The Deep End

Prologue

I've always been strange, according to those around me. I lived in the depths for almost 14 years before the Lord who ruled the bottom 500 feet of ocean water, decided he had enough of me. So, here I am. Swimming up slowly, since the pressure drops significantly the higher I go. Anyways, I've seen several Top-Water Mers, and the tales are so wrong. See, the Dweller Mer look very different from Top-Waters, our tails, skin, gills, even hair. Dwellers had long, eel-like tails with sharp, webbed spines. The Top-Waters had shorter, flatter tails, like that of a dolphin or seal. Top-Waters also had smooth, crystal like skin, with silk clothes, and Dwellers have rough, firm skin that was meant to help blend into rocks and such.
         We also wore layers of kelp and seaweed, also using it as bandages. The deep parts were cold, so we had thick skin, and long gills that regulated heat. Dwellers tended to have short, well managed hair, since it was easier to manage in the depths. But, then again, Top-Waters had long, silky smooth hair that made me instantly jealous.
Dwellers also have these slits in their faces instead of a nose. Top-Waters just have a humanoid nose. Enough about that, let's get on with some backstory.
         I swam up to the leader, Lord Terje Dunne, my father, after a hunting trip.
        "Daddy! Are you busy?" I asked, my large eyes watching his every move. I had my right wrist wrapped in bloody kelp strands, clutching it with my other hand.
"I swear if you call me Daddy one more time. What, Atlas." He snapped, not even bothering to look at me. He was working on some paperwork.
        "I was out hunting and my dagger couldn't cut the angler, and then it ripped through my wrist," I explained calmly, my expression smoothing over from one that had been painted and fearful. I watched Terje turn slowly, raising a webbed hand to slap me.
         "I told you not to bother me when I'm working, Child. Get out. So what, you stabbed yourself while hunting." Terje slapped a cold, fast blow to my cheek. It stung, not from pain, but embarrassment and shame.
        "Sorry Father.. I thought you would want to know my hand is being amputated.. I apologize, it won't happen again." I straighten out, still clutching my wrist. I bowed, my tail churning up the silt as I swam off, towards the hospital. His face had twisted for a moment before he went back to work, but I didn't glance back even once.
          I got my right hand amputated at the base of the wrist, being put in a bullwhip kelp stalk cast, the mangled stump being wrapped in medical seaweed strands. the same strands that were under my shirt, covering the many stabs and punctures in my chest and abdomen. As I cradled my stump, I heard the blow of a horn, and lifted myself into better posture, swimming towards the meeting cave.
          "I have been notified about a Dweller who has become a burden on our lives, bringing us nothing but hardships. That Dweller, is my child. Atlas Dunne. Atlas, swim forward for evaluation." His voice was cold, unbothered.. and his face was blank and not even worried in the slightest.
          I swam forward, stopping before Lord Terje. His cold, red, piercing eyes looked me over, my tattered, gray shirt that covered my seaweed wrapped torso, my freshly cut off hand, my short, curly black hair, my pierced gills, my black and white tail that curled in loops and my blue eyes that had red coloration next to my slitted pupils.
           Finally, he spoke. "Atlas, starting tomorrow at exactly 6:30AM, you are banished from the Depths, to be forgotten about and not to return even under the most dire circumstances. You are sentenced to life in the surface."
          My breathing just flat out stopped, several horrified gasps and a cry of anguish from my friends, rung through the silenced cavern. "Yes, Lord Terje." I spoke calmly, not letting my emotions through. Terje was not family anymore, the banished are immediately disowned on the spot. "I understand." My words travelled through the unmoving waters. I held out my left hand, which had a bright yellow tattoo on the palm. Terje grabbed a curved dagger, slicing the tattoo in half and then crossing the cut with another.
          I didn't flinch. Dwellers don't flinch. The tattoo was marking my status as a high ranking Dweller, the blood pluming from the cut proved to all that Terje showed nothing for me, and was doing his job. The meeting was called to an end, And I swam to my room, collecting currency, food, and extra rolls of seaweed into a pouch. I took a strip of seaweed in my teeth, wrapping it around my hand and tying it off. It quickly browned with blood. I ignored it, grabbing my pouch and slinging it over my back. I swam to Terje's room, which he was never in, except to sleep, and collected thousands more Shiva Shells, quickly storing them in my pouch.
           That much currency would hopefully last me at least until I got a job. I then grabbed several notebooks, writing utensils, and extra currency, the currency being shoved into my pouch, the notebook into my belt bag. I ripped my shirt off, the seaweed wrapped around my torso had browned over my heart, and then I used fresh blood from my right hand to leave a note for Terje. 'Thanks for nothing, Lord Terje.'
           I swam out the window, spreading out my unused tail fins that stretched from the base of my tail and the tip, which expanded a lot. I flicked my tail, shooting upwards. I waved to my friends, who had come to say goodbye. Too bad the banished can't talk to anyone. I rose up slowly, trying to not die from the sudden pressure drop. My thin, boney body could handle less pressure, I knew this since I had visited the surface once. I swam up, my tail moving smoothly through the water. Slowly, the water around me became lighter and lighter.
            I saw mer, their hair billowing in the water. Their tails glistening and shiny, mine being dull. The mer hid from me behind rocks and kelp forests, huts and inside caves. I twisted myself, changing courses to swim into a village, the streets emptying quickly.
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