As the months passed, Eryssa's longing for Lior deepened. The sea became more turbulent, the tides more unpredictable. The ocean around her seemed to recognize her internal conflict, its waters swirling with darker currents. One night, as she swam through the deep, she encountered an ancient force—one older than even the oldest mermaid legends.
It was an entity that called itself Nyra, a creature of shadow and salt, whose eyes glowed with an unnatural red light. Nyra was a witch of the deep, a being who could twist the very fabric of reality if it suited her purpose.
"I see you suffer, child of the sea," Nyra said, her voice like the rasp of dead branches scratching against the rocks. "You are torn between two worlds, and it weakens you. But I can offer you a way to have what you desire."
Eryssa trembled, her instincts warning her of the danger, but the temptation was too strong. "What do you want in exchange?"
Nyra's smile was cold and sharp. "All things come with a price, child. To love a human, to walk in his world, you must forsake your own. I can give you legs, a human form, and the ability to live on land. But your soul will be mine."
Eryssa hesitated. The price was steep, but the pull of her love for Lior, the ache of wanting to be with him, overpowered her fear. She agreed.
When she awoke the next morning, the ocean was silent. The waves had receded, leaving the shore eerily still. Her tail was gone, replaced by legs that felt heavy and foreign beneath her. She stumbled, but her resolve was strong. She would go to Lior, and she would make him hers, no matter the cost.
But as the days passed, something within her began to change. Her once-silver scales turned black as night, her once-clear eyes became pools of darkness. The more she walked the earth, the more her soul became entangled with Nyra's curse. Her heart, once filled with love and wonder, began to harden. She no longer felt the pull of the ocean, only an insatiable hunger for power, for control, and for vengeance.
Lior, too, began to change. He saw Eryssa's beauty, her allure, but there was something cold in her gaze now, something frightening. She was no longer the innocent mermaid he had fallen in love with. She was something darker, something he could not understand.
In her heart, Eryssa knew what was happening. Nyra had taken her soul, and in exchange, she was becoming something more than human, something less than mermaid. The darkness within her grew, and soon, she could no longer resist it