905: Julian In The Wishing Mermaid Lagoon

Julian In The Wishing Mermaid Lagoon

It was a bright day in Verona and as Julian traveled to the Wishing Mermaid Lagoon, he felt a bit nervous as he looked at the outfit given to him.2

It was more like a suit that covered everything from his entire neck down to his feet and was made of a material that prevented his skin from coming in contact with both the coral and seaweed.  He had a small bag and even a knife to collect them.

The Wishing Mermaid Lagoon was frequented by visitors and travelers, not so much by the inhabitants of Verona themselves.

Even something named after Mermaids often got thrown into the background if somebody lived their entire life there. Julian and Rowena who had heard of the gossip of a portal to the Mermaid realm came here to see it for themselves.

"I guess compared to Rowena, I'll actually get to see if there are mermaids," Julian said to himself.

When he arrived at the Wishing Mermaid Lagoon, he was surprised to see there was nobody around.

It seemed like whoever wanted to get the poisonous coral and seaweed was close to the royal family and was able to make others not visit it.

Julian even thought he saw some guards he recognized from the castle all move out.  He took a deep breath and stared down into the waters.

"When you hear it being called a wishing lagoon, it almost seems like a nice place... but knowing its other name. I can't help but get goosebumps." Julian said to himself as he eyed the water below.

He took a deep breath and stretched his body for a while to prepare himself for the dive. "I don't want any of it to stick anywhere, especially my face. Dive, try to see this glowing seaweed and purple coral... I can do this."

The truth was, Julian wasn't exactly much of a risk-taker. Sure, he stole from the pockets of the rich and talked well, but the reason why he chose to avoid places like the ones he visited earlier, was because it was far easier to get into the wrong and unsavory kind of crowd.

He didn't want Rowena to experience or be exposed to such a thing and that was why they opted to make their own cons and 'business' opportunities to strike and make their coins.

"Once I get this, I won't do anything else dangerous," Julian said before he dove into the Deep Shallows.

Contrary to his expectations, there was no strong whirlpool that sunk him to the bottom of the waters, instead, it wasn't actually so bad.

Julian opened his eyes and looked around. There was still some light in the area he was in and it was easy to resurface, but when he looked down–it was like he stared down into a bottomless void.

The only thing that encouraged him to swim down was the beautiful yellow sparkle of the seaweed and the purple coral below. It wasn't visible from the surface at all and so Julian swam down as he held his breath.

He soon arrived close enough to take in the sight of the items he needed to acquire.  Julian pulled out the knife and slashed hard against the coral, and watched it have some effect but not enough to break off a sizable chunk.

He stared at his hands covered in the glove and then quickly chose to break off the rest of the coral before he turned to the seaweed.  This time, the knife made it easy to cut it down... but when he cut off the seaweed, the yellow light vanished from it and he realized the instructions.

Purple coral and seaweed with a yellow glow.  Julian stored the knife in the bag and then touched the seaweed. He wasn't able to make direct contact with it, but it almost felt slimy.

He tugged hard.  It was difficult since the seaweed seemed to grow on the rocks.

Julian tugged again and watched some bubbles escape his nose and rise a little upwards.

If somebody wasn't used to diving deep down, it was easy to panic because as he looked up, the opening of the Deep Shallows seemed to close as if the lagoon was starting to close itself.

Maybe it was a trick of light and Julian ignored it as he continued to yank.  What he couldn't escape though was when he successfully pulled the seaweed from the rocks and heard a haunting melody come from the depths below him.

At first, it only sounded like an echo, a simple note that arrived in his ears.  However, it was suddenly accompanied by another sound that made the waters around him swirl and sway to the sound of her voice.

It tugged at Julian's heart in a way that he couldn't explain.  Before long, the strange notes almost seemed to make a coherent language in Julian's head as he stayed still in the water.

"Oh, mournful and heartbroken one..."

"Lay down your sorrows into the deep."

"Your soul and mind are broken"

"Join us in this eternal sleep."

And for a moment, the rhapsody affected Julian as he remembered the panicked look in Rowena's eyes when he told her that he loved her–it was almost like a silent confirmation of what he had always known.

She was never going to look at him in the way that he actually wanted her to do. Sigh.

Maybe his attempts to earn money in order to win her heart were fruitless and a naught thing to do?

Julian was tired and maybe things didn't matter as much as he thought they would. His body remained listless in the water and he looked down into the waters below... saw a bright light come from below and make its way up.

The same song was in his head and Julian was ready to feel its embrace and give up.

Until the glimmer of the yellow seaweed caught his eyes once more.

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