Syphil never mentioned her father again, no matter how much I insisted on learning more about her family. A week later, she asked for permission to visit my world. She wanted to see with her own eyes everything I had told her and asked me to give her a tour of the corners of my city. I had no problem with that, but the abilities of the mermaids seemed to exceed any human capacity, and it was strange that they needed our permission for something so simple. Syphil had tried to make it sound like a polite request, but an instinct told me that there was more behind her words than she let me see.
—Why do you need my permission to come? —I asked without reservation.
She carefully considered her words.
—Humans have more power than they imagine —was all she said.
I was about to accept, but I had the sudden thought of taking advantage of such an occasion to demand that she first show me her world. At first, she seemed uneasy about the idea, fearing that I wouldn't be able to understand what was happening in the depths of the sea. However, she accepted enthusiastically as soon as I promised to keep an open mind.
I swam alongside her on the day we agreed to do it. I shuddered as soon as she revealed that a kiss from her would be necessary to protect my terrestrial body from the ravages of the deep ocean. She said it with such seriousness that I couldn't think she had any ulterior motive. It bothered me that something so intimate and exciting for me was so indifferent to her, but I accepted out of pride, as I couldn't find a dignified way to express my feelings to her.
Her red, full lips electrified me as soon as they met mine. Syphil's actions seemed devoid of any romantic intention, but the emotions I felt in those moments couldn't be related to mere friendship. Soon, I realized that the effects of her lips on mine were not just a simple bodily reaction, but they also began to affect my mental state, sharpening my senses and endowing me with a fulfillment I had never experienced, as if the health I had always enjoyed were nothing more than a discomfort that she, with her kiss, had alleviated.
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Her spell would allow me to absorb oxygen through the skin, clarify my sense of sight in the depths, protect my body from atmospheric pressure, and give me the ability to glide underwater as if flying through the air. I experienced its effects amid an adrenaline-fueled ecstasy, propelled by ocean currents that I created at will as I crossed vast oceanic distances in a matter of seconds. Afterward, Syphil surprised me with another kiss. I wanted to pull away from her lips, hopeful to check if her intentions were romantic, but she held onto me with her arms while her voice echoed in my head. She warned me that her spell depended on my mental state, so any prolonged excitement would be deadly if she couldn't react in time to save me. Not only did that reasoning help me calm down, but also the brief paralysis I experienced from the surprise of her second kiss.
As we descended, Syphil explained more about her people's knowledge of the sea. The human classification of the marine ecosystem was very different from theirs, as expected. The "Neridion" is for them what humans consider the littoral zone, that coastal area that divides land from the depths, where the most colorful and vibrant creatures abound. Further ahead is the "Undalunis," the largest zone that divides the two most relevant oceanic worlds for the mermaids.
Up to that moment, I had enjoyed gliding through the water. The excitement of our kiss and those landscapes that no man could see with his own eyes delighted me like you have no idea. When I spotted some sharks, I instinctively retreated, but Syphil scared them away with a wave of her hands. Then, killer whales approached, larger and more horrifying than documentaries make them seem. They moved abhorrently on the water, not much different from how a large sea serpent would.
If I had faced those four horrifying specimens alone, I would surely have succumbed to terror. Syphil managed to pacify them before the stress of the moment broke the spell that allowed me to breathe underwater. I watched them dance around her for a while before they joined the deep sea and disappeared from our sight.
From this point on, my journey becomes the horrifying experience that motivated this story. Syphil looked as radiant as the first moment I saw her, but not even her beauty could diminish the horror of the abyss. I know she understood quickly because soon she was trying to distract me with both her gaze and her sweet voice from what lurked in the darkness. I could see flickering lights and strange creatures floating around us from time to time, but the darkness was so overwhelming that only a kind of trance allowed me to move forward in that area. By my own will, I would never have continued on that path of shadows and monstrous silhouettes, among which only Syphil's bright hair guided me like a small lighthouse.
We descended to what I think was an underwater cave and then followed a labyrinthine path to the depths of the earth. Syphil moved with extremely exceptional skill despite the absence of light, making it clear that some sense other than sight guided her through that place.