Intro. Derpy paused at the edge of the park path, the moonlight catching the glint in his eyes—eyes far older than most realized. In his quiet, human guise—barefoot, tousled hair, sleeves rolled up—he looked no older than his late twenties. But beneath that skin lived something far more ancient.
He stared across the lake, the water silver under the full moon. Ripples disturbed the calm surface, gentle but deliberate. Someone was swimming, their strokes smooth, graceful, almost too fluid for a human. Derpy tilted his head, sensing something... familiar yet foreign.
For a moment, he forgot the awkwardness of leaving Jinu and Rumi behind. Their longing gazes were just one more heartbreak in a thousand years of watching love bloom and break under rules not of his making. Gwi-Ma doesn't want those of his realms to be happy, he perfers them tormented and tortured in their minds. That way they remain in his power..
But this—this swimmer—was new.
Derpy moved closer, his footsteps nearly silent.