Many years ago, a little village was born at the limits of land, where solid ground meets the fickle blue. It had no name, not in a language known by land dwellers, but those who lived in the waves had many names for it. The village lived off fishing, so it is not surprising that eventually the land and sea dwellers met. They made a deal: The merfolk would help the humans have all the fish they needed, as long as they never asked for more than necessary, and the humans would give the merfolk things they could only find in land: silver and gold.
The two worlds lived in harmony for hundreds of years, and soon the village grew into a kingdom, the Kingdom of Terrai, a name derived from "terrains", one of the many names the merfolk had for the humans. But one day, the peace ended, and it ended with one simple request from the oldest son of the merfolk empire: He wished for nothing more but a city made of gold.
Gold had been a part of their trade since the beginning, but had always been treated with caution, as it is humanity's currency, the base of all of their economy. To simply give all the gold needed to build a city to the merfolk would be a certain way to their doom. The land dwellers denied, and so did the merfolk's Emperor, a benevolent merman who wished nothing more than to keep the peace his parents had established.
The oldest prince, however, paid no attention to their refusal, willing to take what he wanted by any means. Charismatic and confident, he convinced many of his plans, and soon he had an army to attack the humans in the hopes of stealing every bit of gold they had.
The war that followed was brutal and lasted many years, but it eventually ended when the Queen, a courageous woman from a long lineage of witches, sacrificed herself to entrap the Sea Prince in the form of a human, allowing her King's sword to end the enemy's terror with a fatal blow. Filled with grief for the loss of his wife and the destruction of his Kingdom, the King drowned himself in the same ocean where everything started, leaving behind his trusted advisor with his two sons. Ashamed by what his own blood did, the merfolk Emperor and what was left of his Empire left that sea, and no one has heard of them since.
"And that's the history of our Kingdom. Now go to sleep."
"I'm not a child, Wilbur. And it's not even that late!"
If anyone told King Technoblade that he'd be the King of an empire and still have to listen to an annoying child being annoying, he would have deadpanned to the next year. But here he is, staring fondly as his brother and Tommy, Wilbur's ward, bicker while Philza, his Advisor, tries and fails to hide his laughter. Dream, his personal servant, doesn't even bother hiding his laughing fit, wheezing so hard he has to hold on Techno's throne so he won't fall.
It's endearing and a bit surprising, Dream doesn't really enjoy listening to the history of their Kingdom, as much as he tries to hide it, but he has been in a very good mood lately, so the pinkett shrugs it off.
"Alright, if you two are going to bicker, do it outside, the ball is about to start and one unhinged moron is enough." He says, pointing at the still laughing blond holding on his throne.
"You just like Dream's laugh more." Wilbur accuses, grinning like a little shit, prompting the King to raise one eyebrow.
"I do, so shut up."
"Oh, my God, spare us your simping."
"No, no, please keep going." Dream prompts with a hand on the King's shoulder, ignoring Tommy's complaining. His smile is bright, showing off teeth as white as pearls, and his eyes glisten like the ocean when the sun hits its highest spot. Truly, the most breathtaking being Techno ever had the delight to see. The fact the blonde is actually his sometimes just won't register.
