Arthur was loving the surface so far, but his joy quickly turned to awe as he looked to his right and saw the land.
It was a giant human castle that laid just in front of him. The castle was large and had structures that pierce the skies like tridents. As a merman who grew up with merfolk-built structures that were more organic and grew from surrounding rocks, it seemed amazing to see how human structures contrasted that with structures built from individual pieces.
The merprince’s awe was soon turned into confusion as he examined the castle further.
The castle’s color seemed to be… gray. Looking further, it seemed rather old and a bit faded. Looking upwards, grey clouds seemed to swirl around the main castle palace. The place didn’t look welcoming.
A voice inside Arthur’s mind wanted him to leave because it looked dangerous but Arthur shook it off.
“Heh, an old castle isn’t scaring me. I’m sure there’s something cool in there.”, Arthur said with confidence.
The young merprince wanted to get inside the castle. He could ask his great aunt, The Sea Witch, or the mermaid with help with becoming a human to get in, but he wanted to take on this kingdom alone.
Besides, Arthur found it to be a fun challenge to see how far he can get inside a human castle with only a single scaly limb as his lower body.
Arthur looked around the castle and noticed that a water stream that leads further into the castle, there weren’t any protective bars or anything.
“Bingo”, he thought.
The merprince flicked his tail and dove down to where the stream was, eager to see what was inside of this human kingdom.
As he swam, Arthur noticed the sky getting gray and the water getting darker as he went in. Knowing that he was in human territory, Arthur slowed down his swimming so he wouldn’t make any noise. Arthur carefully raised his head above the water and opened his eyes, expecting to be at bustling a castle village.
But Arthur was baffled to see that there wasn’t any marketplace or commoners to be found. The field was completely empty with only a field of gravel as the castle grounds.
“Okay, this is getting weird.”, Arthur thought to himself.
He looked behind him, seeing the clear ocean water, and wondered if he should just turn back. Everything about this place wasn’t adding up and he could just get out now.
Looking ahead, Arthur could see a pair of human guards in shining armor near a staircase that leads to a giant palace, and the stream continued to where he could go inside the palace.
Arthur pondered about what to do next.