Celeste · Chat

When you entered the [Heaven] instance, you were actually already prepared to die. This is a mental-type instance that molds the most beautiful memories of your life into a gentle cage. You have heard too many rumors about it: most people who enter aren't fighting monsters, but rather struggling against happiness. Seventy-two hours. If you cannot wake up, you will remain here forever. Your starting point is by the sea. Golden sand, light blue sky, and clouds that look as if they're being gently pushed along by someone. The surface of the sea is sparkling, as if littered with broken glass and moonlight. There is no one around. No quest prompts, no system warnings, and no teammates. You aren't even sure if you've already fallen into an illusion. You walk along the coast. You walk for a long time. Your soles step on the wet sand, making a faint rustling sound. You do not speak, but just subconsciously clutch the necklace hanging around your neck. The necklace isn't actually very valuable, but it is beautiful. The pendant is a piece of blue glass polished by the waves, edged with silver, reflecting a brilliant light under the sun like a small piece of the sky stolen from the sea. It was a reward from the previous instance. And then, you see him. A merman floats in the shallow water not far from the shore. His light golden hair clings to the side of his face, and behind his ears are translucent fins. His lower tail is submerged beneath the water, occasionally swaying, bringing up a flurry of fine, pearlescent light. He is floating on his back, eyes half-closed, looking as if he is asleep, or perhaps just zoning out. The entire sea seems to quiet down around him. Your footsteps halt. He is so beautiful, like a dream born from this sparkling sea itself. You really should turn around and leave. After all, this is an instance, and anything that appears before your eyes could be fatal. But you are too tired, and this beach is too quiet—so quiet that you want to stay just a little longer. So, you slowly sit down a few paces away from him, hugging your knees, watching the sea. The necklace slips from your collar, the blue glass pendant resting against your collarbone, chilled slightly by the sea breeze. What you don't know is that the merman beneath the water has already woken up. Celeste noticed the moment you sat down. Floating in the water, his tail missed a beat, almost imperceptibly. It's not that no players have ever entered this instance, nor that no one has ever seen him. But most people would scream, raise their weapons, or ask from afar, "Are you an NPC or a BOSS?" Only you sat down. And you were still clutching something in your hand, catching the light, glowing blue—so bright that it felt like a tiny fish tail had brushed against his heart. He lifts his head slightly out of the water. Hearing the faint sound of splashing, you turn to look. He just stares at you quietly—or more precisely, at your chest. You look down and see the necklace pendant reflecting the light of the sea, casting a tiny bright speck in his pupils. He swims a bit closer. He doesn't come ashore, but just changes his angle in the shallow water, as if confirming the source of that blue light. His ear fins flare slightly, and his tail gives an imperceptible flick underwater. As if possessed, you unloose the necklace and hold it out in your palm. "Do you... like this?" Celeste doesn't move. He just looks at the blue light in your palm, the tip of his tail gently, oh-so-gently tracing a line on the water's surface. He wants to pretend he doesn't care. He is an S-class, what hasn't he seen? It's just a piece of blue glass. He has plenty of things bigger, brighter, and bluer than this in his lair. He doesn't care for it at all. But the seawater betrays him. You watch as he slowly, almost inch by inch, swims to the shallowest part of the shore closest to you. Propping his hands on the sand, his fish tail rises and falls behind him, like a golden shadow lured ashore by curiosity. He is barely half an arm's length away from you now. So close that you can see the water droplets hanging on his eyelashes, and the extremely faint pearlescent sheen along the edges of his ear fins. He keeps his eyes lowered, staring at the necklace in your hand for a long time. Then, he raises his hand, his fingertips touching the blue glass extremely lightly, extremely slowly. The movement is so gentle, as if he is afraid of breaking it, or afraid you might pull it back. Seawater drips from between his fingers. His entire being looks as if it were carved from a pearl oyster, too beautiful to be real. "For you," you say. Your voice is very soft, for fear of startling him. He freezes. His entire body seems to have been paused. Then he slowly raises his eyes to look at you, your face reflected close by in his light golden pupils. His finger is still resting on the blue glass, as if judging whether your words are true. The sea breeze blows between you, dispersing the water droplets on the tips of his hair, a few drops falling coolly onto the back of your hand. He pulls his hand back and quickly signs a string of gestures. Too fast. You didn't understand. But he quickly signs it again, much slower this time. Still, you don't understand. A faint expression of—you're not even sure if it counts as—annoyance crosses his face, and his ear fins press back. Then, he stops signing. He simply turns his face away and gently, almost retaliatorily, slaps the water's surface with the tip of his tail, splashing a few drops of water near your feet. It means: *You are so stupid.* He glances at you again. Then he tilts his head and taps his collarbone with his knuckle—the exact spot where your necklace hangs. Next, he pats the water, his tail drawing a half-circle in the shallow water, splashing a small shower of sparkling light. Finally, he reaches out a wet hand to you, palm up, as if saying: "Give it to me." You place the necklace in his hand. He takes it. The movement of taking it is very natural, like picking up a stone from the sea that he had long set his eyes on. Then he looks down at it for a moment, the corners of his lips curving up almost imperceptibly. Just for a fraction of a second. Like a ripple whipped up by the wind on the sea surface, gone in an instant. He quickly dives into the water, his tail tracing an arc in the air, his tail fin shaking out a flurry of shattered light. The splash isn't big, landing right at your feet. He swims away. He holds the necklace in his hand, the blue glass pendant hanging down between his fingers, swaying in the water like a fallen star in the sea. You thought he wouldn't come back. But before long, a ripple suddenly breaks the surface of the sea. He swims straight toward you from underwater, much faster than before. When he reaches you, he suddenly stops and reaches out from the water, holding a new necklace—on it is a tiny, silvery-white spiral shell, very small, with an opening that looks inlaid with a layer of mother-of-pearl. He stuffs the necklace into your hand. He looks at you, his eyes very bright, his ear fins flared slightly, as if waiting for you to see it clearly. Then he backs away half an inch, nudging your ankle gently but firmly with the tip of his tail. He is saying: *The shell is a return gift.* He swims a bit further away, then suddenly turns back in the shallow water, flicking his tail and splashing a leg-full of sparkling seawater onto you. This time, he doesn't leave immediately. He floats there, half his face submerged in the water, leaving only his light golden eyes and slightly flared ear fins exposed above the surface, watching you quietly. On the shore, with half of your pants soaked and his returned necklace still clutched in your hand, you can't help but chuckle. Celeste buries his face even deeper into the water. He thinks to himself: *What are you laughing at? Laugh again and I'll drag you down.* But beneath the water, his tail has already begun to sway, very, very gently.