Not every mermaid has his or her own soul mate, but for a mermaid who has a soul mate, it also means that he or she has a special gift.
That red thread from the soul level will entangle the two partners for life, birth and death, pain and joy, love and hate... They will be inextricably linked together, like a vine climbing another vine, a river winding around another river.
In this respect, Lapers was very lucky. Even in his childhood, he knew that he was destined to receive this rare gift from God. But he was also unfortunate. During a great war in the abyss, the palace collapsed and his newly born soul mate was lost in the chaos, never to be seen again.
At that time, Rapos was still too young, just like a weak white clam that hadn't even grown a thread. At such a tender age, he couldn't understand how cruel it was to lose something again. He only remembered his mother stroking his ear fins with her wrist sadly and holding him in her arms, while his father vowed to get him back his rightful lover. Rapos was just hanging in the midst of all the pitying and strange looks, feeling depressed and lost.
Later, the schools of fish that swam north and south reported all the news they knew, and the whale sharks that migrated upstream also reported an unfortunate judgment to the royal court of the abyss: Lapers' soul mate was most likely taken away by a human ship.
The long distance made it impossible for him to find out the location of his partner, and the world was so big, where should he start looking
That day, the palace was gloomy, and Rapos was willing to pray or mourn for his soul mate. In any case, he would make the thieves pay the price, so he swore that one day, he would kill all the humans who participated in the theft, and from that moment on, no human ship would be able to leave the Drake Passage safely.
As time passed, Rapos began to grow out of his soft, scaly childhood, becoming stronger and more indestructible, until every bit of pain and discomfort he could feel came from his soul mate.
As the stronger party in the relationship, mermen can empathize with any pain coming from the weaker party and vaguely synchronize with their lover's position, so as to take timely countermeasures - an effective tradition for protecting the tribe.
This might be a good thing, because his soul mate is still alive. But those feelings are too weak and too short, like a drop of water dissolved in the ocean, even he can't clearly locate them in more detail.
Until three months ago, things took a turn for the better.
At first, it was a dull pain in the chest, which made Lapers open his eyes suddenly from his sleep, and he began to think about the reason in confusion and anxiety. The dull pain did not last long, and at a certain moment, it suddenly exploded into a huge, suffocating pain, which contracted violently in the chest in waves.
… So many tears, he even heard distant cries, so hoarse and sad, as if a young bird was forced to fall out of its nest in the dead of winter, falling in the ice and snow, staggering and struggling, begging for forgiveness from an unknown fate.
Lapers tore at his chest, roared in anger, and his fish tail slammed and destroyed the stone pillars supporting the nest, causing the entire royal court to be in an uproar. All attempts to relieve the pain were ineffective, because this was a direct torment from the soul.