The Demon Lord and his Hero

Back inside his dungeon prison, Syryn wasn't expecting any visitors.

"Drevin, hey," he said to the merman who was standing outside the door of his cell while holding a glass light.

"Syryn, I'm sorry. I had to say what I did because it was one of the conditions for your removal from prison. It turns out that the king never intended to free you like he said he would."

Syryn's mind went back to what Drevin had said about a human not being Silisia's saviour. So the mer prince had been forced to say it by the king. It didnt surprise Syryn.

"Do you know why your father hates me?" Syryn asked him.

The silver-blue mer shook his head. "He feels threatened by you but I don't know why. It can't be because of the prophecy can it?"

The mage smiled. "Drevin do you believe that I killed the oracle?"

"You have no apparent motive for doing so. You're not dumb Syryn. What would you gain from murdering the oracle?"

At least some of the mers were using their brains, Syryn thought.

"I lose a lot and gain nothing. Your father gains everything."

Drevin's shoulders drooped as he pressed his forehead to the metal bars.

"Prince, do you want to know why this happening? I can tell you. Maybe it will give you closure when I eventually die."

Syryn believed in a 50 per cent chance of his survival but didn't think it was right to give the mer any false hope. The odds were stacked against him but the mage was still at peace.

"You can't speak about your passing so casually, Syryn."

"Then should I delude us both, Drevin? I am to be executed soon. To move past the paralysis brought on by a dark reality, you have to first accept it."

Not wanting to acknowledge Syryn's advice, he asked instead about the King's motive. "Tell me why my father wants you dead then?"

"Because the oracle prophesied that I am to be the king of Silisia."

"What?" The mer prince said. "That's.. there's never been a human king for Silisia. Did the oracle truly say that?"

"Yeah. Who then do you think has a motive for killing her, Drevin?"

The silver-blue mer was shocked by what he had just learnt. His father had killed the oracle because he could lose his power if the prophecy was leaked to the public.

"I'll get you out, Syryn," Drevin whispered.

"No," the mage told him. "I want to be executed."

If the prophecy had power then Syryn would survive the execution. Right? Right.

"Are you insane? What do you mean you want to be executed?" The prince asked irritably.

"Do you believe in the power of your oracle's prophecy?" Syryn asked, pressing closer to the bars so that his face was only an inch away from Drevin's.

The silver-blue mer was silent. The oracle had never failed in her warnings to Silisia. But this hit too close to home for Drevin to accept.

"I do," he answered. "But it's a risk I don't want to take."

"I'll be okay, Drevin," he told the mer despite not fully believing it. "Now tell me something about the abyss. Why is it so feared?"

"Not knowing is better," Drevin answered him.

"Tell me. Please. If I have to escape death then I need information."

The mer prince looked to his left where a guard was approaching. His time was almost up.

"The abyss is a place where no mer has ever come out alive from. We dont know where it goes or how it was created. The mers that went inside the hole explore it never came back out. It's an inescapable death sentence, Syryn."

The mage imagined falling forever through a dark watery hole that had no end, no light, no life to guide him.

"I guess I'm screwed then," he chuckled.

"I'm serious, Syryn. We can try to get you out of here."

The mage shook his head. Hands slipping through the bars of the cell, he gripped Drevin's arm.

"Don't. I won't co-operate with you if you try it."

It wasn't that Syryn didnt have faith in Drevin. The chances of getting caught were higher than the probability of escaping unscathed. He didn't want to get the mer prince caught up in his problems again. If Syryn wasn't somewhat hopeful about getting through his execution then he would have taken the help. He hated prophecies but he was banking on it to get him through the storm.

___

Rowan sent in a resignation letter to the Sanguine but it was rejected and he was given three month's leave of absence. The blond didn't care much for the rejection because there was no power in the Sanguine that could drag him back to work if he didn't find Syryn first.

He was on his way to get a water breathing rune formation tattooed to his skin. Very few rune masters existed because of how difficult it was to comprehend the art. Rune masters spent years memorising thousands and thousands of symbols. They had to then learn the way each symbol interacted with the others. A single mistake meant that the rune formation would break down. In worse case scenarios, the runes effected strange and unintended magic. For many people, it was too much effort even if they managed to get a rune master to teach them by paying up sums worth their weight in gold.

Rowan knew a rune master who lived in Sigil. Appointments were the way to meet the man but the anti mage was in too much of a hurry to worry about playing by the rules. If money and reputation didnt gain him entrance then he would resort to force.

Mind occupied by thoughts of Syryn, Rowan bumped into a man when he stepped out of his carriage. An apology on his tongue, the blond was silenced by the man's disconcerting smile.

"Don't go further, anti mage. It's too late. Your beloved will die today," the man said still wearing an eerie smile.

Rowan's eyes were like chips of ice. "Who do you serve?" He asked the man.

"Does it matter? Death has left to claim your mage. Stop fighting and surrender to the will of those that are greater than you."

"Never," Rowan answered. "Tell them that I'll fight till my last breath for Syryn."

The man sneered at him. "Then die, Rowan Windwalker. Syryn is already halfway to his grave. If you don't accept the blessings now then you'll lose it forever."

"I dont need it."

The anti mage was cold inside. What the man had said about Syryn chilled his heart. Was he really too late? He regretted letting Syryn go off to Coop on his own. He shouldn't have believed that his mage would survive a world out to kill him. He should have locked Syryn away so that nothing could hurt him. He should have never let Syryn out of his sight. Regrets pounded at his shield like cannonballs. Rowan's heart choked on the darkness that flooded him through the chinks of his armour.

_____

The morning was as wan as it always had been. Syryn felt butterflies in his stomach when he was hauled out from prison.

The guards escorted him to the edge of Silisia where barren sand and rocky landscape surrounded a tall statue of a mer goddess. She was coiled over the fallen bodies of her enemies, her long fishtail trailing behind her.

A hundred or so mermen were also already there, bright and early, eager to witness the public execution of a human. Syryn couldn't see Drevin and Enkansh but he spied a tearful Shali beside concubine Shaye.

The mer princess had reddened eyes. She began crying again when she saw Syryn. The mage smiled and waved at her but Shali wasn't impressed. She pressed a hand to her mouth and turned away from Syryn. Her mother, on the other hand, wore an overjoyed smile at finally seeing Syryn receive karmic retribution for having caused her son's death.

Syryn wasn't bothered by her smile. He was more interested in the dark pond that lay at the foot of the statue. The colour of the water seemed darker because of its depth.

He stood at its edge and peered into the dark pond. The water was as still as glass. The colour gradient gradually changed from dark blue to black as it got deeper.

Syryn was taken by surprise when he felt a metal band wrap around each wrist. He looked down and saw that a chain was attached to the metal bracelets that weighed him down. This thick metallic chain was connected to heavy balls of iron. Another band was then clamped around his leg.

"Sink, human," the guard taunted him. "Your kind does not belong in Silisia."

The crowd watched in silence. The King hadn't come to attend the execution. He was, no doubt, too important to bother with the execution of a mere human.

The guard snapped off the transformation amulet around Syryn's neck. His gills immediately began to change into smooth skin.

A hard shove between his shoulder blades. The metal balls were rolled into the pond and Syryn plummeted.