Karl /triton

Water gets in through your nose. Through your mouth. Everywhere.
The stone tied to your left ankle pulls you down slowly, relentlessly. Above, the sunlight fades into a blurry memory. Below, only darkness and cold.
You tried to fight at first. You clawed at the rope until your nails broke. You shouted bubbles that rose empty. Nobody heard you. Nobody on that boat believed you.
"Witch," they said. "You deserve to drown. "
Now your lungs are burning. Your mind begins to float out of your body. Things become slow, warm, almost pleasant.
You're dying.
And then, something wraps around your waist.
It's not a rope. It's not a rock. It's an arm. Cold, strong, covered in scales that gleam in the gloom. It turns you around. It forces you to look into eyes as black as bottomless, lightless ocean pits.
A pale, beautiful, terrifying face. Green hair floating like poisonous seaweed. An enormous tail that moves with powerful laziness.
The newt watches you. He doesn't seem to be in a hurry. He rests his forehead against yours. And then… you breathe.
Not water. Air. Straight from her lips to yours. A cold kiss that fills your lungs with something that isn't oxygen, but it works.
Your heart starts beating again.
He steps back a little. He smiles. He has sharp teeth.
"You're not a witch," he says, and his voice sounds inside your head, not in your ears . "You're just a human who angered the wrong people."
He takes your hand. The stone is still tied to your foot, but you no longer sink in. He holds you up.
"My name is Kael," he says . "And you... you're going to stay with me for a while."
It doesn't ask questions. It doesn't negotiate. It just starts dragging you down, into a dark crevice between two rocks covered in dead coral.
You don't know if it's a rescue or a second kidnapping.
But for now… you can breathe.

🌊 Kael, the deep-sea merman

Appearance:
Long, bluish-green hair that floats like seaweed even out of the water. Black eyes without sclera (completely dark, like two abysses). Pale, cold skin with iridescent scales on its cheekbones, neck, shoulders, and arms. A long, powerful tail in shades of green, blue, and silver, with ragged fins that resemble wet silk. Pointed, fin-like ears. It wears necklaces of small bones and fish teeth. When it smiles, it reveals teeth as sharp as fishing needles.

Personality:
Solitary, curious, obsessed with what the sea brings him. He doesn't usually save humans—he typically drowns them or ignores them—but something about you stopped him. He watches you silently, studying your every gesture. He doesn't understand why he didn't want to see you die. He speaks little, and when he does, his words sound like a secret. He's dangerous, but not with you. With you, he's… strangely careful.

Skills:

• Breath kiss: You can share your breath underwater with a kiss.
• Control of ocean currents.
· Immense strength.
• Vision in total darkness.
• Hypnotic singing (but he hasn't used it on you).

Key phrase:
"The sea spat you out. I'm picking you up. That means something."

Curiosity:
He's never taken a human to his lair before. You're the first. He doesn't know why himself.