Idriz struggled to give his consent to the leader even though it was the only peaceful resolution to their stand off. Syryn would be carried off into the watery depths of Silisia and there was nothing they could do short of getting into a bloody fight with the merpeople. A fight they were bound to lose.

Right then, the mage came to with a confused look on his face.

"Syryn," Idriz said to the man who was slowly looking around like a baby animal that was just born.

There was no recognition on Syryn's face.

"You are called Syryn?" The merman asked him. As imposing as he was, the merman couldn't stop himself from staring at the half-demon.

The confused mage looked at the merman and the other people around him. "Syryn?" He said in a low voice, furrowing his brows like he wasn't sure about what was happening.

"Idriz, is he mentally deficient?" The merman asked as he noted the unusual behaviour of their captive.

Idriz was just as flummoxed as Syryn. The mage's strange behaviour was... strange. He wondered if Syryn had heard their conversation and was feigning foolishness.

"Yes," Idriz said as he stared at Syryn. The merchant decided it was simpler to go along with Syryn's act just in case he was acting.

"That is unfortunate," the merman replied. He stepped closer to the mage and hauled him to his feet.

"Let go-! Where are you taking me?!" Syryn loudly asked as he looked around him in alarm.

"Don't fight me, human. You might get hurt if you struggle too hard." Saying so, the merman clamped down on Syryn's arm and pulled him away to the deck where the other mermen were waiting.

The mage was helplessly led along to the railing. There, the merman placed an amulet on a chain around Syryn's neck. The mage allowed it with great reluctance and was tossed overboard into the water where another merman caught him.

"Captain, what about the squall?" A crewman asked.

Idriz sighed in displeasure while he watched the mermen evacuate his ship.

"We'll wait it out for another night. There's nothing else to be done about it."

_______

The transformation magic was almost instantaneous. Syryn felt a pair of gills erupt from the skin behind his ears.

"He's ready," one of the mermen informed their leader after careful inspection of Syryn's new gills.

"Syryn," the merman called out to him.

The mage showed no recognition of his own name. He racked his brains and squeezed his mind but all memories eluded his grasp like slippery wisps of smoke. He failed to recall anything about himself or how he had gotten into such a dicey situation in the middle of the ocean. Syryn though somehow realised he was under the effects of some form of amnesia. He wasn't sure how he knew about that either.

"Yes," he answered. He didn't know if Syryn really was his name but he decided to answer to it since he needed a name anyway.

"So that is truly your name then."

Syryn nodded. He saw no point in struggling when he was at such a great disadvantage. Common sense told him that whether he struggled or not, he was getting taken away. He understood that cooperation was his best form of defence for the moment.

The merman had some sympathy for the mentally deficient human whose beauty was as sweet as honey. Why their tracker reacted to him as if he was the Sage's pearl was a mystery they were going to figure out after they entered the waters of Silisia.

"Dive beneath the water and try breathing through your gills."

Syryn obeyed. The ocean was warm and salty. He licked the salt off his lip and submerged himself underwater. The first stream of water inside his gills felt intrusive and unwelcome. He instinctively clamped his palms over the gills and held it there till he felt a sense of suffocation.

The mage opened his mouth and released a few bubbles. As the spherical balls of air rose to the surface, he suffered a split second of panic but it was gone just as fast as it had arrived.

Who was he? Why was he getting kidnapped by the merpeople?

The mermen saw that Syryn had adapted to his gills. The leader held Syryn's hand and pulled him deeper into the ocean. The mage followed obediently. He looked behind him one last time at the fading light of the sun. There was a sense of loss that eclipsed every other emotion he was feeling. Syryn wondered if he had a home. He hoped that he did. He hoped that he was going to be missed if the merpeople killed him.

The deeper they swam, the darker the waters became. Sound was reduced to a muffled hum. An eerie creepy sense of being crushed in every direction by the water enveloped his consciousness. But soon, his body adjusted to the crushing feeling as they kept gaining depth. When the darkness had become everything, a glow in the distance emerged as an island of refuge for the mage's weary eyes.

Syryn kept his gaze fixed to the glow as they swam towards it. The outlines of what was a giant water metropolis came into their sights. Eyes alight in wonder, Syryn was led through a tall kelp forest. He spied fish of all kinds slipping past the slimy kelp leaves that brushed against his skin.

"Syryn, can you hear me?" The merman ahead of him asked.

"Yes," he answered. The transformation to his biology wasn't just restricted to the gills. Syryn's ears had also changed to perceive sound better in the water.

Appearing satisfied with his answer, the merman turned to lead them on through the kelp forest.

_____

At the boundary of Silisia, colourful corals grew in a ring. It served as a protective wall around the grand mer-kingdom. Merpeople were swimming in and out of the gaps between the tall coral walls.

The diversity of body types and colours was most obvious when surrounded by so many of their kind. He noticed that green and blue scales seemed to be more common colours amongst the merpeople. Syryn also spotted one with pearlescent white scales, the prettiest so far. When one mermaid swam past him, Syryn noticed her breasts were uncovered. Somehow he knew that he'd seen a pair that was bigger and lovelier.

Syryn was then led through one of the holes in the coral when he almost bumped into an exiting shark. The carnivorous creature evaded him gracefully and swam out of the hole, leaving behind a surprised mage.

Ahead of him rose a monolithic crystal tower that gave off light and illuminated the surrounding area in a soft glow. Unable to contain his natural curiosity, Syryn asked the merman about the glowing monolith.

"That's a lunar pillar," he said to the mage. "It absorbs celestial light for half a year before we bring it down for use into the kingdom."

"And how long does it shine under water?"

"Half a year."

"Fascinating."

No kidnapped amnesiac was this excited about their kidnapping, Syryn surmised. It would have been different if he had his memories or was aware of what fate held in store for him.