The Demon Lord And His Hero

Syryn was rushed off to the healer the very moment he stepped into Silisia. Despite his protests, Drevin ensured that the mage was hauled off to the infirmary.

"You're back."

The young healer gave him a dry look. She was seeing his face far too often at the infirmary. From an unexplained coma to an unexplained itch, they'd reached an unexplained rash. The healer was annoyed because not only did she not know a lot about human illnesses, she couldn't even find Syryn's symptoms in her book about human diseases.

"Only because the prince threw his weight around and demanded that I come here," Syryn grumbled. His rash didn't bother him at all, and he would rather be in bed in his room, contemplating his day.

"How did this happen?" She asked him as she held up his hand to a glass ball that shone brightly.

"He was tangled up with blue-ringed serpents. It might have to do with that perhaps," Drevin answered in his steed.

"Blue-ringed serpents? Did you get bitten?" The mermaid asked.

"I don't think so?" Syryn hadn't felt a bite. He would have surely noticed it if the snakes bit him.

The healer tugged his hand up to her face so she could check for telltale pinholes. After turning his palm back and forth, she was satisfied that Syryn hadn't received a bite.

"I felt something wet on my hand before it started burning," he told her.

The healer frowned in silence. Taking another look at the skin, she glanced back up at the mage.

"Blue-ringed serpents produce mildly toxic saliva. Did you perhaps stick your hand in its mouth?" She asked feeling doubtful about it herself.

"No. There's no reason for me to stick my hand in the mouth of a venomous snake."

"You're right," she replied. "What else do you feel? Does it hurt or feel numb? Itchy?"

"No, it only stings a little."

The healer sighed. It was hard to treat humans. She decided to go about it like she would with a mer.

"I'll give you another poultice for the stinging and healing. Return to me in two night cycles if it doesn't work. And if there's an adverse reaction to the paste, come back to me immediately."

"Right," Syryn declared as he stood up. "Thank you Janali."

"You're welcome, Syryn."

______

As explanations went, Syryn's recollections left the listeners with more questions than answers. He was back with the archivist but this time, Drevin had tagged along.

"So you're telling me that the snakes just left you unharmed," the archivist said in the tone that one would use when being told that fish was growing wings.

"Well, except for this," Syryn showed him the inflamed skin of his palm.

The archivist stared at the palm and sighed. Why were things always so complicated when it came to Syryn?

"You can check my body for marks but there's nothing. The snakes just wrapped me up and I thought I was about to die. Next thing I know, they're gone."

"Gone," Drevin repeated with a wry twist of his lips.

"Gone," the old archivist echoed in disbelief. "And then you were snatched by a worm that pulled you inside the sand. Am I correct?"

"Yes but it let go of me some reason." Syryn had actually killed it by severing its head from the body.

The archivist wanted to hurl his papers at the wall and dive for the jar of alcohol. Every word spoken by the human was truth according to his detection. But they were so outlandish that the mer felt it impossible to accept as truth. How could a man be so unlucky and yet so lucky?

"It makes no sense. It makes absolutely no sense!" He pressed pale fingertips to his temples and massaged the headache that was blooming.

"If Syryn came into contact with the saliva of a blue-ringed serpent then it could explain why he was let off by the worm," Drevin theorised. "Those things are very sensitive to smells."

The archivist nodded along. "You're right. That could be the case. The blue rings are toxic to even the infinity worms."

"But it doesn't explain anything else," Drevin said as he pinned Syryn with a bemused look. "You must truly be the saviour of Silisia. There's something quite special about you, Syryn."

The archivist leaned back and stared at Syryn like he was a puzzle. "Were you carrying anything on you that might have attracted the snakes?"

Syryn shook his head. "I don't even know what the snakes like." But that had him pondering the possibility of it. The snakes had arrived to protect him from the worms but they had freed him before the worms left the area. Why? And what was it that attracted an entire colony of worms to him?

The chamber lapsed into a tired sort of silence. Syryn was a mystery that even the archivist could not work out.

"I think we're done today," he told them. "Syryn, you must be tired after such a harrowing incident. Go get some well-deserved rest."

_____

Drevin closed the door behind him and nodded to Vaiu, the guard who hadn't been punished because of the strangeness of the incident.

Inside the room, Syryn drifted off on the seagrass. The mage flashbacked to the events of the day and caught a detail he had almost missed. The bag that Shali had handed to him had gone missing. He wasnt exactly sure when it happened but it seemed to be after the snakes had left him. Why Syryn thought about it was because his hand had gone inside the bag and it was the same hand that the snake left its saliva on.

From what he had heard about the worms, it was abnormal behaviour to mass migrate the way they did. Something definitely attracted them to Syryn and his only proof was the words of the snake that had saved him. The creature had been around his neck when he was caught by the infinity worm. He had hopes to meet it again in the future. Maybe it would answer his questions about what had taken place.