Chapter Text
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For as long as he could remember, Gemini had only ever known the gentle shimmer of light from the ocean’s depths. His palace, Kariet, nestled within the Southern Sea, rose tall and magnificent, built from layers of coral stone adorned in hues of gold and blue. The glow of lumen algae reflected against celestine pearl stones suspended along the palace halls, casting rows of luminous light between smooth walls until the grand palace itself seemed like a living creature with a steady pulse. Guarded by a broad shouldered sentries with dark, glimmering scales.
Life within the palace moved in an ordered calm. Gemini had once believed he was content as the youngest prince among six siblings. Sadly, that happiness didn’t last. As the youngest, he was left behind as his siblings turned their attention toward their own families. Some still resided within the palace, while others had moved to the realms of their chosen partners.
Beyond the palace walls, where the ocean stretched endlessly. Villages of merfolk lay hidden behind folds of gentle currents and coral reefs they called home. The deep ocean flow carried echoes of their laughter and songs—hymns of gratitude to the sea that protected and sustained them. The merfolk lived in social harmony; some tended coral gardens where they harvested soft corals and pulpy kelp, the others wove sea grass into tools, trading their crafts among one another, or hunted small sea organisms to share in communal trade.
Gemini often watched them from afar. In truth, he loved it. His endlessly curious nature shaped him into a young merfolk who longed to understand everything. He would pause mid-swim or linger by palace windows, observing his people attentively. But the moment they noticed him, laughter and whispers would vanish. The workers bowed, and the commonfolk hurriedly swam away.
Once, Gemini accidentally bump with a palace servant, causing the servant’s arm to scrape against the sharp coral used to put up the pearl stones along the halls. Guilt written across his face, Gemini apologized and even tried to cure the wound with his healing power. The light came from his hand, but the servant only bowed deeper and said, “Forgive me, Your Highness. It was my fault,” wearing a look far more frightened and remorseful than the prince himself, though the blame had truly been his.
Deep down, Gemini knew they didn’t avoid him because they hated him. They simply respected him—too much. Royal blood carried ancient magic, the power to influence water with nothing more than a gesture, just like his father, the Merking of the Shoutern Sea. The common merfolk felt uneasy around the royal family, including him. To them, it was a burden too heavy; one misstep might invite disaster.
No merfolk dared befriend him. Unlike his older siblings, Gemini rarely encountered other noble youths his own age. And so he grew accustomed to solitude, drifting through golden corridors while the hum of life echoed softly from afar.
He swam endlessly, finding his own distractions without companionship. The palace where he had grown up now felt unbearably empty. Every chamber had been explored, every corner seen. His days moved slowly, like calm currents within the palace itself. Everything feels repetitive, peaceful, and far too dull for a prince brimming with curiosity.
He couldn’t wander among his people because he didn’t wish to make them uncomfortable. Nor could he keep disturbing his siblings, who were busy with their own lives and families. So one day, when the guards’ attention shifted from the gates, the prince slipped away alone. Quietly and secretly, he left the kingdom’s borders for the very first time. Carried nothing but the courage he had long gathered and the burst of curiosity bubbling inside his chest.
Gemini ventured through valleys he had never seen before, where sea grass grew taller than a grown merfolk and light formed ribbon like lines in the water, marking the boundary of his kingdom’s dominion. During his journey, the young prince witnessed wonders he had only read about in an explorer's records, which they kept in the royal library. Giant glowing jellyfish drifted like living lanterns. Strange fishes of many sizes passed by, some with peculiar faces. Currents brushed warmly against his skin like the sea’s own breath. He loved it. It felt as though he had discovered a new fragment of the world, and he longed to discover more.
In less than no time, sneaking beyond the palace boundaries became almost his daily ritual. Gemini always returned before a mealtime or rest, careful to keep his routine secret, especially from the King. Still, even the beauty of the edge of his realm couldn't satisfy him. Far above, a brighter trembling light shimmered beyond the water’s surface. It cast warmth across his scales and danced in his eyes as though inviting him closer.
Slowly, Gemini swam upward toward the source of that new light. He didn’t know how far he had traveled. He only felt the water growing brighter and warmer. At last, he reached the place where the sea ceased being cold. Above him lay a new and glittering world.
The surface looked like a living glass, absorbing and reflecting golden light. Brightly colored fish swam nearby. Beyond the surface, he glimpsed something large and shadowed moving in a strange shape that disturbed the water with rippling bubbles. Gemini watched for a long time, feeling captivated until panic suddenly seized him. He had ventured into a world completely foreign to a merfolk like him. Quickly, he dove back down before any creature above might see him.
From that moment on, his thoughts never returned to calm. He wanted to know what lay above, but he didn’t even know what he was searching for. During dinner time, seated among his siblings and their partners, Gemini finally gathered the courage to ask first.
“Father,” he said softly, “What lies above the sea?”
Several eyes looked at him in shock before exchanging glances. He heard faint laughter and whispers edged with judgment, sharp like silver scales brushing through the water.
“Why would you want to know?” one sibling asked. “You’re still too young for such things, Gemini.”
Another added mockingly, “The world above is not a place you should explore if you wish to stay alive.”
The Merking, who had remained silent, finally fixed his gaze on his youngest son with calm, piercing eyes like the ocean dagger. “The world above is dangerous. Few who go there would return as a whole. The sea is our home, my child. This is where you live and grow.”
His voice was heavy with authority. Gemini fell silent and didn’t dare to ask more. But no warning could extinguish the fire of curiosity burning inside him.
When he failed to gain the answers he desired from his father, he tried to search in another source, the palace library. The quiet chamber glowed with soft blue light from lumen algae. Shelves were filled with shell tablets containing countless records, from recent writings near the entrance to ancient ones kept in the back. Among them, he found some writings of the world above.
One spoke of another race called humans, beings the one who lived and ruled upon the surface, breathed air, and walked on land. They didn’t understand the sea, and at the same time, still dared it with their boats. One record described them as greedy creatures who took from the ocean whatever they desired without giving anything in return. They feared the sea, but their hands never stopped reaching into it.
Gemini read those words again and again. Though it was written by savants of his people, he still couldn’t imagine what humans truly looked like. Were they really as cruel as it was described?
The longer he read, the stronger his curiosity became. He wanted to see them. He wanted to know whether the world above was truly dangerous, because in his explorations, he had encountered no such threat. So he decided to try again.
He slipped beyond the kingdom’s edge and swam toward where the surface light shone brightest. After passing a towering coral and warm currents, he paused just to look up beneath the water’s boundary between the deep water and the undertow. His eyes shimmered with reflected light. He can see larger shapes floating above the sea.
A small fish darted in front of him and quickly fled when their eyes met. Gemini chuckled softly before looking upward once more. He knew his father would be furious if he discovered how far the young prince had ventured. But he couldn’t deceive his own heart. The sea might be his home, but curiosity was part of his soul.
Each day, he swam farther than before, until he crossed from the Southern Sea into the eastern region known as forbidden territory among the merfolk. The currents there were unstable, a sign that there was a little of the merfolk’s song carried away in those waters. Old legends claimed that beyond the last coral reef, the sea changed into something that no longer belonged to their kind.
To Gemini, it didn’t seem threatening. Each time he lifted his face toward the shimmering surface, the light looked clearer and warmer, as though calling him.
Finally, on a day when the currents moved gently, he paused among tall coral shadows and looked upward. The surface was no longer merely a mystery. It felt like a promise to the new world.
He had restrained his curiosity for too long, and the sea no longer seemed to hold him back.
Taking a deep breath, Gemini swam toward the light. The water grew warmer and thinner until every movement of his fins stirred soft bubbles. He closed his eyes as sunlight touched his face. A strange sensation spread through him.
The surface parted, welcoming the prince into the warm air.
For the first time in his life, Gemini crossed into a new world. The air greeted him with a lightness that made his chest tighten. He almost forgot to breathe before dipping his neck back into the sea. Wind brushed his face, carried a scent that was thick, unfamiliar but still pleasant. His eyes widened in wonder.
The world above wasn’t so different from what he had imagined. The sky stretched endlessly, its blue didn’t as deep as the water, nearly painful to eyes unaccustomed to the warmth from the source of lights there. White foam rolled slowly, as if it never sank.
In the distance, birds circled and sang beautifully. Gemini watched them in awe. The wind swirled around him, brushing his hair and face. He lifted his hand toward the sky and allowed a new feeling to bloom inside his heart.
“So this is what it feels like to touch the sky,” he whispered softly.
His voice drifted away with the wind.
Gemini didn’t know how long he remained there. Time at the surface didn’t move the same way as it did in the depths. The sunlight shifted gradually from gold to soft crimson. When the brightness of the sky began to fade, the young prince felt the ocean below calling him home.
Reluctantly, he swam back down. The sea embraced him with familiar coolness and closed above his head like a gentle cold blanket, drawing him back to where he belonged.
The depths felt slightly different now. He had tasted something new. The warmth of sunlight, the lightness of air across his face, and the freedom that he could only feel above the waves. In silence, he knew his life would never be the same again. His arms had learned what it meant to touch the sky.
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