Aria sat quietly on her favourite rock beside the pool. Her legs were drawn tightly against her chest in a futile attempt to ward off the ever-present chill. The cavern's silence was as unrelenting as the cold, broken only by the faint echo of dripping water. Yet tonight, something felt different. The stillness hung heavier, the air sharper, carrying a weight she couldn't explain. A knot of unease tightened in her stomach, growing with every passing moment.

A ripple formed on the otherwise still surface of the pool. It was only a slight movement, something she would have easily missed if she hadn't been staring at it. Her pulse quickened and her heart sank. Her dread multiplied with every second. For days, Kaelen had been distant, his visits brief and brooding. Now, with the silence pressing down on her like a weight, her instincts screamed that whatever he had been planning was about to unfold. And she had a feeling it had something to do with the ritual. He had told her he would wait, for now.

Her breath caught when the water exploded in a spray of icy droplets. Kaelen burst from the depths like a predator, his muscular tail slicing through the water with force. He loomed over her, his piercing blue eyes fixed on hers. The usual smug arrogance she'd grown to resent was gone, replaced by something far more unsettling: unshakable determination.

"Kaelen," she said, her voice trembling as she scrambled backward on the slick rock. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer, didn't even blink. Instead, he surged forward with terrifying speed, his clawed hands seizing her wrists in an unrelenting grip.

"Let me go!" she shrieked, her voice cracking with raw panic. She clawed at his hands, nails raking against his unyielding grip, but it was like trying to scratch stone. Her feet scrambled against the slick surface of the rock, seeking any hold, any anchor to stop his relentless advance. Water sprayed around them as she kicked out wildly, but Kaelen's grip didn't waver.

Her heart thundered in her chest as she twisted and thrashed, desperation fuelling every motion. "Stop! Please!" she begged, the words tearing from her throat and echoing off the cavern walls. The sound came back to her, distorted and hollow, swallowed by the oppressive space around them. It felt like the cave itself was mocking her.

Kaelen remained silent, his cold, focused determination more terrifying than any threat he could have voiced. His piercing blue eyes locked on hers, unyielding and devoid of empathy. The weight of his gaze pinned her down as much as his grip did.

Then, with one powerful flick of his tail, he yanked her off her feet. The world tilted, her stomach dropping as she hurtled toward the dark water below.

"No!" she shrieked, the word tearing from her lips as the ocean consumed her.

The icy shock of the water stole the breath from her lungs, a sharp, unforgiving force that locked her chest in a painful vice. The cold pressed against her from all sides, merciless and unrelenting, dragging her under before her limbs could obey her frantic command to fight back. Her screams dissolved into muffled, broken gasps, bubbles bursting to the surface as the water swallowed her whole. Darkness enveloped her, disorienting and smothering, as her hair fanned out like tendrils of brown ink, curling and twisting around her face.

Memories crashed into her, sharp and brutal as the cold itself. She was back in that moment—the first time she had been taken. The same paralysing fear gripped her, the same choking sense of helplessness that had stripped her of her breath and will. It was as if she'd been thrown into an endless loop of her worst nightmare, the feeling of being powerless in the face of something unstoppable.

Her lungs burned, demanding air, but she couldn't surface. The water seemed alive, pulling her deeper, its weight crushing her from every angle. The sensation was suffocating, just as it had been when he had first captured her. The rough hands, the unrelenting force, the way her pleas had been swallowed by the empty void of indifference.

She kicked and thrashed wildly, but it was useless. Kaelen's claws dug into her arms, unyielding as he propelled them both deeper. Her lungs burned as she struggled to hold her breath, her mind spinning with panic. The currents pulled at her limbs, her vision blurring as the cold seeped into her bones.

I can't do this again. I can't.

Just when she thought her chest would explode, Kaelen broke the surface in another cavern, dragging her up with him. Aria inhaled sharply, the air burning her throat as she coughed and spluttered. The cold water clung to Aria's skin like icy chains, sapping her strength with every panicked thrash. Her breath came in ragged gasps as Kaelen's grip remained unyielding, dragging her deeper into the shadowed cavern. Her mind raced a torrent of half-formed thoughts and futile plans. How had it come to this? How had her life been reduced to this nightmare?

"Let me go!" she screamed; her voice raw with desperation. The echo of her plea bounced off the cavern walls, mocking her. Kaelen didn't so much as flinch. His expression was resolute, his jaw set in a way that made her stomach churn. She kicked at him, claws of terror digging into her heart, but his strength far outmatched hers. It always had.

"Stop fighting me, Alaria," Kaelen said, his voice low and laced with something almost tender. "You're only making this harder on yourself."

"Harder? You were drowning me!" she spat, her fists pounding weakly against his chest.

Kaelen's eyes darkened, and for a fleeting moment, a flicker of something akin to pain crossed his face. "You'll see. This is the only way."

A familiar feminine voice broke through the chaos, hesitant and soft. "Kaelen... maybe—maybe we should stop. She's terrified."

Aria's heart leapt at the sound of the priestess's voice. "Sepiia! Please, you have to help me!"

But Sepiia wouldn't meet her eyes. The priestess's hands trembled as she clutched a beautiful blue ceremonial blade at her side, her face pale and pinched with conflict. "I—I don't agree with this, Kaelen," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "But—" she paused as if debating her next words carefully before continuing a moment later. "I have no choice."

"You always have a choice!" Aria shouted, her voice breaking with desperation. "You don't have to be his pawn!"

Sepiia flinched as though struck, but Kaelen's voice cut through like steel. "Enough. Sepiia, you're my oldest friend. I need you now more than ever."

"Oldest friend," Sepiia murmured, almost to herself. Her gaze flickered to Aria, and for a moment, there was a softness there—a flicker of guilt, of love. "I was supposed to be more than just your priestess, Kaelen," she said bitterly. "But I swore to serve you. I can't turn my back on that now."

Aria's stomach twisted as the weight of Sepiia's words settled over her. She had been abandoned. Aria's pleas faltered, replaced by a silence heavy with despair. Her body trembled, but not from the cold water soaking her. It was the crushing weight of inevitability that stole her strength.

Kaelen pulled her into a narrow passageway, the walls slick with moisture and the air heavy with an unearthly chill. The cavern opened into a larger chamber, its floor uneven and covered in shallow pools of freezing water. At its centre, an altar carved from jagged stone stood waiting, ominous and eternal.

Aria shrieked, clawing at the edges of the passageway, desperate to stop her forward momentum. Her nails scraped uselessly against the stone as Kaelen dragged her ever closer to the altar.

"You'll thank me one day," Kaelen said, his voice unshaken, though a shadow flickered behind his eyes. "This ritual—it's the only way."

"I'll never understand!" Aria's voice cracked, raw and defiant. "And I'll never belong to you!"

Kaelen flinched, his grip faltering for a heartbeat. But the moment passed, replaced by a cold resolve that sent a shiver down her spine. "You already do," he whispered, the words as much for himself as for her. "You just don't know it yet."

He resumed his advance, his movements slow but deliberate. The altar loomed ahead, its jagged surface illuminated by an eerie, flickering light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. Shadows danced wildly on the cavern walls, twisting into grotesque shapes that mirrored the turmoil in Aria's heart.

Sepiia trailed behind hesitantly, her gaze flicking between Kaelen and Aria. Aria wanted to scream at her, to shake her free from whatever bonds tied her to this madness. But her voice was gone, swallowed by the oppressive silence of the chamber.

Kaelen stopped in front of the altar, his grip on Aria firm but no longer painful. He turned to face her, his expression a mask of resolve, though the storm in his eyes betrayed the conflict within.

"This is for you," he said, his voice low and strained. "For us."

Aria's breath hitched. "For us? You're delusional! This—this is not love, Kaelen! It's madness!" Her voice broke, raw and desperate.

"You can't force someone to stay with you. You can't build something real on fear." Tears build up in her eyes.

Kaelen flinched, the words hitting him like a physical blow. For a moment, his grip slackened, and Aria dared to hope. But then his jaw tightened, and the fleeting vulnerability was gone, replaced by the unyielding mask of a man convinced of his own righteousness.

"I'm saving you," he said, his voice trembling as if he was now trying to convince himself as well as her. "Saving you from a world that doesn't deserve you. From a fate that would destroy you."

Aria teared up. "You're not saving me. You're destroying me."

A sharp intake of breath from behind drew both their gazes to Sepiia. The priestess stood frozen, the ceremonial blade clutched tightly in her hands, her face a portrait of inner turmoil. "Kaelen," she said softly, her voice wavering. "Maybe she's right. Maybe this isn't the way."

Kaelen's eyes narrowed. "Don't, Sepiia. Don't waver now. You know what's at stake."

"What's at stake?" Sepiia's voice rose, cracking with emotion. "Her life? Her freedom? Is that worth this? Because at this rate, that's exactly what she's losing."

Kaelen's tail lashed out, sending a spray of water across the chamber. "You swore an oath!" he growled, his voice a mix of anger and desperation. "You said you would follow me, no matter what."

"I did," Sepiia whispered. "But I didn't swear to become a monster."

The air between them crackled with tension. Aria watched, her heart pounding, the alliance between the two seemed to waver for a moment. The glare Kaelen sent Sepiia was enough to make even Aria flinch.

"Sepiia," Aria said, her voice soft but insistent. Kaelen's glare shot towards her, but Aria pointedly ignored it and quickly continued talking; "You don't have to do this. You can stop this."

The priestess met Aria's gaze, and for a moment, Sepiia's gaze softened enough to give her hope, but then Kaelen stepped between them, his towering presence cutting off the fragile connection.

"This ends now," he said, his voice like stone. "Sepiia, perform the ritual."

Aria's heart sank, but she refused to give in to despair. If she had to fight until her last breath, she would.

Sepiia's voice trembled as she began to chant, the ancient Alathai words filling the cavern with a haunting resonance. The air grew heavier, charged with an unnatural energy that made Aria's skin crawl. The water in the pools around them began to ripple, drawn toward the altar as though by an unseen force. A soft golden glow, unlike anything Aria had seen in this underwater world, brightened the cave. Strange symbols formed on the rock walls, that same golden light illuminating each symbol.

"Stop this!" Aria screamed, her voice raw. "Sepiia, please!"

The priestess hesitated, her hands faltering mid-gesture. "Kaelen," Sepiia said, her voice breaking, "are you sure about this? There's no going back."

"I've never been more sure of anything," he said firmly. "Do it."

Tears slipped down Sepiia's cheeks as she resumed the ritual, her voice cracking but unwavering. The cavern filled with an eerie glow, and Aria's struggles grew weaker as the energy enveloped her. Her vision blurred, her thoughts fragmenting as the world around her dissolved into light and shadow. Her legs tingled and a sudden numbness washed over her feet.

Aria's desperate pleas turned to sobs as she fought against the transformation, her nails scraping against the rocks in a desperate bid to pull herself free. The glowing symbols on the walls seemed to pulse in time with her racing heartbeat, the light growing brighter and more intense.

"Please," she begged, her voice cracking. "Don't do this to me. Please." She didn't want to be part of this world. She wanted to be home where she belonged, on the surface. Perhaps as a child, she would have loved the idea of becoming a mermaid, but this was anything but a fairy tale. There was no prince in shining armour to save her. Instead, there was Kaelen, a merman who appeared one day and stole her from everything she knew. Was this how her story would end? Transformed and stuck in this world for the rest of her miserable life?

Aria's tear-filled eyes found Sepiia's green ones. Her voice continued to ring out and echo through the cave. But then her chant wavered and Sepiia faltered.

"Sepiia!" Kaelen barked, his voice harsh. "Finish it!"

But the mermaid hesitated, her hands hovering above the altar where Kaelen still held Aria in an unrelenting hold.

"She doesn't want this," she said, her voice trembling. "Kaelen, she's terrified. This isn't right."

Kaelen's expression darkened, his claws curling into fists. "Do it. Now."

Sepiia shook her head, pulling her hands back, the ceremonial knife she had been clutching dropping from her hands and splashing into the water. "I can't."

The water in the rockpools around them slowly settled, the current disappearing as Sepiia stopped the ritual. Her song was no longer the propeller of the ritual.

The tingling in Aria's legs and the numbness in her feet disappeared, and the golden glow around her dimmed.

In an instant, Kaelen's temper exploded. With a furious roar, he lunged at Sepiia, his claws raking across her shoulder. She cried out, the sound sharp and pained, as she recoiled from the blow.

"Kaelen, stop!" Aria screamed, her voice cutting through the chaos.

But Kaelen was relentless. His tail lashed through the water as he struck again, his claws tearing into Sepiia with savage force. Blood bloomed in the water, staining it crimson as Sepiia crumpled, her green tail thrashing weakly.

"No!" Aria's voice broke as she reached out, tears streaming down her face. "Sepiia, no!"

Kaelen turned to her, his chest heaving, his face contorted with fury. For a moment, she thought he might lash out at her too, but his expression shifted—something darker and more resolute. Without a word, he seized her upper arm in a vice-like grip. Aria screamed, twisting and clawing at him, but her struggles were futile. She was too weak, too shaken. He dragged her back into the icy water, the glowing light of the ritual fading behind them, leaving Sepiia bloodied and alone in the darkness.

Kaelen's grip was unrelenting as they swam back to the cave, his silence heavier than the oppressive water surrounding them. The confidence that had driven him to force the ritual seemed fractured, his movements tense and jerky. Yet Aria could think only of Sepiia—her friend, bleeding silently into the ocean. When Kaelen had pulled her away, Sepiia had been motionless. She had sided with him at first, but in the end, she'd tried to stop it. And she had paid the price.