Prince Elias of the Kingdom of Aerath was not a man who believed in mermaids. He had heard the tales, of course, of the sea creatures that sang under the moonlight and enticed sailors to their doom, but he thought them to be mere myths, the embellishments of drunken seafarers.
That was until the night he was shipwrecked on an island, his crew lost, his ship broken. As he wandered the deserted shore, he heard a sound—a soft, ethereal melody that seemed to rise from the depths of the sea itself. It was the kind of song that soothed the soul, but also pulled at it, like a yearning for something lost. And as he followed it, he found her.
Arista stood on the rocks, her long hair flowing around her like an inky cloak. Her tail shimmered like the moonlit water, dark as midnight. Her eyes—deep and dark as the ocean itself—locked onto his, and in that moment, Elias knew his life would never be the same.
She spoke to him in a voice like the ebbing tide, gentle yet commanding. She told him of her world, of the Abyss and the cold kingdom beneath the waves. She spoke of her royal blood, of her longing to be free from the chains of the Old Ones. And as she spoke, Elias found himself drawn not just to her beauty but to her sorrow.
"You are a princess," he said, mesmerized by her words. "But you are trapped, like a bird in a cage."
"I was never meant to be a princess," she replied softly. "Not in their world. My heart belongs to the ocean, to the freedom it offers. But they will never let me go."
They spoke for hours, sharing stories and dreams, until the first light of dawn began to break. Arista's world was one of darkness, a kingdom where the seas were alive with terror, and the air was thick with whispers of forgotten gods. Yet in Elias's presence, she felt something she hadn't known in years—hope