OMOLARA ADAMS BEAUCHAMP

CHAPTER TWO

He watched her helplessly until it was just the disquiet.

In no time, the water was homologous. He could not believe his eyes. She was even more beautiful at a closer look than the distance he always maintained. He could always sense her presence.

He always brought the shiny shells she always dived in here to collect. She had been late today and he had been sleeping, when he felt a pull, thinking it was just the cause of a storm above.

No storm expected soon enough, none that could hurt him anyway so he slumbered on until he had felt her hands on his skin.

The fishes of the coral reefs surrounded him, bubbles coming from their mouths. He knew how to converse with the fishes of the sea, something most merfolk found degrading and difficult.

He waved his hands at them, gesturing to know what the problem was. A certain fish emitted numerous bubbles.

‘What is the problem?’ he asked.

The fish ran around him frantically. A school of golden fishes delved into pairs instead of their scattered formation known well to them. The blue-scaled fish then zapped upward, returning shortly.

‘I understand – I should have protected you better. I thought she would know better than to steal from us.’ his echo reverberated.

He stamped his tail in frustration, returning down to the dark below. As he delved deeper and deeper, his armour shimmered and glowed brightly aiding light and keeping the dangerous darkness away.

He swam steadily.

He was used to these regions; only fear and chaos summoned them. He was not scared of the dark, because he knew what lay beyond.

This darkness was the great depth of an eternal abyss, so that curious humans, who could venture down to the deepest floral and corals and even braved the surface of the inky blackness soon realized that that was all it was, bottomless nothingness.

It was a lie.

The depths of the down below held the advancement of civilization and technology scientist human could only crave for, but not attain. They were the Adams of the seas, before Adam, the first man, Lord of the earth and everything within it created.

He swam into the most lavish of the metropolis, the palace. The guards on duty today nodded their heads in acknowledgement and focused ahead as if in a trance they could not wait to get back.

He bit his lips, not fully recovered from his experience. He soon made a final turn to the grandiose throne room, there sat an ageless woman with eyes the colour of the skies’ white and lips the colour of some black beach sands with pearly white teeth.

‘My Prince you have returned.’ Her arresting eyes cackled in magnetism, similar to the waves of a storm.

‘Mother, your Majesty.’

She smiled kindly, returning her gaze to the fish scale attire she was embroidering.

‘My prince’ a crowd of court mermaids crooned, gushing where they sat at the bannister reserved for maidens.

He waved at them, winking. A hand smacked his head. ‘Idiot’ another merman said, beside him.

‘Hey, what did you do that for?’ he grumbled.

The other merman shrugged. ‘You should give others a chance and how will your betrothed feel if she knew you were harbouring thoughts of other women.’ His heart leapt.

They both glided to seat closer to the throne, a special seat for the princes. In the lower oceans, everyone had their place and knew where they belonged. It made for coexistence. It was up in the seas where storms existed.