Beneath the endless blue expanse, where the sunlight barely pierced, there existed a world few knew. The oceans, mysterious and vast, were home to creatures both wondrous and terrifying. Among them was a legend, a shadow that whispered through the waves—the Dark Mermaid.
Her name was Arista, though few dared to speak it. For in her tale lay not just beauty but tragedy, a tale of betrayal, heartache, and vengeance. It was said that once, long ago, she was the most radiant of the merfolk, with scales that shimmered like the sunlit sea and hair that cascaded like liquid obsidian. But those who beheld her beauty found themselves drowning—not in the waves, but in her gaze, where love and death were indistinguishable.
She did not belong to the kingdom of the merfolk, a place of light and song, where dolphins danced in the tides and the waters hummed with life. She was of another world, one beneath that—the forgotten realm of the Abyss, where the sea was darker, colder, and alive with things unspeakable.
Arista had once been a princess, the heir to the throne of the Abyssal Kingdom, a place ruled by the Old Ones—creatures older than time, who lived in the deepest trenches of the sea. They ruled with cruelty, their cold eyes ever watchful, their hearts cold as the ocean's depths. Arista, young and naïve, was their heir. She was loved by all, but only for her beauty and grace, not for the strength of her spirit.
But everything changed the day she met him—the human prince