Chapter 15 Monica
Tears slid out from the corners of Monica's swollen and ugly eyes and drifted into the sea.
When the cursed are emotional, tears will flow from their eyes, which is different from any other group in the sea.
"Sister Ash, are you leaving too?"
Ash smiled and brushed his twisted arm across her eyes.
"Don't cry, Monica. Your tears taste too bitter."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Is there really no other way, Sister Ash?"
"This is the fate of us cursed people." Ash hugged Monica gently. "We failed to protect our homeland, so the gods punished us and made us suffer this tearing pain all the time. Monica, don't be afraid. The prophecy also said that after we have redeemed our sins, we will find our promised land, where we can get rid of this ugly appearance and no longer be enslaved. We can..."
"The Promised Land?" Monica shook her head. "No one knows what the Promised Land looks like. No one knows where it is. How can we find an existence we know nothing about? Just by relying on this name?"
"As for gods, are there really gods? The so-called prophecies are nothing more than stories passed down by word of mouth. All I saw was a group of slaves struggling to survive!"
Monica yelled.
Ash was stunned, and after a long moment he murmured, "Yes, we are just slaves now."
Yes, the damned are now nothing more than a group of slaves.
There used to be a group of Nagas here, and they were slaves of the Nagas. Later, the Murlocs drove away the Nagas, and they became slaves of the Murlocs.
They look disgusting, their bodies are swollen and weak, and their only commendable spellcasting ability is used to maintain flesh and blood magic - this allows their bodies to barely maintain their status quo and not explode and die, but they have to endure the pain of being torn all over their bodies at all times.
What's even sadder is that even with flesh and blood magic, they can only live to the age of fifteen.
At the age of fifteen, their magical abilities will transform and become stronger.
But... during this period, they cannot cast spells, the flesh magic stops, and their flesh will explode like a balloon.
Therefore, the cursed will generally choose to leave the ocean on the eve of the age of fifteen, take a look at the sky, and slowly wait for death to come under the starry sky.
I don’t know why, they are a species living in the deep sea, but they are always attracted to the sky. Quietly appreciating the stars under the night sky is their favorite thing. It’s a pity that such a beautiful scenery can only be seen once in a lifetime.
Ash looked at the crying Monica with pity, and his thoughts gradually drifted away.
She also didn't know whether the history passed down orally was true. Those things happened too long ago and some of them even contradicted each other.
Legend has it that they once had a huge kingdom, and their reputation resounded throughout the seven oceans.
They are born to be the darlings of the world, with extremely strong bodies and magic that can tear the ocean apart.
Ash looked down at his arms. The swollen flesh on them looked like a corpse that had been soaked for too long. He felt that he was born to suffer only and to be enslaved endlessly. He could not see any hope for the future.
Legends may just be legends.
"Sister Ash, the last symbiote in the tribe has died, and the Shimmerscale Clan is unwilling to assign new murlocs to sign the symbiotic contract." Monica's words brought Ash's thoughts back to the present.
The symbiotic contract is the last resort for those who are called the cursed. Flesh and blood magic alone cannot keep them alive, so they need the symbiotic contract.
The symbiotic contract allows both parties to share vitality and provides some unique abilities, which is a mutually beneficial thing.
But after the tribe was cursed, it had an additional disadvantage. The cursed now need vitality all the time, and the two cannot be too far apart.
It was fine when they were enslaved by the Naga, because the Naga needed their perception ability, and the individual Naga also had strong vitality and were not afraid of having their vitality slowly drained away by the contract.
But the murlocs are different now. A group of murlocs may be very strong, but a single murloc is very weak and can easily have its vitality drained by the symbiotic contract.
Moreover, murlocs are good at perception and do not need the provision of a contract, so this symbiotic contract is even more useless to the Flash Scale Clan.
As a result, the number of contractors decreased, until today, when the last symbiote died.
Feeling the pain in his body becoming increasingly difficult to suppress, Ash raised his head and looked at the sea with an expressionless face.
Do her people, the cursed ones, really have a future?
The situation is getting worse and worse, and the number of tribesmen is decreasing.
Everything was sinking and there was no turning back.
But it has nothing to do with her anymore. She will die today, die on the sea, die under the starry sky.
Ash said goodbye to Monica with a smile, and slowly floated to the surface of the sea amidst heart-wrenching cries.
The fishmen in the distance watched coldly. They knew that without the symbiotic contract, these ugly monsters would only die a slow death.
Monica watched Ash's figure getting farther and farther away, and felt as if a part of herself was taken away with him. She was still many years away from adulthood, but she had already experienced too many separations.
The tribesmen gathered around and gently patted its body with their swollen arms, with clumsy expressions of comfort beneath their ugly faces.
The cursed have endured too much suffering. They have learned to endure but cannot learn to become numb.
Monica tried to close her eyes. Tears were the most useless thing in the ocean.
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Monica opened her eyes and saw her own white fingers, slender tail and long hair.
So beautiful. She is no longer that ugly monster.
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And all this——
She looked at the "two-legged fish" not far away.
That was Hughes, Ash's sister's contractor.
Everything seemed like a dream. She had just parted ways with Ash, and not long after, Ash returned to the tribe. Not only did he survive, but he also brought new news.
She said that it was not a curse and that as long as the cursed went down into the deep sea, they would be restored to their original state.
Deep Sea Monica thought of the Abyss, which was a forbidden place for life and one could never return.
But surprisingly, many of the tribesmen agreed without hesitation.
Maybe they just don't want to be slaves anymore.
Without the symbiotic contract, the cursed have no future, but also no constraints.
The symbiotes could not stray too far from each other, so the cursed could only be enslaved, but now, the rage for revenge roars in the eyes of every member of the tribe.
They are also living beings, they have intelligence, and they have feelings.
Now, let it all burn.
The blood of the cursed along the way dyed the sea road leading to the Abyss red, and familiar figures fell before his eyes one after another.
Monica wanted to say something, but when she opened her mouth she felt a bitter taste in it.
When I looked up, I suddenly realized that everything was over.
Zeus, my sister's symbiote was saying something to the tribe members, and Monica listened in a daze.
She didn't understand what this human was saying, knowledge, water pressure, freedom, she didn't understand, she just thought they were very complicated words.
She looked at Ash. The scales on Ash's body were a beautiful light gray, and his long silver-white hair had a bluish metallic luster, which was the breath of surging magic.
Ash was holding a harpoon in her hand and speaking loudly. Her eyes were full of determination and fearlessness, mixed with something else.
It took Monica a long time to realize that this might be hope.
She turned to look at Hughes, it was this human who brought her hope.
At this moment, he was solemnly declaring that he was not a god.
It doesn't matter, Monica thought.
She no longer needs gods.
(End of this chapter)