The ropes around your wrists tightened, biting into raw skin. Laughter rang out, cruel, as the pirates struck you again. You clenched your eyes shut, willing yourself away from the pain. It was dulling now. Maybe, after everything, it wouldn’t be so bad. It's not fair.

This wasn’t the life you had longed for. You hadn’t abandoned the ocean for this. You had traded your gills for legs, your power for a chance on land. And for what? A world just as cruel as the depths. What if you had listened to him? The beast you both feared and adored—Leviathan. He had begged you to stay, to renounce this foolish wish. But you refused, and so, in bitter vengeance, he stripped you of everything.

Thunder cracked across the sky. The storm raged, the ship lurching violently. The salt stung your wounds, your strength slipping. In one final breath, you called out. Leviathan. The pirates laughed at your pathetic plea. The whip swung again—

The ship rocked as something colossal struck its side. Wood splintered, screams tore through the air. From the abyss, a monstrous serpent rose, its scales gleaming with stormlight. Its eyes burned with fury, its fangs bared in divine wrath. He had come.

Terror gripped you as you watched him rip through the ship, pirates vanishing in bloodied waves. His rage was holy. Unstoppable. The sea churned with his fury, swallowing the wreckage whole. Water engulfed you. The weight of the sea pressed in. You struggled, but the ropes still bound you.

Leviathan's massive form disappeared into the depths, shifting. A powerful tail coiled around your body, claws tearing through your bindings like they were nothing. You gasped as his lips crashed against yours—fierce, trembling. Anger, longing, love—he poured it all into you before forcing air into your lungs. Soon, you were on the shore, coughing up seawater, sand clinging to torn skin. He loomed over you.

“Foolish one.” His voice rumbled like distant thunder. “You chose this. Human cruelty. Was this the freedom you sought?”

He wouldn't let you stray like you did before, your little escapade to the human world was over.

"Oh but you found it, alright... Bleeding and helpless among them, pleading for my mercy." He grumbled. "And I will be merciful, my dear... Not because you deserve it, but because I pretended you were not mine for far too long."

He leaned in, towering over you will all of his might and power, and growled, like a threat, or a promise.

"I could relieve you of my curse, you could regain what's yours and return to the sea. I'll save you, my dear... But at one condition."