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Magic existed in this world, but mermaids did not.
That was what Olruggio had always believed, a conviction as firm as the enchanted stones he shaped with his own hands.
He had spent his life bending fire and light to his will, earning the name Olruggio the Torch. It was he who had gifted the coastal towns the Glowstone Path, those humble cobblestones etched with spells that drank sunlight by day and breathed soft radiance into the night. It was he who had crafted the Snugstone, small wonders of concentrated heat that chased away the damp chill after storms or warmed weary travelers through the longest winter nights.
Fire and comfort were his domains, practical magics that improved lives rather than dazzled crowds.
Yet even the genius inventor could not refuse a commission when it came from the fishermen of the northern coves. Their catches had grown meager, the old nets failing against clever currents and elusive schools.
They asked for a tool, something efficient, a fusion of mechanics that could lure, guide, and gather fish without needless slaughter. Olruggio had accepted with his usual confidence, retreating to the secluded rocky inlet where the sea met black cliffs and the waves whispered secrets against the stones. Here, beneath the fading light of dusk, he tested his latest prototype, a floating orb of translucent crystal veined with heat and light sigils, designed to pulse gently beneath the water like a living lure.
The sea was calm that evening, almost unnaturally so. Olruggio stood knee-deep in the cool tide, robes hiked and tucked into his belt, one hand steadying the orb as he murmured the activation sequence. The device began to glow with a warm amber light, threads of magic unfurling like tendrils of sunlight underwater. For a moment it worked beautifully, drawing a shimmering cloud of small fish that swirled in obedient patterns.
Then something moved in the deeper water beyond the reach of his light. A shadow glided toward the orb with an unnatural grace. His breath caught seeing that.
It was nearly the size of a man, like him. Or even maybe slightly bigger.
At first he thought it some unknown deep-sea predator drawn by his magic, and a spike of instinctive fear shot through him. He took a half-step back, salt water splashing against his thighs, heart hammering as the creature broke the surface only a few yards away.
The creature rose with the grace of moonlight spilling across still water. What Olruggio had taken for a monstrous fish revealed itself as something far more impossible: a being whose upper body mirrored that of a man, slender and pale, crowned with long strands of silver-white hair that clung wetly to his shoulders and chest. Delicate gill slits fluttered along the sides of his neck, and where legs should have been lay a iridescent tail of deep indigo and teal, scales catching the dying amber light of the floating orb like living jewels.
Olruggio stood frozen, the salt wind tugging at his robes, his mind struggling to reconcile the sight before him with every rational truth he had ever known.
Mermaids were children’s tales, stories told by sailors deep in their cups. Yet here one hovered half-submerged before him, beautiful in a way that felt almost painful to witness. The mermaid’s single visible eye softened as he tilted his head, a small, hesitant smile curving his lips. He raised both hands slowly, palms open in a gesture of peace, revealing faint, fading bruises along his forearms and a deeper wound near his shoulder that still wept a trace of shimmering blood into the sea.
“I mean no harm,” the mermaid said. His voice was soft, melodic, carrying the faint echo of waves lapping against stone, though the words came haltingly, as if shaped by a tongue unaccustomed to human speech. “Your light… it called me. It's so warm."
The awkwardness that followed was almost tender. Olruggio, who had faced down raging infernos and temperamental spell matrices without flinching, found himself at a loss for words. He lowered his hands, mirroring the mermaid’s open gesture, and cleared his throat.
“You’re… not supposed to exist,” he muttered, half to himself. Yet even as he said it, the fear ebbed away, replaced by a strange warmth in his chest.
"I know. A few people doesn't believe the existence of my kind." There was something gentle in the way the mermaid watched him, something exhausted and hopeful all at once. They spent long minutes like that like exchanging broken words, gestures, and careful demonstrations of intent. Olruggio dimmed the brightness of his orb when the mermaid flinched from its intensity, and in return the mermaid drew closer, curious fingers brushing the edge of the glowing crystal with unmistakable wonder.
Bit by bit, understanding bloomed between them. The mermaid’s name was Qifrey. He had fled something terrible. Hunters of his own kind, or perhaps worse, he would not yet say for now—something that left shadows in his eye and exhaustion in the slow flick of his tail. He was alone, wounded, and seeking only a place to hide until his strength returned. When Olruggio hesitantly offered the shelter of the hidden cove and the warmth of his Snugstone for the night, Qifrey’s expression shifted into something achingly grateful.
“You are… so kind, human.” Qifrey murmured, voice barely above the hush of the waves. “For one who thought my people were myths.”
The human rubbed the back of his neck, a rare flush creeping up his ears. “Yeah, well… myths don’t usually smile or talk... like that.” The words slipped out before he could stop them.
In the days that followed, the hidden cove of him slowly transformed into something neither of them had dared to name. Olruggio spent long hours reshaping the lower level of his cliffside atelier. He constructed a vast water tank directly connected to the sea through a narrow and hidden channel until its walls reinforced with carefully layered spells of the right temperature and good filtration. Crystal veins of Glowstone ran along the tank’s edges, bathing the water in shifting light. Exactly located in the same room large enough to contains his own bed and worktable.
It was not perfect, but it will gave Qifrey a safe place to rest, heal, and to hide from whatever horrors still haunted him.
And so their unlikely co-living together began.
On this particular morning, golden sunlight filtered through the tall workshop windows, painting the wooden floors in warm hues. The atelier now carried the subtle scent of salt and sea bloom. Olruggio stirred beneath his heavy blankets, his sleep interrupted—as it so often was these days—by the splash of water followed by a voice that curled through the air like a gentle current.
“Mr. Olruggio… the sun is already kissing the cliffs. Are you going to sleep forever today?”
The inventor groaned, burying his face deeper into the pillow for just a moment longer. He could already picture Qifrey’s mischievous smile, the way his silver hair would be drifting lazily in the tank’s water, one elbow resting on the wide stone edge as he waited.
This had become their routine; the splash of a powerful tail breaking the surface, and the warm timbre of Qifrey’s voice calling him into the day. Some mornings it was soft and patient. Others, like today, Olruggio could tell the mermaid was deliberately being annoying by flicking water droplets toward the him with playful flicks of his fins just to hasten his awakening.
He had lived alone for so many years that the presence of another soul had felt jarring at first, even intrusive. Yet now, as he dragged himself upright and ran a hand through his messy dark hair, Olruggio could not deny the small truth that had settled over his home. Yes, the atelier felt warmer.
“Qifrey,” Olruggio muttered as he finally stood, voice still rough with sleep, “if you keep waking me before the sun even thinks about rising, I’m going to enchant your tank to feel like dirty bathwater for a week.”
A bright laugh immediately heared from the other room. “You say that every third morning, ugh... yet here I remain comfortably cool. Come! The sunlight is beautiful today.”
Olruggio shook his head, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips despite himself. He padded toward the mermaid's water tank, already knowing he would find Qifrey waiting with that single visible eye of him curved in amusement.
Despite the playful teasing only moments ago, Qifrey’s expression softened into something warmer the moment their eyes met.
“Alright, I’m up,” Olruggio grumbled though the complaint lacked any real bite, arms crossed loosely over his chest. “What do you want for breakfast today, Mr. Mermaid?”
Qifrey tilted his head, his eye bright with a delight at the familiar question. For the few days in a weeks Olruggio had risen early each morning to swim or dive for fresh catches: fat silver fish, plump shrimp, sweet clams to delivering them still wriggling into the tank. Raw and living was the way of the sea after all. Yet today the mermaid hesitated, fingertips tracing idle patterns on the wet stone.
“I think I would like to try something different today, Mr. Olruggio.” the silver haired man said softly, "I have watched the smoke rise from your kitchen window many times. Everything that touches your fire becomes… changed. Better, I think.”
Olruggio blinked, momentarily surprised. "What you mean it's called cooking, I guess?"
Cooking was such an ordinary thing in his world, yet the way Qifrey spoke of it with fascination made it feel so magical. Fire, the very element Olruggio had spent his life mastering, now became a bridge between their vastly different worlds.
The mermaid’s voice grew more louder as he continued, tail swishing excitedly beneath the water. “Yeah, someday, I want to learn how to do it myself. Even if I cannot stand in your kitchen, perhaps I could—”
“Why someday?” the human interrupted, the words slipping out before he could second-guess himself. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he stepped closer to the water tank. “I can show you how right now. We can start with simple recipe like grilled fish, a little salt, herbs from the cliff garden, and controlled heat. I’ll bring everything here so you can follow every steps with me.”
Qifrey’s eye widened, a spark of pure joy illuminating his face in a way that made Olruggio’s chest tighten with unexpected feeling. The mermaid leaned forward eagerly, water dripping from his hair onto the floor between them.
“You would do that? Teach me your fire magic… for something as simple as cooking?”
Olruggio rubbed the back of his neck, his ears warming for no reason. “It’s not magic. Just… cooking. But yeah. I’d like that too."
He didn’t give himself time to overthink the impulse. He simply nodded once and disappeared into the next room, his kitchen. Then returning shortly with an armful of supplies. A low wooden table normally used for sorting spell components was dragged over and placed right beside the wide ledge of the tank where Qifrey liked to sun himself. Where the mermaid often lingered there for hours. His upper body resting on the smooth, sun-warmed stone while his tail remained submerged and idly curling and flicking through the water in contented waves.
The cooking preparations is done with Qifrey's wide-eyed disbelief, his gentle eye following every movement as Olruggio arranged a shallow iron pan, a fresh silver fish he had caught at dawn yesterday, also a pinch of sea salt, a bucket full of wild herbs from the cliff garden, and a pat of butter made from coastal goat milk. The human even brought a low stool for himself so he could sit comfortably at Qifrey’s level.
Also one thing that matter the most is a medium sized stone which contained a weird drawn spell that supposed to breathe the fire needed.
“You… truly mean to do this here? For me?” he almost stunned while his tail stilled in the water for a moment. “No one has ever gone to such lengths just so I could watch something as ordinary as cooking. I thought… I already be a burden hiding here in your home.”
Olruggio shrugged, though the tips of his ears burned faintly. “It’s not a burden if I also want to do it. Besides, you said you wanted to learn. Might as well start properly.” He busied himself striking his quill to drawn a full circle, "I don't mind." activating his spell, the small flame blooming obediently under his hands with steady warmth.
While Qifrey pulled himself higher onto the ledge, leaving most of his tail submerged so he could sit upright. Water still lapping gently around his hips. He leaned forward, chin resting on one hand, watching with rapt, almost reverent attention. His gaze never left Olruggio’s hands as the famous inventor worked.
First, Olruggio scaled and cleaned the fish with quick, efficient strokes of his knife, then patted it dry with a clean cloth. He made two shallow cuts along the side, rubbed it generously with salt and chopped herbs—rosemary, thyme, and a touch of coastal fennel—before letting it rest for a moment. The flames danced higher as he added a knob of butter to the flying pan. It melted with a quiet sizzle, filling the air with a rich, nutty aroma that made Qifrey’s gills flutter visibly.
“Can you smell that?” he asked while glancing sideways. “That’s the butter taking on the heat. Yeah, fire changes everything it touches… but gently, if you control it right.”
Qifrey nodded slowly listening to him, his eyes still shining with excitement. He studied every motion of the human, the way Olruggio laid the fish into the hot pan, the soft hiss as skin met butter, how he carefully tilted the pan to spoon the melting fat over the top of the fillet. The colors shifted from pale silver to golden, edges crisping while the herbs released their fragrance into the morning air.
His expression was one of pure fascination, as if he were witnessing high magic rather than something as simple as cooking for breakfast. His gaze keep lingered not only on the pan but on Olruggio himself—on the steady hands, the focused brow, the competence that made something deep in Qifrey’s chest ache with unnecessary feelings.
After a few minutes, Olruggio flipped the fish with ease, revealing a perfectly seared side. “Almost done. We’ll let it finish gently so it stays tender inside.” He looked up and caught the mermaid staring at him with that unguarded expression. For a heartbeat, neither of them spoke, the only sounds the soft crackle of the fire and the gentle splash of Qifrey’s tail moving restlessly in the water.
Olruggio lifted the perfectly seared fish from the pan and slid it onto a shallow plate. He carried it the short distance to the tank’s edge and set it before Qifrey, the fragrant steam curling upward between them like an offering. For a moment, the mermaid simply stared at the golden-crisp fillet, his eye wide with something close to awe. Then he leaned in, inhaled deeply, and broke off a careful piece with his scaled fingers.
The first bite drew a soft, involuntary sound from Qifrey’s throat. His tail splashed sharply in the water behind him as his shoulders lifted with excitement. The sparkling in his eye was unmistakable shimmering like sunlight scattered across wave crests.
“This… rhis is so goood!" he taking another bite more eagerly. “The skin is crisp but the inside is so soft and full of flavor. The herbs, the warmth… it’s like the sea and your fire decided to dance together. Olruggio, you have no idea how good it is!"
Olruggio watched him eat, a flush creeping up his neck. A few minites until he rubbed the back of his head, trying to downplay the praise even as warmth bloomed steadily in his chest.
“It’s really just a simple recipe,” he said with an awkward smile. “Nothing special. You’ll definitely be able to cook something like this yourself later once we figure out a safe way for you to work near the flames. I can teach you the timing, the heat control—”
“Yeah, I want to learn how to cook,” Qifrey interrupted softly, his voice suddenly quieter yet filled with resolve. He looked straight at Olruggio, eye shining with a new kind of tenderness. “I want to learn how to cook meals for you everyday, Olly.”
The unexpected nickname hung sweetly in the morning air between them.
Olruggio froze mid-sentence, his usual composure cracking as heat rushed to his ears. No one had ever called him that before. No one. The word sounded impossibly gentle coming from Qifrey’s lips, like a secret wave that had traveled all the way from the deep sea just to reach his fire.
As the weeks melted into months, Olruggio’s once quiet life transformed in ways so natural that neither of them noticed the change.
His mornings now began with the soft splash of Qifrey’s tail and his gentle voice calling him awake. The genius inventor, who once rose at whatever hour suited his experiments, found himself keeping steadier hours so he could prepare breakfast together with his mermaid. He would sit on the wide stone ledge while Qifrey watched with bright eyes as Olruggio taught him how to handle knife and flame from the water. In return, Qifrey would carefully clean and portion fresh seafood, always offering the best pieces to Olruggio first.
Sometimes when Olruggio left the atelier for town, maybe to deliver new inventions, meet clients, or gather rare spell components, he no longer returned to an empty home. Qifrey would be waiting, upper body resting on the edge of the tank, silver hair drying in the late sunlight, a soft smile curving his lips the moment he heard familiar footsteps on the stone path. “Welcome home, Olly,” he would say every single time, voice warm and soft-spoken like sea foam brushing against warm current. He listened attentively as Olruggio recounted his day, asking meaningful questions, offering comfort on difficult days and proud, sparkling praise on successful ones.
Evenings brought the sweetest shift. After long days of intense spellwork and dealing with demanding clients, Olruggio had developed a new habit: allowing Qifrey to coax him into the water tank. At first he had protested that it was impractical — he was not a mermaid, after all — but Qifrey’s persistence proved impossible to resist.
"Come take a dip with me,” Qifrey would murmur, eye curved in affection. “You work so hard with every day. Let the water ease your shoulders, Olly.”
And so Olruggio found himself, more and more often, stripped down to his loose trousers, sliding into the tank beside his mermaid. The water was always the perfect temperature, thanks to the clever heating spells they had designed together. Qifrey would float close, tail curling lazily around Olruggio’s legs beneath the surface, while the man leaned back against the smooth stone wall with a glass of his favorite deep-red wine in hand, the very bottle Qifrey had learned to fetch from the kitchen shelf using a long pole Olruggio had crafted for him.
And they would sit like that for hours as twilight painted the atelier in soft purples and golds.
And at one another tranquil evening, as the last rays of sunlight painted the atelier in hues of amber and rose, Olruggio found himself once again submerged in the wide water tank beside Qifrey. The water embraced them both. Olruggio leaned back against the smooth stone wall, a half-empty glass of deep red wine held loosely in one hand, while Qifrey floated close beside him, their shoulders occasionally brushing. The mermaid’s powerful tail curled lazily around one of Olruggio’s legs beneath the surface, a now-familiar and comforting weight.
Olruggio stared at the rippling reflections on the ceiling for a long moment before speaking his voice low. “You know… Knight Moralis will kill me if they ever find out I’m keeping a mythical creature hidden in my atelier. Or worse, they’ll accuse me of kidnapping you.”
The mermaid turned his head, silver hair drifting across the water like strands of moonlight. His single visible eye blinked in genuine confusion. “Knight Moralis?” He ask as the human let out a slow breath, swirling the wine in his glass. “They’re… essentially the enforcers of magical law in our world. Who police the use of magic, protect the balance between the ordinary and the arcane, and make sure no one crosses lines that shouldn’t be crossed."
"They hunt down dangerous artifacts, rogue witches, and anything that threatens the secrecy or safety of magic itself. If they knew there was a living mermaid, a real one, being sheltered here, they’d descend on this place in force. They’d see you as either a threat or something that needs to be studied. Or locked away.”
A heavy silence settled between them, broken only by the soft lapping of water against stone. Qifrey’s tail stilled, the playful curling around Olruggio’s leg loosening slightly. The human set his wine glass on the wide ledge and turned to face the mermaid properly, his expression gentle but serious.
“Qifrey…” Olruggio’s voice softened, “Who are you? What were you really doing in those waters the day I found you?”
Actually, he had avoided asking for so long. Telling himself that whatever trauma Qifrey carried from the deep was too painful to revisit.
“Hey, I never wanted to push you, sorry. I'm just curious sometimes.” continued quietly, reaching out to brush a damp strand of silver hair away from Qifrey’s face. “I thought… if it was too painful, you’d tell me whenever you were okay."
Qifrey remained quiet for a long seconds, his gaze dropping to the water’s surface. His fingers traced nervous patterns on the stone ledge as conflicting emotions flickered across his face.
Until his voice came soft as a whisper against the water. “Can we… talk about that later, Olly?”
He said it with a small smile, the kind that curved his lips so sweetly while his eye slowly closed, as if he could seal away the painful memories with that single graceful motion. Olruggio’s heart ached at the sight, but he simply nodded, swallowing his questions for another day.
“Alright,” he murmured. “Later.”
Before he could say anything more, Qifrey moved with his strong arms wrapped around Olruggio’s waist and, with a powerful flick of his tail, the mermaid pulled him through the water until his back gently met the smooth curved wall of the tank. Olruggio’s breath hitched sharply as water rose just below his collarbone, leaving his head and shoulders above the surface so he could still breathe easily. The back of his head rested against the warm stone edge, effectively pinned in place.
“Qifrey.... ?” Olruggio started, eyes widening in surprise, but the words were stolen from him the moment Qifrey surged forward.
The mermaid pressed him harder against the tank wall. One scaled hand braced beside Olruggio’s head while the other cradled his jaw. Qifrey’s upper body covered his, warm skin and cool scales pressing together as their lips met in a kiss that started gentle but trembled with months of pent-up affection. Water splashed softly around them from the sudden movement.
Olruggio froze for a heartbeat, he stunned by the boldness. His hands hovered uncertainly in the air before finally settling on Qifrey’s narrow waist. Then something inside him gave way. With a low, still surprised sound caught in his throat, Olruggio tilted his head and deepened the kiss, parting Qifrey’s lips with a warmth he hadn’t realized he’d been holding back for so long. He kissed him harder, more insistently, one hand sliding up to thread through wet silver hair while the other gripped the mermaid’s side as if afraid he might vanish like a sea mist.
Beneath the surface, Qifrey’s powerful tail wrapped firmly around both of Olruggio’s legs, coils of smooth muscle and shimmering scales holding him tight as though he would never let go of his favorite human ever again.
When they finally parted, both of them were breathing harder. Qifrey’s forehead rested against Olruggio’s, his eye half-lidded, while cheeks flushed a soft pink.
For a heartbeat they simply stared at each other, letting water rippling between their bodies. Then, Qifrey loosened the possessive coil of his tail and let Olruggio move freely.
“Qifrey…” he rasped, voice rough.
Qifrey whispered against his lips, the plea soft and trembling with unknown desire. “Touch me more, Olly,”
That single sentence shattered whatever remained of Olruggio’s hesitation.
In one fluid motion, Olruggio turned them, flipped their positions as now pressing Qifrey’s back against the smooth stone wall. Water sloshed higher around them as he pinned the mermaid there, one strong hand braced beside Qifrey’s head, the other sliding down to grip his narrow waist. Olruggio’s mind was short-circuiting sparks of disbelief and raw want crashing together but beneath the shock burned a deep, undeniable need to know exactly how far this had already gone between them.
His morale broke completely. The surprise melted into heated dominance as he surged and captured Qifrey’s mouth in a deeper demanding kiss. Making Qifrey moaned softly into it, melting. At the same time, those slightly scaled hands slipped beneath the hem of Olruggio’s wet white shirt, tracing smooth patterns over the warm skin of his stomach and chest. The contrast of cool scales against heated flesh made both of them shiver.
He pressed closer, hips slotting against Qifrey’s, the hard line of his arousal evident even through the soaked fabric. Qifrey’s tail instinctively wrapped around one of Olruggio’s thighs again, pulling him tighter, keeping him close.
Olruggio broke the kiss only to trail his mouth along Qifrey’s jaw and down the elegant line of his neck, his short beard deliberately brushing against sensitive skin. Qifrey let out a breathless little laugh, tilting his head to give him more room.
“Hehe… it’s tickling, Olly,” he murmured, voice laced with amusement and pleasure. The sound went straight to Olruggio’s core.
Instead of pulling away, Olruggio rubbed his beard against Qifrey’s neck and collarbone again on purpose, kissing and nipping between each teasing scrape. His free hand explored lower, mapping the smooth skin of Qifrey’s chest, thumb brushing over before sliding down the elegant curve where pale skin met shimmering scales at his hips.
Qifrey arched into every touch with a soft gasp, fingers digging into Olruggio’s back beneath the shirt, claws lightly pricking skin in the most delicious way. Their bodies moved together in the water, slow and heated grinding that sent small waves splashing over the edge of the tank. Every roll of Olruggio’s drew another needy sound from the mermaid.
Finally, Olruggio pulled back just enough to look at him. Flushed cheeks, wet silver hair still clinging to skin, his lips kiss-swollen and parted from the sudden movement. The sight made something fiercely possessive bloom in his chest.
"I want to live forever with you, Olly."
The word sounded impossibly gentle coming from Qifrey’s lips, like a secret wave that had traveled all the way from the deep sea just to reach his fire.