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Incompatible

Kai was finally, finally, finally free! He was finally free of Marius, of his power-hungry uncle, of his back-stabbing so-called allies and of any other pursuers he didn't know about! And more than that, his mother and best friend were somewhere out of harm's way. Happiness flooded his blood vessels like summer rain washing the cold of the winter away. A massive, toothy grin spread his mouth and tears welled in the corners of his eyes. They were happy tears, for once!

He was beginning to doubt he'd live to see the day he was freed from his oppressor slash kidnapper.

Well, unfortunately for him, he wasn't going to get to live long enough to enjoy his state of freedom. Kai was currently experiencing a ... slight problem.

He was plummeting to his death.

His toothy grin faltered.

"You teleported me to the edge of another, bigger cliff?!" Kai's words disappeared into the wind that was whipping his face and whistling past his ears.

I didn't think you'd walk right off it, the Spirit of the Sea said in what sounded like a sarcastic tone, without any hint of the fear that was quickly invading Kai's senses.

"Well, do something!" The ground was getting dangerously closer and closer. He estimated he had less than ten seconds before impact and he turned into a human pancake. A nervous skittered shook his spine, and the alarms of impending doom began to sound in his head.

"Spirit?!"

A familiar electric current passed through him, quick as lightning.

Kai blinked. He was back on the edge of the cliff again.

Laughing shakily, he crumbled to his knees -his shaking legs could no longer support him. Now that he was sitting still, he was finally able to admire the breathtaking view. And boy, what a panoramic view it was. He felt as if he'd just stepped into a Windows screensaver.

Where are we?

Trabzon.

Trabzon was a beautiful secret nestled between mountains, as one old Turkish gentleman once said to him. Of course, it wasn't much of a secret now considering the constant tourist hordes visiting it year round. A green canopy of rolling forests, mountains and hills stretched as far as the eye could see.

The gray clouds that had hung over his home were gone, replaced by a clear blue sky. No sign of a storm anywhere.

It was no wonder, of course, considering he was now in the Eastern Black Sea region.

"I gotta say, this teleportation thing is really useful," he said as he crossed his legs and stretched his arms and then worked the kinks in his back. Only now, with the 'excitement' of this morning over and his problems far away, was he beginning to notice the tension his body had been holding. He needed a deep oily massage; he'd earned it. Today had to be the longest day of his life, and it was still noon. Not to mention that the last few weeks had truly tested him in every way a man could be tested -or a half-merman.

It is but a fraction of our power, my Prince. The Spirit didn't sound boastful, but sounded like he was stating a fact. Kai supposed he probably was.

Our power, the Golden Merman had said.

"This is all you, Spirit." Kai said ruefully. If only he had the power to save himself. Up until recently, he'd been nothing but a jade pawn in the hands of higher powers.

"Actually, my Prince, every time I've used magic, I've been tapping into your magic reserves. You hold magnificent amounts of latent magic, as did your father before you, and his father before him. This is one of the reasons why your bloodline is so valuable to me. There are not many other vessels who can contain me. And fewer still who I would tolerate."

Magic reserves? Latent magic?

The view forgotten, Kai turned his full attention to the Spirit within. "Are you saying..."

Yes, he was saying exactly what Kai thought he was saying.

My, wasn't the Spirit the gift that wouldn't stop giving today. He was almost beginning to question the few weeks of silence since the moment he banished the Spirit, demanding it get out of his body, had ever happened. Almost.

"Technically, no one else can hold you anyway, so all these people, these merpeople hunting us down are in for a big, fat disappointment if ever they got their hands on you? Because none of them would be able to use you?"

Their hands and every bit of them will disintegrate into thin air before they could even beg me for mercy. Their bodies will tear apart, and not by my doing. They are simply incompatible.

My God.

Foolishly, Kai imagined himself suffering the wretched fate the Spirit was describing in detail. What if instead of being saved from drowning in a sea of kelps, or being rescued, he'd exploded at the bottom of the Black Sea? And no one would be the wiser. No one would know where to look for him. The authorities would certainly have a hard time identifying his salted remains -but according to the Spirit, there wouldn't even be any. His mother would go on living, never knowing what really happened to her only son.

A wicked chill settled in the pit of his stomach.

It has taken many eons to breed a line of powerful, kingly mermen who can withstand my invasion and our consciences, our very souls, can cohabit. For I am the Ocean's Soul, its Will, its Spirit, and no mere weak vessel can hold me.

While the Spirit's arrogant declaration warranted a few questions of their own, Kai was currently having issues with the Spirit's unexpected mentioning of breeding.

Did the Spirit just say that he bred a line of mermen to be able to hold him?

Kai really didn't want to know, but he had to ask, dammit. "What do you mean, 'breed?'"

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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