Aliza didn't know when she had fallen asleep, but it was Norchón in human form who woke her up. She smiled for a brief moment when she looked into those deep sea blue eyes. But that smile quickly faded, when she remembered what he was. A half-human, half-octopus creature that was created by the God of Greed and Endings, and his wife, the Goddess of Madness and Tricks.

"I am so sorry, did I scare you?" he asked. Why in the Volaris's name was he so handsome, and not only that. He sounded so sweet when he asked her that, even with his thick accent. She shook her head, no, he didn't scare her. She was only not sure if she could thrust him, although he had saved her life. "I have some food, and a knife. My mother is not far behind me to check upon your wounds." She had slept for only an hour, she doubted that her ribs would have being healed up in that short period of time. But then again, she didn't feel the same levels of pain as before. She pushed herself up, and her body didn't punish her for it. Which was strange. Norchón pushed some fish inside her hands, raw fish. She looked at it puzzled, not sure if she was able to eat it like this. "Use the knife to clean the fish," he smiled softly. Her head almost spun out of control, but she indeed started to clean the fish. It was still raw fish, and she was not sure how healthy this would be for her, but she was hungry. She didn't realize how hungry, until she took the first bite. "I begin to believe that I didn't bring enough food." She looked at him, and saw that it was just the one fish. It was a large fish, one that could feed an entire family, and she ate it in a matter of minutes, she believed those were minutes.

"Sorry," she whispered, a bit ashamed of herself. But he shook his head.

"Don't be, your body is healing, so you are in need of the energy. That means sleep and food." he said, but it didn't take her shame away. He was right, but still.

"Ahh, look at that. You have some color on those beautiful cheeks." his mother emerged from the water. Aliza couldn't rip her gaze away from the lower body of the woman, there were no legs, only tentacles. "You better get used to that, my dear. Because thanks to my son, you will see it on a daily basics."

"Why?" Aliza asked. "Why am I not allowed to go back home. I do not want to get you guys in more trouble." Ente smiled and sighed.

"I know that, but those are the rules. We can't risk being found out, after the Gods of the world above gave the city to the sea. Which according to our history they were smart in doing, but that is beside the point. But our whole city and those who lived in it are considered lost, and with our strange bodies, but also with our strange magic, it is better to keep it that way." Aliza was able to understand the body part, but not the magic part. Probably she will learn about that over time. Because it seems that she was stuck here, for now at least. She locked eyes with Norchón, he seemed to understand what was going on in her mind.

"Mother, our world and rules are a strange concept for an outsider. You said this so yourself, to Ochnia when she went to the surface for the first time." he said, and his mother nodded.

"You are right about that, but Ochnia was not going to live in the world above the surface. Aliza here is going to live here, so she needs to learn. But she doesn't need to learn everything in one sitting. Please let me check your wounds." She said, while she reached out towards Aliza's chest. Aliza hesitated for a brief moment, but still came towards her. "Your ribs are healing nicely. It is good that you had some sleep, and now food. My magic can only do so much, it is up to you to help it."

"Magic?" Aliza asked. She only knew a handful of people that were able to preform magic, Harel was one of them. But he had the Blood of the Demon. Mister Alter was able to write stuff down with his mind, and then there was Sun be Lion, the Imperial wizard.

"Another gift, that the God of Greed, bestowed on his people. To make sure that we were all loyal to him, and his wife, the Goddess of Madness and Tricks." Ente said, with some kind of pride. "That all backfired on them, when we tore down their temples. To make sure that they couldn't course any more trouble for us." Aliza didn't know how to feel about that, she was a Paladin, after all. Serving her Goddess was her sole purpose in life. But the God of Greed and Endings, and the Goddess of Madness and Tricks were, according to the legend, the main reason why Solaris was given to the sea. To protect the whole world against the illness called the Mad Hunger. "I would give it half an hour, some extra food, before it is completely healed." Ente turned towards Norchón. "I will send your brothers to fetch the both of you, the extra protection can't hurt." Norchón just nodded and Ente left them.

*********

Aliza sat against the wall of the cave, she was done eating all the fish and if she was honest was a bit stuffed. Norchón was sitting next to her in his human form, his eyes closed. They were waiting for his brothers, to arrive. To take her to the Gods know where. She frowned, they were underwater creatures. They were probably living underwater, and were able to breath. But she was not one of them, she was a human. One that was not shaped into a being that was able to survive without be able to breathe in air.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Uhm," she said. Her voice was a bit wobbly. "Your brothers are on their way to get us, to..."

"My consortium, which is a small community just out of the city of Silora. My brother's and sister with her children live there, as do my mother's brothers. The consortium, next to ours, belongs to my father's sister. He lives with her and her son's and a few of his brothers." he said, which was a bunch of information she didn't ask for. "Marriage, is a concept that is strange to us. The females chose a male when they are ready to have children, sometimes it is a male from another consortium. Like my mother choose my father when she got my sister and me. But at other times, our females go above the surface to get pregnant there, and give us some new blood. My brothers have all human fathers, so does my sister's children."

"Thank you for all of that information about your culture, at least part of your culture. But, uhm, those this consortium exists in a giant air bubble or inside a gave like this one." she said, motioning towards the small cave around her. "Otherwise, keeping me alive would be an impossible task." he chuckled.

"It already is an impossible task, but now I do understand your question. There is a way for you to breathe underwater, it is called Erveapus breath. And I was already contemplating how to tell you." he said.

"Why?" she asked. Funny that he was directly sharing parts of his culture, but was hesitant about this magic called Erveapus breath.

"Because all our magic, need physical touch to work. My mother needed to touch your wounds to heal you, Erveapus breath needs physical touch to work as well." he said, she looked at him as he looked at her with his sea blue eyes. Only his eyes were not locked onto hers, they were locked on to her lips.

"What kind of physical touch?" she asked. He smiled slightly, she stood up and pressed herself against the slimy wall. Away from him, on one hand she really wanted to know, but on the other hand, maybe not. The smile on his face however didn't fade away.

"I need to breathe the magic into you, so this magic needs a kiss." He said, while he stood up. "I understand that this is a pretty intimate thing for your kind." He can say that again, a kiss in her world is only shared between lovers. In his world, this might be a different story. He moved a bit closer. "In my world, it is normally the female who makes the first move, but I will not do anything without your consent. I am not a monster." Well, that his a bit of a relief, but what other choice did she have? They made it clear that she was not allowed to go home, and she was not able to live inside this cave forever. He lay a hand on her cheek, she was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed him coming into her personal space. "It will be one kiss, and then you are able to live underwater for three days." So this wouldn't be the one and only kiss. She looked into his eyes, those deep sea blue eyes.

"Alright," she whispered, not able to produce more sound than that. He chuckled slightly.

"Do not tell me that this is your first kiss?" he said, she shock her head.

"I have being kissed once, when I was twelve." she admitted. He chuckled, and repeated her words. "I am now twenty-one. So nine years ago." He nodded, and looked once again to her lips.

"Then I have a job to make you forget that kiss," he said softly, and she played with the thought that this was not for her ears. His lips softly stroke over hers, he didn't press right away. He made sure that she was able to draw back if she wanted. But she closed her eyes, still her heart was beating like crazy. He pressed, and the world exploded into a million pieces. Butterflies rose up in her stomach, as she opened up her mouth to let him in. One of his hands found a way into her hair, and the other wrapped around her waist. Her hands were well on his back. She didn't know how long they were strangled into each other, and she didn't care. She could be taken by Godva, the Goddess of the Death, and she still wouldn't care. But someone else had other plans, the sound of someone clearing his throat echoed against the cave walls.

"I am sorry for the interruption, little brother." a heavy male voice said. Norchón broke off the kiss, by taking a step back. She opened her eyes, but his were still closed. Only not for long, his pupils were small, and his deep blue eyes looked deeper than normal. Clearly he was hungry for more, and if she was being honest with herself, she wouldn't have a clear mind to stop him.

"Terrible timing, Sull." Norchón said, and the man in the water chuckled. Aliza looked at him, the only indication she had that they were brothers was by the fact that they had the same deep blue eyes. But where Norchón's hair was black, that of Sull was red.

"You will be glad to know that I am the only one who saw this. I left our other brothers, and your father at the entrance of the cave." Sull said, Aliza frowned. She was not able to hear an accent from Sull. And now that she thought about it, Norchón's accent was gone too. Norchón let out a curse.

"Mother only said that she would send you lot, she didn't say anything about him." Norchón said. Sull simpy shrugged.

"What do you want me to say, little brother. He was at the consortium when she came back and decided to tag along. But now that you have given her the breath, let us be off. I am wasting my time that I have with my off spring. You know that their mothers are very paticular about the time I spend with them, especially with my sons." Sull said, so Norchón was right women had all the power here. Norchón sighed, and nodded.

"You are right," he said, while taking her hand into his. "Follow me Aliza," he guided her towards the water. Before grabbing her into a tight huge and jumping into without a warning.