Zenith

The Fshalkirr

To understand Zenith as a whole we need to first learn about his shiver (or underwater tribe), the Fshalkirr, since he follows scrupulously their traditions and customs. 

As the world was starting to awake, so did the many different animals and mythical creatures. The Fshalkirr tribe originates from millions of years ago somewhere in the Pacific ocean, close to current Australia. This nomad shiver of sharks was full of fearless and strong warriors who, like other shivers of mer-sharks, would hunt for food and engage into fights with other shivers both for resources and breeding. The Fshalkirr, consisting of no more than 7-10 members, were considered once as one of the deadliest shivers. They didn't have a God or an established representative figure that would justify their actions. They acted for pride, survival and to satiate their blood thirst, since they believed themselves to be the most perfect race. This was until the first oracle was born. As opposite to all of the warriors, this child was weak and his eyes were shadowed by the veil of blindness. The shiver soon shunk him, even threatened him with death if he would keep interfering or getting in the warriors way. However, this mer had a unique ability to hear the tides and understand the sea's word. Many times did he tell his fellow shiver members about the dangers and many more times was he punished for being a nuisance. However, every time he said something, his prophecy was fulfilled. After a particularly devastating event, the tribe was reduced to 4 members. Just 1 warrior woman, 2 warriors and that blind weak boy. The other sea sharks were quickly avenging all the dreadful deeds the Fhalkirr did to them and, being these outnumbered, fighting was not an option if they wanted to survive. So they turned to the blind oracle for guidance. He took them to the most hidden caves or to furthest places and they didn't stop until they finally felt save and repopulated the tribe with more numbers. However, the tides whispered about a terrible event. Fire raining down the skies that would end all life as it was known.
Worried of this new event, the oracle guided his people deeper, so deep that even the tides erased their existence.

The Fhalkirr never saw the light of the sun or the vastness of the sky ever again.

Society

With each new generation, the Fhalkirr became more and more resistant to the water pressure, allowing them to live deeper under the sea than normal sharks would do. Their eyes started to adapt to the permanent darkness of the deep, weakened to the light but now able to see in the dark, and their other senses, specially hearing and smelling, increased. 

Their society was still warrior based but now there was always a "Whisperer of the Tides" who would guide them. Everybody needed to be strong to survive by themselves, but also to protect the shiver from bigger and scarier enemies. Their biggest threat was known as "That What Lives Bellow" - nightmerish creatures living in the deeper levels of the abyss. They also had a deepness restriction meaning that diving deeper would result in certain death either by sea creatures, sea pressure or by getting lost in the complete labyrinthic darkness. 

They never dared to ascend back to other levels of the sea, specially the shore as they still believed there was fire raining from the skyes.

While everybody was focusing on the shiver's survival, the Whisperer's role was to teach the next Whisperer how to understand the Voice of the Tides, lead and come up with better ways to improve their lives. Of course, not anyone can become the next Oracle, the person had to have a preexisting gift.

Their society was still closed, since they never even interacted with other being outside their circle. Harsher conditions and conception difficulties gave place to new generations with different mutantions and biological changes. Albinism and hermafroditism became normal and even more appreciated. Biologically, the concept of a "man" and a "woman" no longer aplied to their race and sexually they would rather identify as "seeders" or "carriers"

Zenith' Story

Zenith was born many decades ago, quickly adapting to the tribe's standards and embracing its culture and beliefs. However, he was different from the others and special since he is able to feel people's aura. He was able to read those who surrounded him like an open book. He knew when people were lying, were angry or sad and he was easily able to commune with them. That caught the attention of their current Whisperer who thought its a sign that Zenith should be the next Whisperer. So he started learning botany, healing, fauna and surroundings and he deepened his ability to connect with people. However, even if he was able to sometimes feel the Tide's voice, it was in a very abstract way and it was never a clear message. After constant failing, the Whisperer gave up on him and appointed a new one with a similar ability to feel the nature. Zenith became a warrior together with the rest of the mer-sharks.

When time came, he chose to be a carrier, however, being prideful as he was and already quite an experienced hunter, he wanted to mate with the strongest member. Many members tried taking on Zenith but ended up wounded by his claws or with a permanent bloodied mark of his teeth in their skin. Until finally someone managed to dominate Zenith with their superior muscular strength. Countless tries happened, many more were born dead or completely deformed but finally nature rewarded them with a baby who they named Zyo.

Time went on and while their tribe continued the same, society on shore progressed and so, one day, the Fhalkirr made contact with their first human swimmers. Humans had never seen creatures like those sharks, so they wanted to study them. The Fhalhkirr interpreted them as enemies who meant harm, so they fought back fiercelly against those who were now trying to take away their members. However, they didn't count with the fact that these strangers had the help of strange devices able to kill them from far. With is own eyes, Zenith saw his son and his mate drowning to their deaths. In fact, everyone around 

That event tormented him for the next years. He felt the weight of enormous guilt for not helping his family and tribe and the trauma of this blood shred bigger than anything he had ever seen. He self-exiled and chose to live a lone life. It was better this way. 

One night, he felt the scent of blood. He hadn't eat for days because there were no preys big enough for him to consume. He swam, following the scent until he saw a strange furry figure with massive limbs coming out from its back. It was still alive, but drowning. It would be his meal. However, when he came closer and saw its face, it reminded him his lost son and dead tribe. The memories haunted him. He couldn't let it die yet he remembered the stories of why it was dangerous to the shore. He was expecting a rain of fire and burning rocks. Yet this creature came from the shore, same way as the humans that attacked them. He took a risk and swam with the body to shore where, of course, there was no apocalypse happening. The being was grateful for saving him. It was emotive, energetic, moving its arms and those strange limbs up and down while speaking quickly things that he couldn't understand. Zenith just nodded and got ready to go back to the sea, but the being didn't want him to leave. Ignoring it, Zenith dived into the water but then he heard a splash. The being had jumped once more even tho it was obvious that it couldn't swim or breath under-water. Zenith took it again to the shore, and snarled, angry, at its stupidity but then he looked at it carefully. It looked like those tail-less human with 2 limbs growing from its hips, but these limbs were hairy and clawed and on its back there were still those strange big extremities. On its head there were 2 long fins... no, ears and its teeth, tho pointy, only were canines. The rest of the teeth were too small to be dangerous. The boy introduced himself as Yone. Tho they spoke different languages, Zenith understood that this boy was no bigger than a cub and he was completely alone in the world. Yone only wanted to have a friend.

Later on, Yone told him that he was being chased for being special, but he couldn't understand what was this special feature that human might be interested in. He had been in captivity for almost all his life and only now he was able to escape the facility he was being held in. He was scared that they would catch him again and asked Zenith for help. Since the mer-shark never used a human form, they had to travel in the sea, but Yone was deeply scared of water so they had to make constant stops in caves and hidden places. Constant adventures made them closer and soon there was romantic tension. Their romance advanced, but Yone was still uncomfortable, so progress was slow. 

They were ambushed by Yone's chasers and forced to flee to the Amazonian forest where they were healed and helped by a human couple of indigenous hermits: Asha and Lozzo. Thanks to them, Zenith was able to understand better the culture of the shore and Yone's reluctance to progress their relationship. However, they were found once more by Yone's chasers who didn't hesitate to kill the human hermits as a way to incentive Yone to come with them on his own free will. Seeing the death of the hermits who had become his parental figures and that now they were threatening to kill Zenith, made Yone snap. He transformed into a huge winged monster with immense strength and completely annihilated his chasers. Zenith tried to calm him down but received his current face scars and lost his left eye. 

Later on, they established in a tiny hidden island in the Bermuda Triangle. A place that still nobody was able to discover became their little paradise.

Strengths and powers

Zenith is a shark, a merman who had been living in the wild all his life. He has 2 lines of razor-like sharp teeth and mighty jaw able to tear apart meat and rip of limbs. He has great hearing and smelling capabilities, able to locate a prey under-water up to 1 Km away. He is also a fast swimmer and, thanks to his shark scales, he can be extremely silent. 

Because he didn't lead a sedentary life full of comfort, his senses are completely untouched by modern life. And so he is able to sense things that other beings simply lost the ability to. He can understand people in a deeper connection if he chooses to take the time to lean about them. Also, sometimes he is able to understand the Tides even if not always he is correct in his interpretations.

Finally, he knows a lot of good under sea natural remedies for different illnesses or wounds.

Trivia

- The tribe has no concept of time. The light doesn't reach in the deepness of the sea and, being nomad, they sleep, eat and rest when they feel the need. This means that Zenith doesn't know his age or when was he born

- Zenith is albino and his normal eye colour is purple. However, he lost his left eye to a progressive cataract that was forming year by year. It only got worse when Yone unintentionally wounded his eye making him completely loose sight

- He doesn't like to be called any other names but Zenith. Not even Zen as an abbreviation. He says that Zen is just another completely different name. Also, tribe didn't use surnames but to identify the origins of each offspring, the name of the child must start with the same letter as the Carrier parent. Its considered as an honor and a way to thank the Carrier for having the child

- Speaking of language curiosities: Zenith speaks the dead language of his tribe. A language made of sounds for easier communication under water. This language has no words for any of the land objects (example: tree, birds, dogs, house, etc). As a matter of pride, he thinks that his language is the superior and thus he should not speak any other languages. When Yone met him, he tried to learn his language to better understand and interact with Zenith who, in the beginning, was skeptical to teach him. He thought that a lowly "shore crawler" should not dare to even attempt to speak his language. However, seeing how stubborn was Yone, he taught him. In the beginning he didn't even want to attempt to learn English or even explore it further from the 2-3 daily words that have no translation in his language. However, after a major fight with Yone, he started learning it. He finds it difficult tho. His memory retention is awful and his English is very broken

- He loves taking care of his hair, which is almost as long as his full body, but he hates cutting it off. Every time Yone insists that he should cut it at least for the dead ends, its always an argument. Reason is, of course, culture and traditions. In his tribe all the members believed in the purity of nature and had the believe that nature is absolute and they should not change anything about it. Zenith would not even want to listen about any kind of body modifications like piercings, tattoos and even cutting his hair, which he lets grow wild. However, sometimes Yone actually manages to convince him to cut it a bit just to allow it to grow stronger and healthier. If he were to transform to his human form, Zenith would be a living male Rapunzel as his hair is more than 2m long.

- The marks in his body are neither tattoos not body paint. They are completely natural birth marks and coloring as a result to defective genes. Then, all his scars are either from fights against sea creatures, fights against tribe members, Yone hurting him when loosing control or heat during breeding. After all, his impulses and instincts are those of a wild shark and during copulation sharks tend to bite and scratch their partners to get them in the mood (yes, we can say that Zenith is kinda masochistic)

- Zenith doesn't like using his human form. He is able to transform, but the process is immensely painful. Also, this form is very unstable and he is not always able to control the changing back. But most importantly is, because of the genetic malfunctions, his pulmonary respiration is undeveloped and after a brief period of time he starts to have difficulties to process the air and breath. However, the gills in his merman form are developed enough to be able to process air as well as water even tho, again, he cannot breath air for long

- His healthy eye is not used to daylight so he can get easily blinded by the sun. He usually sleeps during the day and is awake when the sun goes down. Since his partner Yone is a bat, he also sleeps during the day, making it easy for both of them to keep their relationship