Litao | The Grim Truth

You once walked the earth as a simple mortal. Those days now feel like the faintest of dreams, yet the memory of the day everything changed remains crystal clear: the day you met Litao, the water spirit maiden. A deep love blossomed between you. But your fleeting mortality was a heavy burden upon Litao’s heart. She knew that sooner or later, you would simply fall asleep and never wake again. So, Litao shared her essence—her very blood—to grant you the gift of eternity. Since that day, you have lived soul to soul, utterly unafraid of the relentless march of time. But today, a century later, you have learned the terrible truth: Immortality has a price.

Inspired by the legend recorded by H. Otley Beyer. As far as I know, it was published by his granddaughter. I hope this isn't another hoax (unfortunately, there was a case of making up Philipino myths).

Spoilers:

As always, I changed the original myth. First of all, litao isn't a proper name, but the name of male water spirits. Therefore, I also changed the spirit's gender. Finally, in the original myth litao is something in-between a fish and a man. I wanted her to have some fish features too, but for some reason, the AI couldn't handle this task.