Chapter 36 Morbid Reality

Chapter 36

Morbid Reality

Back in the sea, Haruto swam calmly throughout the Aula going about his business. He bumped into Rimulus as he swam into him. "My apologies, Your Highness, was there something you needed?" Rimulus bowed. "Um, no," Haruto replied, but as soon as he saw Allura swimming pensively on the other side of the corridor, he spoke up once more. "Actually, yes, I'd like a melano algae in my quarters," he requested as he gazed deeply into his eyes telling him it was urgent. "I will get on to fetching your melano algae, sire," Rimulus coolly responded and swam toward the kitchens.

As Haruto made his way to his quarters, Rimulus came in with a new bottle of melano algae. "Something tells me you were not requesting a drink for any reason." Rimulus said as he swam further away from the door from others hearing. "You're right. I need to know if there are to be any royal duties going around with the absence of Amelia."

"All royal sessions, council meetings, trials, and other errands have been suspended until her return. I've made sure to let the guards tell other unexpected guests and subjects that we are not seeing anyone for the week. You don't have to worry about picking up the slack. This is not your realm to worry about." Rimulus spoke reassuring him.

"Excellent, because I'll be away for awhile along with Meredith taking care of some things," Haruto announced. "When shall I expect for you and Shaasak to return from your errands?" Rimulus asked without prying into what he was up to. "I'd say a good couple of weeks no more than three at most," Haruto said giving a rough estimate.

"Will that be all, sire?" Rimulus asked. "That is all, thank you," Haruto said as he raised the bottle before opening it and started drinking the contents along with the salt water surrounding him. The bitter, fermented, alcohol had overtaken his sense of smell and taste as his mind was set for what he had in mind of doing. After he drank half of the bottle, he muttered to himself, "To Atlantica and Oceanus."

While waiting for Haruto to swim to the courtyard, Meredith paced impatiently waiting for him so they could go on their way on their supposed mission. "Dammit, what's taking him so long?" Meredith swore under her breath. "Remember how you would get onto me for swearing and shout out that I needed to pay on that stupid swear jar mom had in place?" Lynae mentioned as she reminisced. "Ha, yeah, well that jar is miles away from us now isn't it?" "It is, and I got to hand it to you, you've grown up over the last several months." Lynae admitted to her observation. "Are you really starting up this sentimental crap all over again?" Meredith said showing annoyance in her tone of voice. "It's true. I've grown, you've grown, Mia, I don't know much about Mia, but I know we have."

"Do you think Mom and Dad has given up on searching for us?" Meredith asked. Before Lynae could answer, Haruto came over to the courtyard slouching back. "You're late." Lynae scolded at him as she smelled his breath. "And is that what I think this is?" "Trust me, I thought it over and over again. If Allura had any inkling temptation of reading my mind over today's trip, this will make it difficult for her to do so." Haruto said as he showed her the half drank bottle of the melano algae stashed away in his satchel. "Have you lost your mind? We need you to focus not lose it!" Lynae said snatching away the bottle. "Well what did you have in mind?"

As they were arguing, they heard Keanu humming at a distance with his pipe. Before he could get in another puff. Lynae snatched it away from his hands and shoved the pipe up in his mouth. "Hey! What the hell?!" "Blow," Lynae commanded Haruto to blow and did what she instructed. However, he sucked in so hard that he couldn't blow out properly by coughing up a fit. "Have you lost your mind?!" Keanu said snatching it back into his possession. "You're actually the second person that has said that to me." Haruto said as he tried to catch fresh water into his gills.

"Mind telling me why you were shoving my pipe into his mouth?" Keanu nonchalantly asked Lynae. Meredith then spoke up. "They're trying to get Haruto's mind unreadable to Allura." "The sea witch?" Keanu asked raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, her. She seems so off put with you for some reason. It's almost as if she can't read your thoughts like Meredith over there because you've been smoking whatever that is you've got there," Lynae explained. "First off, this is albino anemone, it's a strong plant that can stun your nervous system if you consume it by the branch. Secondly, it's also a hallucinogenic. Smoking too much of it at one time especially a newbie like yourself can kill you. You have to build it up in your system continuously, and smoke it little at a time."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Haruto rushed over and vomited at a nearby wall. "And that's why I mean it's not good for him to rush it." Keanu sighed in annoyance with them. "How much does he need to numb down what Allura can read off of, do you know or have a guess?" Lynae asked. "That puff he inhaled should last him at least six hours of inhibiting his hyper thought process. He should be able to function, but if you run in any danger, he's fight or flight response will be delayed somewhat. He's lucky I didn't put in a stronger dose in the pipe."

"Is that why Allura is so annoyed with you because you smoke that?" Meredith asked. "Yes and no. She was annoyed when I advised your Highness to go up shore to recover. She tried something with me, but whatever it was she was doing, it failed her. Plus, she's been nagging onto me to stop smoking around the Aula. Then it hit me, the stuff I'm taking was making it hard for her to get into my head. The only time she was able to reach me was when I was off the stuff awhile when I was helping out that poor friend of yours get home." Keanu explained. "Then I noticed how she treats you versus the other royals. When I found out she couldn't read your mind at all, I was starting to be jealous of you a little. Consider yourself blessed, kid, you have the gift of keeping things private, and no one can ever know." Keanu praised her as he lit up his pipe once more to smoke.

"I'm starting to really think I am lucky. Hey, Haruto, quit yacking, and let's get on out of here," Meredith called out to Haruto. As Haruto turned around to follow her, he stumbled a bit trying to go into her direction. "Great, looks like we'll need a hippocamp for this journey." Meredith muttered under her breath.

After she mounted Haruto onto the hippocamp, they headed off West with little bit of the anemone stashed for Haruto to take while being away. The ocean then became a deep blue once more as they went further and further away from the main city of Atlantica. There was nothing but fish swimming past them as they went on their way toward Oceanus. As they entered into the Carribean region, Haruto began moaning once more as he started waking up.

"Have a nice nap, Sleeping Beauty?" Meredith made a remark to him. "That's not funny, your sister nearly killed me with that stuff." Haruto complained. "She didn't ask you to get yourself drunk either. Trust me, you don't wanna go that route speaking from experience." Meredith stated. "You had your first hangover, didn't you?" Haruto said smirking. "Yeah and they certainly did not give us the heads up at school about it either." Meredith said unphased with any embarrassment from the experience either. "Wait a minute, why are you asking me that question? Are you saying this wasn't your first time getting drunk?" Meredith asked with apprehension. "Let's just say with my alcohol tolerance, it would have taken more than just that bottle of melano algae to get me actually drunk." Haruto explained.

Meredith turned around to face him in surprise and wonder at his statement. "How long have you started drinking?" She asked inquisitively. "Around your age which was about a decade ago." Haruto answered. She jumped at his answer when he mentioned that he started drinking nearly ten years ago. "You guys know that I'm older than Amelia, right?" he asked hoping the answer was yes. "Like Keanu old?" Meredith asked innocently. "Now you're adding insult to injury, I'm twenty-three for Neptune's sake." Haruto grew angry as he spoke.

"I'm sorry, I assumed you were really close to Amelia or Lynae's age. I didn't think you were older than them." Meredith shrieked in embarrassment and tried justifying her statement. Haruto then changed the subject letting her know that they were in the vicinity of whom they were looking for. "Stay close," He said lowering his voice. She nodded and followed him. As they went deep into the murky parts of the gulf, they noticed more bodies lying stiff in the sand. "What the hell is this?" Meredith asked. "This seems to be a mass grave; we must be getting close to them." Haruto explained in a serious tone.

The water grew colder as they swam further in. Then they laid eyes on the slender merman who was working on some concoction. "What brings you here?" The sly merman asked. "We need some information." Haruto spoke up firmly. "About?" The merman pressed on. "About a recent customer of yours."

"I don't like where this is going. I don't give away my confidentiality on my inquirers, and you seem to be looking for trouble." The merman hissed as he crushed the coral into his right hand. "We're not here for you, we're here for a certain mermaid you worked with some time ago." Haruto continued. "I worked with several mermaids in the course of two months, you'll have to be more explicit." The merman said coyly.

"Dark hair, pale skin like the corpses surrounding your place, gray eyes, and a tail that was pale pink almost a pearl-ish white color to it. Also, she has an ability that no other mer could reproduce on their own." Meredith jumped in the conversation. "Ah yes, now it's slowly coming back to me. But what will I receive in exchange of this information might I ask? You seem not to be interested in my line of work, and I don't like stragglers coming to my property putting their gills into where they shouldn't." he said whilst snapping his fingers to summon help. Reflexively, Meredith went into her fighting stance wielding out her exceptionally heavy weapon. "Glad you asked. Here's what I have in mind." Haruto spoke up ready to strike up a business proposition with the man.

After an hour of so of speaking with the man, they came out of his villa determined to get to their next destination. "Haruto, I hate where this is going, are you sure this won't bite us back in the long run?" Meredith asked. "We have to take this chance if we can get anything on Allura to paint a picture of her being a danger to the court." Haruto explained. "She will try to turn this back on us saying that we were involved in this and not her." Meredith mentioned. "She will, but we have a little thing that we can use to stop her influence though." He said as he was referring to the anemone in his inventory. "But..." Meredith was cut off. "You'll have to trust me and Lynae on this one, Meredith. I won't lie, she will try to manipulate and try turning us against one another. I know she's an advisor to Amelia because of what they have in common, but I have a feeling she's going to try to get Amelia under her control as well if we are not too careful." Haruto explained.

As they make their way to Panama, Meredith began striking up a conversation with Haruto. "I'm curious, if you knew you were the crowned prince destined to rule Oceanus. Why didn't you return and do damage control? Because when all of us were there, it was a wreck."

"One mer could only do so much to keep the peace over an entire ocean especially a very powerful merman like myself. Plus, I didn't have the help or support I would have needed to get where Atlantica is at." Haruto clarified.

"Atlantica was not nearly as bad as the other realms before Amelia took over, but I'd say she pretty much polished the capital and improved the realm's stability in safety and statute. You've been out in the sea for so long and knew you were the reincarnation of the prince. Why didn't you start taking up your claim or let Oceanus know you meant business?" She asked further.

"I am not one who wishes to force the hands of others through tyranny and dictatorship. A man who abundantly uses his power for control is no true leader. A leader reaches out to its people, comforts them, looks out for their best interest rather than their very own, and envisions a larger picture of what would benefit their state and the people living in it." Haruto said enlightening his idea of ruling to Meredith. "Well, while we're scavenge hunting for what we need to find in Oceanus, I can help you get your kingdom in the right track."

"You would do that for me?" Haruto asked surprised at Meredith's offer. "I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for your people. You've been MIA for far too long to not take any action. These raiders need to get under control, and we need make the waters safe to swim in again. Besides, I kind of want to pay a little visit to an old friend of mine anyway." Meredith stated her intentions especially with the familiar face she had in mind when she first started swimming in the big ocean.

As they entered into the Panama, a rambunctious group of mer gained up on Haruto and Meredith. "Going somewhere? No one gets out without paying the toll," The merman smirked mischievously. "Care to give a discount for a returning customer?" Meredith snapped back as she unsheathed her Fagu Lima. "You! You'll be paying double the rate for what you did!" The mermaid shouted as she recognized Meredith. Then she charged at her while Meredith blunted her with the handle of her heavy, oddly shaped, mallet. The mermaid was knocked unconscious as she slid deep in the canal flooring. "Who's next?" Meredith asked teasingly.

A merman began charging her while attempting to stab her ruthlessly. Meredith then lifted the merman with her tail using her strength and batted lightly trying not to mortally wound him, but sent him flying. The remaining mer swam in the other direction swimming for their lives knowing Meredith as a great threat to them.

Then Haruto opened up speaking, "You know I was gonna help you out, but after seeing that, you seem to handle yourself pretty well." "When you've been on your own fighting sharks and other ruffian mer, you get use to fighting by youself." Meredith explained then spoke up once more. "Are you coming or are you gonna keep gawking over what you know I'm capable of?" Haruto shook his head and caught up with Meredith on their way to Oceanus.

A few hours of swimming went by, and they made it to Oceanus without any more trouble. "Mind if we swim by somewhere first? I want to stop by the old blacksmith shop and say hello to an old friend of mine." Meredith asked. "Of course, how did you know one another?" Haruto asked while they made their way over in that direction. "While I was training with Lynae and Amelia under Allura, I kind of ran into his shop. I was intrigued about his craftmanship of the weapons he wielded. Then I wanted to learn how to make weapons ending up getting an apprenticeship with him."

"I see," Haruto responded as he was still gaping at her strange interests. As they appeared near the blacksmith, Meredith saw in the distance something very distressing. She then swam swiftly toward it. "Meredith, wait!" Haruto cried out but Meredith would not stop. She swam in deep worry as what she saw. As she got closer, her fear confirmed the worst in her mind. The blacksmith shop was destroyed in many ways possible.

The foundation of the shop was unstable, the oven was dismantled along with the extinguished magma rocks. And what laid in front of Meredith was a sight she would never forget. A body with a face she barely recognized that was in the beginning stages of decomposing.

"No..." Meredith kneeled next to the body. She began crying softly. Haruto caught up and saw Meredith on the ground. "Meredith, are you...?" As he made his way over, he saw what she was weeping over. "Oh Meredith, I'm so sorry." Haruto said trying to give his condolences. "I should have stayed here. I should have fought him harder for me to stay." She said as she pounded into the ground with her closed fist.

Then an unexpected voice appeared out of nowhere. "So you found him too," As Meredith turned around, it was Ernest, Elihu's son. She couldn't bear looking at him in the eyes after finding out what Elihu's fate was. "Ernest..." "That fool was stubborn to the very end. Then again, I inherited that stubbornness as well."

Meredith was too choked up to speak. Haruto then spoke up. "We're going to find whoever did this and bring them to justice." "How can you be so sure you would find the culprit?" Ernest questioned his intent. "I swear on the gods and Neptune himself; I will not stop until I find who did this. As King of Oceanus, I make this my first official objective." Haruto declared.

"I'm holding up to you on that," Ernest said scrutinizing him. "We must give him a proper burial," Meredith advised. "Allow me to carry him, I'm the next of kin to him anyway." Ernest said volunteering. "I know a volcano nearby if that is where you wish to lie him there." Haruto suggested. "Wait, you aren't going to bury him?" Meredith questioned frantically.

"We don't bury the dead in the sands. We cremate them into the lava of a nearby volcano." Haruto explained. "But why? Don't you want your remains of your loved one in a safe place?" Meredith questioned more. "There is no safe place to bury. It is considered an insult to the dead to let creatures feed off your decaying flesh and bones; generally, they would wish they could be free from their vessels they once were inside." Ernest said giving his reason why they do not bury their dead.

As they swam up to the volcano where Meredith once gathered magma rocks for Elihu to prove her usefulness, they stopped at the edge of the volcano where they were met with blazing heat hitting on their faces through the currents. Ernest began the memorial service while he was still carrying his father's covered corpse. "Gods of the Seven Seas, Neptune, our father and gatekeeper, I come to set my father free from the chains of life which bounded him for decades. As he lived his life fulfilling your purpose for him, I wish for him to be given favor in your eyes as I lay his body in this pool of magma. Father, I'm sorry I was not there for your last days of your life. I'm sorry our last encounter was a memory of us fighting. May you now be with mother and Caia forevermore."

As he bounded his corpse with heavy chains, he tossed his body into the magma watching him burn. Meredith and Haruto bowed their heads in respect for him as they watched him burn and sink into the magma pool.

After the service was over, Meredith spoke up as they were swimming in another direction into Oceanus. "Ernest..." He did not respond but was listening. "Why did you come back?" He sighed and began speaking. "I haven't heard from you in awhile didn't think you were coming back for a long while. I thought maybe I could see my father again and then..." "I'm so sorry, Ernest. There are no more words that I can put on how sorry I am to drag you from the only family you had left." Meredith said quivering. "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done, and I want to find the bastards who took my father's life and find out why they did it." Ernest said with malice in his voice.

As they were swimming, they saw a gang of bandits gaining up on some locals. They knew this would only start their mission on clearing out the chaos that was in these waters of Oceanus.