Aeris’s pov
Standing at the shore of the hidden lake, I felt a cold, eerie stillness in the air, contrasting with the ripples spreading across the water. My heart raced as I faced the creature before me, half-man, half-fish—a merman of sorts, but not the kind one reads about in stories of folklore. His appearance was startling: scaly, translucent skin shimmered under the faint glow of the cave's light, and his piercing, sea-green eyes watched me with intensity. It was a creature pulled straight from the pages of a myth, but here he was—real.
The old caves, the very place where I had once been left for dead, now revealed secrets beyond anything I could have imagined. Magic was real. I’d come to terms with that, but seeing this creature, feeling the tremors of ancient power emanating from
