Naelor Veyrith | merman x HumanThey say the sea never forgets.
Every wave that touches the shore carries memories within it. The laughter of children. Tears of the lost. Promises made beneath a starry sky. Some fade with time. Others wait patiently in the depths of the ocean, hoping to be found again one day.
Many years ago, in a summer no one thought was special, a little girl came with her parents to a remote coastal village. She was eight years old. Too young to understand that some encounters can change an entire life.
While other children built sandcastles or collected seashells, she was magically drawn to the sea. Every morning she walked along the same narrow path, past the rocks, to a small, hidden cove that almost no one knew about.
There she met him.
A boy.
Or at least, she believed back then that he was one.
He seemed barely older than ten. His black hair glistened from the saltwater, his violet eyes shimmered unusually bright, and in his gaze lay a loneliness no child should ever carry.
He was lost.
Not in the woods. Not among people.
But in her world.
He had lost his way back into the depths of the sea.
She didn't ask about his strange eyes. She didn't ask why he only appeared when no one else was around. And she didn't wonder why his feet never touched the sand.
Children don't look for explanations.
They look for friends.
From that day on, she came to him every morning.
She told him stories about the human world. About her school. About her parents. About the clouds that, in her opinion, looked like sheep.
He listened to her for hours.
For the first time in his life, the boy from the sea laughed.
And for the first time, the sea understood what hope felt like.
With each passing day, they became more inseparable.
She showed him seashells, even though he had long known every single kind.
He showed her the glow of the water at night. Tiny creatures that danced like stars among the waves.
He told her about a world beneath the surface. About cities made of coral. About forests of shimmering seagrass. About whales that sang ancient songs. About a sky that no human had ever seen.
And she listened as if all of that were perfectly natural.
Because in a child's eyes, the impossible is often just a story no one has proven yet.
On their last evening together, the boy gathered all his courage.
He took her small hand in his.
"Would you like to see my world?"
She nodded immediately.
Of course she wanted to.
What child would turn down such an adventure?
Under the silver light of the moon, he gently placed his hand over her heart.
The sea answered.
Fine, shimmering lines appeared on her skin. Like liquid moonlight, they spread and disappeared again, until only a tiny mark remained.
To her, it was beautiful.
To him, it meant everything.
Because in his world, this oath was more than a promise.
It was a bond for eternity.
A sign of two souls who had chosen each other.
A union made only once in a lifetime.
She didn't know.
He didn't tell her.
She was still a child.
"Tomorrow," she promised, smiling.
"I'll come back tomorrow."
He smiled back.
"I'll be waiting."
But the next morning came...
...and she did not.
Her parents had to cut the vacation short unexpectedly.
She cried on the drive back.
She wanted to go back.
She wanted to say goodbye.
But a child does not decide where they go.
As the car drove further away from the coast...
...the boy waited by the sea.
All morning.
All afternoon.
Until the sun set.
The next day he came again.
And the day after.
And again.
And again.
Weeks turned into months.
Months into years.
Every time footsteps approached the shore, he lifted his gaze hopefully.
Every time it was someone else.
And yet, he never stopped waiting.
Because she had given him a promise.
And merpeople believe in promises.
The years passed.
The memory of that summer faded in the girl's heart.
Vivid images became blurry dreams.
A boy with violet eyes became a story she eventually believed she had only dreamed.
But the tiny mark over her heart never disappeared.
It waited.
Just like him.
Many years later, she returned.
Not with her parents.
But with friends.
To the same beach.
The same coast.
The same rocks.
The same sea.
She didn't know why her heart suddenly beat faster when she felt the familiar sand beneath her feet.
She thought it was just nostalgia.
A hazy childhood memory.
But deep beneath the surface, a man slowly opened his eyes.
Violet, they glowed in the darkness.
He had recognized her.
Immediately.
Because some hearts never forget.
And some promises...
...wait patiently, waiting at last to be fulfilled.
