Sea Queen

Chapter Eighteen

She was so beautiful, it was hard not to feel immensely jealous. She wore a turquiose gown that faded to white, in thin layers of chiffon so that it looked like the sea. She had almost plum coloured hair that fell down to her hips in loose curls, shining in the sunlight that seemed to be beaming from behind her. She was quite pale, with the brightest blue eyes I'd ever seen, and lush plum lips. The statue in the mer kingdom was an offense to how pretty she was.

"Jade." She said smiling, and then her face darkened. "Sorry to take you away from practising, but I needed to talk to you."

"Okay. What about? Er... Maam? Your grace?" I didn't know what to call her. She was a Goddess after all.

"Acia will do fine." She smiled slightly again, and her bright turquiose eyes sparkled slightly. "I'm afraid I have bad news about Aria. Aria wants to become a Goddess instead of the semi-mortal that she is now. And I am afraid that she now knows how to achieve this."

She looked straight at me.

"If she does ascend to be a Goddess there will be no stopping her. There will be no end to her chaos and destruction. It will be the end of all things." She said, her face so fearful and sad as she looked down again. "And you are the only one who can stop her."

"Can't you help me?" I asked, and then realised how rude that sounded. "Sorry."

"I would if I could. But being a Goddess limits me in different ways. I can't take physical form. My only way to influence the world is through water and my soul. You. It's why we decided to do the process of the souls, so that they could pass on our words and influence the world in ways we can't."

No pressure then.

"So, how does Aria become a Goddess? How do I stop her?" I asked.

"Aria can only become a goddess by either forcing one of us to become a mortal and switching places, or killing one of us. Once she is a Goddess, she can create her own race of people, like we have done, and influence the world through fire."

I noticed something that I'd never expected. She looked so afraid, and so sad.

"She will not just influence the world, she will end the world, Jade. We will all burn."

I woke up in shallow water, with wet sand clinging to my skin. I knew immediately that I had to tell the Mer people what Acia had told me, and waded as far as a could into the water before my legs turned to a tail, and I swum back to the Silver City.

I was scared. More scared than I was when all of this started, when I was having those dreams. I felt bad for not wanting to burn by Aria's hands, to be afraid for my life when I should be afraid for the others I was meant to protect.

I reached the city, and saw the guards bow at the entrance.

"I need to talk to the King. Immediately." 

"... We need to stop her. I saw what she did to that Naiad settlement, and that was only when she was as she is, a mortal. If she rises to a Goddess, it'll be so much worse." I finished. I was talking not only to the King but the council and Seb, who all had horrified looks on their faces.

"Not to mention the damage done if Aria does manage to weaken or kill one of the Goddesses." Seb added. "But what can we do? It's not like we can do much to stop her."