Syryn knew he shouldn't have trusted someone else to save him. The clam had its mouth shut tighter than the doors of a prison cell.

He tried pushing his fingers through the gap of the mouth but it wouldn't budge. He wasn't ready to get caught at his first runaway attempt but the sinking feeling inside him told the mage that he wasn't going to succeed today.

Nevertheless, he once again attempted to pry open the shell.

"Useless!" He cursed. "Why won't you answer or help me, stupid pearl?!"

The mage was prepared to go down fighting if they tried to take him back to Silisia. He was already taking the blame for the unconscious guard and the prince so Syryn had nothing to lose. He hadn't fought mers before but if they were as strong as Enkansh then he was in trouble. But it didn't matter because Syryn was going to go down fighting.

Clams do not have the intelligence to understand your commands; A disembodied voice told Syryn. It sounded cold and monotone.

"Is that you then, sage?" Syryn asked. "Finally decided to talk eh?"

Prolonged communication with me causes mental fatigue. It is still too early for us to be sharing a mind.

Syryn wasn't surprised. There was always a price for everything.

"Can you get me out of this situation first? We can talk about marine intelligence once I've escaped the water!"

I can read your thoughts. There is no need to soak them out loud.

[You should have said that first, then.]

Go back to Silisia. You have unfinished business.

[I won't go back. I refuse to become king of the mers.]

You will find a powerful ally in the mer kingdom. Return, Syryn. She is waiting for you.

[She who?]

Have faith in me for I do not wish for us to die here in the ocean. You have much to accomplish before passing on, Syryn.

Syryn peeped around the corner and saw the mer guards closing in towards his hiding spot.

[Those snakes... Were you the one that called them?]

They came by their own volition when they smelled danger on you. Your hand was covered in the pheromones emitted by female infinity worms.

The explanation was cathartic to Syryn. He had been wondering how the series of events were connected to each other.

[But wouldn't I have escaped by swimming away from the ocean floor?]

No. The worms would have risked leaving the sand to chase you.

That was why the snakes had burnt his skin with their toxic saliva, Syryn concluded. And they let him go early because the most immediate and critical danger had been evaded. Syryn guessed that the snakes couldn't possibly know when the worms were leaving the area, and they couldn't stay wrapped around Syryn the entire time waiting for the infinity worms to leave.

You are right about that.

[Okay, so if I go back to Silisia, you'll help me avoid becoming the king, won't you? It's the only condition I ask for returning.]

Most would kill to become the ruler of the biggest mer kingdom. Why do you reject what's yours?

[One, I am not a mer. Two, kings are just prisoners of their power and their palaces. It is a miserable existence living that way.]

Power does not get to choose the burden that gets yoked upon them. You take what comes with it.

[Why the hell are you insistent on me becoming king?]

Syryn had been found. The hostile mer guard pointed a long spear at him.

The sage is the rightful king of Silisia. Accept it and appoint a proxy if you do not wish to stay at Silisia.

The mer guard made a whistle-like sound from his throat and it brought the others to his spot.

[I can do that? That's a brilliant idea.]

The mer guards surrounded Syryn. From all around him, spears were pointed at the mage. He raised his arms in a gesture of surrender.

[Sage, what happened to my memories anyway?]

"Human, why did you attack your guard and the prince?"

[Sage? Where did you go?]

A pointed end of one of the spears jabbed him on his bicep.

"Because I wanted to run away dumbass. Why else would I do it?" Syryn rolled his eyes at the guard. "They're both alive by the way. I didn't kill anyone."

Syryn felt sorry that Drevin's hard work had been wasted because neither of them had anticipated spies to be watching Syryn. Someone had seen them leaving and had obviously alerted the guards. Was there another explanation for the mers showing up so suddenly? He didn't think so.

Now he had two more worries to gnaw on. Someone had tried to kill him using infinity worms. And that someone was probably the same person spying on him. As for how the pheromone had come to be on his hand, Syryn suspected the bag that Shali had given to him. He alone had touched the fish inside it.

"Ungrateful human! You obviously don't understand how kind his majesty has been to you. Is this how you show your gratitude?! By attacking his subjects and trying to escape?"

"Listen, which part of me being a victim of mer kidnapping did you miss? If I should be grateful to the king for keeping me hostage in his kingdom then Drevin too should be grateful that I attacked him."

"Shut up!" The guard growled out. "You're coming back with us quietly."

Of course, he was. Syryn allowed the guards to bind his hands. He was then hauled away like a fish caught for dinner.

As they swam towards Silisia, Syryn was thinking about the bag that Shali had given him. The little princess was innocent, or at least he hoped she was. He had to ask the mermaid about the bag without alerting her of his suspicions. If this was some sort of revenge she was taking for her older brother's death, Syryn was going to applaud her acting skills.

___

The mage was once again dumped back inside the fort-like prison he had been stuck inside for the first few days of his stay at Silisia. This time, his arms and feet were bound by the mer guards.

"Disgusting human," one of the guards spat, knocking him to the floor.

"Don't hurt the saviour of Silisia," another one mocked. "Aren't you afraid of his wrath?"

The mage had a dull look on his face. His limbs were weak and he was very sleepy, tired, but it didn't make sense to him. Oh, he thought, the sage had warned him of mental fatigue.

"Look at his stupid face."

The guards couldn't get a rise out of Syryn. The mage didnt care for their insults and childish jabs.

"Come on, let's go report to the king that we caught a runaway saviour."

The mer guards laughed as they left Syryn behind, drowsy at the foot of the glowing stone that pierced the ceiling of his prison.

____

Syryn caught a few hours of sleep and was awakened by two mers. One of them was Vaiu, the guard that had replaced Arhak.

"Syryn," Vaiu shook the mage awake. "Syryn, wake up." He was gentle with the mage. Vaiu had seen with his own eyes what the mage had endured during the dolphin ride. He thought it was no wonder that the mage had tried to escape the ocean. It had been horrifying to watch Syryn get attacked. He couldn't imagine how much worse it had to have been for the human who had experienced it.

"The king?" Syryn blearily replied. Sleep was a fog in his mind. Sleep pulled his eyelids down like magnets to iron. "Let's go."

The mage stood up and followed the guard who led him out of the prison, still chained.

____

Syryn was forced to kneel before the throne by a hand that pushed him down to his knees.

Rebellion fomenting in his heart, he stared up at the mer king who sat on his throne like a figure of judgement.

"I believed you when you told me you'd hold up the end of your bargain," the king said to him in a cold tone. "But you are a better liar than I am at seeing through your lies. Syryn, what else have you lied about?"

The mage smirked up at the King. It was tiresome to act obedient when he all he wanted to do was be himself.

"Your majesty, I lied about not resenting you. Your men kidnapped me from the surface world, held me prisoner, and you couldn't even protect me from your disgruntled subject's scheming. Should I be grateful and thank you?"

The King's mouth turned down in disappointment. "I thought you understood why we had to bring you here."

Syryn scoffed. "To be the saviour of Silisia, yes. What a burdensome task it is. You could have politely invited me before resorting to kidnapping. A request made sweeter with the bribe of money and women would have done wonders for our working relationship."

"You were never a prisoner, Syryn."

The mage rolled his eyes.

"I will show you then what it is like to be a real prisoner of the mers."