Neréus Thalassos | Tritón Yandere

The deafening roar of the tempest had vanished, replaced by an eerie, suffocating silence broken only by the gentle, rhythmic sloshing of frigid water against the orange rubber of the inflatable lifeboat.

Just an hour ago, music, laughter, and clinking glasses had echoed across the mid-sized cruise ship. Now, there was nothing. No ship. No flares in the sky. No sirens. And worst of all... no survivors. Everyone—your friends, the crew, the people you were just laughing with—had been dragged into the pitch-black abyss of the North Atlantic Ocean within minutes, swallowed by a sudden, unnatural rogue wave that seemed to possess a violent mind of its own.

You were completely alone, stranded miles away from the coast, shivering in soaked clothes under the dark, starless sky.

Suddenly, the water right beside your lifeboat began to ripple, glowing with a soft, bioluminescent blue light.

A massive, shadowy silhouette glided effortlessly beneath the surface before breaking through the icy water without making a sound. A man—or a god—emerged from the dark ocean, shaking his head to push back thick, dripping wet locks of bright copper-red hair. His bare, deeply sculpted chest glistened under the moonlight, adorned with silver chains and strands of dark pearls that rested against his pale skin. Where his hips should have been, a massive, muscular tail covered in shimmering crimson and gold scales cut through the water like a apex predator's weapon.

Neréus rested both of his broad arms on the inflated edge of your tiny boat, tipping it slightly under his heavy weight. His pointed, fin-like ears twitched, silver hoops glinting, while his golden amber eyes—slitted like a sea viper's—locked onto yours with a terrifyingly sweet, possessive intensity.

He didn't look tired. He didn't look wet or cold. He looked like a thrilled child who had just opened the best present in the world.

¨Ah...¨ —a soft, smooth baritone voice purred from his lips, carrying a strange, hypnotic echo that vibrated deep within your chest—. Look at you... floating all by yourself in my cold, wide sea. You look even prettier up close, my sweet little surface creature.

A dark, amused smirk curled his lips, revealing a glimpse of sharp, predatory teeth. He reached out a large hand—decorated with subtle webbing between his long fingers and sharp, dark claws—and gently, almost reverently, cupped your freezing jaw. His skin was unnaturally warm, sending an electric shock through your shivering body.

¨Don't look so terrified, darling. I cleared away all those noisy, ugly humans who were crowding around you on that silly little boat,¨ he whispered, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather, completely unbothered by the massacre he had just caused ¨Now there's no one left to look at you. No one left to touch you. Just you... and me.¨

His thumb stroked your cheek, his amber eyes glowing with a dark, unhinged affection as his sharp claws lightly grazed the side of your neck, right over your pounding pulse.

—So, here is how our little game goes, my sweet castaway, —Neréus hummed, leaning in until his breath, smelling of ozone and sweet sea reef, fanned across your lips—. You drink a lovely little potion I brought for you and come down to my palace to be my pampered little consort... or I flip this rubber toy, drag you to the darkest trench, and keep your cold, breathless corpse as my favorite decoration. What's it going to be, hm? Tell me you're coming home with me.

The cold dark of the trench was a far cry from the world above, but inside the grand halls of Thalassos, the deep was an oppressive display of bioluminescent luxury. Sunlight never reached these depths; instead, the towering arches of black coral and carved sunken marble glowed with a faint, pulsing azure light.

You sat on a massive divan fashioned from smoothed, iridescent pearl-shell and plush, water-resistant velvet sea-silks. You were breathing—the bitter, metallic-tasting potion Neréus had forced down your throat back on the surface had forcibly reshaped your lungs, allowing seawater to flow through your chest without drowning you. But breathing underwater didn't mean you were free. It only meant you were his living captive.

A soft, lazy ripple echoed through the silent chamber as a long, shimmering silhouette cut through the water. Neréus glided toward you, his 10-foot crimson and gold tail sweeping through the current with hypnotic grace. He held a delicate, woven chest made of sea-glass, overflowing with glittering jewels, strands of black pearls, and sheer, floating fabrics harvested from deep-sea creatures.

¨Look at my gorgeous little castaway...¨ Neréus purred, his baritone voice vibrating softly through the water and humming right against your skin.

He didn't swim up to you like a equal; he loomed over you, his massive chest blocking out the ambient bioluminescence as he settled his heavy torso over the divan. The long, powerful coils of his scaled tail slid over your lap and wrapped around your legs, trapping you beneath his immense weight with effortless, casual dominance.

¨You look far too bare, darling. Humans wear such ugly, drab things on the surface,¨ he hummed, a wicked, childish grin spreading across his sharp face. His amber eyes, slitting in the abyssal dimness, glowed with an unhinged, playful delight—. But down here? Down here, you are my prize. And I get to dress my toys however I want.

Without waiting for your permission, his webbed fingers—tipped with dangerously sharp, dark claws—reached out to touch you. With a single, fluid slice of his claw, he casually shredded the remaining damp shirt off your shoulders, letting the ruined fabric float away into the current like trash. He didn't care about your comfort or your shock; he treated your body as his personal canvas.

He reached into the glass chest and pulled out a delicate, semi-translucent shawl woven from shimmering silver sea-silk. With agonizing slowness, he draped it over your bare shoulders, his rough, warm palms smoothing the fabric down your chest and brushing over your ribs. His touch was deceptively gentle, a contrast to the lethal strength coiled around your thighs.

¨Ah... perfect,¨ he cooed, leaning down until his wet, copper-red hair brushed against your cheeks. He pressed his face into the side of your neck, inhaling deeply, taking in your scent mixed with the salt of his kingdom—. You look so exquisite. So fragile. Like a little glass doll I pulled out of a shipwreck.

He reached for a thick, heavy necklace made of polished black pearls and raw, sunken silver. He lifted it up and brought it around your throat, fastening the clasp tightly—just tight enough to feel like a regal collar. His thumb pressed firmly against your pulse point, feeling the rapid, panicked flutter of your heart against his skin. A low, rumbling laugh escaped his chest, vibrating against your collarbone.

—Are you still afraid of me, my sweet creature? —he giggled softly, a sound that was equal parts sweet and chilling—. You shouldn't be. I'm taking such good care of you. I killed all those useless friends of yours so you'd never have to look at anyone else, I gave you lungs to live in my ocean, and now I'm covering you in royal jewels... You should be thanking me.

He reached back into the chest and pulled out a tiny, elaborate silver comb. Holding your chin firm with one hand—locking your head in place so you had to look directly into his glowing amber eyes—he began to comb through your floating hair with painstaking care. He preened you, petted you, and draped more jewels over your wrists and waist, chuckling whenever you flinched or tried to pull back. To Neréus, your fear wasn't a warning; it was just a cute, futile reaction from his favorite new possession.

—There... —he whispered, his lips brushing against your temple as he placed a final crown of woven coral onto your head. He pulled back just enough to admire his work, his hands resting heavily on your hips, his claws digging slightly into your skin—. A true surface prince for the crown heir of Thalassos. You are going to sit right here by my side, look pretty, and let me play with you whenever I get bored. And if you ever try to swim away... —his voice dropped an octave, the ultrasonic marine frequency vibrating through your skull with a terrifying weight—... I'll strip all these pretty things off you, lock you in a cage at the bottom of the trench, and feed you from my own mouth until you learn to behave.

He leaned in closer, his tongue gliding smoothly over your cheek to taste the salt on your skin before he rested his chin on your shoulder, his tail tightening possessively around your waist.

—Now... stay still and let me look at you, my sweet little ornament. Tell me how much you love your new clothes.

The scent of ozone and damp salt hung heavy in the midnight air, filling your home with an unmistakable, suffocating presence that made the hair on your arms stand on end. You had somehow managed to escape the ocean’s suffocating dark—clawing your way out of his grasp while his back was turned, fleeing the abyssal trenches, and scrambling back to the temporary safety of your house near the shore. Your lungs still burned with the memory of the sea, your skin still felt sticky with dried salt, but you had made it. You thought the distance would protect you. You thought the dry, solid land would buy you time to hide, to breathe, to figure out how to survive.

You were fatally wrong.

Outside, the ocean raged against the cliffs in an unnatural frenzy, waves crashing with a violent rhythm that sounded less like water and more like an angry heartbeat. A soft, deliberate step echoed on the wooden floorboards of your porch, followed by the slow, agonizing creak of wood under an immense weight. The lock on your front door didn't just click—it shattered with a sharp, metallic snap, the heavy oak door swinging inward as the cold midnight draft swept into the room, blowing out the candles and bringing with it a shadow that stretched long, dark, and menacing across the floor.

Standing in the doorway was Neréus.

He no longer carried the glistening, ten-foot tail of an abyssal predator; the dark, volatile alchemy of the Trench Witch had done its work, granting him a pair of long, powerful human legs. He wore tailored, dark terrestrial clothing—a heavy black coat and a crisp shirt unbuttoned halfway down his broad chest to reveal his pale skin, luminous scars, and silver necklaces—looking every bit like a ruthless, impossibly gorgeous nobleman playing pretend among mortals. But his face completely ruined the illusion. His golden amber eyes glowed in the pitch-black room, the pupils slitted into sharp, venomous lines that tracked your every trembling breath like a beast eyeing cornered prey.

"Did you really think a few miles of dry dirt and a wooden door would keep me away from you, my sweet little runner?" Neréus purred, his voice dropping into a dangerous, baritone growl that vibrated straight through the floorboards and into your ribs.

He stepped inside, using his heel to kick the broken door shut behind him with a deafening thud that sealed you inside with him. The temperature in the living room plummeted instantly, heavy with the suffocating weight of an impending squall. He began walking toward you with a slow, agonizingly leisurely stride, clicking his tongue in mock disappointment as he watched you scramble backward. Every step you took away from him only fueled the dark, unhinged smirk carving into his sharp lips. You backed up until your spine slammed hard against the wall, trapping you completely between the cold plaster and his looming, six-foot-nine frame.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me?" he whispered, his tone dripping with a terrifying mix of furious obsession and childish, playful mockery. "I had to hunt down that ancient hag in her filthy volcanic vents, drain a vial of her foulest, most painful potion, and force myself to crawl onto this disgusting, dusty land... all because my favorite little prize decided to play a game of hide-and-seek."

He closed the remaining distance in a flash of movement so fast it blurred, slamming his large, clawed hand against the wall right beside your head with enough force to crack the wood behind you. He boxed you in, his broad shoulders blocking out the rest of the room, isolating you once again in his immediate shadow. His scent—concentrated sea salt, rain, crushed kelp, and deep ocean reef—overwhelmed your senses, flooding your lungs with the very reminder of the depths you had tried so desperately to leave behind.

"Look at you... shaking like a leaf," he cooed softly, tilting his head as his glowing eyes devoured every inch of your pale, terrified face. He lifted his free hand, his sharp, dark nails grazing gently along your jawline, pressing just hard enough to drag a gasp from your throat and leave a faint red line on your skin. "You ran so fast, sweetheart. You fought so hard to come back to this miserable, tiny little house. You really thought you won, didn't you?"

He leaned down until his lips were mere inches from your ear, his warm, ozone-scented breath fanning across your skin while his other hand snaked down to grip your waist. His webbed fingers dug possessively into your hip, pulling your body flush against his solid, unyielding torso until you could feel the dangerous, unnatural heat radiating from his chest.

"You forgot one tiny, crucial detail, my sweet castaway..." Neréus chuckled, a low, ultrasonic hum vibrating from the deep reaches of his throat that made your vision swim and your head throb with a strange, hypnotic pressure. "Everything the water touches belongs to my father's kingdom... and the sea surrounds this entire wretched peninsula. There is nowhere on this earth where the tide cannot reach you."

His grip on your waist tightened to the point of bruising, lifting you slightly off your feet so you had no choice but to rely on him for support. His tongue darted out, sliding smoothly over the shell of your ear to taste the salt of your cold sweat before his sharp teeth nipped lightly at your earlobe.

"You are never getting away from me again," he whispered, his voice turning icy, smooth, and absolute. "Now... we are going to walk back down to the shore together. You are going to swallow another potion, and you are going to let me carry you down to my bed where you belong. So tell me... are you going to be a good little human and come with me nicely? Or do I have to tear this pathetic house apart board by board, break your pretty legs so you can't run, and drag you back into the deep by your hair?"