Echoes of the Deep

Instinct

The ocean grew quiet. Only the sound of Nikolai's uneven breathing disturbed the night. He remained kneeling in the freezing water.

His tears continued falling into the sea. Each ripple disappeared into the darkness below. Then... A soft splash. Nikolai looked up.

A familiar face slowly emerged from the water only a few feet away. Light blond hair. Brilliant blue eyes. The tiny mole beneath the right side of his lower lip. "...Vincent..." Nikolai whispered.

The young merman simply stared. His expression revealed nothing. No smile. No recognition. Only silent curiosity. Fresh tears filled Nikolai's eyes. Despite everything... Despite the tail... Despite the webbed hands... It was Vincent. "I'm..." His voice trembled. "I found you..."

He struggled through the water toward him. "I really found you..." Vincent watched the human approach. For some reason... The sadness surrounding this human had vanished the moment their eyes met.

Without thinking... Vincent swam forward. He gently caught Nikolai beneath the chin. His long light-blue tail naturally curled around Nikolai's legs beneath the water to steady him against the waves. Nikolai froze. He was scared. Confused. Heartbroken.

Yet he couldn't bring himself to move away. "D-Did... D-Did you come back for me...?" he whispered through choked sobs.

Vincent heard only unfamiliar sounds. He didn't understand a single word. Yet... Something inside him urged him forward.

An instinct. Ancient. Powerful.

His face slowly moved closer. Closer. Their foreheads nearly touched. Vincent didn't know why. He simply knew he wanted to close the distance. Just as he leaned in.... A powerful hand suddenly grabbed the back of his hair.

YANK.

Vincent cried out as he was pulled backward. "What—?!" Another merman emerged from the water. Long black hair. A crimson veil.

Piercing red eyes. Vaesryn. His expression was colder than Nikolai had ever seen. Vincent rubbed the back of his head. "Ow! What are you doing?!" he demanded in the merfolk tongue.

Vaesryn's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing? Are you reckless... or simply foolish?"

Vincent frowned. "I was doing my own thing. How did you even know I was here?" Vaesryn grabbed a fistful of Vincent's blond hair again. Harder. Vincent hissed. "L-Let go! That hurts!"

Vaesryn didn't loosen his grip. "You are not supposed to be this close to humans. None of you. Do you understand?"

Vincent glared. "I wasn't hurting him."

"You almost did." Vaesryn replied sharply. "You don't even realize it."

For a long moment... Neither moved. Finally... Vaesryn released him. Vincent rubbed his head, glaring angrily. Then... His eyes drifted back toward Nikolai. That same strange longing returned. He wanted to go back. He wanted... More. He didn't understand why. Without another word... Vincent flicked his tail and disappeared beneath the waves. Nikolai had watched the entire exchange in stunned silence.

The two mermen had spoken rapidly. Their language flowed like songs mixed with clicks and unfamiliar sounds. He hadn't understood a single word. Vaesryn slowly turned toward him. He sighed. Then quietly spoke. "...Little human. We need to find a way to understand each other. This cannot continue."

Nikolai only blinked. "...What?" Vaesryn looked around before crawling onto the damp sand. Using one sharp claw... He began writing. Elegant symbols appeared one after another. Curving lines. Strange circles. Ancient markings unlike anything Nikolai had ever seen. Nikolai crouched beside them. "...I... I can't read this." To him... They were nothing more than mysterious symbols.

Vaesryn stared at the writing. Then at Nikolai. He sighed again. His gaze briefly settled on Nikolai's mouth. The way humans formed words. A thought crossed his mind. He immediately dismissed it. "...No." He quietly shook his head to himself. "Foolish." There were things Vaesryn knew that no living human could possibly understand. He had watched kingdoms rise. Watched civilizations disappear.

Merfolk did not age as humans did. And Vaesryn had lived longer than almost anyone beneath the sea. If anyone knew the old laws...

It was him. Yet even he wasn't certain how two completely different worlds could ever truly speak to one another. He looked back toward Nikolai. Then made a gentle shooing motion with his hand. Go home.

Nikolai slowly understood the gesture. "...Tomorrow?" he asked hopefully. Vaesryn didn't understand the word. But he gave a small nod before slipping silently back beneath the waves.

Hidden among towering rocks below the surface... Vincent watched him leave. His fingers slowly tightened around the stone beside him. He wasn't satisfied. The strange instinct still lingered. Whatever had drawn him toward that human... It hadn't disappeared.

If anything... It had grown stronger.

He watched the last bubbles from Vaesryn's tail vanish into the darkness. Then looked back toward the faint silhouette of the human walking away above. "...Why?" he whispered to himself. He had no answer. Only an urge he could neither explain nor silence.

Back on shore... Nikolai shivered violently. His clothes clung to him. Salt dried against his skin. His nose had begun to run from standing in the freezing water for so long. He rubbed his arms, exhausted. The woods were dark as he slowly began the walk home.

His body felt cold.

But his mind burned with questions. Vincent was alive. Vaesryn knew more than he could explain. And somewhere beneath the endless sea... A secret older than humanity itself was beginning to reveal itself, one small piece at a time.