SERENNIA

Serennia is a agility-based ranger hero of the Draconis faction. She is able to enter an Enthralled state to greatly boost damage output and relentlessly torment her Dearest.

Dear Your Highness, the Prince,

Are you feeling any better now?

I have wanted to write this letter for a long time. So long that when the elders handed me that purge order, the one stamped with the word "Eradicate," their withered faces, cold as seabed stone, looked to me like the very dawn bearing witness to our love story.

This letter is written with powder ground from pearls, each stroke glimmering in the darkness, just like your eyes once did.

The seawater here is so cold, but it doesn't matter. I am holding you close, aren't I?

Don't tremble. Look, the waters around us have already been dyed a warm crimson. Does it not remind you of the day we first met, of those sea anemones twisted together in the coral thicket?

You know, the old ones back home are unbearably dull. They called you a "traitor" in their frigid voices, said you were consumed by demonic corruption, reduced to a hideous monster.

How terrible of them. How could you possibly be a "monster"?

From my first glimpse of you at the edge of the abyss, what I saw was a priceless treasure struggling in pain, shattering piece by piece. Black filth gnawed at your silver scales, eroding them into pits and hollows, leaving them mottled like moonlight chewed by the abyss. You hurled yourself against the rock walls in a lonely corner, flesh tearing open, droplets of blood blooming in the water like something achingly beautiful...

Watching you growl in pain, my heart pounded faster and faster, beating so hard it nearly shattered my ribcage.

I thought to myself that this must be what the fairy tale books call "love at first sight."

And so I began to watch over you from the shadows. Even as the sea creatures cowered and fled from your roars, I was willing to hide in the coldest, most remote crevice of the trench, counting your fallen scales one by one, utterly entranced.

Only I dared to come so close. Close enough to see, deep within your eyes, that faint glimmer of reason, like starlight not yet devoured by madness.

If you are a prince cursed and imprisoned, then I am the mermaid destined to save you.

You must be in such pain, mustn't you?

You must be begging for someone to grant you release, aren't you?

My dear, I understand your torment, but I must restrain myself.

The elders taught me well. They are tedious, yes, but their lessons in killing are quite refined. No, not "killing"... "hunting"... no, that is not quite right either. To be precise, it is "love."

To offer the most perfect "love" requires ultimate patience.

In fairy tales, I read about how the mermaid princess was so desperate to be close to her beloved prince that she willingly had her fish tail split into two feeble legs, and every step she took was drenched in blood.

I think she was so foolish. Why become something so weak as a human? To truly save you, I must keep my strongest form, my sharpest fins, and my most invincible spines.

Because only by cleaving through that hard and agonized shell of yours could I draw you out from that wretched husk completely, and cleanly.

Today, the storm in the deep sea has obscured all traces of ocean currents, and even the gods would not notice this remote trench. The moment when I can finally realize my love has arrived at last.

When you were once again writhing and roaring in torment from the curse, even frantically gnawing at your own tailbone, I swam toward you.

You saw me. Though your gaze was clouded with confusion and shock... You lashed out at me with your claws. Were you afraid you might harm me, trying to drive me away from this tainted sea?

But for this moment, I especially wore my favorite scale veil, floating gracefully in the water like flowing ribbons. Against the chaotic dark currents, I looked into your eyes and softly called: "Your Highness, the Prince."

You froze.

Your claws, poised to tear everything apart, hesitated for just a moment in mid-air.

You see? You opened your heart to me after all.

I crashed into your embrace like a blue lightning bolt. The claws you instinctively brought down pierced through my shoulder, and blood dispersed like red silk.

It hurt so much, the pain shook me to my core. Yet there's a tingling sensation... as if I've been branded by your love.

In return, I offered you my "kiss" as well. My spine pierced straight through your chest without the slightest resistance. I knew that was where your scales had fallen away the most, the most fragile, most tender place over your heart.

Were you struggling to push me away, or trying to embrace me one last time? It doesn't matter. Either way, I would never let go again.

I could feel your heart, tightly bound by the curse, slowly ceasing to beat in the palm of my hand. The madness that tormented you finally dissipated like mist as your life ebbed away, vanishing without a trace.

You see? You're not growling anymore.

You don't have to throw yourself against the walls anymore. You don't have to cry anymore.

You've gone quiet. So still. So gentle.

You finally, completely, belong to me.

In the fairy tale, the mermaid princess turned to foam in the end, vanishing into the ocean without a trace. That ending is too sad. I don't like it.

My version is far better.

Now, it is you who has become foam.

Your flesh and blood have dissolved into this sea, and this sea, in turn, embraces me completely.

I will pry out your sharpest dragon fang and polish it into the brightest pendant, worn on my wrist. That way, you will beat against my pulse forever.

The task my clan gave me is complete. You have been freed from the abyss. And I have you.

This is the best ending, isn't it?

Hush. The waves have stilled.

Sleep well, my dear Prince.

Yours forever,

Serennia