rapture of the deep ; seodo

✰ chapter 8 ✰

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“And humans really think they’ve figured it out – the depths of the seas and oceans, all of what occupies this planet,” Geonhak thought out loud as his lax fingers painted rings on the glassy surface of the water, “and in reality, we know nothing.”

The turquoise glow waned with the passage of time as Seoho and Geonhak sat on the rocks along the edges of the cave, and something inside Geonhak was waiting for Seoho to brush his fingers against the rough walls and set them alight again as if he really believed that he would be able to make sense of it the more often he watched – Geonhak tried not to think about all of what went against the laws of physics, logic, science, and common sense too much anyhow.

“It’s probably for the better,” Seoho acknowledged, “humans are greedy for knowledge to the point that it's as much self-destructive as it would be dangerous for us, there wouldn't be much harmony at the end of the day.”

Geonhak nodded, knowing how right Seoho was after all, and he realised how etched into his subconscious this knowledge must have been, as he hadn’t spent a single thought on sharing his latest discovery with the public.

Geonhak remembered the first conversation that they had shared the day prior. “But there was a time when humans knew about sirens, right?”

“Yes, but it didn’t last long,” Seoho reasoned, “we haven’t always coexisted with humans, you know?”

Geonhak’s ears perked up at Seoho’s words and he drew his hand out of the glistening water, as the milky way of turquois stardust was absorbing and distracting, and Geonhak should give up on catching the shiny particles because the microscopic glow burnt out the moment it was exposed to his mundane skin.

“You haven’t?” Geonhak asked.

“No, mermaids and sirens back then have emerged from humans, but I wouldn’t want to waste your time on ancient myths and tales that I’ve been told my whole life,” Seoho smiled as he flicked a shred of seagrass off his cyan-scaled tail.

“I’d love to know though,” Geonhak insisted, carving his eyes into the same doe-eyed look that he knew Keonhee had a weak spot for and hence couldn’t refuse him anything.

“As long as you’re comfortable with me knowing, that is,” Geonhak corrected himself, and suddenly, he no longer wished Seoho would set the cave ablaze and renew the dim glow, as his cheekbones were burning with the excessive display of excitement and interest that he had unsheathed and the way Seoho offered him a sober smile.

“If you insist.”
Seoho’s nose crinkled the slightest bit over a smile as he swung himself into the water again and swam up to where Geonhak was sitting.

Seoho crossed his arms on top of a boulder to hold himself above water and looked up to Geonhak through his arched lashes before he began, “as I said, these are merely old tales, but it is said that there were more or less three gods involved in creating us.

Galatea, the goddess of the calm seas, and Atlas, the titan god who held the sky aloft, had fallen in love with each other, and apart from the fact that Galatea had a lover at home and that Atlas therefore was her secret love affair, it would have been a forbidden love since Atlas and his titans had once conducted war against Zeus.

He was condemned to carry the heavens upon his shoulders and later said to have taught  humankind the art of astronomy, which made such things as navigation and measuring seasons possible in the first place, and to also be the reason why the stars revolve.”