Mutagen

The Merfolk, commonly called as Mermaids and Mermen, lived under the sea for generations. It might even be possible that they existed before men even walked the earth. Hiding from the conflict thirsty and greedy land dwellers, the Mer Kingdoms lived peacefully under the oceans of Earth.

That was until…

The infected and Evolved Animals appeared under these peaceful waters.

As the meteoroids exploded at the Earth\'s atmosphere, airplanes flying in the sky crashed due to its passengers and crew being suddenly exposed to Mutagen their bodies could not endure. Turning into savage monsters, they spread across Earth infecting and changing every living thing. Even the oceans were not spared.

With how much percentage water occupied Earth, it was not wrong to say that more of those airplanes crashed into these oceans that actually crashing on land. Due to that, the infected in the oceans were more powerful and advanced compared to those in spreading terror in land. In fact, due to the waters being contaminated with Mutagen, some sea creatures grew limbs that enabled them to go on land.

The most affected place however was the Kingdoms of the Merfolk.

Under the Southern Pacific Ocean near the Philippine Sea, one of these kingdoms was located. Beautiful structures made of colorful corals and stones that more looked like they were shaped by time than the hands of the Mer. Strange looking corals that were not discovered by man yet could be seen illuminating the whole place. The most prominent structure was the large castle at the center of kingdom.

The city under the sea was not that big, it could be said compared to a small housing subdivision mankind had on their lands. Covering this small but beautiful kingdom was a transparent dome, a barrier made of magical energy. This barrier kept the kingdom from being seen by the eyes of the unworthy and kept the peace and quiet of this kingdom.

However, that peace could not be seen at this moment.

"Father, is what I heard true?"

A beautiful mermaid with colorful stones and shells adorned on her head asked the king who sat on his coral throne and wore his coral crown adorned with gems. This beautiful mermaid was the princess of this kingdom, Milliel. She had a tail with orange scales and a wave tail like a goldfish.

Her father, Farlierl, the king, sat on his throne with a stern face. His long beard that danced along with the water could not hide this expression.

"My Princess, it is better not to interrupt his majesty while he is thinking."

A handsome merman reprimanded the princess. He was the general under the king and was reporting the dreadful circumstances they were facing.

While they were here talking, their brave warriors were currently fighting outside their barrier. Their barrier that was supposed to hide their precious kingdom was still working and yet, their kingdom was being besieged by monsters.

"Rumiel, Are you sure that what we are against were not evil creatures?"

The king spoke with a very stern voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty. By their appearance, they were supposed to be human but at the same time, they were not. I can assure that they were human since they all came out from that human vessel capable of traversing the sky that fell at the eastern reefs."

"Those, accursed humans."

King Farlierl cursed in a furious tone as he stood up from his throne. With his curse and expression, it was obvious that he had a deep grudge against humans.

"Father, please appease yourself. What General Rumiel is saying is that the enemies should be human before but they are not anymore."

"Yes, I agree with the princess, Your Majesty. There seemed to be another factor at play in this situation. In the first place, humans should not be able to traverse our ocean this deep without those equipment they call diving gears. Not to mention that our current enemies were able to move over water with speed comparable to us."

Hearing that, the king calmed down to some extent and sat once again.

"What about the casualties?"

"Your Majesty, there was a lot unfortunately. Some were injured by scratches and uncanny tricks of our enemies but most were injured by bites. For some reason, those that were bitten were unable to continue the fight and we had no choice but to send them away and they were brought to the healing area."

While the three were inside the throne room of the castle along with a few soldiers guarding the king and the princess, shouts were suddenly heard outside.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

A mermaid with greenish hair and wearing a shell circlet barged into the throne room. Of course she was intercepted by the soldiers with their spears made of stone and sharp shells.

"Let her through."

The king commanded making the soldiers step back to their initial positions while the mermaid that had just entered rushed in front of the king.

"Erithiel, what is happening?"

"Your majesty, the city is in chaos!"

"What?!"

Everyone in the throne room exclaimed in both shock and confusion.

"Did the enemies made it through? It can\'t be. I swear in Poseidon\'s name that we should be able to block the enemies at least for days."

Erithiel turned to the general.

"General, it is not the enemies outside the barrier. Those soldiers sent to the healing area, those that were bitten. They had gone mad. They left the healing area and started attacking and biting our people. Those that were bitten also started to behave similarly and the situation was spreading."

The atmosphere in the throne room had frozen. General Rumiel broke the ice with a resolute expression.

"Your Majesty, Princess. If Erithiel\'s statement is true, even Your Majesty and Princess Milliel is in danger. It is better for Your Majesty to take the Princess and escape. Take refuge in other kingdoms we are friends with. If the situation calmed down, I will personally search for your Majesty."

The King and the Princess did not agree to that and without a choice, the general retracted his suggestion. After all, whether it was the humans or the merfolk, the duty of the leaders should be to oversee their people.

However, the situation never got any better. It had even gotten worse several days later.

They identified the condition of the mermaids that had turned mad as an incurable disease and had spread all over the kingdom. The survivors of the kingdom led by the royal family which only had two remaining members, King Farlierl and Princess Milliel, they set off to abandon their kingdom. Following General Rumiel\'s suggestion, they their school set off towards the direction of the nearest kingdom in the Philippine Sea.

The journey was fretted with large danger as many of the unsightly enemies chased after them. Although they still managed to escape, their numbers dwindled severely. In order for them to escape, General Rumiel stayed behind and delayed the enemies with his troops. That was the last time they heard of the brave young general.

While hiding in the rock formations, corals and crevices near the bottom of the ocean, it took days for their poor group to reach the next kingdom that could be reached by several hours before. Not only that they were delayed by hiding but they also encountered strange sea creatures trying to eat everyone.

Their numbers dwindled even more and when they finally reached the next kingdom, their numbers was even less than half from what they had when they left their kingdom.

Reaching the next kingdom however, they were subjected to a harsh reality.

The Merfolk Kingdom they were trying to reach had already been long destroyed. Their arrival turned the cause of the destruction to aim at them.

A gigantic whale with fins shaped webbed feet with fingers.

Despite its large body, it could swim very fast. Along with the others, they fled without any places to go. The next kingdom nearby should be days to reach now and there was no assurance that that kingdom would still be there.

It did not take long and they were cornered.

"Milliel, my precious daughter, you have to live."

"But father!"

"After your mother died because of humans, you\'re the most precious thing I had. Can you at least agree to my last wish?"

Milky drops left Milliel\'s eye and turned into pearls that drifted down the bottom of the sea. Her pure sorrow as she nodded turned into precious stones.

With several guards and the remaining survivors, Milliel fled from the opening her father made. She was not supposed to look back but she could not help it. That was her biggest mistake that etched a painful memory that she would remember forever, the scene of her father being swallowed whole by that whale.

Then, the catastrophe started.

She saw it all when the whale suddenly grew limbs and started to walk on the bottom of the ocean. While that happened, the seawater started to grow turbulent and chaotic. Their group was not able to escape and was swept by the strong current. They all got separated.

Unable to control her body, she was thrown unto rocks, corals and even other sea creatures swept by the current. She accumulated wounds on her body which kept her awake as she reminisced the final moments she had with her father.

Finally, when her mind could not take it anymore, she finally lost consciousness.

***

Day 42 – 6:33 PM – Mountain Base, Mount Malabito, General Nakar, Quezon

"FATHER!"

Milliel screamed as she woke up. It seemed that she had a nightmare.

She was in a daze for some time when, she finally realized. Pearls dropped into the water she was submerged in as her tears turned into these precious gems.

With a sad smile, she muttered.

"I am alive. Father, I fulfilled your wish, right?"

It took quite some time before she managed to calm down. That was when she noticed that she was not in the ocean but was actually in a strange place. Her body was half submerged in water inside a large basin. She did not know what happened, where this place was and why she was here.

The only thing she could tell was that the water she was submerged in felt really good in her body.

She looked around, what she could see were walls made of stone and a door made of metal. Even the ceiling were made of stones.

"A… dungeon?"

She started to feel scared with the thought. What if she was captured? She was about to cry for a different reason when the door opened.

Her eyes grew wide. Outside the door, a man wearing strange clothing stood. Yes, stood. It was because he had feet.

"HUMAN!"

Milliel tried to escape. However, since she was inside a basin, she ended up being thrown unto the dry ground. Nevertheless, she used her arms to try to get away. She crawled on the ground causing her yet to heal wounds to open once more. The ground was dyed with her blood as she tried to escape. Unfortunately, the furthest she could go was the farthest corner of the room.

There, she curled herself while leaning on the wall and hanging her head down. She was even scared to look at the human that entered the room. Despite the pain her body was feeling due to her wounds, her fear overwhelmed her mind.

"*%##^? #!% &^# *#!( $%?"

Milliel could hear the human spoke but of course, there was no way for her to understand it. She did not know, the human was currently scratching his head not knowing what to do realizing the language barrier between them.

Then, she felt two hands wrap around her body which made her flinch. She tried to struggle but the human was strong. When she though that she was in danger, she felt herself being submerged in water once more. She was gently placed inside the basin causing the water to become a bit dirty but being submerged in water made her feel better.

The arms let go of her without doing anything harmful to her. Rather, she even felt a strange feeling of warmth and comfort while she was wrapped by those arms. She was finally able to look at the human in front of her. It seemed that he looked really troubled and was currently talking to a strange creature on his shoulder.