Chapter 5.
Shortly after the darkness of the pool swallowed me, I felt myself being hoisted back onto the jagged shore of the cave, away from the suffocating weight of the sea.
The transition from the water to the air felt like being slammed against a wall, the sudden change in pressure making my ears ring with a shrill, piercing whistle.
"Cough! Cough!"
I doubled over, retching as I threw up even more blood, the metallic tang of it coating my tongue and filling my nostrils with a thick, iron scent.
I stared down at my trembling body with blurry, unfocused eyes, realizing that the strange underwater current had done significant damage to my internal organs.
A dull, throbbing ache radiated from my chest, and every breath felt like a thousand needles were being driven into my lungs.
But as the pain flared, so did my curiosity; if that current was so violent, how had I managed to drift into this cave in one piece the first time?
It was a mystery I suspected I wouldn't live to solve, because little by little, fresh blood continued to leak from the corners of my lips and drip onto the bone-strewn floor.
It wouldn't be too long now before I was dead for good, slipping away into the quiet dark where the author of that cursed book couldn't reach me.
While the situation was undeniably pitiful, a dark sense of relief washed over me. At least now, in my final moments, I wouldn't have to experience the unimaginable pain of being chewed alive by a predator.
'Hehehe, come to think of it, doesn't this mean I technically won over that wicked bastard who sent me here?' I thought, a ghost of a smirk appearing on my bloodied face.
With that in mind, I slumped down on my back and closed my eyes, the smile still etched on my face.
Yet, the very next moment, my morbid peace was shattered. I felt a soft yet incredibly powerful hand press firmly against my jaw, forcing my mouth open with a strength that made my teeth ache.
'Wait, what's going on?'
Before I could react, a thick, foreign fluid was being poured down my throat. It felt unnervingly viscous, sliding over my tongue like liquid mercury.
"You better not waste a single drop if you know what's good for you," a voice hissed next to my ear.
My vision was still a hazy mess, but that predatory, melodic tone definitely belonged to the merfolk.
Whatever she was feeding me was unlike anything I had ever tasted; it felt freezing cold in my mouth, yet the moment it touched the raw wounds in my throat and mixed with my own warm blood, a strange, electric heat began to spread.
Feeling her cold, intense stare prickling against my skin, I knew I had to drink. If I resisted, whatever horrid fate she had planned would surely be a thousand times worse than death.
With a heavy heart and a gut full of dread, I swallowed the mixture in one desperate gulp, but I regretted it instantly.
A biting, unnatural cold suddenly exploded within my chest, racing through my veins like liquid nitrogen and freezing the very marrow in my bones.
"ARCK!!!"
A jagged, pained cry escaped my lips as my body began to convulse uncontrollably.
'It hurts!!!! It hurts!!! Someone stop this!!!!'
I screamed in the silence of my own mind because the agonizing pain made talking out loud feel like swallowing broken glass.
My muscles felt like they were being peeled away from the bone and re-knit in a shape that shouldn't exist.
"If you manage to come out of this alive, perhaps then I'll let you live by my side a while longer," were the last things I heard.
The pain became so unbearable that my focus on reality finally shattered, and I was swept away into a world of pain.
The mermaid's smile only grew as she watched me struggle in her hands, her tail fin swaying gently in the water while she hummed a soothing, tune to herself, as if she were a scientist waiting for a fascinating reaction to finish.
******
I didn't know how long had gone by but I slowly found myself coming awake again.
"Urrgh..."
I groaned as the world slowly bled back into view. My head felt light, and a strange, phantom sensation tingled throughout my lower half.
"Wait? Is this deja vu?" I muttered, feeling as if I had played out this exact scene of waking up in a cave just a few hours ago.
"Rise and shine, human. Looks like you're finally up. I must say, you've surprised me once more," the voice called out, dripping with amusement.
My face stiffened. The moment my eyes adjusted to the dim, blueish light of the cavern, I realized my head was resting on something soft and warm.
I was laying atop someone's lap...hers, specifically.
"How am I... not dead?" I asked, clearly surprised.
"Oh? Well, this is a first." she giggled, the sound like chiming bells. "For sure I thought you'd wake up screaming and running about in a panic again."
"It's obvious you have no intentions of killing me right now, so why waste the energy?" I let out a shaky breath.
I tried to remove my head from her lap and sit up straight, but when I attempted to move my legs, something felt horribly wrong.
"Ummm.... What's going on?"
I blurted out the question as I struggled to find my balance. My eyes drifted down toward my waist, and my heart skipped a beat, nearly stopping entirely.
Below my hips, my legs were gone. In their place was a long, powerful shark tail covered in sleek, greyish-black scales.
"Ha!"
I let out a startled gasp as I brought my hands up to my face. My fingers were no longer human; they had become translucent, webbed limbs tipped with sharp, claw-like nails, looking no different than the hands of the merfolk sitting before me.
"But how did this—" I started to shout, but I cut myself off as the memory of the freezing liquid and the agonizing cold returned.
It was obvious. This metamorphosis was the direct result of whatever she had forced me to drink. Feeling a deep sense of grievance and confusion, I slowly wiped my face with my new, webbed hand before letting out a long, weary groan.
I turned to glance at the mermaid. She was back in her human form, sitting on her legs and smiling at me with the smug satisfaction.
"Care to tell me what's going on with my body?" I asked with a frown.
"I think there's a misconception here," she said, pursing her lips playfully. "Is that any way to speak to your new mistress?"
'Sick woman...' I cursed inwardly, but I forced my expression into one of submission. I couldn't afford to be stubborn now.
I briefly wondered if I could beat her now that I had this new strength, but I quickly dismissed the thought.
There was no way she would give me a fair opening. She was likely just waiting for me to act out so she could find a new way to make me suffer even more.
"My mistake, mistress. Please forgive me," I said, making my voice as soft and humble as possible. "But I'm afraid your humble servant is a tad ignorant. Would you mind clearing things up for me, oh benevolent mistress?"
"It's shabby, but not a bad way to begin your new life," she replied, looking me over as if she were inspecting subpar goods at a market.
I secretly gnashed my teeth, clenching my new claws into fists. The urge to punch that cocky, beautiful face was almost overwhelming, but I held back.
"As for your sudden metamorphosis, there's no need to be afraid. You've only been partially turned into a merfolk, courtesy of my blood."
"Y-Your blood?"
The thought of having consumed her blood should have made me nauseous, but I was too frightened to care about my stomach.
Rather, I was confused.
In the world of The Knight of Blood and War, merfolk weren't known for being able to turn humans into their own kind with just a few drops of blood.
If this was a power she possessed, it changed everything.
Because, How on earth had she pulled off something that wasn't even in the original story?