Another world
Title: Another world
Author: Masuhisa
Pairing: Ohmiya
Summary: Ninomiya Kazunari, son of a famous business man, was caught in a storm and was tossed out of his ship. He was saved by an unknown person and Nino has made up his mind to sail the seven seas to look for that person.
Disclaimer: Don’t own.
[Prologue]
Chapter 1:
Ohno was starting to regret thinking that being punished for leaving the ‘safe zone’ was worth seeing a mythical creature, which Sho told him were called ‘humans’. Being sentenced to a whole week of studying and grounded within the castle for crossing the border was an unfair deal in Ohno’s opinion.
But what could he do? The damage was already done. Flipping the page absentmindedly, Ohno sighed. The human which he had saved was a pretty little thing, and Ohno was dying to keep it as a pet. However, Ohno knew about how dangerous humans can be, thanks to Sho, they were the ones who threw rubbish in their beautiful seas and send some weird things made out of metal with a scope sticking out of the top into their territory, frightening off all the marine creatures.
Ohno sighed.
“Satoshi! Stop sighing! You’re giving me a headache,” whined Sho, son of the king’s advisor, and also Satoshi childhood friend.
Ohno looked up at stared at the younger merman who was reading an encyclopaedia at the speed of sound.
“I’m sorry Satoshi,” Sho blurted out almost immediately, “I shouldn’t be talking to you like that…”
“No, it’s okay,” said Satoshi, accepting the apology, “can we stop reading now?”
Sho nodded, seeing the tired expression his friend had on…but then again, Ohno always had a tired expression on, “I’ll report to the king saying you’ve finish your reading for today,”
“Thanks, Sho,”
“Tell me, what did that human look like?” asked Sho, his inquisitiveness getting the better of him.
Ohno tapped his chin, trying to recall what happened the night before, “He looked like most mermen, soot-black hair, hazel eyes, slender arms…the stories were right though, he had two stick-like things instead of a tail,”
“They’re called ‘legs’, Satoshi,” informed Sho, “they help humans walk on land,”
Ohno got up from his clam-chair and swam over to the bookshelf to replace the book he had been reading.
“Satoshi, you’re not thinking of going onto land, are you?” asked Sho worriedly, swimming after his friend.
Ohno didn’t reply. He didn’t know how Sho managed to read his mind, but either ways he did. When Ohno didn’t answer, Sho knew he must have hit the nail on the head, “Satoshi! You can’t just go onto land! What will the humans do if they see you! What about your tail! Where are we going to find legs for you!”
Letting out a laugh at Sho’s usual worrying about this and that, Ohno swam off to his room, leaving a panicking Sho in the library.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” cried Nino, staring at the weird bottle in Aiba’s hand, “where in the world did you get that?!”
“I brewed it myself,” said Aiba proudly, holding up the bottle, displaying the vibrant green liquid inside it.
“Are you sure that works?” asked Nino doubtfully.
“Yes, I tried it on some mice in the kitchen,” answered Aiba, “they all worked perfectly!”
Nino wrinkled his nose in disgust, “you expect me to believe you?”
“I’m your best friend! I won’t try to kill you!” said Aiba, feeling rather hurt at his friend’s lack of trust in him.
“Ok, fine. Assuming that that liquid of yours is able to transform my legs into a tail and let me breathe underwater,” began Nino, “how are you sure that that person I saw is a merman, they don’t even exist!”
“But they do!” insisted Aiba, “didn’t you see Professor Imai’s photograph? You could at least try!”
Nino slumped himself onto the sofa, deep in thought. He had been rather curious about the person who saved him that faithful day, and after a week of searching, even at other towns, nobody looked like that man he saw. Assuming that he was a merman, how was he supposed to find him? The sea is huge! There was no way he’ll be able to find a mermaid civilisation.
“So are you going to try it?” asked Aiba, a hint of hope in his voice.
“Maybe,” replied Nino, taking the bottle from Aiba’s hand and stuffing it in his pocket. Even though he was slightly apprehensive about his friend’s concoction, Nino was pretty sure Aiba wouldn’t try to kill him…but then again, there has to be a first for everything.
“Don’t worry, Nino,” said Aiba, proudly puffing his chest, “If you ever decided to go on the quest, I’ll try the potion before you!”
“Thank, Masaki,”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ohno eyes were screwed shut as he tossed and turned on his bed of sponge. For some unknown reason, he could not sleep, even though his bed was supposed to be the softest one in the entire kingdom, which is guaranteed to make him ‘drift off to sleep’, no pun intended says the manufacturer. Tossing his blanket of seaweed away, Ohno sat up and looked around his room.
Although it was dark, Ohno managed to see the shadowy outlines of the items in his room, allowing him to locate the door. Poking his head outside, he saw that the corridors were guard-free. Ohno closed the door and went to sit at his desk.
Even if the guards weren’t patrolling the corridors outside his room, there has to be some patrolling the whole castle. It would be impossible for him to leave the castle ground without being caught, and the best part was that he’s grounded too.
Absentmindedly, Ohno reached out for the name card that was hidden under his vase full of corals. The words on the paper were in the ancient language, the one used before the mermaids learnt their current one. If he wasn’t mistaken, the words translated to ‘Mars is key’ and ‘High bar’. That didn’t make sense, unless it was a clue to where he should go. Ohno frowned.
The man who had given him that slip of paper was none other than the famous wizard who cured his sister from a terrible illness which was said to be incurable. Nobody knows who he is or where he lives. The only reason why he turned up at the castle was because the Princess of Atlantis was in mortal danger (and the king was willing to fork out any amount to save his daughter). The moment she was cured, the wizard insisted on leaving as quickly as he could, but not before handing him, who so happened to swim past, that paper.
According to legends, that wizard had such powerful magic that nobody dared go near him, even the bravest trembled when he was mentioned. But everybody knows what he could do - anything. Anything also includes turning him into human.
Ohno felt disgusted at himself for wanting to go onto land when he knows its forbidden, but he could not help being drawn by that human he saw that stormy day.
Looking at the paper again, Ohno tried to decipher the clues. ‘Mars is key’ could be referring to that planet. It could something to do with the lining up of the planets, which was in a week’s time, but he’s not too sure about that. ‘High bar’ could very well be that great stone wall which protects Atlantis from that underwater volcano which erupts every two to three years. From the clues, Ohno roughly knew where to go - the volcano. After all, it made sense for a powerful wizard to live near a domineering thing like a volcano.
His mind made up, Ohno went back to bed. He would need to get lots of rest if he was to swim all the way to the stone wall, and he would have to pack supplies too.
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Note: Here's chapt 1!! Actually, this is more like a second prologue, but who cares. Thanks for reading!!