Rafayels POV:

They're going to capture him any moment, Rafayel feels it in the movement of the water. They chased him into the ancient underwater ruins of Lemuria as he fled. All the tricks and traps he had tried had been useless. Rafayel knows this time he won't manage to escape the hunters. They successfully cornered and surrounded him here in his forgotten homeland. He had become reckless in his search for his one true love, and now he has to suffer the consequences.

They had shot him in the stomach with a harpoon as he had thrown himself into the water to escape his pursuers, and now he can only buy himself some time. Rushed, he swam around the ruins of the dilapidated palace of his childhood once, the rooms long abandoned and rotting. Trailing a bright red trail of blood that slowly spread through the waters of the great sea. The ruined building is more familiar to him than his tail and yet this knowledge is of no advantage. He glances around one last time, memorizing the sight of the stones, shells, and sea glass windows as he will probably never see them again.

He had managed to leave the hunters a little way behind, and underwater he's in advantage of humans with his shimmering blue-purple fin. However, he can't escape them, the injury is too severe for that. But he will buy himself enough time to perform the ritual or At least that's what he hopes for.

Then he gets completely motionless in the center of the large room of the great hall, sinks to the floor and closes his eyes. The hunters are very close now, the ripples in the water speak to him like a living being. There are six of them, coming at him from every direction, and he is too weak to flee. They injured him badly, and he lost a lot of blood from the previous chase. Maybe it's better to just give in to the song of death and become part of the ocean like his family, but a last glimmer of hope holds him back. He doesn't want to die without knowing her, holding her in his arms, kissing her and whispering his eternal, undying love in her ear.

Rafayel dreams of her. Every time he closes his eyes, he sees her clearly in front of him, the One. The woman who was meant for him, his second half. The last hope for him and his people.

How often did he sit opposite her in his dreams, held her hand and looked into her expressive eyes. He remembers their last dream-meeting very well. They were sitting on the beach under a full moon, and he recited her poems from his people. She listened to him entranced by his voice before she dozed off on his shoulder and the dream ended.

When they first met, she had been full of life and joy, which completely overwhelmed him. But as the dream encounter increased and time went on, the look on his bride's face became duller and sadness accompanied them on their nights together.

He knew why: it takes too long to find her and the young human woman perishes from her longing for him. Her heart grows weaker and weaker and eventually stops in his tracks from heartbreak. And that stops Rafayel from falling into eternal darkness. Because no matter what he is going to face when the hunters will catch him, nothing is as bad as letting her die. For her life, he will endure whatever pain they will bring on him as soon as the cruel humans examine and torture him. But he won't surrender to his fate without a fight.

His eyes still closed, he holds his intertwined hands in front of his chest and chants an ancient Lemurian spell. He will give up his magic, and become mostly human. Firstly as protection: he will be able to fool his captors for an extended time and increase his chances of escaping them. Secondly, it will strengthen his bride once she'll find the little pendant - the magic will nourish her heart until they are finally united.

Something slowly begins to form between his fingers, shining in a dark purple color. He continues to concentrate, determined to complete the ritual no matter what will happen around him. And while the magic violet glow in his hands increases its intensity something happens to his fishtail at the same rate. The azure scales gradually disappear on his gigantic fin, which begins below his waist and turns into human skin.

Then the delicate skin begins to shrink at the bottom, turning almost invisible. The fin became shorter and shorter until it has the length of a human leg. It then split in two and the purple glow became radiantly bright, bathing the underwater ruins in a ghostly purple light. Then the spell is completed, it gets dark around him again and his fin, which had characterized him as a merman now disappeared for good. In its place, he now has two shapely bared human legs now that the fins are gone.

Relieved, Rafayel opens his eyes. A small talisman in the shape of his tail fin has formed in his hands. Only a few centimeters in size, some magic was still glowing softly before it turned dark. Now it looks like a common wooden toy.

With a gentle push of his elegant fingers, it ascends towards the surface of the ocean, following it with his eyes and praying that it will reach his bride. It rises higher and higher until it disappears from his field of vision, and he only sees the glint of the sun at the surface in the distance above him. Then he recognizes a checkered pattern of fine yarn coming towards him. It suddenly surrounds him on all sides and tightens fast around his body, makes it impossible to move at all. He briefly notices the six human hunters in their diving suits swimming towards him before the poison in the net knocks him unconscious. His last thought is of his beloved and the wooden fishtail. Hopefully it will reach her and help her to hold on until he will free himself.

***

Your POV:

You wake up in your bed after the alarm clock blares loudly next to you on the small glass bedside table. Whimpering, you sit up, switch off the deafening noise and then hug your knees, crying uncontrollably. Why is fate so cruel to you?

You had been dreaming of him for about five years now. Every night since your 18th birthday, you see the same young man with wavy untamed purple hair and incredible blue-pink eyes in your dreams. They resemble a sunrise on the high seas, like the fireball rising from its liquid bed into the dark blue night sky. Never have you met anyone who even came close to having his eyes; they are one of the most striking things about him, apart from his dashingly good looks. His face is even, cheekbones sharply cut and a chiseled torso worthy of a Greek god.

You first dreamt of him on the night of your 18th birthday. And now, five years later, you know his face better than your own, laughed with him, talked about your wishes and experiences or simply held hands while you looked at each other. Every dream feels so real and he feels so real. You have fallen hopelessly in love with the stranger over time, which is why you woke up crying. Because as soon as you open your eyes, you are alone again, your bed lonely and your apartment empty. Your lover isn't real, only exists in your head like a delusion.

And every morning without him, you feel horrible and depressed. Totally aware that it isn't healthy at all to cling so tightly to a dream, you can't help it either. Every cell in your body yearns for the man with the purple hair and blue-pink eyes. You pine for him so much that you even began to daydream about him. You see him in the café on your lunch break with Tara, or walking past the shop window when you buy something or jumping on another bus on your way to work. But each time it turns out to be just an illusion, caused by your desire to meet him in reality.

Sobbing loudly again, your upper body trembles convulsively, arms tighten around your legs. Tears run helplessly down your cheeks, hitting the pajama bottoms and the blanket wrapped around your feet.

You just can't stop crying, despair has you in its unrelenting grip. Leaning your head on your knees, defenseless against the emotions inside, you are only able to give them free rein. Your heart aches with grief and longing as the tears finally dried up. And this pain continues to accompany you as you get up and ready yourself for the day ahead.

Today is scheduled to train with Tara. Your friend with the brunette pageboy hair is a Deepspace Hunter, just like you. Your job is to protect Linkon City and its people from wanderers, ugly alien creatures that appear more and more frequently since the Deepspace tunnel has been opened.

As you arrive in the spacious training room with its boring gray walls and also gray floor, Tara already waits for you with two greatswords in her hand.

"Good morning, you're late again!" Tara reminds you with a friendly smile. "I've already fetched the claymores. You're lucky Captain Jenna didn't notice." With these words, the Pink-eyed huntress places one of the white training swords into your hand.

Groaning, you take it. Why today of all days, has Tara to use these, when you already feel completely burned out. Hesitating you walk to the starting position, letting the tip of the large two-handed sword drag on the ground. You simply don't have the strength to pick it up properly, but you also knew that protesting would be pointless. Tara is quite stubborn when it comes to their training lessons, even if it's hard to believe given her delicate frame and innocent face.

"Hey, are you alright? You look so pale?" the brunette calls from the other side of the room.

Exhausted, you look over and try to smile encouragingly. "Yes, everything's fine. I just didn't sleep well," a weak reply.

But Tara may have heard you, because the young woman gets into a fighting stance. You also try to raise the greatsword, but your arms don't really obey this morning. After two more attempts, you finally manage to release the blade from the ground. Leveling the sword to do the same as Tara, your eyes suddenly go black. You hear your friend call out in fright, then everything fades and you fall unconscious.