Everything I Need - Orm Marius/Ocean Master

Four - The First Challenge

Stepping through the waterfall, she was engulfed by water - it were as though she was suddenly underwater.

She swam through the dark cavern, dark even with her special Atlantean eyesight.

Light shone through the water above her -  the sun overhead.

When she broke the surface, she found herself on another island paradise. Huh, not so bad - so far.

She began crossing the island, unsure of what else she was to do, hoping to eventually come across something to lead her to the next step.

Crossing to the other side of the island was easy - it didn't even take that long - but what lay beyond that was not.

When she made it to the other side of the island, she understood what her mother had meant by 'challenge'.

It was like night and day, the two sides of the island.

While the one she had arrived at was a tropical paradise picture-perfect vacation spot, the other side looked like Poseidon himself was throwing a tantrum.

It was a dark and stormy night...

This is what it had led to.

A storm raged ahead and all around her.  The seemingly angry sea thrashed before her, taunting. 

What choice did she have?

She ran forward as the next wave rose high above, and dove right through the middle of it, hoping to cut right through to the other side.  She dove through, but was quickly thrashed around, completely disoriented, and tossed back onto the rocky beach, as though the waves had picked her up and thrown her back on land, and not lightly either.

She tried the dive a couple more times but both ended the same as the first, with her being tossed back onto land.

Well, it looked like it was time to work those hydrokinesis skills she had been developing.

She forged a gap through the centre of the wave, but having to concentrate on timing her dive at the exact moment made it difficult to concentrate on keeping her hydrokinesis active.

Again, she was thrown back onto the beach, having gotten no further than the first try.

Got to keep trying.

"Come on, Aurelia. You've got this, you can do this," she muttered to herself in her own little pep talk.  Believe in yourself... Like Orm had said. He believed, as did her mother and father, Arthur, Vulko and Aria... And herself.

She had to believe. She could do this.

She was soaked to the skin, and it was freezing out here in the middle of this storm, but she couldn't give up, not now.

Not while so many people were counting on her, including herself.

No pressure.

This next time, she managed to catch the crest of the wave with the hydrokinesis, and managed to make it over the crashing waves this time.  But more were charging ahead.

She was tipped backwards and plunged into the icy water below, the darkness and cold engulfing her completely.

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"Shhh! Be quiet, you'll wake her up!"

"I am being quiet! You be quiet!"

"Both of you shut up!"

"Hey, look, she's waking up-"

"Ugh..." Aurelia thought she was dreaming. When she heard the voices, she thought they were all in her head. But no.

Forcing her eyes open, which made her head spin, what she saw before her made her eyes shoot open, which only made her pounding head worse.

"Oh my gods - I always wanted to believe you were real..." Ever since Tom had shown Aurelia Disney's The Little Mermaid as a child, Aurelia wanted nothing more than to be a mermaid. Why was Ariel so obsessed with the human world? she had always wondered. I'll switch places with you, Ariel!

The funny part was, she could breathe underwater, was a great swimmer, and could communicate with sea creatures just like a mermaid. But she really wanted the cool colourful tail.

And the three women before her had just that: cool, colourful tails.  One pink, one turquoise, and the other silvery white.

"Oh good, you're not dead! Hello Princess Aurelia!" The brown-haired mermaid with the turquoise tail beamed at her.

"You know me?" she croaked.

"Yes, we've heard whispers of you through the waves."

Cool.

"You are on a quest, a quest for the great Trident of the Sea God himself."

"Yeah, that's the one." Boy, news sure travels fast under the sea.

"You must hurry," said the blonde mermaid, the one with the pink tail. "Mass flooding has begun on the surface world, and they are being hit by storms unlike ever before. War is brewing, and it will soon reach the Surface."

Thanks for the update.

"You were unconscious from the storm, we healed you the best you could." The mermaid with the white tail - which glittered all sorts of colours in the light of the sun - had light red hair.

"Thank you. Yeah that was one hell of a storm."

"Yes, and congratulations! You survived your first challenge! Only two more to go!" Now they were back to excited.

"Awesome... Sorry, who are you?"

"We are Coral, Crystal, and Carina, Sisters of the Seas."

"Cool, nice to meet you."

"And it is our great honour  to meet you, Aurelia, Princess and future Queen of Atlantis!"

Oh boy, looked like she had her own fan base.

"So, I don't suppose you know what the next challenge is?"

"Yes, we do."

"Huh... So then I don't suppose you can tell me what it is, right?"

"Sorry, you're right, we cannot. That's part of the challenge, you not knowing what you will face next. We've helped you all we can on your journey."

"Right. Hey, I know you've already helped me, but could you help a friend of mine? You're good with healing, right?"

"Yes, we are. It's one of our specialties."

"Great. My friend is badly injured. Do you think you might be able to help him?"

They exchanged a glance.  "We can try - but you must continue on your quest, no time to lose!

"Right, guess I'd better be off-" She staggered to her feet. She felt remarkably well for someone who had just been tossed through a storm multiple times so that must've been the mermaids' healing at work.

"We wish you good luck, Princess!"

"Thanks, and thanks for your help." She dove into the water and was gone.

(Thanks so much for the 100+ reads already! :D

The storm scene was inspired by Elsa battling the storm in 'Frozen II'!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))