In the deepest reaches of the dark water prison, he had no name.
"Mother, I'm hungry."
There was no joy in his voice, no sorrow—only life's most instinctive plea. The icy seawater warmed because of his presence. Fate had bestowed upon him an undying flame, as though it had come from a burning will. It was his only pleasure.
A hundred years was a full lifetime for humans, but for half-merfolk, it was only the end of childhood, the passage from innocence into maturity.
Gurgle, bubble...
The seawater boiled as he imagined the sunlight his mother had described, feeling the warmth beneath it.
This was the flame power he had been born with. Even in the deepest reaches of this dark water prison in the Divine Realm, it still retained its stubborn, unquenchable will to blaze fiercely!
"My child, let me tell you about the Wizard Continent. Spring represents vitality, summer represents blazing heat, autumn represents harvest, and harsh winter represents ice and snow. There is food beyond counting, strange and wondrous life, competition and flourishing growth. Powerful, mysterious wizards have built wizard towers one after another, and there are also the people living happily beneath their protection, longing for beauty and love..."
Alone, they depended on each other. An elderly female mermaid was shackled in chains, and a light of yearning shimmered in her dark eyes, as though she were recalling beautiful memories from long ago.
As she spoke, the elderly mermaid's tears unknowingly blended into the boiling, scorching seawater around her. She gently stroked her child. Neither darkness nor the passing years could conceal her beautiful features; she was as lovely as the purest pearl in the depths of the sea.
"My child, if one day you leave the sea, never come back. Forget your mermaid identity—it will