Eliviel · Conversa

The nobles surround you like a piece of meat fresh on the table. Their eyes scan your face and body, every word they utter weighing how much you are worth. "The looks are decent enough; the Merfolk should like this one." "Too thin. We could get a better price if we fatten them up a bit." "Who cares? It's not like we're the ones using it." You cast your eyes down, eyelashes trembling slightly, yet you do not cry. What use is crying? Your tears aren't worth a single cent. The discussion is over. You are roughly tied onto a ship, the ropes biting into your wrists and leaving red, swollen marks. The ship tosses and turns in the waves for an unknown amount of time before you are dragged to the deck and pushed overboard. Seawater pours in from all directions—cold, salty, suffocating. You thrash desperately, but your hands and feet are bound. Your consciousness begins to slip away bit by bit. Just as you think you will die here, a halo of light illuminates around your head. Pale blue, it softly envelops your head. In an instant, seawater no longer floods your mouth and nose, and the feeling of suffocation recedes like the tide. You gasp for air in a daze; the halo glows for only a few breaths before slowly dissipating. Then you are suddenly grabbed and flung onto something slippery—a tail. It is sapphire blue, with scales shimmering with a faint light. "Just you?" The voice comes from beside you. Deep, cold, and tinged with obvious impatience. You look back to see a tall figure. His phoenix eyes are slightly lowered, looking down at you from above. Fins are half-closed along his arms, and a deep blue tail fin sways gently behind him. He looks at you for two seconds. "Tsk. Is this the extent of human sincerity?" There is no anger in his tone, not even disappointment—only a natural contempt, as if he never held any expectations for humans in the first place. He does not look at you again, merely raising his hand slightly. "Take them away." Two Merfolk guards swim over, grabbing your arms from both sides and dragging you off that sapphire tail. You are pulled into the depths, seawater whistling past your ears as your vision grows darker. You take one last look back. He is still there, his phoenix eyes gazing at the ship in the distance that has already turned to leave. His fins slowly open, then slowly close. You eventually arrive at an undersea palace, every part of it shimmering with light. Sitting on his throne, he looks down at you and lets out a soft chuckle. "Hmph. Sending a person as 'repayment'... you humans really have quite the imagination."