"We'll wait for it to leave first," Rowan told the captain. The anti mage believed that maintaining the status quo was safer than attracting its attention through an overt attempt at escape. If worse came to worst, he would fight it in the water.

"Understood!"

The captain was feeling more like himself now because of Rowan's calm demeanour. It even began to infect the other sailors. Their gloomy dispositions were discarded for battle-ready auras. Strong and dependable leadership was defined by its capacity to rally men to a cause and to inspire confidence. Rowan hadn't yet proved himself to the soldiers but from what they'd seen of his abilities, there was nothing to be dissatisfied about. His cool headedness during such a heavy pressure situation further bolstered their confidence in him.

They did as Rowan instructed and so the ship drifted for hours on end till the early morning light lit up the ocean. The monster looked even scarier now that they could clearly make out its shape and size.

Rowan was starting to have second thoughts about waiting for the creature to leave. If it decided to stay in that pose for a week, would they also wait a week? No. Their food and water would run just waiting like sitting ducks. He had anticipated its departure before dawn but the creature was immobile. 

The anti mage turned to the captain beside him. "Prepare the ship's defences."

"Are we leaving?"

"Yes," Rowan replied.

____

The crew made very little sound as they set up magic-powered canons that were capable of causing devastating damage. One of the special cannonballs they'd brought along was capable of tearing holes through reinforced ship hulls. It was an expensive buy but worth every copper bit for how fast it could sink an enemy ship.

The mainsail was hoisted smoothly and it leaned into the wind which was blowing away from the direction of their enemy. And that's when the creature made a move. It raised its head toward the sun and held up the serpent higher.

Under the light of the sun, the sergeant began transforming. Its long tail split into two and turned into slender pale legs. Arms appeared and separated from the flesh of the torso. And finally, the head of the serpent changed into a pretty boy's face. His dark hair was like a sheet of ebony silk. Milky white skin with a faint dewy glow took on golden hues under the warm sunlight.

Syryn was keenly aware of what had happened to him. The mage stood up and stretched even as he faced the nine adoring eyes that wanted to look cute for its master.

"Levia," the mage called out to it while smiling. Small snippets of memories of seeing the creature trickled into his mind. He felt a familiarity towards it that was as strange as it was heartwarming. It felt like coming back to a well-known stall where the decoration had changed but the food tasted the same. It was the sage's memories and feelings. Syryn felt honoured to share in such a personal connection that should have had nothing to do with him.

The monster made a small vibrating sound in its throat. Bending its head towards the mage, she allowed Syryn to reach out and pat her on the side of her massive jaw. His body was dwarfed by the sheer size of its head next to him.

"Long time no see, big girl," he spoke, feeling the nostalgia from the sage's consciousness leaking through into him.

"Hrnnnnnnnn."

"What's that? A human ship?" Syryn turned to look at the ship whose white sails were billowing with the wind.

At the deck stood a blond man who was squinting in his direction. Syryn couldn't see the man properly because the ship was already very far away. For some inexplicable reason though, the mage was drawn towards the straight and tall figure of the man on the deck.

"Hhhhhrnnn!"

"You want to eat fish?" Syryn replied. He imagined how much fish Levia would have to eat in one sitting. It was a mind-boggling amount of fish, he concluded. "Then let's go eat fish!"

Levia let out a loud cry and leapt into an arc through the air. As it dove back down, the creature landed near the ship filled with alarmed humans. And for one second, Syryn turned and made eye contact with Rowan. The blond man's eyes went wide in shock as recognition flashed in a flare of bright blue.

"Syryn," his lips moved. But the mage was already gone.

An enormous splash streaked up in a fountain of salty water. Rowan's ship was soaked from the top of its mast to the previously dry deck he stood upon. But none of this mattered to the anti mage.

He was held in place by the knowledge that he had just seen Syryn in the hands of the monster. Syryn had befriended the creature and it was obvious from the way it cradled him to its shoulder very protectively. What bothered Rowan though was the complete absence of recognition in Syryn's eyes when the mage had looked at him. Rowan wanted to believe that he had seen wrong, that he had mistaken the look in Syryn's eyes, that maybe it wasn't even Syryn but someone that looked exactly like him.

The anti mage turned to the crew. "Plans have changed. We're not leaving today."

____

Syryn's stomach had done a little backflip when he had seen the blond human. But the glance had been so short and so fast that he hadn't satisfyingly oogled him. It was a pity that the ship was leaving, he thought. For some reason, he felt strange things at the thought of the man, and he wanted to go back to meet him again. Syryn suspected that it was the man's gorgeous face that made him feel that way. Even in that tiny moment of time that was given to him, the mage had noticed how absurdly attractive the man was.

"Levia, I think I'm in love," he said to the creature. Syryn was now perched on her shoulder, laying flat on his stomach, next to a raised bony plate on her neck. A ridge encompassing several spiky plates trailed down the spine of Levia's back.

The monster made a low sound. It opened its mouth wide and sucked in several thousands of litres worth of water where a large school of fish had been swimming.

"How is he so good looking?! It's unfair!" Syryn complained. Taking a look at his lacklustre biceps, the mage's self-esteem plummeted. "I wonder if there's someone special in his life," he kept talking to the feeding Levia. "Whoever it is, I will definitely find someone more- Levia that's a whale!"

The chase was quick and the hunt was brutal. Syryn watched in complete fascination as the whale disappeared into Levia's mouth in one bite. But he could tell that the behemoth was still going to eat a lot more before its stomach was filled.

"How are we going to feed you every day?" He was starting to feel the worries of a mother who had a perpetually hungry daughter. If Levia ate this much every day then the ocean was going to run of resources very quickly. The answer came to his mind from the sage.

"I see, you can be compacted into a smaller form with reduced mass," Syryn said to Levia. He understood that Levia had to be fed a large amount of food every time she changed back into her true form. She could then stay small and eat small till the need for transformation arose again. It had been the sage's magic that allowed the creature to change shape and form for convenience. This magic was permanent and Syryn didn't need to do anything to it.

Levia and Syryn hunted and swam for nearly the entire day. When Levia was finally satisfied, it was already evening. The ocean reflected a burning orange colour as the creature and its master floated, seeking respite from the dark and bleak depths of the ocean floor.

"What now? I guess I'm the new and undisputed King of Silisia since I have you to eat up anyone that disagrees with my rule. It feels good, Levia. I could get used to being feared and worshipped by the piece of shits that plotted my death." The mage didn't want to be king. That hadn't changed. But he recalled with fury how the merman had treated him. Syryn's death was on their hands.

Yes, death. Because for him to have been reborn, he had had to die. Syryn had drowned and his heart had stopped. He knew with certainty that he had died for a second before the sage's magic had begun phase two of transforming him into a being that could survive in the water. Even now, the mage didn't quite understand how it worked but he knew that the air he needed for survival was being absorbed from the water through his skin. His body had been irrevocably changed but the mage harboured no complaints about it. In fact, he was overjoyed. Drowning sucked. Syryn didn't want to ever experience drowning again.