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He could see them, he could hear them, he watched them every day. But they didn’t notice him at all. They didn’t even seem to acknowledge his presence. That was his worst nightmare. That was torture for him. To be in the presence of his family but not being noticed by them, not even being seen by them. He had never wanted this, but here he was, forced to live through it.
When he heard about his banishment to Oblivion, he had already known what it would be like. He had already known what his worst fears were. Oblivion feeds off of one’s fear and turns it into reality. His worst fear was that his own family would never put him in their eyes. He was already living that life in reality, but to suffer the constant cycle of waking up and not being seen was the absolute worst for him.
Tritannus had been blinded by a sort of magic when he first went through the gates of Oblivion. The same magic restrained his own and he couldn’t move to fight it. He had tried, but the moment he moved, the restraints tightened around him more and suppressed his magic so thoroughly he thought he would’ve died.
Not long after he came face to face with the mutated version of himself. He tried to convince himself that it wasn’t real, that it was just a vision. The mutant in front of him just laughed and slapped him. Tritannus was surprised as he could feel that. The mutant was enjoying this. This was what he dreaded the most. This mutant wasn’t just another vision, it was a manifestation of his newly developed addiction towards toxins.
“You really are a pathetic wretch.” Tritannus turned and began swimming in the opposite direction, but there wasn’t any escape. He had forgotten his speed doubled under the influence of toxins. His face twisted in horror as the mutant began making his way towards him. “There’s no escaping what you’ve done.”
Tritannus didn’t want to be reminded of it. It was still clear in his memories what he had done, but he didn’t want to be reminded of it. He especially didn’t want to hear it from the very being that held the same image as him when he was mutated.
With each distance the mutant moved forward, Tritannus backed up the same. Pretty soon the mutant lashed out and wrapped Tritannus in a grip. It chanted some sort of spell as Tritannus slowly felt himself losing his sense of sight. He could still hear the silent chants, he could still feel the painful grip he was in, but he couldn’t see anything.
By the time he regained his sight, he could see he was elsewhere. The mutant was nowhere to be seen and he was alone. He was alone in a familiar place. It took him about five minutes to finally realise this was the throne room of the palace. There was no one around, but this familiar place felt unfamiliar. It wasn’t the fact that this place was empty, but there was just something off about this place. He didn’t understand what it was.
Someone entered the throne room and Tritannus turned around to see his brother entering the throne room. He wanted to do so much to his older twin. As much as he hated Nereus for what he did seven years ago, he missed him. He missed his twin’s attempts in getting him to open up and making sure he was never alone. He didn’t miss how Nereus ignored how their father treated them differently though.
“Nereus…” Tritannus called out, though quietly. Nereus raised his head and looked directly at Tritannus. He then moved forward, making the younger triton hold his breath. Right as he reached out to his twin, Tritannus’s hand went through Nereus’s body. “What…?”
Tritannus turned around to see Nereus going over to another familiar face. With a smile on his face, he hugged Tressa. The two of them talking happily about something just as their parents showed up. The four of them were just conversing about something happily. They seemed so perfect. Tritannus froze at the realisation of what this was. The four of them were the perfect family. He wasn’t a part of it. His face twisted in confusion. He wondered why he never thought about it.
His parents had always made it clear they had favourites, and it was clear it wasn’t him. Their mother was proud of Tressa for stepping up to be a warrior just as she always wanted. Their father was proud of Nereus for being the perfect heir to the throne. Tritannus? He was just the extra child. He realised they never saw him because he wasn’t a child of any purpose. He had just existed.
“Finally see the truth?” the mutant reappeared behind him. It then started circling him, but Tritannus acted as if he didn’t see it. His focus was still on his family in front of him. He wasn’t sure if he could still call them his family. He was certain he was already disowned at this point. The mutant smirked, as if it could read Tritannus’s thoughts. “Better to acknowledge it now than later.”
The vision before him disappeared and he was engulfed in darkness. He panicked as he recognised the darkness before him. The mutant couldn’t help but let out a dark chuckle, the sound just as dark as the surroundings around the triton.
“Welcome to your worst nightmare.” Tritannus turned to face the mutant. His worst nightmare, that would be his magic. It contained all those darkness he had harboured since he was little. He had never known how vast it truly was until those toxins entered his body. But one thing he never understood was why the darkness had always been so overwhelming. “Your magic has always been dark, you’ve just never learned to embrace it. You were taught to fear it.”
“No!” Tritannus denied as he turned to the mutant. “That’s not true. They were just afraid that it might-”
The mutant laughed, cutting him off. Tritannus was afraid of what he was seeing. He wondered if this was how he looked when he went on that rampage of his. Was this what everyone saw? Was he truly this monster he’s seeing? He couldn’t help but felt all he did was hurt everyone. He could feel the guilt just eating away at his heart.
“Let me show you what they see.” Tritannus found himself engulfed by light. Bright lights danced around him as they slowly grew and slowly trapped him within.
Tritannus looked around and found he was alone. Though the moment he looked down, he saw his own reflection. He couldn’t understand how he could fall this far. He thought he could prove himself to be better than what people expected of him, but he became exactly what they believed he would be. He turned into a monster.
Something swam past him, he missed it the first time. But when it happened a second time, he turned to try and find what it was. It kept happening around him, each time he felt more and more uneasy. There was something here with him, but he didn’t know what it was. His breathing quickened and no matter what he did, he couldn’t calm himself down.
He could feel them getting closer, but he couldn’t see them. He could hear their growls and their movements. They sounded familiar, very familiar.
“What’s the matter?” Tritannus turned to face the mutant. “Can’t recognise your own family?”
With that said, he was knocked down. Looking up, he saw the exact same mutant he had turned his family into closing in on him. He swung his tail and managed to knock the mutant back. He thought he could breathe then, but he was wrong. More and more mutants came up towards him.
He made his way towards elsewhere and he could hear the mutant’s laugh as he managed his own escape. But there was nowhere to go. There was nowhere to hide. He could only keep moving forward and hope that he could outmanoeuvre the mutants. He might have been faster than his twin, but he wasn’t fast enough to lose the mutants. They kept chasing him, even as he felt exhausted, he just kept moving. He didn’t want to know what would happen if they caught him.
Even then, his exhaustion caught up with him. He could see the shadows of the mutants just hovering above him. Tritannus didn’t know what to do. He thought about giving up, it’s already over for him. He was done for. The worst part of this? He couldn’t die like this. He would live this over and over until he was either released from this torture or someone made the decision to finally end his life. He knew the former was quite impossible so he hoped for the latter to happen soon.
But it never did. Something drove them away. He raised his head and saw them fleeing. But he didn’t know what they were fleeing from. He looked up and saw the last person he thought would care about him. He saw his father, King Neptune. Without thinking too much, he rushed towards him and wrapped his arms around his father, grateful to see a familiar face.
But this wasn’t his father. The figure in front of him was a mere imitation. The figure pushed Tritannus away before lowering its arms. It smiled, the corner of its mouth reaching up towards its eyes. Tritannus backed up, terrified. The figure's eye sockets slowly widened as its eyeballs had begun shrinking. The entire body began thinning as it grew taller in height, its skin colour turning into a deadly white.
Tritannus could only stare as he was frozen in fear. He had always called his father a monster for how he was treated. But here he was, his father- the creature that looked like his father, slowly turning into a monster right in front of him.
“You… did… this…” the creature murmured. Tritannus stayed frozen in place, unable to move at all.
The last thing he saw was the creature lunging at him. Its mouth wide open, showing rows of sharp teeth, its eyes growing larger as it shone red. He remembered hearing a scream. It was his own scream. It hurt, it hurt badly, but there was nothing he could do.
He woke up again in the same darkness as before. His body still hurts. He hovered his hands over where he had been chewed up by the creature earlier. One touch and he hissed in pain. He could still feel it. He knew this wasn’t the only time it would happen. He couldn’t help but to break down right then.
“Such a little weakling.” Tritannus’s head shot up at that voice. The mutant was still here, taunting him. The mutant’s smile widened at the sight of Tritannus’s frightened form. There was something that just fed the mutant’s hunger as he stared at the former crown prince. “I like this, your fear tastes delicious. Let’s just drive it out some more.”
Before Tritannus could even answer, he found himself in another place. Looking around, it was a small cave. The same cave he had once found and hid in when he wanted to leave the world behind for a few hours. The only other person who knew about his little hiding place was Tressa. He had hoped to find someplace to hide for the time being. To escape whatever would come for him next.
“Tritannus?” nothing could ever prepare him for what he heard. He decided to ignore the voice. That familiar voice of Tressa’s, but he knows it’s not her. It’s never going to be her. He had to remind himself he was in Oblivion, he wasn’t on Andros anymore. He didn’t want to be fooled again. But just as the mutant had said, Tritannus believed he was weak. The voice called out once more. “Tritannus?”
“Tressa?” Tritannus cursed himself for calling out to her. But a part of him was glad he did. He held his breath as he heard movement from where he hid. When Tressa finally found him, she looked nothing like he remembered. This wasn’t his sister.
“What’s the matter, Tritannus? Something wrong?” There wasn’t just something wrong. Everything was wrong. The mermaid in front of him looked as if she hadn't eaten in years, her eyes were white, her skin greyed and wrapped around her bones. Her tail was wrecked, scales missing and her tail fin had holes as if she was scratched by something.
“You haven’t forgotten, have you?” Tritannus looked Tressa in her eyes. Her eyes looked so dead it was almost as if she was dead. “You did this, Tritannus. You left me to die.”
“No…” Tritannus whispered. He would never. He had mutated her, but he never would think of leaving Tressa to die. She had always been there for him. She was the one to raise him when his parents had been so occupied with Nereus when they were little.
“YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!” the mermaid in front of him screamed at the top of her lungs, making him cover his ears to block out the screech.
Tritannus kept his hands covering his ears as the mermaid continued screeching. It wasn’t enough. He could still hear her words. He could still see the mermaid’s features but it was slowly melting. The mermaid had begun melting, almost like lava flowing slowly. Even as the mermaid’s form fully melted, the screeches continued. Tritannus had begun tearing up from the pain. He could feel something staining his hands, it didn’t feel like water. He lived in literal water for most of his years, he would know what water felt like. This wasn’t it.
“No… No… Stop…” Tritannus begged, but the sound of the screech grew louder and louder. He started feeling dizzy. He couldn’t handle much more of this. “STOP!”
Silence followed his scream.
He opened his eyes, finding himself in yet another space. He wasn’t sure where this was. He was certain he'd never seen this place before. Not until he saw his twin enter. It took him a while to realise this was Nereus’s room. It seemed bigger than his own.
He wanted to call out to his twin, to make his presence known. But the moment he opened his mouth, nothing came out. No sounds, no words, nothing. Tritannus wrapped his hands around his neck, wondering what happened. He tried again to call out to Nereus, but nothing came out. His twin was just sitting there, doing nothing. He wanted so desperately to call out to Nereus, to let him know he’s there, even if he knows this wasn’t really Nereus. He just wants to be acknowledged by what is using his brother’s image.
Desperate to be heard, but not being able to even be heard was the worst when it came to Nereus. Nereus had always been there to listen to Tritannus rant about his problems. But it was usually because Tritannus called for his attention. Nereus was never big on actions and had a hard time reading any signs Tritannus used. Tritannus knew his brother couldn’t see him, now he couldn’t hear him as well.
Tritannus gave up after what felt like hours. He was just kneeling in front of his twin, hoping he would notice him. But Nereus never did. The elder twin just moved from where he sat and left. The scene in front of Tritannus slowly began to fade and he was back in an empty void.
He couldn’t find the strength to get back up. The entirety of his moments just kneeling on the ground as he felt the mutant creep up on him.
“Don’t you want to find out what your mother thinks of you?” the mutant chuckles. Tritannus shook his head. He really didn’t want to know what his mother thought of him. He really couldn’t handle any more of this. He had seen his father as the monster he once imagined he would be. Tressa had melted away in front of him and it was all his fault. Nereus couldn’t hear him and he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Tritannus didn’t want to know what his mother thought of him.
“Too bad, you don’t have a choice.” The mutant grabbed the former crown prince by his neck and made him rise up from the ground. Tritannus clawed at the mutant’s huge hand as he started feeling he couldn’t breathe. He was aware of something changing, but he wasn’t aware of what. “You need to learn exactly what you were to your parents.”
Tritannus struggled until he was free from the mutant’s grasp. When he looked around, he was back in the palace. But things didn’t look familiar at all. Some things looked as if they were new, fresh, and somehow old at the same time. A figure entered the room and Tritannus had a hard time figuring out who it was. He only managed to recognise the figure when she spoke.
“I don’t know what to do.” It was his mother. Tritannus couldn’t help the smile that crept onto his face as he saw his mother. She was younger, and she was holding a little bundle. He wondered what that was about. He approached her, but realised he could see and hear her, but not the other way round. “Both of them, the same mutation.”
Someone else enters the area. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was Neptune. He went up towards Ligea and hugged her from behind. His hand reached over to stroke the little bundle in Ligea’s arms. Tritannus watched as his parents seemed to be quite content with holding just one child in their arms. He wondered what mutation they were talking about.
“We’ll teach them, raise them together. Their mutation won’t be a liability to them, but something that would make them just as special as they’re meant to be.” Neptune’s words sounded reassuring. He gently lifted the cloth off of the little bundle in Ligea’s arms and it was revealed she had been carrying Nereus. Tritannus couldn’t say that he was surprised. He had already known it couldn’t have been him. But what mutation were they talking about? Why hadn’t he known about it?
Neptune took out the baby from the cloth and cradled him softly. Tritannus could finally see what the mutation was. He had always thought it was normal, but he didn’t realise it was a mutation. Him and his twin, their tails had always been abnormally larger than that of a normal triton’s. He just didn’t know they were the results of a rare genetic mutation.
“But we could only care for one at a time. You heard what she said. The chances of both of them surviving is low.” Ligea’s words hit Tritannus harder than any of the Winx’s spells ever did. He was hoping she wasn’t trying to say what he thought she was saying. He hoped he wasn’t really the second choice of his parents’ decision. “We have to make sure at least he survives, if the other doesn’t.”
Tritannus was floored. He didn’t expect his mother to have made the decision. He had believed she would have been the one who had always seen him and fought for him to have a life as well. But here he was, listening to a conversation that happened in the past. He wasn’t the child they wanted. He was just the spare they had. They only needed Nereus alive.
“Doesn’t feel good to know the truth, does it?” He was hoping he wouldn’t hear that voice again. That stupid voice he had hoped would disappear and never reappear in the rest of his time here.
“This is just the beginning, Tritannus. You’re going to love it here. We have all eternity to do this over and over again.” hearing Tritannus break down was music to the mutant’s ears.