The stranger released Kai.

Still reeling, Kai was glad that they were underwater; the stranger packed a real punch, and he would have collapsed onto the ground if they were on the surface. Pissed that this was the second time he so easily punched him and rendered him physically incapacitated, he slowly straightened, ignoring the pangs of pain from his gut.

"Who are you?" Kai demanded, but it came out breathless and less authoritative than he had planned.

Really, who was this stranger? Given the limited facts and information in his possession, he had to be a merman, see that he could breathe underwater. Some sort of terminator, hitman-type merman sent to kidnap him? It was safe to assume by now that he was an enemy. Could he also assume that he was from the aquatic Nostraza Empire?

His mother had warned him about how his powers awakening would attract those who bore him ill will as Prince of Astria (though he was still unable to comprehend how quickly they'd been compromised). She'd warned Kai about him.

King Marius the Conquerer. His father's murderer.

Kai eyed the handsome merman clad in all black with evident suspicion.

Could he be...?

No, impossible. A king did not dirty his hands with anything as sinister and tedious as kidnap; or so the multiple royalty dramas he watched had taught him.

Yet the man looked fearsome enough to be an infamous conquerer. Heck, he looked like he could pull off a crown too. And what did Kai know about mer-royalty anyway? For all he knew, this could really be...

The blood drained from his face as the possibility stared him in the face. He felt his spine go rigid.

"Who are you?" he demanded again when he received no answer, putting some conviction into it. Unfortunately, some of his fear ebbed into his words, much to his chagrin.

And where were those alleged powers when he needed them the most? He was underwater now, but there was absolutely no sign of the golden merman. If summoning the golden merman was even his power. He didn't have an inkling what his powers were, and if they only manifested under the water, or how they manifested to begin with.

He unconsciously touched the sticky gills behind his ears. Other than that he'd grown gills and could now breathe underwater, he didn't feel any different than he did before yesterday when he nearly drowned.

Shark Eyes regarded him with that same cold gaze of his, and he barely resisted the urge to shudder. Kai could see in their blue depths that he would be shown no mercy if he acted out again.

Now that he knew escape was impossible for the time being, Kai finally took in the merman's appearance underwater. He looked so in his element in the water that Kai seemed, for a lack of better words, like a fish out of water. Although he hadn't sprouted a tail like the golden merman. And like Kai, he'd yet to show any of his merman powers whatever they were, other than the magical item tied to Kai's ankle, of course.

Kai looked down and, sure enough, the chain was gone and only the gold cuffs on Kai's ankle and the stranger's wrist remained. He had to figure out a way to break the chain, and fast if he was to have any chance of escaping. And he had to do it before the stranger reached wherever it was he was taking him.

"Don't even think about it," the stranger warned, and Kai's eyes snapped to him. "The chain is unbreakable."

Kai unthinkingly retorted, "We'll see about that."

He thought he saw the corner of the stranger's mouth twitch.

Wordlessly, the stranger turned around and glided away. Dumfounded, Kai stared after him. Of course, there was no way that the stranger would release him so easily. When he reached a certain distance, the chain activated and Kai began to be pulled behind him.

Sighing defeatedly, he spared his ankle the pressure of being pulled on and swam behind the stranger of his own accord, though there was no spring in his step, or swim in this case.

"Where are you taking me?" he asked despite knowing he would not be answered.

From where he was, Kai's view was the stranger's swimming form. The image of a fairy gliding through the air flashed in his mind. It would not have been a stretch of the imagination to say that he carried himself regally...

Kai's eyes narrowed on his wide back.

"At least tell me your name-"

He spotted them then when they emerged from behind an underwater cliff not too far away from where they were and he immediately shut up. It was a group of eight mermen bearing weapons. His eyes widened in alarm and trepidation when he realized that they were coming right for them. They wore what appeared to be soldiers' uniforms, and unlike the stranger, their waists tapered into long, multi-colored tails. Like in the legends and myths, they wielded sharp-looking gold tridents.

"There he is!" He heard one of them shout to his fellow soliders when they were within earshot. His heart skipped a beat.

Did they mean him?!

"Quickly, before our prince is harmed!"

Oh, they definitely meant him. But they were not here to harm him, it seemed.

Our prince.

Were they soldiers of Astria?

His eyes flew to the stranger, and when he saw his stony face, he knew that they indeed were.

Kai was no idiot; he recognized a chance when he saw one. If these good merfolk were here to help him, then he'd let them.

He swam out as far as the chain would allow him, then whirled around just in time to see the group of Astrian soldiers engage the black stranger. He would have more than anything liked to help them fight the stranger, but he didn't have his sword with him and he'd simply get in the way.

Kai's jaw dropped.

They proved unworthy advisories, and put up a much worse fight as a group than he did by himself. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen. One by one, the stranger deflected them using his sword, somehow managing to juggle them as if he were fighting off harmless, clawless kittens. He swung the heavy sword and it created an unnatural ripple that sent a few of the soldiers and their tridents spiraling away like clams in an underwater tornado. The few that managed to evade the ripple fared no better.

Like black death, he mercilessly descended upon them. He battled the remaining three soldiers with terrifying ease, slashing and hacking this way and that. He twirled the heavy sword with one hand as if it were a light stick, and Kai was once again consumed with envy with the stranger's foreign but effective sword fighting technique.

"Oh, shit, he's-!' One of the soldiers started to say just before his head was sent flying.

Kai could do nothing but watch the spectacle unfold before his very eyes in silent horror. His heart beat so hard against his chest that he thought it would break his ribcage.

Finally, when they realized they were ridiculously outmatched, one of the soldiers cried, "Retreat! Retreat!"

The Astrian soldiers that were sent flying -or was it swimming?- away, upon witnessing the horrible deaths of their comrades, beat a hasty retreat, stirring a storm of bubbles in their wake and leaving him to fare for his own. The whole thing didn't even take two minutes.

So much for a rescue party.

When he felt a gaze burn into his face like hot coals, he turned his face and his eyes clashed with the mighty stranger's blue eyes. He shuddered then as Kai realized something yet again;

He had absolutely no hope of escaping him.