Welcome to Sealantis

chapter 1: clam down

This is a fanfiction written with as many tropes as possible, inspired by none other than Crystal Scherer herself, the brilliant author of Merfolk on Mars and other stories. If you read any of her novels thanks to this fanfiction, please be sure to start with Merfolk on Mars. Simply imagining Crystal's face (or, the emojis and reaction gifs she sends in response) upon realizing her impact on others like me brings tears to my eyes. I can only hope I do her works justice with this humble story, my first ever fanfiction written on Wattpad.

Welcome to Sealantis.

My name is Millie Marino, and I am cousin of King Trident, daughter of the Great Ursula, and Chosen One of the Sealiens. This is the story of how Sealantis came to be... and who Sealantians were before Merfolk lived on Mars. Well, before King Trident sent out promising mechanical geniuses off to Brasslantis, and Merfolk settled in on a watery moon near Mars. We don't actually live on Mars, since it's way too inhospitable for us. I'm getting ahead of myself. I do that a lot at the ripe old age of 37, after all.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, I lived on a planet called Earth. We lived in cities everyone saw onscreen, and while it was rather pretty in some areas, the leaders of Planet Earth did not know how to run things. Instead of being on each others' teams, the rulers of Planet Earth chose to live in castles they refused to let go to ruin, at the cost of the lives around them.

By the time I was born, my father's homeland of Florida had been submerged under the sea. Islands became rolling waves of trash, choking out the natural ocean life, and most people resorted to living inland for fear of trashnados: They're like sharknados, but made of trash instead. 

Most girls my age didn't worry about the future, though. They were more worried about their looks and popularity, giggling over boys like Harry and Edward. I wasn't like the other girls, though. I was different, and not just because I didn't care about Harry's messy black hair and troublemaking smirk with clear green orbs that twinkled with amusement over a joke he was about to tell, with that dimple in his left cheek, right next to his chiseled cheekbone. I didn't swoon over Edward's sculpted muscles that rippled every time he raised his hand in class, or daydream about wearing his sweatshirt and watching scary movies together where he would wrap his strong, tanned arms around my petite frame and cover my eyes so I wouldn't be scared. That would be silly since I've known them ever since we were basically babies. I definitely did not have a crush on either of them.

No, I was different because I liked to read books and practiced swordplay in my free time. But I guess most girls didn't have dead parents like me.

When I was just six years old, both of my parents died in a horrific car crash. It wasn't the impact that killed them, though. There were these people with sideways-blinking eyes and green-tinted skin that brandished swords at them, challenging my parents, Sandy and Caspian Marino, to a duel to the death. Being totally normal people, they didn't have swords and were skewered to death by those weird people whom I would end up calling "Sealiens," because they looked like sea creatures who were also aliens. Ever since that day, I vowed I would become the best swordswoman in the world and avenge my parents.

Being just six years old, I don't remember much from the crash, but I have recurring nightmares of the Sealiens. I've visited the psychiatrist more often than I've gotten good grades - which is saying something, because I always get straight A's. In fact, I met my best friend Nicky in group therapy once! She stole me my first sword, taught me how to pick locks with a bronze hairpin that I've kept to this day, and even let me in on her favorite explosive concoctions she dreamed of one day combining with a rutabaga. That was before the therapists realized we had met each other and separated us for life for fear of us overthrowing the government, but those three hours with Nicky were the most fun I'd ever had.