【R76】Tide wave

Morrison's night was long and winding.

The blood flowing from the wounds of humans is no different from what I often feel in the sea, but the fishy and sweet smell is like a long hemp rope dragged behind the fishing boat, and penetrates into the mermaid's gills all the way. In the belly, it was lumped into a lump, and it sank tightly in the stomach.There were two kinds of human beings that Morrison had ever seen: savage or cold—he didn't like either, one was dangerous, the other was too sad.But the humans he hid in the cave were different. Although the man was weak, there was still a gentle light in his eyes, and he couldn't be classified into any category at will.

He occupies the mind of the mermaid, swelling and filling every corner.When Morrison turned sideways absent-mindedly to turn into the house, a cold and slippery thing wrapped around his tail fin silently.

It seemed that tonight was destined to be long and weird.

The instinctive resistance was magnified several times at this moment. Morrison's arm muscles were tense. He turned his body in an incredible posture, with his five fingers spread out, and was about to pounce on the attacker behind him, but he didn't want to crash into it. In the dark mist.The mermaid stirred the water, trying to dispel the darkness, but the darkness had already melted into the sea, thick and sticky. At the same time, the foreign object on the tail began to climb upwards, enveloping him like thick grease.

There is no doubt that Morrison felt the fear, very intense.

But the source of fear made an overly familiar voice in the next moment: "It seems that patrolling can't improve your poor vigilance."

"Reaper?" Before he finished speaking, the pale mask of the octopus wizard came into his sight almost close to the tip of the mermaid's nose.The blue eyes rolled around, but were awkwardly confined to the dark eye sockets of the other party due to the limited viewing distance.

The mystery of the foreign body attached to the caudal fin has been solved.Morrison pushed the God of Reaper's chest to distance himself from him, but the other party obviously wanted to continue teasing him, and the tentacles hooked to the caudal fin tended to tighten more and more. "I heard that even if the tentacles of an octopus are cut off, they can regenerate." Morrison said with a straight face, "I've always wanted to verify whether it is true as the rumors say."

"...It's absolutely true." After holding back a few words dryly from his throat, Death God obediently let go of the mermaid's tail.The black mist that enveloped the two of them was far away from Morrison's body.They quickly covered the bare upper body of the Grim Reaper tightly, but they didn't fit completely, and there were still some fine black water flowing around, a bit like a windbreaker that only humans would wear.Morrison wasn't surprised, after all, wizards always have a little bit of magic to keep him mysterious. "When did you come back?"

"Just today." The god of death was frank in surprise, "I'm here to pick up that troublesome little trouble."

"Come in," the white-haired mermaid led the way, pushing aside the covered sponge bushes outside the lair, "But you mentioned more than one little trouble. The black shadow has already fallen asleep, Mai..." His voice cut off abruptly end.

The narwhal whose name was called was staying in the living room. His cheeks were bulging, and a transparent shrimp tail was hanging from his lips. It was obvious that he hadn't had time to swallow it yet.After seeing the mermaid, McCree shook the shell towards him. There were still a lot of krill left in it, and said in a very vague tone: "Jack, do you want some supper? I just caught it today." More than a month old Getting along is enough to change the appellation.

Before Morrison could answer, McCree immediately noticed the familiar figure behind the mermaid: "God of the Sea." The narwhal sighed, and swam towards the other party, but became hesitant and stagnant after seeing the rising black mist. "You are hurt?"

The Grim Reaper was not surprised by McCree's appearance, and similarly, he also avoided talking about doubts, selectively ignoring the questioning eyes cast by the mermaid.The octopus wizard turned into the girls' room full of doubts, and when he reappeared, the black shadow was firmly held in the arms of the man.The little octopus slept soundly and showed no sign of being woken up.

"you……"

"No matter what you want to ask, wait until tomorrow. Let's go, kid." After saying this, the god of death took Sombra and McCree to say goodbye to the mermaid.Reluctantly, the young man put the shells back on the table, and left the mermaid's lair with Death. He looked back at Morrison from time to time until the figures of each other blurred into mottled patches of color.

At this moment, Morrison knew that his face was not good.

McCree's astonishment caused ripples in his mind, and he suddenly realized that he knew very little about the god of death, his name, life experience, and even the face behind the mask, let alone his habits and hobbies.Morrison doesn't claim to be an emotional guy, but now he's devastated by death's absence.

Fortunately, the turbulent tide quickly awakened the mermaid from its stupor. Morrison swam to Hana's room. The little mermaid with pink scales was curled up in the sea anemone and slept soundly. a tentacle.

The older mermaid thought that Hana might be going to make a fuss again when she woke up the next day and found that the shadow was gone.The previous bitter emotions were replaced by kindness in an instant. He stroked the girl's brown braids and gently closed the door for her.The mermaid retreated to his room, his tired body gradually relaxed under the wrap of sea anemone, the scales opened slightly, and the air bubbles gathered softly by his side, and he fell asleep with the eternal song of the tide.

※※※

Morrison returned the dead fairy tales to Death, and found some new ones from the bookshelf.

Now that the black mist is no longer entangled around the octopus wizard, he has returned to his original appearance, naked to the waist, curled up in a corner of the study, looking at the pile of magic books that seem to never be finished.

"When Angela left the sea, you asked her what she got paid?" Morrison asked casually, but every word had been brewing in his heart for a long time. This question had been spinning in his stomach since before he met a human.

The Grim Reaper didn't say anything, just turned another page of the book in his hand.

Silence spread between them, so long that Morrison thought he would not get an answer. He lowered his eyes and turned his attention back to the bookshelf again.

"Angela." The Grim Reaper finally opened his mouth, softly whispering like waves crashing on a pebble shore, "I remember her, and that was a big deal." The pages of the book carved from thin stone slabs turned again, "As far as I know I know she is your friend. Haven't you ever asked her about the details of the contract?"

"I didn't have a chance to ask myself." Morrison touched his nose. "Before she left, I said some...some serious things...you know, I...don't want her to leave the sea."

"Her departure must have been hard on you."

"Probably." He said, as if he had never thought about it. "It should be more loss than suffering, I guess." Looking for memories, but more like a sigh that ended without a disease. "Angela left a letter and some prescriptions for medicine outside my house. When I rushed to her house, everything was still the same. But I just knew she was gone... You didn't make things difficult for her, did you? "

"When did I embarrass the guests who came to make a wish?"

The mermaid thought for a moment, then pointed at herself with a blank expression.

The God of Death raised his voice, apparently suppressing a smile: "Jack, believe me, you can't find a fairer wishing place in the entire sea area than here. Where did you just say? Yes, Angela, she asked me for it. Quite a few, legs that can walk on the ground, skin that is not easily sunburned, lungs that can capture land air for a long time, and magic that can communicate with humans.

"Very greedy, isn't it? I bet even you have never seen her be so determined for something. She said that I can take away all her scales or dorsal fin, but fortunately the medicine she researched offsets a lot .”

"Do you want a leg and a prescription?"

"Yes. And there is a small curse attached. Because she abandoned the ocean and longed to become a fully human being, as long as she touches the sea water again, her body will turn into foam. In other words, Angela Zieg Le will never return to the sea." Reaper straightened his body, "That's all."

"She didn't mention that in her letter."

"I guess it's because I'm afraid you'll feel uncomfortable. It's been so many years, why do you remember to ask her?"

The mermaid didn't answer the doubts raised by the God of Death, perhaps because she was tired of continuing to insinuate, Morrison threw a straight ball: "I need magic that can communicate with humans, and it can last for three days." As soon as the words fell, He hesitated again, "Will there be any strange curse attached?"

"...No." The Octopus Wizard said slowly, "Such a small wish leaves no curse."

Morrison was a little surprised.

Based on his understanding of the god of death, the octopus wizard sneered at all desires to have anything to do with humans.Morrison even thought up a set of rhetoric to block the possible ridicule that would follow.As a result, not only was the god of death not as mean as he imagined, but he also waved to him friendly.

An ominous premonition gradually rose, "What's the price?" The mermaid curled her tail vigilantly, and sat cross-legged on the snail shell specially designed for wishers.

"No need. This time I'm giving you a discount, thank you for taking care of Sombra and McCree."

There have been too many strange things happening lately.But the fact that the god of death is willing to help him realize his wish for free can definitely be ranked first.

The Grim Reaper was sitting opposite him, separated by a magic circle made of coral stone.The many-legged creatures lazily placed the crystal balls in the correct position, and they emitted a soft orange light, becoming suns sleeping peacefully on the bottom of the sea.The mermaid has also seen the same scene, and he recalled the first contract he signed with Death for Hana: Like all vulgar descriptions of magic, the wizard muttered a mysterious spell, followed by a few scattered golden lights, It's well-regulated and not lacking in a little bit of mystery—he also thinks that's why this time.

So when the octopus tentacles covered Morrison's eyelids, the mermaid suddenly didn't react.

The suction cups at the tip of the tentacles are small but very fine, they nimbly step on the skin, wriggling around, like some kind of sticky creatures with free will.Morrison wasn't sure if it was a joke or part of a ritual, but the feeling of being prey made him resist.Instinctively stretched out his hand to lift the cover, just as he raised his hand, more tentacles climbed up his arms, flooding forward to fix his hands on top of his head, and the tail of the fish was also folded under the brutal pressure of death Into a group of bright colors that cannot struggle.

Morrison decided to warn Death not to play tricks. Before the voice escaped from his mouth, he swallowed it back into his stomach again—a soft tongue suddenly broke into the mermaid's mouth.

The tongue swept over the mermaid's fangs, the palate, and the bottom of the tongue, sweeping every corner of the mouth, but the octopus wizard was still not satisfied. He lifted the mermaid's jaw and exerted force on the jawbone with two fingers, forcing Morrison to move his mouth Open up more.At the same time, a round object invaded the mouth along the tongue of the god of death. Morrison struggled to push the ball back, but the god of death caught the opening. One push and it fell down.The quivering smile on the wizard's chest annoyed the mermaid, but the kiss was not over yet. Death's cool and slippery tongue was entangled with him, sucking with all his strength every time, even as deep as his throat, as fierce as a wrestling that would never die.

The god of death still let the poor wisher go, and all the tentacles and aggression left the mermaid's body at the same time.

Morrison was coughing in pain, and large blisters continued to overflow from his gill opening, making the rumbling sound of fish entering the water.The ball that was forced into the throat still seemed to be stuck in the esophagus, unable to spit it out or swallow it. "What did you eat for me?" He raised his head, and in the haze, the bone mask of the god of death was like a pearl curtain at a ball. It slowly descended and then stabilized, and finally returned to its white appearance.

"Relax, it's just the crystallization of magic." The culprit readily admitted, "Do you need me to explain the operation process of magic for you?"

He was answered with a fishtail sticking to his face.Morrison moved his mouth and spit out a dirty word soundlessly, grabbed his rucksack and rushed towards the exit of the lair.

"Is the method of fulfilling people's wishes so 'novel' now?"

"If you're going to make a long story about what you just saw, then shut up, Jesse."

"I thought you were in a good mood?" the narwhal continued while keeping a safe distance from the octopus (so that it could slip away at any time), "Can you tell me what Jack wished?"

"Of course—no."

I expected it, cheapskate.McCree was bored, but the God of Death stopped him again: "Are all mermaids interested in humans?"

Nonsensical questions.McCree thought, but he still opened his mouth and said, "Humans? Of course only the little cubs have longing for humans. Of course, half of the reason is influenced by those stupid and infatuated princes in fairy tales," he waved himself. Broken half of the fin, "After they grow up and know what human beings are... Wait? Could it be that Jack's wish is related to human beings?"

"How is it possible!" Death was obviously impatient, "You have this spare time to talk nonsense with me, why don't you go and do some work?"

Jack Morrison was a fish washed into the shallows by the tide, and had no sense of impending doom until the day of low tide.

TBC