Love and Deepwater • A Rafayel story

Muscle pulls

Time passed by and with that, all the Growth that Rafayel didn't live for hundreds of years started to show itself.

Rafayel knew, that his body was growing as his Enoria was maturing. Even though the voices told him so he believed, as He was still a child, slowly growing into the body of a teenager, as a decade passed by unhurriedly.

Father was surprised but kept quiet about it, happy that his Crown Prince was becoming more and more to the fitting image he had imagined of the God of The Sea.

His body turned taller, slender but muscular in the right place, like arms, abdomen lower abdomen, and neck. Even tho, he was lithe and thanks to all the training outside of the tower -thanks to Rafayel's body being more mature and his Master advising Father to let him out to train, swim, and learn. His tail was almost two meters long, beautifully decorated fin.

Thanks to Rafayel's Queen, he could sing beautifully and order as he pleased, even though Rafayel didn't want to wrongly use his voice powers. Rafayel's sisters took him to the surface, to train his voice to attract lost sailors and solitary Lemurian hunters to the depths of the Sea. Rafayel did and so, He started to feel strangely unattached to Humans, as He grew to Know all the stories about how they almost brought Lemuria to extinction. His voice killed and so, His will to protect Lemuria grew next to the warmth hidden between his ribs.

Rafayel also discovered something about his powers with Fire: it was inextinguishable even under the coldest of Deep Water's wetness. Rafayel could summon it more easily when angered, so most people tried to avoid any kind of conflict with the Crown Prince, as he was known to be calm but terrifying when outraged. He was able to teleport using it, like materializing within a range where Rafayel would be able to See. But it was a dangerous way of transportation, and if he wasn't careful enough, somebody could get hurt. Fire also could transform into the most dangerous daggers, red as his own eyes, and able to cut through everything and everyone.

As for his other powers, It was clear as day that any voice of the Sea he was able to listen to if concentrating enough, he was able to see through the eyes of every species of the Sea, even Lemurian themselves. Even though he tried to not use that with his people, it could be seen as a breach of privacy. He bowed to only use it when necessary.

One day, when he was training with the Master of Swords, one of Rafayel's sisters appeared with another unknown Lemurian, sitting in the stands of the training camp where other warriors and guards were practicing swordsmanship techniques. Little by little, Lemurians were bitting back to Humans, and so it was shown when previously artisans became fearless warriors.

Rafayel moved like water itself, flexible, like he didn't weigh anything at all, capable of doing the most amazing prowess when using its fire-made daggers. His Master, the best of the best, was being pushed back by a physical teenager Rafayel. Dark purplish strands flowed alongside its movements underwater, now about shoulder blade length. His eyes were more ruby-tinted, as he needed all the concentration to defeat his Master.

The girls talked, and talked, and one of them blushed. It was clearly, one of the noble Lemurians invited to his 817th birthday (physically 17th Human years old). Rafayel's birthday was equal to the Great Disaster, the enormous volcano that destroyed a whole city nearby to the Capital. Because of that, Its celebration always happened the week after the Calamity's memorial.  That day, His birthday celebration, was tonight. The King always invited nobility from all over the Oceans to the Capital, wanting Rafayel to like any noble lady so they could have 'offspring' and a future mate.

The only one Who Knew, was the Queen, the only known to have noticed that the pearly heart scale of the Crown Prince had turned darker and similar to a brown, now more grayish. Rhetorically, the Queen noticed Rafayel's lack of interest in other Lemurian ladies or men, his lonely whispers to somebody distant, and the way he seemed farthest when the Moon was out at night.

The Sea brought some of the whispers shared between Rafayel's sisters and the noble lady.

'It's super strange that he was physically a child until the last ten years, which he seemed to grow a lot faster than the previous eight hundred years' said Camil, one of the multiple princesses.

'Shut up' Kate said, shutting her sister. 'You know that he seems to know everything and listens to anything said everywhere'

'But he is busy with his dagger and when men fight, their brain is one-way focused into the fight' replied Camil, taking her sister's arm between her own.  'He is turning more and more beautiful, each day and tide... I wonder when will his first Ebb Day happen, now that he is maturing'

Ebb day or also known as a day when creatures from the deep sea are washed ashore. Every year, there's a day when the tide is low, and it flows in the opposite direction. It's when the Lemurians are at their weakest as they seek warmth and love from a beloved one until they cannot do anything for themselves, only receive and receive warmth and physical touch. They become touch starved, so every Lemurian wants to have someone dear once their first Ebb Day happens, so they don't suffer pain worse than any disease.

The first Ebb Day normally happens when the body matures, reaching the physical state of an adult Human being. Even though Lemurians live longer and are almost immortal, Rafayel was known to have remained a child for longer than any other Lemurian, only growing old recently.

Most Lemurian ladies were waiting to hear chosen by the most beautiful, ethereal being under the Seas, Rafayel. But Rafayel never showed any interest in women or men, causing Lemurian to look into other mates instead.

Even now, the King still invited different possible mates to his birthday, Searching for a reaction or the possibility of Rafayel finding another being interesting enough to give his heart scale and start a courtship.

Heart scales, as Rafayel learned in the past decades, were incredible when given as a free choice. He did not visit Enoria, but he saw her through seagulls flying above the Human city of the South Shore. She grew to be beautiful, yet trapped in a Castle. Their people thought that Enoria gave them health and a long life as long as she didn't leave the city. So they trapped her in a Castle built of gold and white Sicilian marble. She was healthy but, Rafayel understood with the passing of the years, her heart was weak. A weakened that scared Rafayel to the deepest of his being. He hoped that his heart scale would have given her a longer life and health, as it might have been a side effect of Her being a Human and setting a bond with an Immortal Lemurian.

He grew alongside her but lately, it was slowing down, as most Lemurians stopped aging when they arrived mid-twenties physically speaking.

Even though, he wanted to see her again, soon. Once his birthday was done, a mission would be given to him, to be made alone, as a ritual of passing to adulthood. A mission to explore a human town and bring back one of their most treasured jewels (whilst rescuing any Lemurian m and killing their slavers). It was a ritual that started when the Humans started to slave Lemurians as their puppets and Lemurians had to evolve from pacifists to defensive warriors.

With every year, the hate that Lemurians had against Humans grew, as they encountered many of the attacked and destroyed cities empty of their own. As more and more Humans were seen as immortal and wealthier.

Rafayel would have his ritual after His birthday, as his body kept growing, following his mate. He kept having muscle pulls and cramps whenever a growth spurt happened, his body maturing faster than it was expected. Their masters found out that his body was stronger and almost unbreakable. It was crazy how a little prince was turned into a fearless warrior in less than ten years.

Rafayel managed to hit his Master in the Carotid Artery, obviously not hurting him but taking him by surprise. The princess applauded and the noble girl blushed when her eyes met a surprised Rafayel. He smiled and bade its farewell from the training camp, walking to a place without its kind and wishing for the flames to bring him to his chambers.

With a flash, he dissolved into fire.

And the Queen hugged him from behind, as she was waiting for him inside of his Chambers.