The Demon Lord And His Hero

"Syryn, you should take your shirt off."

"Why?" The mage asked Drevin.

"Because it looks very uncomfortable. Your clothing is just extra weight you don't need."

The merman's words made sense. While Syryn took off his shirt, Drevin and Enkansh waited. Bare torsos were a copper bit a dozen down in Silisia. Nobody covered themselves the way humans did.

"I'm keeping the trousers," Syryn said to the duo when they pointedly looked at the loose material that ballooned with water in them.

"Fold the cuffs so they're snug around your ankles," Drevin suggested.

The mage did as he was told.

"Am I ready to be presented to the jellyfish now, your fussiness?" Syryn spread his arms wide.

"Very much."

"Joy," Syryn deadpanned.

Drevin liked that the human's real personality was starting to show through the foolish and bland shield he had erected.

"Syryn, why do humans wear clothes?" He asked while swimming in a slow circle around the mage. They were on a leisurely pace past the long central corridor of the palace. Merpeople stared but they hesitated to approach the trio.

"To protect ourselves from the elements, and to hide the private parts that no one should be allowed to see."

The merman's silvery gaze dropped to Syryn's trousers.

"What?" The mage suspiciously asked.

Enkansh looked heavenward. "Just ask him."

"It's not polite to," Drevin said to the siren. Still, he looked like he wanted to ask.

"What's not polite?"

Enkansh pointed to Syryn's crotch. "Humans have to cover themselves with trousers because they lack the necessary layer of skin that would ideally shield their external reproductive organs."

Drevin looked thoughtful.

Syryn blushed.

"So it's just all out on display," the silver-blue merman said with a light of discovery in his eyes.

"Nothing is on display. And don't talk about my reproductive organs like I'm not here listening to you talk about it," Syryn said as he also looked at the smooth layer of scales that seamlessly covered the merman's tail. "Where do you hide your reproductive organs?"

Enkansh laughed and the sound went straight to the part of Syryn's brain where birdsong appreciation was processed. The siren had the most attractive laugh that Syryn had ever heard and it was a disturbing thought. It wasn't just his laughter though. Enkansh could make sounds in his throat that sounded like music to Syryn, and the siren often did that in conversation.

"Syryn, if you ever decide to take a mer lover, you will find out where he hides it."

"I-" The human paused. Was he even attracted to men?

"Here we are," Drevin declared. "The jellyfish stables."

The trio was stood atop a wide trench that was covered by crisscrossing metal rods. And through the gaps, several bulbous headed jellyfish could be seen floating through the water.

___

Syryn was at peace on top of the umbrella-like head of a large jellyfish. He was spread out over it on his stomach as it was a comfortable position from which he could look down upon the ocean floor.

He thought he could get used to such a life. Soft clamshell beds, a jellyfish mount, attendants serving him food; it was comfortable living. And the merpeople weren't bad to look at despite their fishtails.

"Syryn, get back down here," Drevin called out.

The mage responded by hugging the velvety soft jellyfish head. Why was Drevin not on top of one of these when he had unlimited access to them?

"Enkansh will eat you if you don't come down. Don't tempt him, Syryn."

The mage narrowed his eyes at the siren who was getting tired of the human eating jokes.

"Will you really?"

"If you want me to, I will," the siren replied with very little enthusiasm.

"How many people have you killed and consumed?" Syryn asked.

The siren shrugged. "I've lost count. Maybe sixteen- seventeen."

Syryn's eyes were round as he stared at the siren. He looked betrayed.

"What?" Enkansh asked, curiously.

"You really did eat humans..."

The siren looked at Syryn like he thought the human was an idiot.

"I'm a siren," he said slowly, and with the care reserved for talking to idiots.

"He's a siren," Drevin repeated.

With a powerful push of his tail, Enkansh was floating next to Syryn's jellyfish.

"Did the pretty little human think I was all talk and no teeth?"

"You think I'm pretty," Syryn said as he latched on to the wrong thread of their conversation.

From below them, "a seafood platter is pretty when each element is arranged artistically."

The siren grinned at the merman and back at the human. "That's how it is, Syryn. The prettier you are, the tastier you appear."

".....I want to go home."

"To the surface world?" Enkansh asked.

Syryn didn't know. He had to have a home and a family, just like everyone else did. Right?

"I'm not sure..."

Drevin swam to the top of the jellyfish and sat next to Syryn.

"So you're telling us that you don't have a home."

Keeping this conversation going would reveal information they could use against him. The mage demurred and quieted down. He had no allies he could trust enough to reveal his condition to. Syryn had only himself to rely on. But how could he help himself when he knew very little about what was wrong with his mind?

"We should be getting back to the palace, Syryn. Enkansh has to eat his daily meal of human liver or he'll turn into a whale."

The siren aborted an eye roll. He figured that he would have to get used to terrible jokes about his diet so long as the human stuck around Silisia.

Syryn flipped over onto his back. "I want to stay here."

"Foolish wishes from the foolish human," Drevin said as he scooped the stubborn mage off the jellyfish. Syryn wasn't opposed to being carried back to the palace in the merman's embrace. He became boneless and relaxed into Drevin's arms with the ease of settling into his favourite chair. And for good measure, he closed his eyes blissfully.

"Is this a human-"

"No," Enkansh answered without letting Drevin finish his question because he knew what the merman wanted to ask. "He's lazy."

"Let's roll him up in seaweed. You can have human rolls for dinner."

"That sounds very unappetising."

"Syryn," Drevin said to the human in his arms who was pretending deep sleep.

"Drop him if you're so reluctant to carry him back to the palace."

"That would be mean."

"You like being mean."

Syryn was dropped. He sank slowly to the ocean bed thinking about how Drevin was a mean merman.