Oceans of Moonlight

The awakening

Legend said that the ocean and the moon loved each other more than anything.

It was said that every night, the moon pulled at the sea, beckoning it closer with its mighty powers.

It was also said that the ocean surfaces cherished the silver light of the moon like a lover.

To many it were just mere myths, legends or bedtime stories.
Others didn't believe, or hadn't even heard of it.

But no one knew it to be true.
Because the Mistress of the ocean and the Master of the moon had fallen madly in love many aeons ago.

•*•*•*•

The ocean exists out of a delicate hierarchy and ecosystems.
And she was part of it, the very soul.

Aeons ago, deep in the darkest part of the ocean, in a trough where light could never reach, lay a shimmering and glowing stone.

It was rough around the edges but the pearl colored light that illuminated outwards was delicate and gentle.
The stone lay there, for years to never be touched or found.
Waiting for the right time to open up.

And when it did, the trough shook from the force from the power that was released.
The sea itself sang out in pure happiness, the waves crashed harder and mightier that night.
The moon shone brighter.
The Awakening had finally taken place.

As the stone bursted open into a thousand small pieces, out crawled a shimmering kernel of soul.
It floated on the current in the trough, but quickly the piece of soul drifted upwards, towards the lighter parts of the sea.

It wasn't bigger than a pearl, illuminating that light everywhere it went.
Marine life bowed and sang when it past, finally having their guide and protector.

The entity grew out bigger and bigger with the year, and after almost three decades of floating, she unfolded, like a butterfly in the clear sky.

Her beauty was outmatched, her power as immense as the sea itself.
But her heart was tender and gentle, her soul wild and passionate.

After having to wait for millennia, the ocean had her mistress back and it granted her a castle as beautiful as she was.
Pillars made of aquamarine crystal, sculptured after the form of tidal waves.
Floors of compressed white shells, floating jellyfish glimmering with shades of blue, lighting the place.

The location was unknown to those on the land, but to all life under the surface it was known as the city of Marea, the beacon of the sea.
A place for all those in need of help, of a safe place. For those who sought a home.

A home to everyone.
A beacon in the deep, unending blue.

•*•*•*•

Time wasn't of any relevance under the ocean surface. It didn't even exist. There was only the sun and the moon, golden light and silver light.

The citizens of Marea slept when they wanted to, and roamed the ocean when they felt like it.
But Coralina preferred to sleep during the day, and be awake during the night. As she felt most at home under the light of the silver shimmering moon.

It had always been a beacon of home for her, as the city had been to so many.
When the castle was made by the ocean, she had immediately chosen the highest level in the highest tower as her chambers.
High, because she was closest to the surface, where something lingered that interested her. Something that made her heart yearn with an unspeakable force.

As the mistress of the oceans, it was her duty to protect and cherish all that lived and died beneath the surface. And she did it with the purest emotion in her being. The emotion of selflessness and compassion.