Aurum had always been different. Even as a young fry, while the other merlings swam in synchronized loops or raced through coral tunnels, Aurum buried herself in stories. Her favorite was the timeless classic The Little Human, where Prince Evan, a mythical air-breather, exchanged his beauty and charm for tools and skills to live among the merfolk. The story had captivated Aurum from the moment her mother first read it to her.

  “Humans aren’t real,” her mother had said after closing the pearl-bound book, her tone dripping with finality. “They’re just a tale to keep young merfolk entertained.”

  “But how do you know they’re not real?” Aurum had asked, her wide, sea-green eyes sparkling with curiosity. “What if humans are out there, hiding, waiting for us to find them?”

  Her mother sighed, flicking her tail dismissively. “Aurum, no intelligent creature could survive on land. No water? No gills? How would they even breathe? It’s absurd.”

  “But what if they don’t need gills? What if they breathe...something else?”

  Her mother laughed, the sound echoing like tinkling shells. “Oh, stop it. Next, you’ll tell me they have legs—those ridiculous kelp-like things some stories describe. Can you imagine? Wobbling around without fins? How would they even swim? Humans aren’t real, Aurum. End of story.”

  But for Aurum, it was only the beginning.

  ---

  A Writer of Human Fiction

  Now grown, Aurum had turned her childhood curiosity into a passion. Her shelves were packed with books and scrolls about humans—every fable, every myth, every conspiracy theory. She wasn’t just a reader; she was a writer, penning tales of daring humans who braved the seas and ventured into the unknown.

  Her latest story followed a human girl named Mira who discovered an underwater kingdom and used her strange tools and skills to save it from a sea monster. Aurum often laughed to herself, imagining what her family would say if they knew she wrote “human fiction.”

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  “You’re wasting your time,” her sister had scoffed once, catching Aurum sketching a human for her latest draft. “Everyone knows humans are just a story to scare merlings from straying too close to the surface.”

  Aurum ignored her. Deep down, she believed there was more to the world than the safe, glittering waters of their kingdom.

  ---

  The Sight That Changed Everything

  It happened during one of her secret surface explorations. Aurum had always been drawn to the forbidden shimmer above, where the water met the sky. That day, she swam higher than ever before, her heart pounding as she broke through the surface.

  And there it was. A human.

  He hovered above the water in a strange, shiny contraption. His “legs,” as she’d read about, dangled into the ocean, and his arms paddled awkwardly to keep himself afloat. Aurum’s first thought was how funny he looked—his legs truly did resemble kelp, except stiffer and with strange, paddle-like ends.

  He looked almost like a merfolk but incomplete, with no fins or tail. His upper body was covered in some kind of shell—clothes, her books had called them—and his face was pale, almost translucent compared to her shimmering scales.

  He saw her, too. His eyes widened, his mouth opening in what looked like shock. For a moment, neither moved, both suspended in mutual disbelief.

  Then, with a clumsy splash, the human toppled back into his contraption and sped away across the surface, leaving Aurum staring after him.

  She swam back to the depths, her mind racing. She had to tell someone.

  ---

  The Conspiracy Forum

  Later that evening, Aurum logged onto OceanNet, her tail still trembling with excitement. She opened her favorite group, Human Seekers, a forum for merfolk who believed in the existence of humans.

  She typed:

  "I saw one! A real human! It was at the surface. Two kelp-like legs, no fins, and it moved them separately! And it breathed AIR—just like the stories!"

  Replies poured in:

  "Not this again. Everyone knows humans aren’t real."

  "Were you hit by a rogue wave? You’re delirious."

  "Legs? Hah! What would they even use those for, dancing on sand?"

  Aurum’s frustration grew as she replied:

  "It looked like us but…unfinished. No tail, just those strange legs. And its skin was smooth, like polished coral. It saw me, and it looked as surprised as I was!"

  Finally, a user named DeepCurrent responded:

  "Describe it more. Did it have tools? Did it speak? Was it holding one of those shiny air-breather things?"

  Aurum’s fins twitched as she replied:

  "Yes! It was sitting in something shiny, floating on the water. It used its legs to move and paddled with its arms. It didn’t speak, but its face was so expressive!"

  The group buzzed with activity. Some mocked her, but others encouraged her, sharing old sketches and theories. One linked an article titled “What the Royals Don’t Want You to Know About Humans.”

  Aurum hesitated before clicking. Could the royal family really be hiding the truth?

  ---

  Surface Side

  Miles above the ocean floor, famed deep-sea diver Marcus Trent was being rushed to a hospital. His latest expedition to the Mariana Trench had ended abruptly after an unexpected encounter.

  As medics stabilized him, Marcus gasped, “I saw it. I swear, I saw it.”

  “Saw what?” one of the medics asked, trying to calm him.

  “A mermaid,” Marcus whispered. “It had scales that shimmered like sunlight on water. It was beautiful… and terrifying. It looked human, but it wasn’t.”

  The medic exchanged a glance with his colleague. “Oxygen deprivation,” she murmured.

  But Marcus wasn’t listening. He stared at the ceiling, haunted by the sight of the creature’s wide, curious eyes staring back at him from the depths.

  ---