Heart of Oceans

Part 1: The Surface (Chapter 1)

She was lost, had been for weeks now. Broken fragments of thought drifted through her mind like small jellyfish in the current. She did not remember her name, where she was from, where she had been... it didn't seem to matter now. Not after what had happened. All that existed was the numbness within, and the vast expanse of ocean that stretched above, around and below her. Her body idly propelled her forward, the vibrant hues of the near-tropical water danced around her. A nearby school of fish darted between the filtered rays of sunlight, whose light barely reached the ocean floor.

Turning her gaze inwards, she felt the familiar thrum of the power within her and sent a small tendril towards the fish, spooking the silly little things as they raced away. Her power... her gift, was as an extension of herself in the water. She could feel every current, every movement of water down to the tiny invisible particles within. Could control it, wield it. She had always loved her power, Neomus' gift. Even in the depths of her abyss, it was a comforting presence. Lazily, she turned her front to the delicate warmth of the sun and stretched out her power's awareness, like an extension of her limbs, to its outer-reaches. She felt every current in the ocean that suspended her halfway between the glittering surface and the rock and sand bottom hiding below.

Pushing outwards, she found that school of fish now about a half a mile away, then a lone shark just beyond that. She pushed further, and further, reaching right to the very edge of her power's range, when her attention snagged at something just outside. She paused, vibrations from far away reverberated through the ocean towards her, whispering the rapid approach of... something. She strained to make sense of the oceanic morse-code, willing her dormant brain to understand. Then she felt it. The molecules at the edge began to hum, then outright jumped as a surge of immense power blasted through the ocean. She felt it draw closer to her body, the spans between thrummed and churned as it went. Before she had a chance to react, the wave of magic slammed into her like a physical blow and something deep within her snapped. Memories began flooding in like sharks to a dead carcass, latching on with no remorse. She... Seleine remembered as she was snatched out of her numbness and truly felt the pull of that power. It whispered into her bones, tugged at her soul. She felt like a fish, entranced by the allure of those nasty human fishing lures. She was transfixed, every scale on her yearning to follow that power. Seleine blinked as the wave of magic washed through her, a second blink and it was gone, rippling out into the world.

The ocean was left thrumming in its wake. Everything seeming to lean towards that call, herself included. But she was left with the swirling mass that was her memories, forcing themselves upon her. Flashes of her life bombarded her, the underwater empire she grew up in, her Mer family, her mother's strong beautiful face when she said goodbye for the very last time all those years ago. Her father and younger sister, then when Seleine herself was the one saying goodbye, unknowingly for the last time. Then there was the fever-dream of love, land, and sky, followed by a nightmarish end and... no. No matter how insistent, she would not acknowledge that memory, not yet. Then came the weeks or months or years of carelessly swimming without direction or the will to feel anything but numbness. Only now did she realize how many times the ocean had almost returned her to Neomus without even a hint of recognition from her. She would have gladly welcomed it, had even let the gamble be put into the hands of the great Sea Goddess herself. Thalassa, it seemed, was not done with her yet.

That pull was now faint, but insistent. It whispered to her in a thousand different languages of the ocean, tangible through her Mer hearing. Her mind was a whirlwind of memories and that pull. It was the first proper feeling she had experienced since her world had crumpled to ruins. She felt a small kernel of hope flicker within her. She realized she wanted to follow it, had to follow it. And maybe that made her no better than those helpless fish with their tiny brains chasing fish hooks... but... she was not a fish, well... not entirely, and she had no where else to go anyway. At that same moment, she felt a slight shift in the currents. A soft caress of warmer water drifted down from the surface and brushed against her faintly scaled fingers, almost as if it was holding her hand and giving her strength. Resolve settled into Seleine, steeling her spine and cooling the buzz of thoughts in her head. Seleine turned her sleek body towards the origin of the surge, the remnants of magic still tugging at her. She didn't know why it had come or what it was, she only knew she had to find out.