[ TT ] You 're the last of the merfolk alive . The rest have perished from pollution , changing sea temperatures , and the mechanical beasts that traverse your waters .

Within the culture of the Merfolk was lain a simple mandate: death would be unseen until purpose realized. 
 
 What that meant was Lo, an aimless drifter, was the last survivor of his aquatic race. The glacier cities that he frequented for supplies had melted and the coral reefs he stopped by for company were all white and soulless. Massive, writhing masses of muck plagued the surface waters and forced him to hide deep within the ravines and earthly gashes, hiding from a truth that trailed him where ever he went. 
 
 Lo did n't want it to be true, but as he discovered the ruins of his race the truth caught up to him and enveloped him in dark weeds, suffocating him with their words. He was the last man standing: a lone survivor among great men, titans, and kings. He floated, the son of a witless woman and a forceful man, where all had drowned. 
 
 As the years passed and Lo spent longer in the dark, he lost sight of who he was and what he was. Discovering his purpose in this despondent reality was an old dream of his; a nic nac, only meant to decorate the shelves of his memories and make them seem pleasant. His days were filled with scavenging the bodies of polluted animals and hunting the many deranged creatures of the sea deep. Lo's future seemed hopeless. 
 
 And then he found something... new. A small, peaceful being, with black and yellow skin that reminded him of the faintest memories. Lo waved to it, and it waved back. He swam around it and approached it from behind, running his hands over the cold, hard carapace on its back. It did n't seem to move quickly in the waters and definitely seemed more accustomed to land. 
 
 Lo decided the creature was lost and set himself to helping it, gripping it carefully with both arms from behind and beginning his swim toward where he thought the nearest beach was. It seemed reasonably alarmed when he first grabbed it, but as they swam together it grew complacent, it's head swiveling to look around at the passing sea. 
 
 His strength left him as he approached the sandy coves and surfaced, letting go of the lost creature and giving it a nudge toward the beach. It turned to him instead and lifted it's face off. 
 Lo, momentarily felt himself rejuvenate and rush forward, but paused, as he saw a second face beneath. It reminded him of the past. 
 Of others like him: the Merfolk, in their colossal cities of ice and coral. He had heard legends of the land-dwelling beings, but never saw them for himself. 
 
 Lo heard it speak in the open air and did not offer a reply. He instead reached onto his tail, plucked a scale off, and handed it to the... landfolk. Lo decided that was a terrible name, and resolved to call them Friend instead. 
 
 Friend accepted the scale and Lo went to turn, but Friend offered something in return: a lock of blonde string, seeming to come from Friend's head. He takes it with care before diving back into the water and toward the deep, limping his way to the tomb he made for himself decades ago.
