The Ereri Project!

Mermaid (Fairy Tale)

Once upon a time, there was a great kingdom of seaweed and colorful coral in the ocean ruled by an old widower.

The King was a kind old man who had fathered fifteen children in his lifetime; seven sons who had all grown and left to start their own kingdoms, seven daughters who lived inside his kingdom, and one last son,

Eren, was the youngest of all his siblings and still just a teenager.

The King often worried over his youngest child, even from an early age Eren had fostered an unusual fascination with the surface world.

The King dreaded his son's seventeenth birthday, he'd asked all his other children to wait until they were seventeen to go to the surface, and he'd done so confidently. The others were already much more interested in their lives in the sea to care about anything on the surface.

He knew already that Eren wouldn't be happy to stay in the water once he could see what was up there.

Eren often swam close to shorelines, singing and staring up at the sunlight though the water. The King feared for his son, he truly did. "Papa, why are we not allowed to leave the water?" Eren asked one day.

"Because, little darling, the surface is not our place. We would die without the water."

"But if we would die without it, why can we breathe air at all? Other fish can't breathe air, only whales and dolphins. Why are we and them so different?"

The old ling only sighed. "Because the world is full of mystery and heartache."

The King was surprised to see that his answer had sated Eren's interest, if only for the moment. By he also noticed that from then on, Eren seemed more melancholy and spent even more time staring at the surface.

When Eren finally turned seventeen, his sister's fawned over him happily. They gave him kisses and told him how grown up he seemed. They asked if he felt any older. "No," he told them. "But I know I'll definitely feel different when I come back from the surface."

His sisters all seemed so sad suddenly, but he didn't question them. He only looked to his father. "Can I go now Papa?" he asked, hope shining in his eyes.

The King took his son's hand. "Have fun," he said and kissed Eren's forehead.

Eren grinned, swimming as fast as he could, leaving his family behind without a second thought. When he finally broke the surface, he laughed at the sky.

The sun had just gone down, but he was happy to see it with his own eyes for the first time. The breeze in the air on his wet skin chilled him but he was too excited to care as he splashed around in the waves.

It was then he noticed a ship nearby. As he drew closer he could hear a celebration on the deck. Eren longed to speak with the surface people, but decided that might be crossing a line his father might disapprove of, so he drew closer and simply watched.

Some people sat around playing with strange toys that made pretty sounds when people touched then, others were dancing. "Long live Captain Levi!" a woman shouted.

The others followed suit as a short man walked from the wheel down the stairs into the group of people. "Happy birthday Captain," the woman said. She had a strange contraption of metal and glass in front of her eyes and seemed to be purposely dressing as a man.

"Thank you," the man replied.

Eren's jaw dropped when he finally got a good look at the man. He had heard of love at first sight, such things were common for his people, but he never thought it would happen to him.