2 A beautiful image

He had never seen such an enchanting creature despite having met many specimens of her race throughout the years. The beauty of the mermaid folk was known to be irresistible, capable of driving both human men and women into madness. For all he knew (and for all that had been recorded in human History books) this was the reason for the conflict between the merfolk and humankind had started in the first place.

He had killed many of them on the battlefield, and had also come across others in the prison cells of the palace, and, more recently, mingling with humans in markets, restaurants, and during public festivities.

The peace treaty signed five years prior allowed merfolk to explore the villages near the ocean and humans to fish in the seashore. It had benefitted the two sides and people of both races were trying to take full advantage of this time of tranquility.

The war had extended for so many years that the vast majority of humans had never even tasted the flavor of the salty seawater, and most merfolk had never felt the earthy breeze of human land.

The merfolk were curious about human habits, clothes, and food, and humans couldn't wait to explore and make use of the diverse life forms found in the Ocean, an especially alluring offer in times of poverty and hunger. These times of harmony and amity were truly a blessing for this generation of people who knew not of a time without war.

However, it was not without its share of difficulties, since the hatred between races had not yet been extinguished and a lot of constraints were imposed on humans when in the Ocean and on merfolk when ashore.

In this climate of uncertainty and restrictiveness, he was not expecting to find a mermaid in the Forest of Memories, a remote location that was known to be under the direct jurisdiction of the Zhen Imperial family, only visited by its members.

His reason told him that he should have killed her on sight, yet he was on top of a giant sequoia tree gazing at the creature's gentle figure putting on her robes. He watched as her barely naked body slipped on each clothing item, piece by piece, and, as she was tying her outer baby-blue robes, he even felt that it was very pitiful that the process was coming to an end.

He wanted to stare at her nearly bare image for a while longer. Who could have known that even an ascetic man such as himself wouldn't be able to remain unmoved by such a delicate-looking female? Mermaids were scary and dreadful creatures indeed.

Still, his resolve didn't waver. He jumped down from the tree in a split second and stealthily walked towards the beautiful woman.