Chapter 28-When a Grief Game Is Accidentally Unleashed(Mauritius)

The sprawling green algae, drifting and crawling along the seabed, were abruptly torn apart by sharp, pointed nails, ripped free with a violent tug. In their wake, a spreading cloud of grayish, turbid silt and blackened sludge stained the water. But in the very next instant, a flash of gold and crimson arced swiftly from the tangled roots of the underwater forest, pursuing with a speed and directness that brooked no escape.

Perhaps it was the primal instinct for survival—already skittish as startled prey, the fish, shrimp, and shellfish in the area, upon detecting the thick, cloying scent of blood diffusing through the sea, scattered in wild panic, fleeing as if their lives depended on it. The once-murky waters were churned into an even deeper, inky darkness, as if the very sea around the green algae were being transformed into a thick, undiluted pool of black ink.

The vast, cold expanse of the seabed shuddered with increasingly violent waves, and no sooner had the golden-red figure flashed past than several large, carnivorous black-skinned crab-eating sharks gave chase. Close behind them, fierce and ruthless killer whales pressed forward, though they were halted by the dense, shadowy forest of the ocean floor.

Meanwhile, gray-skinned dugongs with sharp, long tusks and smaller species of dolphin circled wide, giving the haunted, treacherous woods a wide berth. They propelled themselves with graceful sweeps of their paddle-like fins, their hook-shaped dorsal fins—scarred and mud-stained—rising like blades as they sped precisely toward the scene.

At first glance, it seemed nothing more than a savage chase, the eternal game of predator and prey.

But the truth was far more complicated.

“Slanther!!”

A voice, thick with contempt, rang out above.

Half-buried in the soft silt, a beautiful young merman opened wide, innocent brown eyes. His expression, stricken and pained, clung to the tattered remains of green algae he’d torn off in his desperate flight. The silver-white tail fin, half-buried in the sand, appeared to throb with agony; the hard, round scales adorning his tail had been forcibly ripped away in the chaos. Yet the lovely youth, brow furrowed in suffering, lifted his head, meeting the icy gaze of the striking man above without flinching.

“Vayne, how… how could you… do this to me! I… I am your dear brother Morpheus’s…” The youth, Slanther, forced himself upright despite his bruised, battered naked torso, his face a picture of wounded accusation.

“Silence!! You have no right to speak his name!!”

At the mention of ‘Morpheus,’ the man’s already icy gaze grew deadly. His eyes narrowed with the disdain one might reserve for something soft-shelled and pathetic, casting a cold glance at the youth mired in the sand.

Stung by the man’s contemptuous stare, Slanther’s grip on the ruined algae tightened, nails twitching. The crushed, vivid green seeped from the shredded leaves, staining his pale fingers with a sap as sharp and fresh as green rust, yet he ignored the pain. His delicate, pallid face tilted slightly, and the fear from before vanished, replaced by a steady, direct gaze that met those cold golden eyes head-on.

“Vayne, do you really think… you have the right to command me?”

The man gave a short, mirthless laugh, as if he’d heard a joke drained of all humor. His bloodless lips curled into a mocking sneer. “The right?”

“Tch. Someone as filthy, as sordid as you… Trash. If not for concerns about Morpheus’s involvement, I’d have torn that disgusting, manipulative face of yours to pieces long ago…”

Slanther smirked, drawing his silver-white tail free from the sand with unhurried grace, shedding the submissive, yielding air he’d shown before. His lips, red as rose petals, curled in a taunting pout, as if savoring honey.

He laughed softly, but his words were razor-sharp. “Vayne… I do recall your crown of murder still weighs heavy upon your head, doesn’t it? What now, thinking to add another crime—slaying one of your own? Oh, and there’s an even greater problem, isn’t there…? Facing this face of mine, are you truly capable of murder?”

The handsome man’s expression darkened, but the youth only laughed more sweetly, his beautiful brown eyes crinkling with the joy of stars reflected in a spring.

“Oh, here they come…” he added slyly.

Even as he spoke, the ferocious sharks, dugongs, and dolphins that had been in hot pursuit arrived above, clashing and snapping at one another in a frenzy of violence that churned the sea into whirlpools.

Yet the man did not so much as glance at the deadly conflict overhead. His expression grew troubled, his pale chest heaving as if under invisible torment. For a long moment, he pressed his trembling lips together, struggling to contain the storm within, before his voice, forlorn and tortured, slipped out: “No… No, it wasn’t supposed to be like this. I didn’t kill Trinity…”

He muttered these words as if desperate to convince himself, while his elegant hand, all bone and sinew, caressed the youth’s face—so hauntingly similar to the one he loved. Yet inside, his heart felt as if impaled by a thousand thorns, wounds left raw and bleeding, only to have salt and fire poured in by indifferent onlookers, until what was once love festered into incurable agony.

“Fate… It is nothing if not ironic.” Slanther broke free of the man’s cold fingers, his beautiful face twisted in a malicious smile. To the man whose soul was being shattered by the merciless truth, he continued, slowly and deliberately.

“Tch… It hardly matters if I tell you the truth. In fact, your pain is my only pleasure… Remember that ghost ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, run aground in the sea forest? Ah… That was the beginning of it all…” The boy’s smile was cruel, and he recounted every detail of what had happened with merciless precision.

Vayne’s golden-red tail stiffened as if struck by lightning, his face flushing crimson, breath ragged. In that instant, a storm of regret, terror, and hatred utterly consumed him.

“No… It wasn’t supposed to be this way!!!”

Unprepared, face twisted in madness, the man lunged at Slanther, fist flashing down with deadly speed, the hard, sharp scales on his knuckles bristling like blades grown from bone, his punch slicing through the water.

“You filthy wretch! Cursed bastard child! It was you—someone like you—who killed Trinity! And now you use these vile, despicable tricks to claw your way up, to become Morpheus’s chosen mate!!!” Driven to the brink of insanity by the revelation, Vayne’s murderous intent flared.

*******************************************************************************

“…Help…help me!!!” A desperate, ragged cry echoed faintly through the depths. Xius, patrolling the deeper waters, was instantly on alert.

The plea for help, growing louder, was accompanied by deafening crashes that threatened to burst eardrums.

Xius slowed the rhythm of his tail’s movement, the golden-brown edges of his caudal fin fluttering unconsciously. Closing his eyes, he relied on his keen, natural senses and acute instincts, drifting through the currents in the darkness.

“Awooo (kill him)!!!!”

…

A series of mournful, hoarse cries reached his ears, mingled with other guttural, bizarre sounds and the tumultuous spray of jets of water. The bubbling and bursting of air pockets in the sea grew ever louder.

All these sounds came from the swirling, muddied waters ahead, like the whispers of demons enticing the beasts with promises of vengeance and spite.

Xius opened his eyes, calmly observing the distant chaos. Although he did not know how long this brutal drama would play out, he knew it was dangerous to linger and prepared to turn back.

But just then—

Disaster struck.

BANG!

A powerful blow sent clouds of pale sand and shattered seashells spinning upward, swirling like a blizzard of golden snowflakes—stunning in their beauty, but there was no time to admire them.

By instinct, Xius evaded the silver-white form hurtling at him. As he shifted his weight, he suddenly felt his tail fin seized by another strong force, dragged along with the plummeting figure. Instantly reacting, Xius flexed his tail in a broad arc to resist, his taut abdomen tensing as he twisted and reversed course. When he saw what was entwined around his tail, his face darkened, but without hesitation he reached out with his left hand and forcibly untangled the other’s silver-white tail fin.

“…Help…me…” came the weak, low whisper.

Xius’s grip tightened. Sensing the man’s intention to help, the other merman immediately drew close, pressing himself into Xius’s arms, his boneless, slick arms wrapping securely around Xius’s waist, his tail relaxing.

“Awooo awoo (this way)!!!”

Hostile cries sounded from behind, and Xius, without a second’s hesitation, darted away with the speed of a blade, swimming in the opposite direction from where he had come.

The silver-white merman clinging to Xius seemed dazed, his bruised torso trembling occasionally as he rubbed his slippery tail against Xius, only to be brushed off without mercy.

Slanther, half-conscious, his brown eyes glazed with mist, looked pitiable. Sensing Xius’s instinctive rejection, he eventually shrank away, not daring to push his luck.

Behind them, a pack of wounded, bloodthirsty crab-eating sharks pursued relentlessly. The earlier carnage had filled the water with blood, drawing ever more predators from the darkness. Now, close behind, a monstrous, deep-brown carnivore—different from all the rest—a ghost shark—was gaining on them.

From all directions came venomous black-spotted pufferfish, followed by vast swarms of pink-blue speckled jellyfish and ghostly box jellies, their eerie lights drifting through the water. Each of these was a terror of the depths, capable of killing with a single sting, causing the heart to seize and life to end in an instant.

All this, Slanther observed from the corner of his eye. As the situation grew ever more chaotic and perilous, he tensed, glancing up at the handsome man who hadn’t spared him a look. His gaze lingered for a moment on the sinister orchid tattoo beneath the man’s eye.

At last, Slanther lowered his head, quickly weighing his options, before feigning agitation and urgency. “I am Slanther, youngest son of the Southern Merfolk House. You must know that if you can get me home safely, I will grant any wish you desire.”

“No need,” came the man’s cold, dispassionate reply. But he didn’t notice the strange flash of emotion in Slanther’s eyes at such a swift rejection.

Still, danger pressed in behind them, and their situation grew ever more desperate. Escape required tremendous effort, and the predators at their heels were built for endurance and speed, with ample stores of energy.

“Hurry! Head for the sea forest! They won’t dare follow us in there!” Slanther urged, pressing close and pointing the way.

Despite Xius’s clear discomfort at the boy’s sudden docility and proximity, there was no other choice.

Sure enough, as they reached the shadowy, tangled forest, the sharks and pufferfish all hesitated at its edge, unwilling to enter. It was as if some terrible, nameless power lurked within those haunted woods.

Only the drifting army of jellyfish, glowing like a host of distant stars, continued their silent advance.

Xius surveyed the dangerous forest with his usual blank expression, lost in thought.

Slanther, meanwhile, reluctantly slipped from the man’s arms.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“You don’t know?” Slanther stared, incredulous, unable to believe that any conscious being of the sea could be ignorant of the forest’s existence.

Xius pressed his lips together, silent, scanning the tangled roots and shifting shadows for threats.

Meanwhile, Slanther, unable to hide the cunning excitement in his eyes, clasped his hands behind his back. In the next instant, he viciously tore the broken, sharp nail from his finger, and the steady trickle of blood was swiftly absorbed by a nearby ancient, blackened tree, as if the tree itself were feeding on it.

“Hisss…”

A strange, insectile gnawing sound began to rise.

“Careful! Scorpionfish!” came a panicked shout from behind.

In the next moment, Xius felt something sharp as a needle jab repeatedly into his back—waves of pain and dizziness flooded from his spine, so swift and overwhelming that there was no hope of defense.

As Xius collapsed, paralyzed by the venom of the scorpionfish, the other merman held him in a tight, eerie embrace, giggling with twisted delight. On his bloody fingertips perched several lionfish, their barbed fins secreting a deadly toxin that could paralyze bone, smooth, and cardiac muscle—yet Slanther seemed utterly unaffected.

“Now, Dier… This time, I will never let you escape me again.”

His voice, low and hoarse, was filled with intimate pride as he pressed himself against the man’s cold, naked chest, his sharp fingers tracing the lines of muscle with reverent tenderness, his face alight with long-lost affection.

He nuzzled close, his loving words drifting away with the rippling currents:

“We were wild and young once, unafraid of the years to come…
Souls untamed, reckless, lost in time…
Laughing, mad, impossible to hide our childish hearts…
When all is lost, and our bodies are broken…
Will you still love me as you once did, until the end of days?
I know you will, I know you will…
I know your love endures forevermore…”

And his voice echoed on, dark as a dream.