Chapter 3: The World Below the Sea

“Managat?” Roselda called in a whisper. “I need to go home.”

He turned to her. It was already dark around the rocky area since the sun has already set. The sky that was bright red earlier has become indigo hue.

“Please hold, miss,” Managat held off the already rising young lady. He took a pearl from his pouch and handed it to her. “A gift.”

“You don’t have to.*”

(*TN: Author’s original text is: Nakakahiya naman sa iyo; which directly translates to ‘it’s embarra.s.sing to you’. I actually wanna use ‘that’s embarra.s.sing’ but opt for ‘you don’t have to’, instead. Please don’t murder me. XD)

“Please, take it.” said the merman. “And hopefully this meeting remains a secret?”

(TL: Oh, a bribe XD)

The girl nodded, and though still embarra.s.sed, she accepted the pearl from the merman and ran off from the rocky area.

Managat watched the girl until he could see her no longer. He was right. Her heart was pure and his stepfather’s teaching was wrong. He secretly prayed to Bathala1 for their paths to meet again.

A mortal; he saw a human close-up. And he even talked to her. His amazement towards mortals grew more. And Eda, this was the name of the lady. The first person he encountered in the surface.

His visits in this rocky place will be more frequent, Managat thought to himself. Afterwards, he turned and swam away. He must also go home. He’s certain that his stepfather was looking for him.

Even from a distance, Managat could already see the entrance to their kingdom. The tunnel was a wide hole running through the other end and was covered with the vast and wide expanse of moss. The surroundings and the wide stretch of the tunnel were illuminated with corals, anemones and various types of sea-gra.s.ses that seemed to serve as lights in the tunnel’s darkness.

But there seemed to be no one guarding the tunnel. Curious.

Remember, aggregators have killed already too many translating sites.

Upon reaching the end of the tunnel, the merman was exposed to a boundless plain full of oceanic creatures. Fishes of different shapes, colors, types and sizes were swimming in schools or some by themselves. On the seafloor, there were different types of crawling creatures; crabs with large and small pincers, prawns of both huge and small proportions moved around with lots of agility, slugs, snails and colorful sh.e.l.ls were loitering around.

Of course, there were also of his own kind―mermen and mermaids. Adults and children were going in and out from those piles of twisting blocks. Most of them were made from sand which was molded through the special saliva of wild slugs and then coated with dense corals and other sea-gra.s.ses. In each blocks there were also holes which served as windows. These blocks were their homes.

In the distance, the overlooking mountain-like shape of the palace seemed to be twinkling through the lights coming from both the underwater plants and the open windows around it. Furthermore, there were also four towering spires on each corners of the palace. They’re such a wonderful sight, especially as they glittered from afar.

Suddenly, he felt strange and then a vibration was felt in the surrounding. It was as if everything stilled for a moment. Soon he noticed that the other mermen and mermaids were swiftly swimming towards the palace. Even the fish and those crawling creatures swiftly moved to the source of the resonance.

Immediately, Managat knew that something was wrong. And he also quickly swam to the direction of the palace.