vengeance for my mother, for my people, for the ocean itself.

The storm outside raged on, answering the fury that surged within me.

And this time, I did not resist its call.