ACT I Dum Spiro Spero - While I breathe I hope

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2018 ‖ Pismo Beach, CA

Kaz doesn't go to the surface very often.

His skin, which is used to the cooling temperatures at 200 meters under the horizon, immediately starts to itch and burn as soon as he pushes his upper body towards the sky. Every time he does, his sensitive skin fights back. A red rash covers his shoulders and throat, followed by his nose, ears and scalp already being sunburnt after only a few minutes up there.

But Kaz' curious brain often dismisses these consequences and so he sometimes finds his head over water, watching the people in the distance enjoying a beach holiday.

Later, when the sun sets and the waves are low, he usually is able to swim a bit closer and can spot the beach and the small bars, decorated with fairy lights and neon signs.

It is a curious world up there, much calmer than at home, yet so full of life.

A friend once told Kaz that humans stop rushing when they're at the coast because they find the waves and the endless horizon calming and grounding. He tried to understand that but couldn't because the sea is all he ever had and amidst its constant movement nothing is ever fully calm.

And so Kaz often wonders what it would feel like if he left and went to the places the humans fled from to escape everyday life.

Would this strange normality give him the same joy? Would he feel grounded up there, out there, between them? Or would it be scary and stressful because of the masses of humans rushing through their lives? And because of the cars driving so closely that you can feel the skin of your cheeks getting ripped off by the sound of wheels screeching and angry drivers honking?

Kaz has only ever seen a car twice. Usually, there aren't any cars at the beach but sometimes teenagers drive through the sand at night, playing loud music and laughing uncontrollably.

Both times it had been absolutely terrifying.

On this particular day, he decides once again to escape his parents and his duties for an hour or two and is now on his way to the surface to take a curious look at the colorful and weirdly shaped air mattresses and to breathe in the scent of fresh air which his lungs have grown to love over the past few years.

The water is very clear today and a swarm of small fish swims past him without taking much notice. In Kaz' mind he can already see the sunny sky, he imagines seagulls restlessly flying their circles over the sea and sand, always calling for each other, making sure nobody is being left behind.

But what he sees next rips him out of this fantasy.

Kaz notices a shadow above him. Carefully swimming closer, his brain is slowly processing the shape of the black shape. His heart skips a beat.

It is the body of a teenager, slowly floating towards him. He isn't moving and he can't see the boy's face, as the stranger is sinking back down. But he knows immediately that this human is unconscious.

Unconscious and drowning.

Kaz' heart starts to race and he can barely hear his own thoughts. The shock paralyzes him for a second or two, he is not sure what to do. The only thing he does know is that he has to act quickly.

He takes all of his body's strengths, shoots up like a bullet and grabs the boy's waist.

2018 ‖ Pismo Beach, CA

Pain.

The first thing Cameron notices are his burning temples. His brain, tortured by the lack of oxygen, feels like it has swelled up in his skull and is about to crash it to drip down his temples like burnt jelly. He furrows his eyebrows which leads to the feeling of a thousand bones snapping. He lets out a groan.

Something wet spreads out on his forehead and a strong scent he can't name clogs his nose. Cameron starts coughing and tries to sit up.

The lack of support for his back makes him feel dizzy but he tries his best to not fall back again.

What happened and how did he get here?

The strange liquid drops onto his lashes and cheeks. The scent is so strong that Cameron has to hold back his throat from gagging but he still can't figure out what it is.

While the soft cool wind is covering his back in shivers, which has been heated up by the hot rocks slithering their way from the beach into the ocean in a thin line, he slowly opens his eyes.

Blue is the only color he can see.

The sky seems to fade into the ocean flawlessly and the lack of perspective makes Cameron's head scream.

To the right of him, he hears a gasp. He collects all of his strength and turns around. But what he sees next makes his body go numb.

A pair of big bright green eyes stares back at him. He sees lips that are slightly parted in surprise, a straight nose, prominent eyebrows and a mess of auburn curls. The guy around his age is in the water, holding onto one of the rocks.

Cameron tries to focus but there is a soft blur covering his lenses.

Then the stranger's eyes widen and only because of Cameron's years of football training he can grab his arm before the boy manages to escape.

Now he doesn't seem surprised anymore. He looks frightened.

"What's going on?"

The boy's eyes are restlessly wandering over Cameron's face, uncertainty is filling up the green spheres. It takes a while before he gets an answer. His voice is quiet and shaky.

"You were drowning."

His stomach tightens. Drowning. His fingers dig themselves into the stone. "And you saved me?" "Of course." A wet curl falls into the boy's eyes but he doesn't seem to bother. "Can you please let go now? I have to-" "No!" The answer may have come too suddenly because now he looks scared again.

"I mean...you can't just leave like that. I need to thank you first. Are you free tonight? We could meet at the beach bar. I'll buy you a drink. You saved my life after all."

The truth that Cameron refuses to admit is that he doesn't make that offer because of good manners. He just wants to see him again.

"I don't...I don't think I can." Cameron is ready to beg but from the expression on the guy's face, he can tell that it won't work. "Alright. I'll be there with a friend. If you want to, you can come. If not then...not. No problem." What he gets as an answer is a small nod.

Then the stranger's eyes glide away and he focuses something behind him. "Is that your friend?" Cameron turns around and sees Sonny jogging towards him on the slippery sharp rocks. "Yes, he is. I guess I'll see you-"

But once he turns back around, the beautiful stranger is gone.

2018 ‖ Pismo Beach, CA

The evening starts to approach and Kaz is making his way to the oyster cave. He has told his father that he is out with a friend studying alga lucidus, a special type of seaweed that shows fluorescent behavior in the dark. A great lie to cover up his secret.

To others it might seem like nothing - sneaking out at night, something every teenager does - but when you know about the society underwater, the world that has been trying its best to stay a secret from humans since ancient times, it's not just bad teenage behavior anymore.

It's high treason. A sin.

Kaz is putting his whole species into danger and he is more than just aware of it. As the crown prince, he has to represent and be a role model.

Merpeople have been living on this planet since the beginning of time. At first, they were not afraid to show themselves above water, befriending the humans and celebrating their similarities, rather than differences. Both species grew closely together so that their histories ended up intertwining more than just once.

Later on, the merpeople's fascination for humanity even led to them using the early Roman Empire with its social order and concept of leadership as a model for building their own society which remains intact today.

But as times changed and human life progressed, the Romans started yearning to control the merpeople, seeing them as weaker opponents and wanting to conquer their world with all of its secrets and mysteries.

The underwater society was left with only two choices. Either fight the humans for their freedom or disappear.

And since merpeople are gentle souls with a need for harmony and followed a leader, smart enough to recognize that their war culture was far behind the one of the Romans, they made a pact with themselves to stay hidden from humans until the knowledge of their existence turned into a mere myth.

Kaz never wanted to be anything else but the perfect crown prince and son. He is passionate about protecting his world and loves what he is fighting for.

But now his pure mind, always focused on what is best for everyone else, has been corrupted by a pair of husky shaped grey-blue eyes.

The kind of color the sea absorbs on a stormy day when the waves swing restlessly from the left to the right, lift you up and push you down. Similar to the days when you want to hide in a cave. And yet all these eyes showed was calm and piece. Like two sacred spheres that have trapped all chaos and pain inside of them to turn it into a shimmering mass of 'It's going to be okay'.

And what could be so wrong about breaking the rules for only one night when he had always behaved perfectly before? Just one night of listening to that soft deep voice and looking into the eyes that have made him feel more at home than anything else has ever before with just one glance.

And of course, he is more than curious to find out what the world up there actually looks like.

But to make that possible, he has to ally with an old enemy first, a merman feared by everyone because of his obsessive use of black magic. Hidden in the oyster cave near the edge of the empire, he never shows himself. If you want to make use of his services, you have to go looking for him.

The last time Kaz had seen D'ar had been about a year ago and it hadn't been a very pleasant interaction. But he'd overheard others talking about his ability to turn one into a human, give you legs and the skill to walk with them. It is considered a myth, no one has ever witnessed it but it's Kaz' only hope.

Immediately as he enters the cave, a strange smell clogs his mind and although his entrance hasn't caused any sounds, a voice appears to the left of him only a few moments later.

"Ah, my prince. What a special visit. Has your daddy sent you to drag me to court again?"

The figure sends shivers down his spine.

D'ar has changed since the last time they had seen each other. He no longer has his deep blue scales. Instead, a hydra's tail is growing out of his back. It has a thorn at the end and glistens greyish in the sluggishly moving water.

"I'm here to ask you for help." "Help? How could I, the horrible villain, help you, the sweetheart and son of our ridiculously perfect emperor?"

D'ar swims closer but his movements are uneven. His body falters trying to find balance.

Kaz' eyes quickly examine the figure in front of him and he finds the cause for the awkward movements. A big chunk of transparent hard plastic is sticking out of D'ar's tail. Did he have an accident?

"What are you staring at, bottom-feeder?"

Kaz rips his eyes away and stares into D'ar's face.

"You need to turn me into a human."

D'ar stops for a second, his eyes furrowed. Then a huge grin starts to take over his face.

"Did you just say a human?" "Yes. Only for a few hours."

D'ar comes even closer but Kaz can't back away any further if he doesn't want the sharp oysters, spread out over the whole inside of the cave, to slit open his back. "No one has ever asked me to do that. This will be a premiere for me." "So you're helping me?" "I could." He scans Kaz' body as if he is measuring it with his eyes.

"But obviously I won't."

D'ar turns around and swims away as to symbolize that this conversation is over.

"Wait, why? What's wrong?"

"Kaz, don't be ridiculous. Putting a spell on the emperor's son to help him break the number one rule? It's considered high treason. He'd kill me. Or no, his soldiers would. That old hypocrite doesn't have the guts to hurt a single starfish."

Kaz tries his best to ignore the insult and takes a deep breath. "I'll pay you well. How much do you want?" It takes a while before D'ar reacts. He turns around and takes a long look at him.

"You really want this. Do you know how awful humans are, why could you possibly want to be one of them? They did this to me, did you know that?"

He angrily grabs his own tail and points at the plastic which has eaten its way through the hydra scales into his flesh. The motion is so sudden and sharp, that D'ar almost loses his balance.

"This shit was laying on a shoal and the waves pushed me into it. It got stuck. Do you know how much it was bleeding? I almost stranded. And now I'm a fucking cripple."

The rage has hastened his breathing, his chest is lifting and lowering quickly, the gills on his neck are wide open.

"I'm sorry that happened to you."

"I don't need your pity, scum. The accident just motivated me even more to expand my collection."

D'ar grabs the necklace he is wearing. It's some sort of brown string but the main focus lies on a number of small yellowish objects.

Teeth.

Kaz' eyes widen. He wants to swim back, away from the radiating danger, but the shock freezes his muscles.

Normally, a merman carrying teeth is not an unusual sight. In fact, for the past few centuries, his species has been using them as a form of currency.

Bowfins, a type of fish common in the local waters, lose their teeth after mating to grow new ones, strong enough to protect their offspring. Mermaids collect the fallen out teeth in the shallow waters near the shore and hand them over to the royal treasurers.

As a child, Kaz had often been on such trips with his friends, his curious eyes always scanning the ground, his mouth letting out a laugh whenever he had found one. It was an annual game for them. The one who found the most got to bring them to the treasure chamber and keep the certificate, a short note of recognition carved into a thin piece of black slate.

Today, bowfins are one of Kaz' favorite fish, a token of nostalgia and strength, a symbol for the life he had to leave behind in order to prepare for his future crowning.

But the teeth dangling around D'ar's neck aren't the ones Kaz used to collect with childish excitement.

They are human.

"Actually, I wouldn't mind you dying up there. If you weren't literally the fucking crown prince and just some useless soul I'd maybe ask for 10 bowfin teeth." "I'll pay you 2 fangs."

D'ar loses control over his face for a second when he hears the amount. He probably did not expect Kaz to play along. But how could he say no to this offer? Fangs are the most valuable teeth as they are the rarest, only two per fish and only males can grow them.

"2 fangs. I'll turn your tail into legs, extend your lungs and send you up to the surface. How does that sound?"

Kaz' heart starts beating faster. His ridiculous idea is starting to turn into reality.

"How long does the spell last?" D'ar rolls his eyes. "As I said, I've never done this before. Who knows how long it will last. Maybe an hour, maybe a day. Maybe my spell will accidentally cut off your tail and you'll bleed out right in front of me. I can't promise anything."

Kaz' shocked face makes him laugh. "So, are you in or out?"

Kaz wants to take a second to think about it. But then he sees these blue eyes again and suddenly all doubts are gone.

"I'm in."

~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you sure he's coming? Did you even give him a specific time or are we just going to sit around here all night?" Cameron traces the rim of his glass with his fingertip and shakes his head. "No, there was no time for that. And..." He sighs. "I don't know. Maybe he won't." The boy had looked frightened and not at all keen to see him again.

They are both sitting at a table, drinks in front of them. When Sonny, his best friend since middle school, had suggested that they should drive to California together to spend the summer break, Cameron had imagined a relaxed trip with a nice beach and lots of sun.

A near-death experience hadn't exactly been part of their plan.

After the first shock had been digested, Sonny, the blonde flirt spreading hippie vibes wherever he goes, couldn't stop teasing Cameron the whole afternoon.

"Tell me more about him." "Like...what?" Sonny rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders. "What did he say?" "Not much. He seemed like he didn't want to be there. Maybe he was in a hurry or something." He had acted so weirdly, as if tentacles were growing out of Cameron's head that had threatened to kill him via telepathy. He takes a quick look at his reflection in the half-empty glass. No tentacles. Thank god.

"Okay, and what did he look like?" "He..." Oh god, how could he possibly explain that face? Cameron is seeing it clear as day, as if it is floating there in the middle of the bar. The bone structure, the eyes...

"Oh my god." "What?" Sonny starts to grin widely. "You cheeky Casanova! He looked good, right?" Cameron can feel his blood rushing into his cheeks. "Well, I don't know, just a regular guy. I didn't pay much attention. Dude, I almost drowned!" "You can lie to yourself all you want but your face is giving me a certain type of energy. If you know what I mean."

Now Cameron is the one rolling his eyes. "Sure, fine. He was cute. Happy?" The blonde leans back and takes a sip of his drink. "Stop looking at me like that! If one of us is a Casanova, it's definitely you. Not me." "Yeah, but I was also fed with horny pills as a baby. Hey wait, did your savior have red curls and a sweet ass? Because exactly that creature is coming towards us." "What-"

Cameron turns around. And there he is.

He seems nervous but raises his right hand slightly to simulate a wave. "Hey, you made it!" "Hello, yeah." He just stands there for a second, unsure what to do, then he sits down at their table. "Okay, so we haven't really introduced ourselves yet. I'm Cam, you've saved my life if you remember. And that's my friend-" "I'm Sonny. Thanks for saving his ass, Cam can be a real idiot sometimes." A slight chuckle leaves the boys' throat. "Nice to meet you both. I'm Kaz."

Kaz.