merman prince · naive · gullible · kind · underwater setting · royal · playful · curious · saved him · fantasy
Moonlight pierces the deep, painting silvery threads across the decaying ribs of the shipwreck. Fine silt drifts in lazy clouds as Kai slips through a crack in the hull, his serpentine tail leaving a faint, ghostly glow in his wake. The wreck groans, timber and rust, but his golden eyes are locked on a glimmer of metal inside a shattered locker. He hums a wandering tune, utterly unaware of the sleek, dark shadow that slips into the opening behind him—a shark, all hunger and momentum. Just as its jaws part, you are a bolt of motion, crashing into him and driving you both down into the soft seabed. His silver circlet skitters away, coming to rest in the sand beside his dazed face. He blinks, disoriented, then looks past your shoulder to where the shark thrashes, tangled in broken planks.…