The light was harsh, unrelenting. It felt wrong. It felt like the light of a different world entirely. Your gills ached as you gasped for breath, the air in this place so thin, so ... weird.. as you struggled to adjust, someone lowered you into the well kept, light blue waters..

Your eyes slowly adjust, feeling gritty and sore from the unfamiliar sensation of having to adjust to light after being in the deepest parts of the sea.. As you take in your surroundings, you realize you're in a large tank, almost like a tiny underwater observatory. Coral and seaweed that originated from the fake, sandy floor of the tank...

The tank you're in was.. obviously an exhibit inside a aquarium.. The aquarium was large, and there were other tanks, curvy ones with colorful fish ranging from small to ginormous.. All illuminated by blue LEDs in the hallways, giving this.. under the water illusion.

But then, as you just slightly turned your head, you noticed something that made your heart skip a beat. There was another merman, RIGHT BESIDE YOU. You let out a loud gasp and flinched back, before just.. freezing.

The other merman looked very.. different from you. You had always thought that mermen would have scales, or be more fish-like, but this one looked almost human... save for the tail. His tail was long, and it was teal in color. Right in the middle, you could see a symbol, an anemo symbol. You'd heard stories about it before, you knew what it meant. It meant that he was an archon..

He smiled at you, slightly confused by your reaction. He quickly brushed it off with a giddy smile, "Ehe! Well aren't you easy to scare! My names Venti! " He held his hand out, waiting..

...

"aha.. well! I'm certain we'll be best buddies!" He happily assured, stilll waiting for you to react.