Scales or Blessings?

When Stefan opened his eyes, he found himself in a dark space. He reached out his hands in order to perceive his surroundings. But he felt himself trapped in a small space. 

Just as he moved a little and tried to open that enclosed space, light started pouring out from above his head. Stefan lifted his head only to get stung in his eyes by the strong light.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that he was sitting on a seabed like thing. It was all soft and comfy. He sighed with relaxation, but suddenly realized that his surroundings were not quite right.

His brain had yet to register this change, when he heard a cold and mechanical sound.

'Hello, Host', this voice was more like a voice devoid of any emotion unlike Heli's which excluded vitality from inside out. 

Stefan felt very uncomfortable after hearing this voice. Although he did not know in which state, he currently was, he obviously did not want to dwell much on it.

''System?'', Stefan asked.

The system did not reply to him. It only repeated the instructions given earlier, as if on loop.

Stefan understood that this System was not like Heli who would reply whenever he asked any question to it. It seems that the system could only follow the manual instructions already present in its database.

He decided to put his issue aside for some time. Currently, he started observing his surroundings and came to a realization that he might be in the deep sea.

Although Stefan could not see himself at present, he did not think deeper about this issue, as he knew he would be able to see himself through the reflection present in the sea.

If he could see himself at present, he would realize that he was no longer human. It was because, Stefan was unaware of the changes in body.

Stefan was currently sitting inside a shell which contained different sizes of pearls neatly arranged according to the size and on his body, which no longer resembled his previous self, was shining with scales of golden colour.

He looked at his arm only to realize that there appeared scales of golden colour. Maybe he perceived something, but when he looked up, his eyes met another pair of peculiar eyes..

At this moment, he was out of his shell to observe why he could breathe freely underwater, only to feel a sight on him. He turned towards that direction and saw that a pair of blue coloured eyes were quietly observing him.

Stefan gently smiled and greeted the other party by waving his hands, "Hello!"

The other party looked at him, titled his head a little, and did not reply. He just came closer to Stefan and observed him with some vigilance, and confusion evident in his eyes.

After observing Stefan enough, the other party who was like a 19-year-old boy with striking features stretched out his hand and touched Stefan curiously.

Stefan looked at the handsome and cute boy in front of him and felt entranced from those blue eyes. Those blue eyes resembled the ocean and the deep sea very much.

The curled eyelashes were long enough to form a shadow over the eyes as a curtain enclosing the enchanting secret.

The boy had a pale skin which shone with luster matching the dark black colour of his waist-length hair. He was wearing nothing, but he wasn't naked, as the lower part of his body was covered with scales.

It was at this moment that Stefan came to know that the cute young boy present in front of him was a merman.

He said merman because he was well aware of the difference between a mermaid and a merman. Even in the legends, the mermaid has her upper body partially covered, unlike mermen who have a naked upper body and only the lower part of their body is covered with scales.

Just then, the boy said something in a strange language. Stefan did not understand the sentence completely, only vaguely catching on some familiar phrase. 

The boy that is Justin looked at the beautiful young man in front of him, who is the most beautiful of all the sea creatures he has ever seen, and stared at the golden blessings appearing on his body.

As he looked at the carvings of blessing on this young man, a thought appeared in his mind, 'Perhaps, this man is the child in the prophecy!'. He was shocked by his own thoughts, but did not show anything on his face. 

Since childhood, he has been trained how to lower the guard of strangers to protect themselves in a better way. So even if he knew that the boy in front of him might be the child in the prophecy, he did not treat him amicably.

Justin showed a cute smile while hiding the fangs in his mouth and expressed with his actions that he wanted to take the young man somewhere. Stefan, although understanding the meaning of the boy in front of him, was not sure about how to reject the cute boy.

As Stefan has just arrived in this world, he was unfamiliar with everything here, so he needed to grasp his own situation clearly first. There was also the unfamiliarity with his powers. He felt unsettled when he couldn't sense his core that contained both his magic and auras. 

He didn't know what happened while teleporting, but then the pain he felt earlier was obviously not his illusion. Because he was well aware that whenever his body got injured, the healing power present in his body would be activated in order to save his life. But clearly, at that time, he heard Heli saying that his body had suffered irreversible damage. 

As soon as he woke up, he had realized that something was off about his situation. There was no pain and wounds present in his body. It was absolutely impossible that the pain he suffered earlier was an illusion because at that moment he felt his soul being forcibly stuffed into something.

...............