Chapter 85: Mercy Is For The Weak
“And what is it do you think you are doing?”
“…” Merrick paused, still looking up at the mid-noon sky, “I am doing nothing as I shall be.”
“You were not about to blaspheme the Sea Mother in MY presence. Not in YOUR lifetime.”
“And if I was?”
“Do not take that attitude with me. And I am addressing you, you will face me now.”
Merrick glares at the surface, letting himself drift down, before turning around. Kaiken looks up at him with his strong arms crossed, both mermen frown upon each other. “Come here.” Kaiken told him. Merrick obeys casually as he swims to his father’s side, Kaiken watching him as he comes, and then both of them turning to look at rare sight. A Colossus Octopus floats through the ocean, bigger than any human ship that has been built, swimming peacefully, its tentacles pushing and pulling through the sea as it makes its way to the open vastness.
“You have made your Sister sad.” Kaiken said, “She said you had the eyes of the dead. You have frightened her.” Merrick remains silent. “She still loves you, you know. And yet you cast her affections aside, and for what reason?” Still, nothing. After a pause, Kaiken continued, “You are all alone here. Your Mother told me of a pod of Coshitons that have taken you in. Why are not with them? You know you stand little chance when you isolate yourself.”
“… My mate is gone.” Merrick finally said, staring blankly into the ocean. Kaiken turns his head to his son, “He is as good as dead to me now. Slain, by other humans.”
“Truly?” Kaiken asks.
“If you want the complete truth, no, my mate is not totally dead. But those humans destroyed every single memory he ever had. There is nothing left.”
“There is never truly nothing, Merrick.”
The two of them remained silent as they watch the giant octopus slowly disappear, “… You were right, Father.” Merrick said, “You have always been right about the humans.”
“Hm.”
“They are all savages. Theirs is a world of war and devastation. They throw away their lives and their souls for the sake of what they perceive to be the most righteous path, and they kill each other all time for that very reason.”
“You make them sound more sophisticated than I ever have.”
“Make no mistake, Father.” Merrick said drearily, “They are all creatures of hatred. Their only notion is the refinement of their chaos.”
After another pause, Kaiken speaks again, “You know full well of my own views of the human world. And from what I can gather from your words, I am mostly correct.” He turns again to him, “And yet, you are still alive and thriving. It has been so many moons since you bore that mark on your flesh, living upon the land for all of that time. And here you stand.”
“… The grand scheme is what truly shows the madness of the land.” Merrick says, “My mate is a man who is allured by other males, and not females. For that reason alone, despite that he is a pure-hearted soul, they preyed upon him, and they put him down. They beaten him mercilessly until he was on the brink of death, and they shattered his memories.”
“So why are you here, Merrick?” Kaiken asked, “Have I not told you mercy is for the weak?”
“Heh… That is typical of you, Father.” Merrick commented, “I hardly believe you and I share the same views for mercy and weakness.”
“Ugghhhh, you are a very troubling child, do you know that?” Kaiken scowled as he bows his head and rubs his brow, “You are banished, and yet still in desperate need of my tutelage.”
“And how does that matter to you? I no longer exist, remember?” Merrick told him, “I am your Son no more.”
“That is not the concern here. I will not allow you to forget all that I have taught you.” Kaiken answered. One more moment of silence, and Kaiken takes his trident from the mount of his back, “Come. We will spar.” He pushes his mighty, firm tail up and down, and swim further away, before he looks back behind him, seeing Merrick has not moved. “I said ‘Come’.”
“For what purpose?”
“We will spar. Like you and I used to when you were younger.”
“Again, for what purpose?” Merrick asked, “I am not your child anymore. You broke that right of mine when you broke my trident.”
“I will not tolerate a disrespectful argument,” Kaiken said calmly, “Now come.” Merrick merely glares at him, still frowning. Kaiken growled as he quickly whips around, and came face-to-face with Merrick in a second flat. “Come!” He commanded. Merrick gives him a resentful look, before swimming around the larger merman, and then downward where he started, before Kaiken follows suit.
The two of them face each other in the middle, between the ocean floor, and the surface above. Kaiken holds his trident at the ready, while Merrick holds his own spear.
‘It is as Daughter says…’ Kaiken thinks as he looks into those dark, dulled blue eyes across him, ‘His eyes hold no life…’
“Now.” He said, before lunging forward. Merrick holds his Eryaman Escort harpoon to defend, catching the trident in one of its divides, before throwing it aside. Kaiken whips around quickly, and swipes at Merrick with the sharp, blade-like fin on his arm. Merrick swerves out of the way, and swings his weapon. Kaiken quickly flips, and knocks that harpoon from Merrick’s hands with his tail!
“Do not insult me, Merrick.” Kaiken scolded. Before it could drift down too far, Kaiken takes Merrick’s spear up, and gives it back before assuming the attack pose. “Again.” He makes the first move, driving the trident forward, but Merrick moves out of the way. Merrick grabs the end of the trident, and uses his father’s strong swing to his advantage, allowing himself to be pulled up, before doing a full-turn swing, which is blocked above an angry face from the Triton.
“I said do not insult me.” Kaiken moves and runs his trident along the harpoon, and then forces his hand onto Merrick’s chest to push, and shoved him backward, “You were not nearly this slow when you were an Adra. Pick up your weapon, and fight.” He said with that lethal sternness he’s spoke with for so many years. Merrick begrudgingly takes his weapon back, and then moved into a quick whirl.
Kaiken uses the hook-like structure of the lower side of his trident prongs to yank here and there, either at Merrick’s body to corrupt his balance and movements, or otherwise interfere with his weapon.
‘He is still not cooperating. His soul is still gone.’
“Your Mother can only mend you to a vast extent.” Kaiken said, “This is not so much as healing, as it is about reviving.”
KNNNG!
“I am sure I have not the faintest idea what you are talking about.” Merrick said after his downward swing was blocked.
“You need to remember what I taught you about ‘Mercy’.” Kaiken whips his sharp and strong tail up, getting in a cut on Merrick’s cheek.
“Mercy.” Merrick snidely asks. “Tell me Father, of all the years you have displayed your wrath and formality, what would you even know about ‘Mercy’. Mercy is for the weak. And yet you never explained to me what that is supposed to mean.”
“Hmph.” Kaiken drives Merrick back.
‘He is bitter, cynical. That is not enough.’
Kaiken and Merrick continued to fight. Kaiken is easily out-maneuvering Merrick, while Merrick is barely putting in enough effort to not get hit or his weapon taken. Kaiken keeps his cool, while carefully studying his son with every move, every word, every gesture.
“So this is what you have to show in all your years among the humans.” Kaiken said, “You have run away, and cast aside your heart. It truly sickens me to see how far you are allowing yourself to fall.”
“What I do with myself is none of your concern, Father.”
“I have NEVER tolerated that sort of behavior in your youth, Son, and I am sure I will not tolerate it now.” Kaiken swipes his sharp warm, and struck Merrick’s arm. After a few minutes more of fighting, Kaiken can sense some sort of rise from his movements at Merrick.
“…” Kaiken and Merrick take a very short reprieve, before Kaiken gives a few casual swings and strikes with his trident. “Apathy. Do you know what that is, Son?”
“The inability to feel, or to care.” Merrick answered.
“Correct.” Kaiken puts in a harsh, swing, jerking Merrick’s block down, before the weapons clash again, “Do you not realize, Son, that you are of this curse?” Kaiken asked with genuine concern, “That you have allowed apathy to consume you?”
“So what if I have?” Merrick asked darkly as he struck the trident shaft again and again.
“Apathy… I do not know how it applies to humans, but this emotion of neglect is a fatal illness to the soul for you and I.” Merrick merely listens nonchalantly as they fight, “Apathy slowly whittles away your very heart, it dissolves your own spirit, and it takes away all feeling to the world. You cast aside your own being, and thus cast aside everything your fate is supposed to be.
“Hm…” Merrick doesn’t say more than that, trying to stay focused in the sparring. They stop fighting for a moment, as Kaiken looks upon his son.
“Eventually, the emptiness in your heart turns you into a hollow husk, and you forsake not only yourself, but those around you.”
“And then what happens?” Merrick asked, panting. He is getting rather annoyed with this whole pointless thing. Kaiken gives a proper lunge, and their weapons cross.
“When all that you have is lost and toiled away, your soul will either burn, or freeze. If you cannot accept yourself, you will simply die a soundless death, as your body too, would have given up.” They then whip around each other in sudden array of swings and attacks. They hit each other’s weapon hard, and stop there again.
“But when one refuses to forget and reflect the cruelty of their state, their spirit will become that of a demon, and seek to destroy what it can no longer Sincan Escort have.”
“Hhh…” Merrick gasps slightly.
{“When Gelentea lost her family,” Syrinx said, “She just… Changed. She stopped bringing me treats, she stopped laughing with my Mother, she just… Shut down. A-And one day, she just… She just went on a rampage, and killed some of our members… The Triton, Noita, and the Razirah did not even have a chance to trial her before she needed to be ended… And even then, it was too late.”}
Merrick’s eyes cast downward, his weapon lowering a bit.
‘Is that sorrow?’ Kaiken though, ‘… It is still not enough. He needs more…’
This time, Merrick’s body whirls around, and throws Kaiken’s trident out of the way, before that sharp metal point charges for him.
“And what is your point, Father??” Merrick asked, his hits and attacks growing slightly more deliberate, “You think you can tell me how and what I can and cannot feel?? You have no such idea of what I have been through since my exile!”
‘I will need to provoke him. My anger is all he has left…’ Kaiken narrows his eye
“Oh really? So that is how you come to this? This is the conclusion you have best determined to solve your suffering?”
“What do you know, Father?” Merrick hissed.
‘Hatred… It is not what I would prefer, but it will have to do.’
“I know far more about you than you can imagine, Son.” Kaiken stated, “You are Coshiton. You violate your existence more than you already have by coming to us. You left behind your mate to find the pod you no longer have.” Kaiken’s focus increases, having to raise his guard a lot more, now that Merrick is starting to get faster with his attacks, “And for what?” He asked with disdain, “A small token of love you could have just as easily attained from the humans? Has your mind strayed so far with the savages?”
“Rhhhhh…” Merrick growls as he leers with his father with searing scorn, “Just silence yourself, Father…” Merrick quakes as both anger at Kaiken, and himself start to burn inside him, “You will NEVER understand a single thing about me!!” Merrick dips, and then finally strikes a cut across Kaiken’s scarred abs.
“Oh really, Son??” Kaiken delivers a few quick hits, and then a brutal swing that gave a crushing shockwave into Merrick’s arms.
“Ah-haahh…” Merrick grunts in pain, before he felt the top of the trident push his chin to face the merman.
“And how long do you intend to live your life in pitiful neglect? You chose to abandon the pod when your sins were finally brought to life. You left behind the sea for a sacrilegious life among the humans.”
Kaiken’s deep voice rises in anger, “And THIS is all you have to show for it?! Your mate shatters away, and so you once again turn your back on what you were given! How long to you plan on turning yourself into an ingrate?! You have already sullied your honor as a Triton, and now you will refute your own soul?! How is it that you have allowed yourself to fail me and my teachings??”
“Just STOP!” Merrick takes a vicious swing. “Rrraaahhhh!” Merrick’s attacks with more speed and purpose, actually trying to hurt his father, coming at him seriously as these accusations stand both right and wrong at the same time.
‘At last…’
“You understand NOTHING! FATHER!!” Merrick strikes with voracity, whirling around and matching his arm swipes and tail-lashes with Kaiken’s. “I have faced the humans’ blatant hatred! I have watched monsters force my mate ingest lightning itself! I have seen half of their world hate what I am and who I love simply for living! I have fought far longer than you EVER will, Father! What right do you have to dictate on why I should allow myself to disappear?!”
“As I keep telling you,” Kaiken said, easily matching Merrick’s speed and reflexes, blocking every attack and taking his own hits towards him, “Mercy is for the weak! You do NOT have the right to disappear!”
“Damn yoouuuu! AAAHHH!” Merrick forcefully lashes the trident to the side, panting, glaring up at his parent. “Hhh… Hhh… Hhh… You are ignorant, Father…” Merrick’s gills flare as he looks at Kaiken with more rage and frustration he’s ever felt. Kaiken looks at him simply, seeing a spec of light or two from a white mist from Merrick’s eyes.
“Are you angry?” Kaiken asked casually, hoping to confirm his success in stirring some sort of remnant in his son, “Do you hate me?”
“Not more than yours have been allowed to blind.” Merrick then lunges his harpoon forward. Kaiken grabs the weapon, and forces Merrick’s arm to twist and hit his back as he whips about.
“Agghh!” Merrick irks in pain.
“As I have said. Mercy is for the weak.”
“Ghah! Hah… Nhhh…” Merrick grits is teeth as he tries to jerk away.
“I have seen apathy purge the souls of a several good merfolk. Noble, earnest, and trustworthy, two of them I have known for many years. And I will not Etlik Escort allow a spawn of mine to fall prey to that void. Not you. Not a Triton. Coshiton or not.”
“Gh… Ghehuh…” Merrick grunts as his eyes feel weaker from being powerless in his father’s grasp.
“Us Tritons can always feel the weight and embrace of the heart. Our emotions run stronger than that of any merfolk. I can see now I have failed to fortify your to the cruelty of this life.” Kaiken said as he felt his son struggle, looking at the heart-shaped tribal symbol branded onto the back of his neck.
“Khh… Nnnhh…” Merrick clenches his eyes as images surface again in his mind; Adam getting down on one knee, and holding a small box with a diamond ring, before he lay there, his face and arms butchered in a hospital bed, looking so close to the end.
“I just want to forget!” Merrick finally said, “Why will no one allow me to just do this?! I do not want these memories anymore! Why should I not just disappear?? Who would miss me, truly??”
“No, my Son.” Kaiken said, “You may never forget.”
“Ghhh…” Merrick tries to suppress his crying.
“Have I not taught you this very lesson, Son?” Kaiken asked with exasperation, “Mercy is for the weak.”
“Rhhh!” Merrick yanks his arm away, and swings his harpoon at the Triton, who blocks the swing immediately, “What are you talking about?!”
Kaiken frowns upon him, floating there above the other, “We Tritons are the forces of austerity and fortitude, while the Noitas are the voices of reason and clarity. We are an eon of kings and warriors long since lost, as the Noitas are an eon of queens and priests who have long since prayed. As Tritons and Noitas, we have the responsibility of holding those above ourselves, always.”
“And what does that have to do with mercy and weakness?” Merrick asked scornfully.
“Somewhere down the line, you have forgotten what you were born for. As a Triton, you must keep yourself strong. Mercy is for those who cannot be strong any longer, at any moment. For those who need our strength to hold, for those who cannot go on, we must be there to protect them, to guide them. To run away as you are now, to beg me to allow you to destroy your own memories by giving to apathy is nothing short of taking your own life.”
“Do you know what I would do if I discovered anyone has ever harmed your Mother?” Kaiken asked lowly as he came to him. “I would not even allow them the pleasure of regret. And how does my Son respond when someone has attacked his mate?”
Merrick puts his free hand onto his eyes, flowing the sparkling mist from his eyes as he tries to contain himself for a short moment. Kaiken swims to Merrick, and puts his strong hand on Merrick’s shell-clad shoulder.
“Not once, since the sun you were born, did I ever think you were weak, Merrick.” Merrick huffs as he looks his eyes up to him, “Even when you were banished as a Coshiton, you matched my eyes as I destroyed your trident, you did not even blink. You may not receive mercy, because you are one who must give such to the ones who look to you.” Merrick’s hand grips his harpoon, “You have always had my anger, Son. Even that is one of your most reliable strengths.”
Merrick puts his hand on Kaiken’s, and pushed it off, “I do not want your anger.” He said with a mixture of grudge and disgust. “All it has ever done was turn me into a ruthless monster.”
“Son.” Kaiken continues, “In one time, or another, every creature that bears life in this world is a monster. There are no exceptions.”
“… Truly…” Merrick said, his body shaking, “Mercy is for the weak…” He grits his teeth.
“Yes.”
‘What…’ Kaiken thought, ‘His body is quaking.’
Merrick’s throat rattles as he grips his weapon very tight, before his eyes and his arms move up in a rage, “REALLY?! Is THAT what you say, FATHER?!”
“Hhh!” Kaiken quickly blocks Merrick’s sudden swing, before the harpoon moves around, and scratches at him.
“For the last time, what do you know about ANYTHING, FATHER?!” Merrick attacked 10 times faster and deliberately than before.
“Enngh! Hah, wh-!” Kaiken whips his body around, but Merrick has gone into a full-berserk assault!
“And what about Arnaav?! Was he not good enough for your mercy?!” Merrick shouted as all of his wrath and violence pushed itself in one surge. “All of your preaching contradicts everything about you, FATHER!”
“What are you speaking of?! Control yourself!” Kaiken can barely keep up with him at this rate.
“The otter Coshiton from years ago! A rogue meryin that dared to beg you to help him!” Merrick ranted as he fought harder and harder, clanking the weapons very harshly, “And what did you do?! YOU ROARED AT HIM TO VANISH!”
‘What has happened??’ Kaiken thought desperately, unable to find any opening to counter at all, ‘Is his soul burning already???’
“He was a baby! He needed you! He needed us! He would have perished! What gives you the right to tell me of mercy?!” Merrick shouted, having nothing but white-hot rage for his father right now, “Where was your compassion back then?! Where was this profound wisdom when you sentenced an innocent lost soul to die?! You know the humans have a name for those like you!” Merrick said as he brings his weapon in for another mighty swing, “HYPOCRITE!”