Chapter 1: Prologue (The First Sighting)
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It was a new dawn on the Mainland of Panthera. Normally, everyone would have been asleep at that time. But, among the few restless sleepers, a 16-year-old boy named Luke Anderson couldn't seem to fall asleep. What time is it...? He thought. He reached for a small handmade clock on the bedside table to his left. It read “12:37” but he was drowsy and found it difficult to read. Well, one thing is for sure, it is late. Maybe there's something that can help me sleep… He remembered when he was a little kid, when he would be in his mother’s lap, falling asleep to the sound of the ocean waves. He figured he would try going outside and see if the soothing waves would have the same effect now that he was older. He swiftly made his way through the small mud hut that he and his dad made a few years ago. His dad left to join the other Elytrians. He never knew exactly what for, he just resented his dad a little bit for leaving him when he was so young. He opened the doors and stepped out onto the chilled sand. At first, he thought that was a stupid idea, but he started breathing deeply to see if the calming sounds would take effect. He closed his eyes and inhaled. He opened his eyes again and could have sworn he saw a figure among the waves. He looked back and it was gone. There were a few options for what that could’ve been; One, just a dolphin jumping through the water. Two, his imagination. Or three… A Merling. He shook off the dread of what else it could be and went inside to try and fall asleep again. His head, feeling exhausted because of all the questions circling around, eventually felt calmed enough to fall asleep until later that day.
When he woke up, his mind immediately started thinking of what he had seen the night before. As he gained consciousness, he also gained a feeling of intrigue, wanting to figure out why the Merling (if that’s what it really was) ventured so close to Mainland. He walked over to the lighthouse, where he actually lived with his mother, Deyanira. He entered a large room where he normally had his meals. Occasionally, he would take his food to the mud hut. That was one of his favorite places to go, because it reminded him of the memories he shared with his dad. The other place he enjoyed going to, whether that was with his mother’s consent or not, was an island which wasn’t too far from where his lighthouse was. Luke had a lightbulb moment when he realized that island could be how he meets the Merling. If they were willing to go that close to a man-made structure on the surface, they should be able to go to a small, secluded island that only one person knew about. With his plan set, he should be able to convince his mom to let him go out that day to go “fishing.”
He placed a boat, heading over to the island he was going to wait at. He sat down on the sand, and a few hours passed before he saw something that he never realized would change his life forever.
Chapter 2: Chapter 1 (Deep in the Ocean)
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Along the outer edge of Panthera’s largest coral reef, there’s a grand kingdom called Atlantice. In the common room of the palace, Oceana and her older sister, Daria, were running around. Oceana was chasing her sister, trying to catch her, but Daria evaded her by turning around and tackling Oceana to the floor. They both burst out in a fit of laughter. Oceana took a breath and turned to Daria, asking, “What do you want to do next?” She thought for a while and shrugged. “What if... we went on an adventure?” Oceana said excitedly. “We could, but where would we go?” Daria asked. “What about outside the kingdom?” Oceana suggested. “But wouldn’t our father stop us? He’s so strict all the time.” Daria worried. “He doesn’t have to know! We can just say we're going to check on the kingdom. If the guards ask where we’re going, we can just tell them that our father allowed us to go.” Oceana explained, thoughtfully. “If you’re sure it’ll work…” Daria trailed off. “What would we find? There are so many things out there, we could get lost!” “Daria, you worry too much. Come on!” Oceana told her as she yanked her by the wrist to go exploring. As they reached the walkway leading to the throne, King Proteus asked them both. “Now where are you two going?” They explained themselves, and just as Oceana expected, the guards asked as well. After they explained, the guards shrugged, and the sisters went on their way. They swam for a while, passing through the reef. There were fish floating in and out of the coral and anemones. Oceana was staring at a passing school of fish when a pufferfish swam directly into her face. Oceana yelped in surprise. “OW! Ow ow ow, that hurts... Why do Puffers even exist?!” She shouted. “I don’t know. They’re like the pests of the ocean.” Daria said. “Agreed.” Oceana nodded. The coral started being more and more spaced out as they were leaving the reef. A few minutes passed and Daria pointed out a large wooden structure at the bottom of the ocean. “It looks like a ship...” Oceana said. “I’ve read about them in my books.”
“You really like reading, don’t you?” Daria asked. “I do! It’s exciting when you’re reading a story and a dramatic plot twist happens!” Oceana exclaimed. “Who doesn’t?” She asked. “Well, I don’t know, maybe the majority of our kingdom?” Daria said sarcastically. “Really...?” Oceana said, her excitement dimming. “It’s sort of boring, if I’m being honest.”
“But... I don’t…” Oceana trailed off, saddened. “Anyway, do you want to check it out?” Daria asked. “What?” Oceana said, confused. “The shipwreck.” Daria answered her. “What if there’s something dangerous in there though?”
“You worry too much.” Daria said mockingly. “How dare you.” Oceana grumbled. “There’s probably treasure in there anyway.” Oceana said. “Seriously?” Daria said excitedly. She quickly swam over to the ship to look for anything valuable. Oceana meandered towards the ship and went directly to the captain’s stateroom and found a chest in the corner behind a desk. She opened it and found gems of all kinds: emeralds, diamonds, pearls, along with some gold. “Aw man!” Daria called out. “There’s nothing but coal, spoiled wheat and… rotten meat…?” Daria said disgustedly. Oceana quickly tucked what she could into her satchel and went to see where Daria was. She was under the deck just behind the main mast. “It’s probably just spoiled fish or... something…” Oceana trailed off, trying not to gag at the smell. “Did you find anything?” Daria asked. “I did.” Oceana said, her excitement regaining. She showed her sister the jewels she found. “How do you always find everything before I do?” Daria asked. “Remember, I read about ships a lot. I know where the treasure is supposed to be. That’s one of the perks of reading, you can learn a lot more.” Daria rolled her eyes. “Let’s move on to some other place,” she said. “Maybe this time you won’t beat me to the treasure.” She joked. They swam off, passing more shipwrecks and ancient ruins of past ocean civilizations. They swam for a while longer, arriving at an open space deep in the ocean. Oceana looked down at the sandy expanse which was cluttered with colorful shells. Oceana happened to have a small satchel with her for collecting things and went down to pick up some shells to take home. As she was searching, a few seahorses popped up here and there and squeaked in surprise. A reflection shone on the seafloor which caught Oceana’s attention. She looked up and saw the surface of the water. The waves shimmered with the moonlight, giving off a faint glow. Daria was looking at the small creatures skittering about in the sand, not noticing Oceana swimming up to the surface.
Chapter 3: Chapter 2 (The Elytrian)
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Oceana poked her head above the water, surprised by the sudden constricting feeling of the air. She bobbed up and down in the waves to keep her gills filtering water to breathe. She looked around, blinking rapidly, until her eyes adjusted. She spotted a large tower-like structure that was red and white. It had a spinning light at the top that pierced the darkness. Further down the beach line, there was a small building made from solidified mud with a vibrant red door and a thatched roof. As Oceana was staring at the odd surface buildings, the red door slowly swung open, and a boy stepped out. Oceana was curious about his features, he seemed to be a mix of different people into one: He had large, gray bird wings that were darker at the tips of the feathers. Instead of feet, he had talons with cloth wrapped around them for protection. Along with that, they were a darker color than his skin and his hands were the same. One thing about him that struck Oceana the most, was the fluffy ears and tail that he had. They looked very soft; she was tempted to go up and touch them. As she stared, the boy seemed to take a deep breath and turn his gaze to where Oceana was. She quickly ducked underwater and prayed he didn’t spot her. When she went back down to the ocean floor, Daria asked “Where did you go?” Oceana was startled by her voice. “That’s none of your concern, let’s go back to the palace.” Oceana said, hurriedly. They got to the front entrance to the city and were greeted by the guards. “Did you two have a good adventure?” one of them asked. “Yes, we did. Thank you.” Oceana said as calmly as she could. They swam through the kingdom, passing the merchant stalls, the bubble hotels which served purpose for those who couldn’t breathe water but still wanted or needed to stay at Atlantice. They passed the towns to the left and right of the palace gates, not much movement except a few people moving from house to house. They swam up to the gates and went into the palace. It was sculpted from sandstone throughout; The walls had small etchings and designs about halfway up where there were low ceilings. The floors were carved with mandala-like designs on large tiles which were filled with water. The ceilings had grand chandeliers hanging from chains, some parts seemingly levitating on their own. They walked into the throne room, which had four large, evenly spaced columns on each side, which had accents of copper, leading to a raised platform where the throne itself sat. The floor was almost completely submerged with water, a reflection glinting back. It had a dome-shaped skylight at the top of the ceiling. They walked across the shallow pathway leading to a small platform where townsfolk could visit and request assistance for something. They started towards a door leading to a room beneath the platform where the throne sat, which was hollowed out for a bedroom in which Oceana and Daria stayed, but before she could get to the door, Proteus asked “Where have both of you been? You were gone for quite a while, considering you went to check the city.” Oceana looked back to Daria, who gave her a skeptical, yet fearful look. “We got caught up with a lot of tasks this time.” Oceana said. “Like what?” Proteus asked, skeptical about the satchel slung over Oceana’s shoulder. Oceana thought for a short moment, Daria feeling hopeless behind her. “The fish marketer spilled his barrels of fish, so we had to help clean those up, one of the bubble hotels popped so we had to help repair it… Everything just happened at once today. Sorry we took so long, Father.” Oceana said, innocently. Proteus looked surprised, as if not expecting the princesses to do that much in a single day, much less a few hours. “Well, I’m happy you two are helping so much.” Proteus praised them. They went to their room and flopped down onto their respective beds. “Well, that was exciting!” Oceana said, laughing. “And dangerous! How did you come up with that backup story so quickly?” Daria asked. “I saw the buildings as we were going back to the palace. The fish merchant was messing with his barrels when they tipped over and one of the hotels had a puncture in them, and a bunch of people were helping to fix it.”
“So, you lied about us helping?” Daria said. “Well, I had to say something, didn’t I? After all, what would you prefer, me lying about helping those people to get our father off of our backs or him forcing us to help that amount every single day as punishment for sneaking out?” Oceana explained. “You do have a fair point… But it still feels wrong that we lied to our father!”
“Would you relax already? It’s already over with, there’s no use in worrying about it now.” Oceana argued. “But-” Daria said, stopping herself from making any further conflict with her sister. “I’m going to go look over the city on the wall, okay?” Oceana told Daria. “Alright, watch out for phantom mobs, they tend to come out more at night.” Daria said. “I carry a weapon with me at all times, I’ll be fine.” Oceana assured her. She went out to the grand throne room, noticing her father had already gone to bed. She went through the various hallways leading to the top of the wall, which towered far over the surface of the water but was just close enough to make out what was happening under the water. She started going along the outside edge of the path on the wall and noticed a steep slope of grass and sand leading from the wall to the ocean. Oceana knew that once she stepped foot on that ground, she would be outside the mysterious boundary which kept the Merling's able to breathe on top of the wall and out of the water within the kingdom. She debated rushing down to the ocean and making her way back to the surface boy she saw. She had two very different thoughts going through her head, one was curiosity and wanting to get to know him, the other was marching up that sand and murdering that person for seeing her in the first place, regardless of if she wouldn’t be able to breathe or not. She quickly shook that thought off, though. She made a plan to attempt to go outside the city the next night and see if she could get answers as to who that boy was. She went back inside, looking down to the city one last time for the day, and went to her room. Her sister was already asleep on her bed, faintly snoring. Oceana quietly giggled when she saw her sleeping sister, and climbed into her own bed to sleep, her mind restless with questions to ask the surface boy.
Chapter 4: Chapter 3 (Forbidden Friendship)
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Luke was standing out on the beach, still thinking about whether or not what he saw was a Merling, when his mother, Deyanira came out and asked what he was doing. “Just thinking.” He answered. “Oh… about what?” She asked. “Nothing much. Can I ask you a hypothetical question?”
“Sure, what do you need, dear?”
“Well… what would you think, or say, if… I don’t know, maybe something like a Merling popped up one day and you couldn’t decide what it wanted?” he asked. His mother looked shocked for a moment, wondering why he would be asking such a thing. “I would think… That they would want to destroy a village maybe. I’ve known them to be violent creatures.” She looked back out to the ocean. “Why? Did you see one?” she said, anger rising in her voice. “No! I was just wondering…” Luke trailed off. “You better not have! If you go anywhere near a Merling, expect your head to be sliced off.” She started to storm inside. “Why do you think they’re so violent?” Luke asked before she reached the door. “Does it have something to do with why dad went away?” She turned towards him slowly, her gaze distant. “Do you have a reason to know?” she asked. “He is my father.” Luke replied. Deyanira sighed. “You deserve to know. I never really knew what happened, nor did he tell me. I’ve always assumed he was taken by Merlings.” She said, sullenly. “You mean killed?” Luke guessed. “Like I said, I never knew exactly what happened. He might have just left.” She turned and went back into the Lighthouse. Luke looked back over the ocean and wondered if what he saw would come back. He was starting to believe it was an actual Merling and maybe they needed help. One thing Luke’s mom always told him was the fact that he always seemed to look on the bright side of things. She then normally followed with how that might get him killed one day. He looked over in the direction of where a small island was, which he would often go to if he needed to clear his head.
•••
Oceana was back in her room, preparing to sneak out and go back to Mainland to find the Surface boy she saw. She packed a precautionary knife in her satchel, mainly because she wasn’t sure if Surfacers were safe people to be around yet. She slung her satchel over her shoulder and turned around only to find Daria standing right behind her. “Where are you going?” She asked, bluntly. “Please don’t tell me you’re going back to Mainland…” She trailed off. “Well…” Oceana said, trying to sneak past Daria, but the entryway to their bedroom was too small for two people to fit through. After a long pause, Daria said, “Just don’t expect me to cover for you if father suddenly wakes up and asks me where you are.” Oceana wasn’t expecting her sister to let her go so easily. “You’re not going to follow me, are you?” Oceana questioned. “What? No, of course not. What you do is your business, Anna. It’s not right for me to stick my nose in it. It is my job to be concerned about you, though.” Daria said. “Thank you.” Oceana said. She carefully made her way to the top of the wall, trying to make as little noise as possible. She found where the ground was high enough to climb down. She took a deep breath and braced herself and ran to the water as quickly as she could. She tried to enter the water silently, but it ended in a small splash. She hoped no one heard it, and if they did, that they didn’t think much of it. She started swimming back to where she saw the boy, it was already starting to get dark. Oceana could see the reflection of the sunset on the water’s surface start to fade.
She found the kelp forest that she and Daria stopped at. It looked a lot more different at night compared to when they were there last. She poked her head above the water to check if anyone was around. She saw the boy and dipped deeper into the water to avoid being seen. He seemed to be getting a boat from the hut that Oceana saw him come out of earlier. He got in the boat and started to sail towards a small island. She followed him, determined to get answers. She didn’t quite know what answers she needed, but she was overwhelmingly curious about this boy.
He eventually got out of the boat and sat down on a sandbank. He looked out to the sunset on the horizon and seemed to look directly at the sun. Even Oceana knew that would hurt your eyes. “So, he isn’t very smart, by the looks of things.” Oceana mumbled under her breath. She swam closer, trying to get to a point where the boy would notice her. Once his daze from the sun cleared, he saw her and jumped back. She felt somewhat proud of herself; she managed to scare a Surfacer. At least someone seemed scared of her. After a short moment, the boy inched closer, seemingly wary of the water. Oceana, too, drifted closer, but tried her best to stay at a point where she could keep her gills underwater for a good while. The boy inhaled as if about to speak, but Oceana cut him off by hurriedly saying “Hello.” He blinked back at her, and slowly responded, “…Hello?” He seemed surprised by how quickly she spoke. After a short pause, the boy opened his mouth again, but Oceana cut him off again. “Why do you live so close to the ocean?” she asked, rushed. “Uh…” he trailed off. “Do you live alone? What are those buildings for? Specifically, the tall red one…” Oceana trailed off, noticing the boy was a little nervous. “Are you alright?” she asked, slowing down a bit. “It’s just… are you a Merling?” Oceana was surprised by his genuine curiosity. “Yes, of course I’m a Merling. What else would I be?” This made Oceana wonder if there were other creatures similar to Merlings out there. “Oh…” the boy trailed off, laughing nervously as he spoke. “Why? Is there something I need to be aware of? Is there an ambush nearby? Wait, that wouldn’t make sense, we’re on a small, secluded island, where could there be ambushers-” Oceana continued to talk to herself. The boy cut her off by saying “Hang on, you want to know why I’m so nervous, right? It’s just that my mom has taught me to be terrified of Merlings, she often described them as humanoid fish people who kill for fun. You don’t seem like that kind of… monster, though.” he explained quickly as Oceana’s expression fell as he spoke. “Oh, so your mother is scared of my kind. May I pry?” she asked. “She thinks Merlings are what killed my dad. I don’t think that’s what actually happened though, my dad wasn’t so weak as to be defeated by fish people- No offense intended, my apologies, but he was still a strong man. I don’t believe that’s what happened. At least I don’t want to…” He looked off into the distance, lost in thought. Oceana felt sympathetic for the boy, she kindly asked again, “What is your name?” He looked back to her and said “My name is Luke. I live with only my mother, I made that mud hut with my dad before he left, or died, and the tall white and red building is where I live, it’s called the Lighthouse. It shines a bright light at night to make sure ships don’t crash into the rocks.” Oceana wasn’t expecting him to answer all of her questions at once, she thought maybe he had forgotten all of them. Maybe he’s smarter than I originally thought him to be… Oceana thought. Luke looked over to where Oceana was floating in the water. He seemed intrigued by the fact she was bobbing up and down. He asked why she was doing so, and she answered, “I can’t breathe above water for long. Because I have these is the reason I keep dipping down for water,” she said, pointing to her gills. “I honestly don’t know why Merlings can’t breathe above water without magic, I guess it’s just because of where and how we live, Underwater.” She saw the moon start to rise in the corner of her eye, and hurriedly said, “I have to go.” She started to swim off when Luke shouted after her. “Wait! I never caught your name!” Oceana stopped and turned back towards him. “My name is Oceana.” she yelled back. “Will I ever see you again?” Luke asked. “I have a good feeling you will.” Oceana said, smiling. She made her way back to Atlantice. She braced herself to run up the steep slope and gasped as she caught her breath at the top of the wall. Daria came running out from the palace and asked, “What happened?” she was very panicked, she thought something might have happened to Oceana. “I’m fine, I just was holding my breath trying to walk back up here.” Oceana said. They silently walked back to their room and Oceana collapsed on her bed. Daria sat on her own bed and cheekily asked, “So how did it go with your new boyfriend?” She giggled. “He’s not my boyfriend!” Oceana yelled. Daria burst out into laughter as Oceana’s face turned bright pink. Oceana wanted badly to speak her mind, but it would only make her sister laugh at her even more. Not yet… She thought. She laid down on her bed to sleep, and her head was once again, spinning with thoughts of Luke. She smiled as she fell into a deep, dreamful sleep.
Chapter 5: Chapter 4 (Surfacing)
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When Luke woke up the next morning, he ate breakfast and went straight to brainstorming on how he could help Oceana breathe above water. He had tons of crinkled up pieces of paper with scrapped ideas on the floor. One of those was a bucket-type contraption with a hose connecting to it to keep water flowing towards Oceana’s gills. Another was some sort of full-body suit which, in theory, would hold water in as opposed to keeping it out. Luke was sitting at a desk, head in his hands, thinking. “There has to be some way to do this…” he mumbled to himself. He got up from his chair and started pacing. “Maybe I don’t need any bulky technology to make this work…” He remembered his dad used to tell him about magical objects and how, with the right process, could “enchant” things to give them certain properties to allow the user to do things in which they might not have been able to otherwise. One of those things was something that wouldn’t help Enderians, but people like Elytrians and those who wouldn’t be able to breathe underwater normally without any magic. That enchantment was called “Aqua Affinity.” Maybe Luke could use it for Oceana. His theory was, since it helps “surfacers,” as Oceana called them, breathe underwater, maybe it would help Merlings breathe above water. It was a long shot, and it might not work, but he had to try. “Okay, so the first thing I need to do is remember exactly how I would enchant a helmet… And how I would get Aqua Affinity in a state that I could apply it to the helmet in the first place.” He sat for hours, trying to think. He looked over at a small table in the corner. He built it out of obsidian to give it more durability and to make sure it didn’t break. He had draped a red, diamond-accented cloth to make it look nice. He looked over to his bookshelf, which held all of his notebooks and how he learned about the scientific side of the world. He picked up a notebook which his dad left for him that had all his dad’s notes on enchanting. He put it on the obsidian table to read it, but the book flew open on its own and gave out a bright light. Some invisible force pushed Luke back, as the entire table, with the book, seemed to gain magic all on its own. The book on the table gently closed as it started to levitate closely to the table. Luke got up and carefully walked towards the book. As if sensing his proximity, it flung back open, the pages rustling back and forth as if someone invisible was flipping between pages. Luke got close enough to try and read what the book said. It seemed to be in a different language, but Luke could somehow make out enough of it to see what enchantments it listed. One of the first ones was Aqua Affinity. Luke’s eyes widened as he quickly ran to where he kept his things in a chest. He hurriedly rummaged through the things and found a diamond helmet. He went back over to the table, and carefully tried placing the helmet on top of the open book. For a short moment, nothing happened. Suddenly, floating letters and characters in the same language the book had written in it all seemed to be flowing into the helmet. When all of this stopped, the book thudded onto the table as if it was a normal book. Luke picked up the helmet and examined it. It looked fairly normal, but it had a slightly magical sheen to it. Luke looked back to the enchanting book, and the words Aqua Affinity faded and were replaced with a different enchantment. Luke hoped that meant that the helmet now was enchanted with Aqua Affinity and that it would work for Oceana to be able to breathe above water.
•••
Oceana was leaning on the edge of the wall, looking out to the horizon in the direction of where Luke was. Daria came walking up next to her, and said, “You really want to visit him again, don’t you?” Oceana looked at Daria in the corner of her eye and sighed. “I have to. This could be a new sign of peace between the Ocean and Surface worlds.” Oceana said. “Is that really the reason?” Daria asked her. Oceana looked back out to the waters, not responding. She couldn’t find the words to say it, but Oceana knew she liked Luke. Not just as friends, and she wondered if he felt the same. Daria sighed. “Just be careful. I don’t want you to bite off more than you can chew in this situation.” She said as she went back down into the palace. Oceana followed her a moment after and sat on her bed, waiting for midnight.
Oceana packed her things, and she went the same way she did the night before. When she got to the island, Luke was there waiting for her. He had a satchel over his shoulder, similar to the one Oceana had, but it seemed to have more storage pockets than her own. They greeted each other, and Oceana quickly asked what was in the bag. “Just a small present. Maybe to symbolize a peace between us.” Luke answered her. Oceana was confused about what he meant, until he continued, “You didn’t think I couldn’t notice something resembling a knife in your bag when the waters were clear enough and the fact the moon gave enough light for me to see it?” Oceana gave him a stunned look. He reached into his bag and pulled out a helmet. At first, it looked like a normal diamond helmet, but when she looked closer, it seemed to have a slightly iridescent shine to it. Luke handed it to her and beckoned for her to put it on. He had a slight look of worry on his face, but when Oceana stood up onto the sand, she noticed she could breathe as easily as she could underwater. She noticed a look of relief wash over Luke’s face as he saw that she was fine. “This is… Amazing!” Oceana told him. “Yeah, well… I made quite a few discoveries in the process of making this.” Luke said, laughing a little bit. They sat down on the sand, Oceana looking up to the stars. “So… Where are you from? Other than the ocean.” He said as he noticed she had a mischievous look on her face. “Well, I’ll start by saying I live on the far side of the coral reef.” Oceana said. “There’s a big kingdom made from prismarine there.” Luke’s expression lightened a bit. “You’re a princess?” he said excitedly. “Just because I live in a kingdom, doesn’t mean I’m a princess, but yes, I am.” Oceana explained to him. “Now it makes sense why you have all of this jewelry.” Luke said, indicating her bracelet. There was a moment of silence, and Oceana noticed Luke’s tail seemed similar to a surface animal she’d seen in some of her books. “A fox!” Oceana said, out loud. “What?” Luke asked her. “Oh, sorry. I just read about foxes in my books a lot and I noticed your tail is like one of a fox.” Oceana explained to him. “Oh, yeah, it is. So are my ears.” Luke said, pointing. “Fascinating…” Oceana trailed off, staring at his ears. She got snapped back to reality when she noticed she had to get back to the palace. “It’s getting… early.” Oceana said, wanting to say “Late” but the sky was becoming lighter, signifying the sun was about to rise. “If my father notices I’m not home, or sees me returning, he’ll be furious…” She got up and started to go to the water. “Wait!” Luke said. “Anna, when will I see you again?” He asked. Oceana paused, she never heard anyone except her family call her “Anna” before. She looked back to him, and said, “I expect this to be a habit.” and she dove into the water. When she got to the slope leading up to the top of the wall, she kept the helmet on to see if it would work anywhere besides that small island her and Luke were meeting. It worked normally, like it did earlier. When she got to the magical boundary of Atlantice, she took the helmet off. She snuck back into her room, and while Daria was asleep, carefully pulled out a few loose bricks in the wall near Oceana’s pillow and placed the helmet next to a chest that held some things Oceana’s collected. Some of which were her favorite gems: diamonds, emeralds, gold, and pearls. She replaced the bricks and fell asleep.
Chapter 6: Chapter 5 (The Truth is Revealed)
Notes:
Note From Kira N. (Author) -
Writing this chapter took a stupidly long time, we hope you enjoy this! >:3
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Oceana gets woken up to the sound of knocking at her bedroom door. She assumed it was just her sister, but when she opened it, her friend, Earwyn, was standing there. He was holding a small letter addressed to Oceana herself. She kindly accepted it and thanked him. As she was reading, Earwyn piped up and asked, “Why have you suddenly been getting all these letters? You seem to have been getting a lot of them lately.” Oceana blinked at him in confusion, quickly thinking of how to respond. “Why would it be your business to know?” she said, questioningly. “Well- No reason in particular. I was just wondering…” Earwyn stumbled. Oceana looked at his nervous face. “Are you… What are you saying, exactly?” she asked. There was an awkward pause between them, Oceana gradually connecting the dots in her head. “Earwyn…” she trailed off. “I should have never asked. Have a good day, your highness.” He said hastily and darted off. Oceana was left in the open doorway, stunned. She was puzzling out how Earwyn, of all people, would “catch feelings” for her. She was the daughter of an Emperor; he was a simple boy who collected mail for her and the royal family. Then again, she did like someone from the Surface who seemed to be a commoner. When she gathered her thoughts, she closed the door and went over to where she kept her valuables. She stashed the letter away in a small chest she had made to hold all the letters she got from Luke. There were already quite a few, but there was still plenty of space for everything. She picked up the helmet Luke gave her to breathe above water and placed it on her pillow for later. She covered everything up and sat on her bed, looking out into space. Her sister came in and noticed Oceana. “Hey, I just noticed Earwyn rushing out of the palace. What happened?” Daria asked. When Oceana didn’t give a response, Daria went over and sat on the bed next to her. “Everything okay?” Daria asked, quietly. “I always thought he acted weird around me because he liked you. He always seemed to spend the most time around you.” Oceana said. “What? The only reason he was spending a lot of time with me was because he wanted to know pretty much anything he could about you. Kind of creepy, if I’m going to be honest. But that’s how some people can get if they love someone, or at least think they do.” Daria explained. “Well,” Oceana said, suddenly. “There’s nothing I can do about it. I already love someone else. The best I could do for Earwyn is if I become Empress some day and make him my personal adviser, or something.” She finished as she got up out of the bed and grabbed the helmet. “That’s it?” Daria asked. “That’s all you’re going to say about this situation. 'There’s nothing you can do about it'?” Oceana walked towards the door and looked over at her sister. “Exactly.” she said. She went out of their room and went back up to the top of the wall. She looked down to her helmet that she grabbed before leaving and wondered if it’s enchantment would still work if she chiseled it into more of a headpiece rather than it being a bulky and overall, not nice-looking helmet. She went to the caves outside the palace and collected some of the things Luke asked her to get for him.
•••
Luke was sitting next to the Enchanting Table, flipping through the pages to see if he could find anything else about how it might work. It seemed that some enchantments needed a material he simply just didn’t have on hand: Lapis Lazuli. He thought maybe he could go mining later, but he was wondering if Oceana had any, seeing as she was a Royal and they tend to have materials just stocked in a room somewhere. Now that he was thinking of Anna, he started to get a little lonely. It was early in the morning, so there was a chance she wasn’t even awake yet. Regardless, Luke sat at his desk and started writing a letter to Oceana.
Dear Anna,
Hello, I was just wondering if, by chance, you have any Lapis in your storage? I need it for some of my experiments I have been working on. When you come to visit tonight, I have a surprise for you. I hope you like it.
Yours truly, Luke A.
Luke seals the letter and walks to where his messenger Raven is perched outside. He attaches the message to the bird’s leg and sends it in the direction of Atlantice.
•••
The Raven flew above the clouds for a short moment until it lowered enough for it to spot the kingdom. It recognized where it needed to land and called out to get Earwyn’s attention. He swam up and untied the letter from the Raven’s leg and went into the palace to deliver it to Oceana.
•••
Later that afternoon, Oceana was collecting some Lapis from the mine storage from the cave just outside the palace. Once she felt she had enough in her bag, she went back to her room to get her other belongings. She grabbed her helmet and went up to the wall. She didn’t want to try reshaping it without more of an experienced hand. She decided that, in exchange for the Lapis, she could get Luke to do it for her. She swam towards Luke’s beach, following the currants she knew all too well now. She and Luke have been meeting for a few months now, and they both were surprised at the fact that their parents both didn’t know about these meetings yet. That was what Oceana was most concerned about, “yet.”
She got to the island they normally met on and was pleasantly surprised when Luke was waiting there as always but was sitting on a red-and-white checkered blanket with a couple lanterns for light with a basket next to him. Oceana put on the helmet and sat down next to Luke. “What is this?” she asked. “What does it look like?” Luke asked her in response. After a short moment, Oceana slowly asked, “A picnic…?” Luke smiled and said, “Yes, that’s a way of putting it.” He laughed and Oceana joined in, slightly flustered. Oceana looked away, hoping Luke didn’t see her blushing. Luke’s tail started to swish back and forth out of happiness, catching her attention. While Luke wasn’t paying attention, she reached for his tail to pet it. Once Oceana’s hand made contact with his fur, his tail immediately jerked away. “What- what are you doing…?” Luke asked. “Uh… Nothing?” Oceana said, unable to come up with an excuse. Luke laughed a little bit and Oceana laid down on the blanket. Luke was constantly looking back to Oceana, seeing if she would try to pet his tail again. Once his guard was down again, she reached for his tail. “Hey!” Luke yelled. Oceana threw her head back, laughing. A few hours passed, Oceana trying to annoy Luke as much as possible. She could sense how upset he was getting just by seeing how far back his ears were. He begged her not to touch them, but she still tried anyway. Luke was trying to show Oceana a lesson by tugging on her gills, but she evaded him every time. They started to chase each other around the small island. Oceana tackled Luke to the ground and they both exploded in a fit of laughter. The moment was cut short, though, by a voice sounding from Mainland. “Luke! Where… Who is that?!” They both stood up, rushed and Oceana said, “I could ask the same thing. Who is she, Luke?” He sighed heavily and said, “My mother.” Oceana gave Luke a surprised look as his mother teleported over to them. Oceana yelped as she appeared in front of her and grabbed Luke’s arm to try and pull him away from Oceana but failed miserably. “Luke, I thought no one knew about this place.” Oceana said. “No one did, until now apparently.” he said as he wriggled his arm out of his mother’s grip. “Luke, I suggest you back away from that Merling-” his mother said. “Mom, I’m not going to do that. She’s friendly!” Luke tried to convince her to like Oceana. “Friendly? I told you what happened to your father!” his mother shouted. “You said you didn’t know what happened.” Luke pointed out. “How about we all just calm down for a second and introduce ourselves?” Oceana cut in, trying to defuse the situation. “For starters, I’m Oceana, princess and youngest heir to the throne of Atlantice.” She said, calmly. When Luke’s mother didn’t respond, he tried to introduce his mother himself. “This is my mother, Deyanira. When my dad went away, or… whatever happened, she took over with caring for the lighthouse. When I’m not busy, I help as well.” Luke explained. “Well, Ms. Anderson,” Oceana started, trying to earn Deyanira’s trust by being formal. “I’m sorry for what you think happened to your husband, but I can promise the Merlings had nothing to do with it! We’re all very kind and giving people. Atlantice, especially, is a supplying kingdom. If a kingdom or empire we’re familiar with asks for assistance with materials, we happily give them what we can.” Oceana told her. “That sounds well-rehearsed, Merling.” Deyanira said, doubtfully. “Actually, I just thought of that right now. I’m often a very quick thinker.” Oceana said, cheerfully. “Mom, can’t you tell she means no harm?” Luke said, eying Oceana’s bag to make sure nothing is obviously a weapon. Deyanira seemed to catch him looking and asked, “So what’s in the bag, then?” Oceana quickly unslung her satchel and opened it. She specifically put her knife in first to make sure it could be hidden by the Lapis well. She wanted to be careful since the first time she and Luke met. She never knew when it would be helpful to have a well-concealed weapon on hand. She showed it to Deyanira and started to worry as she started to dig through it. Regardless, she handed the bag back to Oceana with a defeated sigh. Oceana attempted to hide her relief, which seemed to be successful. “Why do you even have all of that… Blue stuff anyway?” Deyanira asked. “It’s Lapis for one of my projects.” Luke told his mother. “Lapis? What do you need that for…?” Deyanira started. “Have you been continuing your father’s work in enchanting? That’s really dangerous! I think you shouldn’t be messing with something we don’t know anything about.” she warned. “Why?” Luke asked. “The whole reason I experiment is to discover more about what we don’t know. Just like dad did.” he explained. Seeing his mother’s expression, he asked, “Is there something you’re not telling me…?” Deyanira sighed, and reluctantly said, “Yes. The truth as to how your father… died.” Luke glanced at Oceana. “I’m listening,” he said. “Well… While your father was out in a field, experimenting with magic and enchanting, something went awry, and it ended in an explosion. I was never able to find the spot where it took place, but when I heard it, he never came back… I knew he must have died.” Deyanira said.
“But what does that have to do with your hatred towards Merlings?” Luke asked. Deyanira gave him a grave look. “I’ve seen and heard of many things. Recently, when I was in the lighthouse making sure the lamp was working still, I saw a poor man out near Blooming Hills, the village nearby, walk straight into the waves and started swimming out to a rock in the middle of the ocean with a figure I only assumed to be a Merling. When he reached her side, she encouraged him to swim with her. She dragged him down into the waves and he was never heard of again.” Deyanira explained. “I’ve heard many other stories from traveling traders as they’ve come through. Backed up with many similar instances through the years.” Oceana looked out to the ocean towards where Deyanira was describing, deep in thought. “But that doesn’t make sense… Merlings have always been a kind species. We would never do such a thing, much less, we don’t often sing unless it’s to our young. Yes, we occasionally use magic but only for the good of our own people, but we never use it to alter our abilities. Besides, Magic hasn’t been used by Merlings for generations. That’s saying something, knowing a single Merling can live for up to four thousand years.” Oceana explained. “I know what I’ve seen, and I know what I’ve heard. Merlings are dangerous.” Deyanira said stubbornly. Oceana continued to think about what else could be the reason for Deyanira’s doubt and hatred towards Merlings. There had to be some way she could convince her that not all Merlings are dangerous. “That was probably just either someone else pretending to be a Merling or was a Merling, but a very bad one. All I know is they definitely wouldn’t have come from my kingdom.” Oceana said.
•••
Blinded by a rage, Earwyn decided to tell the king about where Oceana was going every other night. He got to the throne room, and as per usual, the king asked him like every other person who visits the same question, “What is your business in this room?” His voice booming through the whole room. “Your highness,” Earwyn started. “Have you noticed your younger daughter, Oceana, has been missing recently?” King Proteus’s expression raised in surprise. “No, she normally spends a lot of her time in her room, reading.” Proteus said, confused. “Princess Oceana may enjoy reading a fair amount, she hasn’t been doing that. She’s been sneaking out to visit a surface boy that she’s in love with.” Earwyn explained. “What?!” Proteus yelled. He got up and ran to Oceana and Daria’s room, Earwyn trailing behind him. When the king flung the door open, Daria was alone in the large room and had a surprised expression when her father was suddenly in the room. “Where is Oceana?” he asked. Daria paused. She took a breath and said, “She went to go see her Surface boyfriend.” Proteus looked astonished, as if hearing those words wasn’t what he wanted. He turned around and saw Earwyn was still there. “What are you just standing around for?!” Proteus yelled and pushed him aside. “This cannot be…” he trailed off as he started towards the palace gates. Daria caught up to him and shouted after him, “Do you even know where you’re going?” Proteus stopped and turned to her. “Do you?” he asked. Daria nodded and led her father to Oceana. She felt bad about telling on her sister, but she wasn’t about to defy her own father. Even more so, because he was the king.
Chapter 7: Chapter 6 (Retreat)
Notes:
Note From Tay (Manager) -
Before you start reading this chapter let me announce that there is minor gore and death in this chapter so if you don't like that kind of stuff this chapter is not for you unless you can tolerate minor gore and death of characters. Anyway, with that out of the way hope you enjoy this chapter and what's to be told!
Chapter Text
As Oceana and Deyanira were still disagreeing about whether or not Merlings are murderous or not, Luke was trying to calm them down. Luke noticed Oceana grabbing the strap of her satchel as they were shouting. That was a tell-tale sign of her getting defensive and she would maybe go for her knife soon. Luke gently grabbed Oceana’s shoulder to get her attention more effectively and she shot him a glare. Her expression softened as she realized what he was doing. She consciously let go of her satchel and took a breath. Deyanira looked at Luke as if he was both crazy and a magician for being able to calm this “horrific beast” down, as his mother described them in the past. “See, mom? If Oceana can calm down, she must not be that bad.” Luke joked. Oceana faintly chuckled and Deyanira scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you think Merlings are so harmless, it’s your funeral. And don’t expect me to be on the attendance list.” She snapped. Luke, continuing on with a sarcastic tone, said “Well, that’s just hurtful.” Oceana seemed like she was holding back a laugh because it meant her life. Deyanira gave Luke a disappointed glare. As they fell into silence, something shot out of the water and landed between Luke and Oceana. Luke jumped back, but Oceana seemed somewhat unfazed. She had a look of surprise on her face, as well as recognition. She reached out to trace the small gold etchings on it as she said “This is my father’s trident…” She trailed off. “Your father?!” Luke exclaimed. “I thought you said he stayed in the palace all the time!” he questioned. “He normally did… How did he know I was here though?” Oceana asked. She thought of who she talked to within the past day, counting on her fingers with her thought process. The first person I talked to was Earwyn, maybe he had some play in this. Immediately after that, Daria tried to help me with that encounter… That was really all who I talked to… Oceana stared into nothing, piecing things together. She remembered her sister’s words the first time Oceana went back to see Luke, “Just don’t expect me to cover for you if Father suddenly wakes up and asks me where you are.” she had said. Earwyn was pretty upset after their conversation, as well. Maybe it was just enough to rat Oceana out. Before Oceana knew what was going on, Deyanira grabbed the trident out of the sand and pointed it defensively towards where Proteus threw it from. After a short, silent moment, Proteus menacingly walked up onto the shore with a protective glare on his face. His eyes darted from Oceana to Luke, who was right next to her, to Deyanira, with the trident in her hands, back to Oceana. After a moment filled with too much tension in the air, Deyanira took a step towards Proteus and asked, “Who are you?” Proteus looked back to her, walking towards Oceana. “I am Proteus Miriam, King of the Atlantice Empire, Oceana’s father. I don’t want any trouble, I just want Oceana back to the palace to make sure nothing… drastic happens.” he said, glancing at Luke, who was backing up, trying not to get too close to Proteus who had just come out of the water, and he didn’t want to get burned, much less attacked by him. Deyanira’s expression fell in confusion as Proteus gently grabbed Oceana’s shoulder to lead her into the ocean towards the kingdom. “Wait!” Luke started. He walked towards Oceana to ask her what she was doing. “It will be fine; I know what I’m doing.” Oceana said. She lowered her voice even more. “I need you to follow us, this is your chance to finally see the kingdom, we can even ask my dad for his blessing if we need to. I’m uncertain what the reaction would be, but we can try.” she finished as they entered the water and swam off. Luke watched after them for a short moment and noticed Oceana coming back. She stomped up the sand and walked up to Deyanira, who still looked petrified, and grabbed her father’s trident saying, “I'll take that, ma’am. Thank you.” She turned back and swam with her father again. Deyanira stared after them, her hands open like she was still holding the trident. Luke watched for Oceana to come back again because Luke knew Oceana, constantly forgetting little things. Once he was sure they were out of sight, he flung his wings open. His mother rushed up to him and grabbed his shoulder before he could lift off. “What are you doing?! You’ll get yourself killed!” Deyanira shouted. “I’m not going to get killed. I’m just not sure what will happen to Oceana.” Luke said, gravely. “I promise I’ll return safely, mom.” he finished as he flapped his wings to follow Oceana and her father. Oceana periodically looked over her shoulder to see if Luke was still following them when she occasionally fell behind Proteus. After quite a while of flying, Luke saw what he assumed to be Atlantice. It was a kingdom surrounded by a huge wall made out of dark prismarine. He wondered if it was reinforced, since prismarine wasn’t normally a sturdy material. He landed on the wall, and looked through the small cracks in the sandstone paths and saw the walls were, in fact, filled with obsidian. He stayed away from the inner edges of the wall to avoid being spotted by civilians. A few minutes passed and he saw Oceana rush out of a doorway he could only imagine led inside the palace. “Are you okay?” Luke asked her. “Yes, I’m fine, I just got a lecture.” Oceana said as she rolled her eyes. “What about you?” she said, worried. “I’m alright, maybe one wing is tweaked a little, but I got here fine.” he said, jokingly. Oceana’s sister came up, rushed, after a moment, startling Luke. “Daria! What are you doing here?” Oceana asked her, standing in front of Luke, trying to hide him, even though he was around a foot taller than her. Daria looked confused as she looked up at him. “Oceana, is this… him?” Daria asked, amazed. Oceana blinked at her. “Uh… yes, he is.” she responded, awkwardly. “I can see why you like him.” Daria said, cheekily. “Dari!” Oceana yelled. “I’m not wrong, am I?” Daria asked, smiling at the fact Oceana used her nickname. Luke was half flustered and half confused with this conversation. He never had siblings, so this kind of interaction was new to him. Oceana and Daria were bickering about how Daria teased Oceana too much, and Luke noticed Proteus walking up the stairs to see what the commotion was. He stepped between the sisters and tried to quiet them, but they just moved to look past Luke and continued arguing. Luke kept trying to talk to Oceana when she finally screamed, “What?!” Luke pointed to Proteus who had locked eyes with Luke with a furious expression. “Oceana! He followed you?!” Proteus yelled. Oceana turned to him, fear in her eyes. She found herself unable to speak, when suddenly, Luke spoke up and told Proteus, “Please, sir, it wasn’t her idea. It was mine. I just wanted to finally see the kingdom after all this time.” Proteus brought both of Oceana and Luke into the hallway just inside of the stairway leading to the wall and told Daria to go wait in her room. After a short moment of Proteus waiting for Daria to be gone, he asked both Anna and Luke a simple question: “Why?” Oceana was confused and showed that confusion to her father by her expression. “Why do you have to be so curious all the time?” Proteus asked her. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, father-” she stumbled over her words.
Oceana and her father were arguing back and forth when Luke noticed a silhouette around the corner holding something that resembled a crossbow. They started loading the crossbow and started aiming. Luke kept track of the person in the corner of his eye, and slightly, unnoticeably moved to a spot that would ensure the arrow would hit somewhere that would save his own life.
•••
Earwyn heard voices coming from on top of the wall and went to investigate. He entered the palace and recognized the two voices that were talking to be Oceana and the King. One voice piped up and he didn’t sound familiar. Earwyn connected the dots in his head and figured out that this must be Oceana’s forbidden lover. Earwyn went and grabbed a crossbow and an arrow. He went up and waited for a moment to shoot, looking around the corner. He loaded the crossbow and aimed for the boy. It had been a while since Earwyn had shot a crossbow or just anything at all, so he was worried he’d accidentally hit Oceana. His thumb lingered over the trigger as he lined up his shot. The boy moved slightly out of the way, seeming to notice Earwyn, but he had already fired his shot, trying to line it up again at the last second. He overshot his aim, however, and accidentally shot a target he hadn’t anticipated. The King suddenly stopped speaking, and sounded as if he was struggling for breath. “Father?” Oceana said, concerned. “Father, are you okay?” Proteus fell to his hands and knees, allowing Oceana to see what had happened. Oceana exclaimed in surprise and attempted to pry the arrow out of Proteus’s back. Luke stopped her, and explained he would only bleed out and it would make it more painful for the King. Earwyn turned and fled back to his post outside the gate, waiting for mail as usual. He hoped no one noticed he was gone at the same time the King unfortunately passed.
•••
Oceana knelt beside her father as he slowly died. Daria came up the stairs to see what happened and was stopped in shock. Oceana looked up to Daria, who immediately knew what happened, but kept it to herself to prevent any more trouble from happening.
A week later, Oceana was visiting her father’s grave. He was buried where every other royal family member was. A special place in the coral reef that was only known by the royal family itself. Oceana stood up and glanced at a gravestone beside where her father was buried. There wasn’t anyone buried there, it just had a gravestone saying the name of Oceana’s mother, Atteena Miriam. She swam back to the palace, her mind still racing, even far after the event of her father’s death. She still couldn’t stop wondering who could have done such a thing, she knew most of the townsfolk and there wasn't really any possibility of narrowing down any suspects. She looked around the city as she swam through. There were quite a few changes that her sister had made. It seemed almost unrecognizable to Oceana anymore. She got to the palace and saw Daria sitting regally on her throne. Oceana felt bitter because of this. While she knew it was tradition to choose the eldest royal child in the line, she felt that it would be better for the kingdom if Oceana was the Empress instead. She would have a two-year advantage on her sister, giving more of a time extent for her to rule. Daria smiled at the sight of her younger sister. Oceana looked away from her as she went into her room which she now shared with Luke. Daria had moved into their father’s bedroom since there’s no one to occupy it otherwise. Oceana plopped down onto her bed with her arms falling out to her sides. Luke was sitting on the other bed, not saying a word. Luke had told Oceana that he promised to return to his mother, but he decided to stay with Anna until she recovered enough from the loss of her father. Oceana sighed and went up to the wall. She still had a habit of watching the sunset waiting to swim to Luke’s Island to meet him, but this time he was able to follow her up. They stared in silence for a while and Oceana finally spoke up. “Why did he have to die like this?” she asked. “I don’t know.” Luke responded. Oceana thought for a moment, and figured it was unlikely Luke knew anything, but she asked anyway. “Did you see who did it?” she asked him. “I saw a person around the corner with a crossbow, but I didn’t see their face.” Luke said, gently. Oceana sighed quietly and went back inside.
Chapter 8: Chapter 7 (Home)
Notes:
Note From Tay (Manager) -
Before you start reading this chapter, let me announce that there is minor gore and death, also as well as hints of "child" in this chapter. So, if you don't like that kind of stuff this chapter is not for you. Unless you can tolerate minor gore and death of characters and stuff about "child." Anyway, with that out of the way hope you enjoy this chapter and what's to be told!100% This is not for any young audiences at the end of this chapter.
Note From Kira N. (Author) -
Writing this chapter also took an even more stupidly long time to make, we hope you enjoy this! >:3
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Oceana woke up and noticed Luke was gone. She figured he just went back to his mother and went on with her day. She went for a walk through the city, and noticed a few people giving her a side-eye, then when she looked at them, they acted like nothing happened. They must be wondering how I’m dealing with my father’s death… Oceana thought. She went back into the palace and went to the wall. She seemed to have been spending all her time there, nowadays. All Oceana felt like was “the sister of the queen.” She felt like she had nothing to do. Occasionally, while Oceana was in her room, Daria would come in and give her books to read. She always accepted them kindly, then Daria left to do “royal duties” as Daria called them. Later that afternoon, Oceana was staring off into the distance on the wall again and she saw someone flying towards Atlantice. Once he got closer, Oceana noticed it was Luke. He landed next to her, and she asked why he was back. “I had to convince my mom to let me stay.” Luke said. “And she said you could?” Oceana asked. Luke paused with a somewhat guilty look. “Not exactly…” he said with a chuckle. “I kind of just took off…” he trailed off. Oceana blinked at him and had a look of “are you crazy?” on her face. “It’s fine, though. I can stay now, regardless of what my mom says.” Luke said. After a moment, Luke noticed Oceana was still just staring at him. “Are you okay?” he asked. “How can you just leave your mother like that?!” Oceana burst out. “Uhm…” Luke said, speechless. “I mean I’m not just going to leave; I have to get my research from my hut.” Luke explained. “I just figured I would come here and tell you first.” he finished with a smile. Oceana turned and started to head back inside without a word in response. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning.” Luke said as he left.
Oceana sat on her bed for a while until she knew Daria was asleep. Oceana couldn’t seem to fall asleep, even when she lay down. She sat back up and looked across the room and saw her knife on a nearby table. She stared at it and knew what she needed to do. She grabbed the knife and went up to Daria’s room. She saw her sister peacefully sleeping in front of her. She was about to finish it all, but her sister started to wake up. Oceana hid the knife behind her back as Daria asked, “Oceana, what are you doing?” Oceana was silent for a while, and responded, “I… couldn’t sleep.” Oceana thought that was a stupid response, but Daria got up and asked her what was wrong.
“I don’t know, I just couldn’t fall asleep.” Oceana said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. Daria started towards her bedroom door to lead Oceana to the top of the wall to just talk, but Oceana took the opportunity and jabbed the knife into Daria’s back. Daria fell to her knees as Oceana stepped in front of her. She looked up to her younger sister with a look of surprise and betrayal. As Daria was holding on to what little, draining life she had, Oceana began a final speech, “It’s funny how this worked out, you know. I wasn’t expecting what happened with our father. I should really thank both Luke and Earwyn, really.” Daria gave a look of confusion. “Wondering how I know? I don’t. I just knew that our security is too strong for any assassins to get through. Hardly anyone else knows about Atlantice anyway. And Earwyn is the only one who has resentment towards me. Why would he shoot the king, if he was going for me? He wasn’t trying to shoot me, he was after Luke, who conveniently stepped out of the way. My guess is Earwyn tried to correct the aim and overshot it. This gave me an opportunity to get you alone without anyone worrying. I can just say to those who will wonder what happened “it was the same assassin that killed the king.” and everyone would believe me, because let’s be honest here, the citizens are far too loyal to the royal family, in my opinion.” Oceana finished as she crouched down to meet Daria eye-to-eye. “It’s sad, really, how the royal line of heirs works. The eldest always gets the throne when it would be much smarter to let the younger heir rule. That way, they could rule longer than their older sibling, and they can just sit off to the side in case anything happens to the younger ruler.” Oceana said. Daria tried to sit up a bit more and shakily said, “You’re a monster.” Oceana smiled. “Oh, I already know, dear. It was already obvious to me.” she said. She nudged Daria back down to the floor and went to clean herself up. She went over to a mirror that hung in her room and looked at her blood-stained white clothes. “Well, these are ruined now.” she mumbled to herself. She washed all the blood off of her knife and hands. She went into the city and, without anyone seeing because it was late, hid the knife in the sand near the town bell. She went back to the palace and went to bed, satisfied, waiting for Luke to return and find Daria for her.
Early in the morning, Luke arrived back at Atlantice and knocked on Oceana’s bedroom door. Oceana was easily awoken by the sudden noise but kept still to trick Luke as a lighthearted joke. When he went over to shake her awake, she tackled him down and gave him a hug as a welcome. “You seem to be in a good mood today.” Luke said. Oceana giggled and let go of him. He stayed on the floor, and she asked if he was going to get up. “Nope, you killed me.” he said, followed by fake death sounds. Oceana laughed and reached her arm out to help him up. “There, now I’ve revived you.” she joked. “Thanks.” Luke said with a smile. They stared at each other for a moment when Luke suddenly broke the silence by asking, “So, how’s your sister? Is she being the ruler this kingdom needs, or do you still think you could do better?” Luke teased. He saw Oceana’s expression change to a defensive look and quickly amended, “Not that I don’t think you couldn’t do better than her, you’re a very smart and powerful woman.” he said with a nervous smile. Oceana gave him a glare and said, “She’s doing alright, she’s most likely asleep still, though.” Luke started walking towards the door. “Where are you going?” Oceana said, trying to keep her voice calm, but curious. “Checking on your sister.” Luke said, matter-of-factly. “You probably don’t want to bother her; she’s not a morning person like me.” she warned. “What’s the worst that could happen? She throws me in the dungeon?” Luke joked. Oceana watched him walk out the door with a worried look. She stilled her expression and followed Luke to her sister’s room. When he got there, he stopped in the doorway and stared. Oceana knew why he was doing this and played dumb. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Luke looked at her with a concerned look and tilted his head to indicate something inside the room. Oceana turned the corner and immediately stepped back and let out a gasp of horror. She tried to cry on cue and almost forced herself. She thought back to how she reacted when her father died in front of her and mustered a full breakdown, reliving that moment in her mind and applying it to this situation. She knelt next to Daria’s body and made it look like she was trying to figure out the cause of death. She was also checking to make sure the body was cold and was unable to be deciphered as to who did it. Luke knelt next to Oceana, putting his arm and wing around her. “Why does everyone around me have to die?” Oceana said, simulating cracks in her voice to make sure Luke wouldn’t figure out this was a ruse. “Not everyone,” Luke said, reassuringly. “You still have me.” He smiled at her. Oceana looked up at him and returned the smile. She got up and started to walk out of the room. Luke asked where she was going and she responded, “To get the guards. I need someone to clean up this mess, as well as investigate who could have done this. I imagine it was the same person who killed my father, but I’m not sure.” She finished. After the guards were finished cleaning everything up, Oceana started to move into her sister’s bedroom. Since she would now be the rightful heir to the throne, on the account of everyone in the royal family having died, one guard approached her and handed her the crown her sister was wearing. He had cleaned off as much blood as he could, but Oceana noticed a few gaps in the decorative shells that had small bits of dried blood in them. She thanked the guard and went to the mirror that was now in her new bedroom. She admired her complexion and placed the crown on her head with a smile of satisfaction. She was caught off guard by Luke coming into the room. He leaned on the wall just inside of her room and asked, “So… this means you’re the Empress of Atlantice now?” Oceana stared at him, wondering why he would ask such a silly question. “Yes, of course. I’m the only remaining heir in the family bloodline, so by the standard, I’m the one who claims the throne.” She explained as she looked back at the mirror. “Why do you ask?” she said. “Well, I was just wondering if that meant I would also claim the throne as Emperor.” He asked. She turned to him, questioning why he would ask something like this and answered, “Not unless you plan to marry me. The royal family not only works within the bloodline, but also requires the person they may be in a relationship with to marry them.” She explained. Luke looked at her with a shy smile. Oceana blinked at him, knowing what was going on. “You’re not serious.” She said with excitement. Luke nodded and said, “I am.” Oceana walked up to him and gave him a hug. “I always wondered when you would ask.” She joked. “How will we break the news to the kingdom? I’ve never even mentioned you around the city before. People have been asking me if I’ve found someone yet and all I ever responded was that I had. They never asked what race you are, they just assumed you were a Merling since it’s been tradition for generations to keep marriage within the Merling race. I fear how they would react to this news…” she trailed off, worried. Luke held her in his arms still and reassured her everything would be okay. “I’m not sure…” Oceana said. They got ready to announce the news to the kingdom. Oceana requested it to be mandatory for the townsfolk to meet in the throne room as opposed to the town square where they normally met in the past. Luke couldn’t stay down there, however, because of his Enderian blood not allowing him to touch water. The people were extremely confused at this request, but they still arrived in the throne room. Not everyone had attended, but Oceana knew the people would spread word of this event after the fact of it taking place. The event was a party with a feast and a few things to do to be entertained. The people seemed to be enjoying themselves for the most part when Oceana stepped up in front of the throne to give a short speech. Luke was standing near Oceana and got quite a few confused glances. Some people assumed he was a felon and perhaps was the assassin that murdered the King and his eldest daughter. Oceana glanced over to Luke, who gave her a reassuring thumbs-up. Oceana exhaled to get rid of nerves and began her speech to the city.
“Citizens of Atlantice, I have noticed some of you are confused as to why you are here, and some of you are hopeful that the assassin has been caught. That unfortunately isn’t the case, however. A lot of you have asked me in the past months if I have found a courter yet, in which I have always responded that I have. As expected, a lot of you have assumed that this significant other is a Merling, due to me normally being a very tradition-following person, but this isn’t so. Here to my left is the man who has asked for my hand in marriage, Luke Anderson.”
Oceana finished, relieved to have gotten this over with. She looked over to a corner which had Earwyn leaning against the wall, looking displeased. She noticed that expression starting to flood over the rest of the crowd, and they started to shout in protest. “Get him out of here!” some shouted. “He doesn’t belong on the throne!” others yelled. Oceana looked over to Luke in fear and he went over to give her a supporting side hug. “This will work out eventually.” Luke told her. “How will we have proper heirs to the throne if they aren’t even pure Merling?!” One person in front of the crowd shouted. “We will still have proper heirs when it comes to it, they will still have Merling blood, they just will look a little… different compared to what we’re used to.” Oceana explained. Some people started to climb up the stairs leading to the throne in an attempt to attack Luke and to separate them. Oceana protected him as much as possible and, reluctantly, resorted to striking fear into the hearts of the people by Oceana’s power as a ruler. “Everyone back away from him, or else I’ll have the lot of you thrown into the dungeon!” She yelled. Everyone backed up out of fear of losing their freedom and Oceana looked to them with an expression of fear hidden by power. “That is what I like to see,” Oceana told them. “Compliance towards your leaders.” She noticed them looking at her with respect mixed with fear of what could happen to them if they stepped out of line.
After a tense moment, she spoke up and rebuked the people. She knew it wouldn’t change their minds, but she had to try. “If I were my father, you wouldn’t be reacting this way. A lot of you would rather him be here instead of me or my sister, but neither of them are here anymore. You will all learn to respect me as your Empress whether you want to or not. It’s courtesy of a city to comply with their ruler, so I expect all of you to do the same.” She finished firmly. “I think this engagement party is finished.” She said as she silently ordered her guards to escort everyone out of the palace. Once everyone had flooded out, she noticed Earwyn was the only person who remained. They made eye contact, Oceana noticing a small hint of betrayal and something else she couldn’t quite figure out. He left soon after he saw Luke noticed him as well.
Later that afternoon, Luke and Oceana were settling into their new room. They both sat in silence for a while before Luke finally spoke up. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to stay here, Anna.” He said, sorrowful. “If I stay, people will keep trying to go after me. I fear it might lead to you getting hurt as well.” He explained. Oceana looked down and nodded. “Where will you go?” She asked. “I don’t know. I’ll start with heading back to the lighthouse and I’ll go from there.” Luke said. “Just stay safe.” Oceana responded. “I will, I promise.” He said with a sweet smile. He left that night, leaving Oceana alone sitting in her room.
About 3 years after the whole event of the city not allowing Oceana to marry Luke, Oceana decided to send Luke a letter regarding a very important matter:
Dear Luke,
I’m writing to you in a time of necessity. While we are both still very young, I’m a woman who tends to worry about things that could happen. Cutting to the point of this matter, I’m quite paranoid about my position on the throne because of what events followed my claim to it. I’m worried about the scenario of someone coming after me like they did with my father and sister, so I need to discuss a sensitive topic. In the event of my death, the kingdom will need an heir to the throne. I have no younger siblings, nor do you and the kingdom won’t even allow you back here permanently. This means the only way someone would claim the throne after me would be my own children. I hope you take deep consideration into this and answer back whenever you are available.
Your beloved, Oceana Miriam.
She sent the letter through her mailing system and waited for 3 days before he finally got back to her. Oceana noticed Luke’s mailing raven tended to come through the Throne room’s open skylight more often. Because of this, Oceana set up a perch for it next to her throne. It landed next to her and waited for her to untie the letter from the bird’s leg as she always did. She gestured for the raven to fly back to Luke, but it hesitated, looking at her patiently. She assumed it was waiting for her to read the response letter, so she carried on.
Dear Anna,
I was wondering when you would ask. You do realize you didn’t need to stall for that long in a letter? I would have said yes, no matter what. My only condition is that we have two children, with me keeping custody of the first. That way, while we’re separated, we both still get to have a child around. I suppose you’re wondering if this means I already have a name planned for the first. I’m highly expecting it to be a girl, which I would like the name to be Cordelia. If it turns out to be a boy, I was thinking of something simpler, like Cort, or some alternate spelling of such. I’d be happy to see what you come up with for the second child.
Your beloved “Raven,” Luke Anderson
Oceana lowered the letter in surprise as the messenger raven flew off. She wasn’t quite expecting Luke’s amount of excitement for such an event like this. She looked back at the piece of paper and smiled at the fact he was enjoying the nickname she gave him after the bird he used to send letters to her. She found it fitting, raven birds tend to be quite intelligent and so is Luke. She only thought it right, if he got to use her nickname, she had to come up with one for him herself, since he never really had one as a kid.
Oceana went to her room and started getting a few items for her visit to Luke. When she reached the gate, Earwyn stopped her and asked what she was doing. “I’m going to visit Luke, like I always do. Since the kingdom isn’t accepting him, he’s staying near where his mother lives.” she answered. Earwyn stared at her for a short moment. “And why would you be visiting him at this time of day?” he asked, indicating the orange-tinted sky. Oceana looked at him, considering what she could say while leaving him slightly confused. “Do you remember 3 years ago when the only family I had left was killed? If anything similar happens to me as well, don’t you think it’s smart to have someone take the throne by blood right?” Earwyn stared at her, considering her words. A moment of realization dawned on him, and he let her go on her way with a feeling of regret. Oceana was approaching Luke’s lighthouse when she noticed a house on the island where her and Luke had met. Oceana walked out of the water to go knock on Luke’s door. He answered and they greeted each other. He asked her to enter, and she spent the rest of the night there.
Notes:
THIS IS THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPTER OF THE PREQUEL. WE HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT AND EVERYONE WORKING ON THIS BOOK ARE SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE IN STORE FOR THIS SERIES. ANYWAY ENJOY!!!
SEE YOU ALL SOON!!
Chapter 9: Epilogue (Royal Birth)
Summary:
In this chapter, you meet Cordelia. Luke and Oceana's first daughter. It's her 10th birthday today and her father surprised her with a birthday party "Just the two of them". Cordelia feels like she doesn't need one because she is "too old" for one... But before we continue that story, let's go back 10 years earlier... Keep reading to find out what happens next.
Notes:
Note From Tay (Manager) -
Before you start reading this chapter, let me announce that there is minor talk about blood in this chapter. So, if you don't like that kind of stuff this chapter is not for you. Unless you can tolerate minor talk about blood.Anyway, with that out of the way hope you enjoy this chapter and what's to be told!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
About a year later, Cordelia was born to Oceana and Luke. True to Luke’s offer, he took custody of the child, giving her the same last name as her father, Anderson. Oceana was sitting on her throne, awaiting anyone who might need her assistance when she was remembering Luke’s mother. She also remembered how much Deyanira disliked Merlings. Oceana wondered how she was doing, and if that hatred still continued. She got up and went into her room to pack a spare change of clothes and her knife in case anything happened, and she informed the guards at the entrance of the palace not to let anyone in while she was gone. She got stopped by Earwyn yet again, asking where she was going this time. She personally thought he was a little too nosy, but she told him she was visiting Luke’s family. As she swam, she was thinking to herself when she would make him her advisor. That would certainly fix a few things, especially his nosiness. With him at a higher rank in the royal counsel, he could be more inclined to keep his mouth shut to keep his position. Or, on the other hand, he could get even more interested in her life and be pushy about it. She hoped the latter wasn’t what would happen. As the lighthouse started entering her vision, she looked warily at Luke’s Island in case he would be on the beaches of the island with Leah. She saw they weren’t and knocked on Deyanira’s door. She answered and had a very confused and surprised look. “Oceana, I wasn’t aware of your visit, Luke normally tells me if you’re visiting.” Deyanira said. “Ms. Anderson, I just wanted to personally catch up.” Oceana told her. “Please, just call me Deya.” she insisted. They sat down inside and started to talk. “Tell me, Deya, have your opinions on Merlings changed at all?” Oceana asked. Deya hesitated. Oceana could tell she still felt tense around her. “They’ve certainly improved a bit, since Luke told me Cordelia was born. I’m still not completely trusting of other Merlings besides yourself, however.” Deya explained. “Oh… That’s unfortunate.” Oceana said, trying to sound understanding. “How many people have you told the stories about Merlings that you’ve heard?” Oceana asked. “No one besides you and Luke.” Deya said. “No one wants to hear what I have to say anyway. They just see me as the ‘crazy lighthouse widow’.” she finished, sadly. “Deya, would you please show me how the light works? I’ve always been intrigued.” Oceana asked. “Absolutely, follow me.” Deya answered as she got up and started climbing stairs. “Warning, there’s a lot of stairs.” Deya said with a laugh. “Nothing I'm not used to.” Oceana joked. They climbed the lighthouse’s many stairs, Oceana wondering when a good time would be to get rid of a problem. Deya showed her the lighthouse lamp and how it worked, Oceana trying to act interested. A few minutes later, Oceana walked out of the lighthouse looking pleased. She looked over to Luke on the island, playing with Leah making a sandcastle. Oceana smiled and started swimming back to Atlantice, unnoticed by Luke and Leah.
The next morning, Oceana was woken up by the sound of Luke knocking on her door again. Oceana slowly got up, drowsy. “Hey, what’s going on?” Oceana said, noticing Luke’s saddened and distant expression. Luke went over and carefully sat at the edge of Oceana’s bed, which was half-submerged in water. “I went to say good morning to my mom in the lighthouse.” Luke said. “Okay, and what happened from there?” Oceana said. Luke paused and breathed deeply. “I found her dead on the floor.” Oceana tried to look taken aback by this statement and asked him who did it. “I don’t know. By the looks of things, the same weapon that was used to kill your sister was the knife used for my mom.” Luke explained. Oceana was genuinely shocked. Shhhoot… I didn’t think he would identify the knife wound. Oceana thought to herself. “Do you think it was the same person?” Oceana asked. “It could have been, and I think it was. They used the same technique for the kill.” Luke said. “How could you possibly tell?” Oceana asked. “It was roughly the same point where the entry wound was.” Luke explained, pointing to his own chest where it was and explained it was on the back instead. “Is there anything I could do to help?” Oceana said sympathetically. “Like a funeral or something?” She asked. Luke sighed. “No, that won’t be necessary.” He insisted. There was a long pause. “How is Leah doing?” Oceana asked. Luke paused, slightly confused. “Oh, you’re talking about Comet. She’s doing good.” he said. “Why Comet?” Oceana asked. “Even at this early age, she’s taken an interest in the stars. There was a short meteor shower last night that she was very excited about when it happened. I decided to give her the nickname Comet because of it, and she seems to enjoy it.” Luke finished. “Oh, that’s quite sweet.” Oceana said, smiling. They paused in awkward silence for a moment before Luke got up. “I should head back to the island, Comet’s probably getting into some sort of trouble again.” Luke joked. Oceana stood up as well. “Again? What do you mean ‘again’? And you left her alone?” Oceana started to yell. “Yes, she’s been fine in the past. I only said ‘trouble’ as a joke though. She’s been a very good child.” Luke tried to calm her down. Oceana sat back down as Luke said goodbye to leave. “What am I going to do with him?” Oceana mumbled to herself. She went on top of the wall to watch Luke fly off towards his island home.
•••
Comet woke up after a long night of watching her dad perform a few experiments. She was drowsy but rested. She looked around her room. It was tidy but had a few books cluttered on the floor, bed and desk. She looked in her closet and found a new light blue dress hanging there. She changed into it and walked out of her room. She thought the house was a little too quiet as she walked through the hallway connecting her bedroom to the kitchen. When she got to the larger room, she noticed vibrant letter decorations spelling out ‘Happy 10th Birthday Comet.’ “Oh no…” Comet mumbled under her breath. Luke came out from behind a corner and shouted, “Happy birthday!” With an excited expression. Comet stared at him. “Dad… Aren’t I getting a little old for this?” She asked slowly. He stared at her in confusion. “But I made your favorite breakfast, eggs and bacon.” He said with a saddened tone. Comet went back to her room to grab a notebook or two and went down into the lab to study what her dad was working on. Once the day was over, Luke came down to ask Comet what she wanted to do for her birthday. She shrugged. Luke walked out of the room, leaving Cordelia to her own thoughts. He came back, with hands hidden behind him. “I do have one more gift for you,” he said. Comet turned around to look at him with a confused expression. When he didn’t reveal what he had behind his back, she got up to see it herself. Luke kept turning in place to avoid her seeing it, however, which made her slightly frustrated, but she had fun. She finally caught whatever was behind Luke and held it up in front of her. Her eyes widened with adoration as she looked at a tiny, fuzzy, brown rabbit with gray tufts at the tips of the ears and a fluffy cotton tail. “She’s adorable!” Comet exclaimed. “How can you tell it’s a girl?” Luke asked. “I can see it in her eyes.” Comet said. “Well, what do you want to name her? Fluffy?” Luke guessed. Comet stared at him. “No, that’s stupid. How about… Butterscotch?” she said with a smile. The rabbit’s little tail started vibrating with excitement as if it were a dog wagging its tail. “She seems to like it.” Luke said. Comet ran up to her dad, carefully holding the rabbit and gave him a hug. “Thanks, dad.” Comet said as he returned the hug. She went back to her room to find the cage for the rabbit already set up. She gently set Butterscotch down in the cage and closed the latch. She said goodnight to the rabbit and went to sleep.
Three years later, Comet was down in the labs with her dad working on a special experiment he set up for them to work on. It was around midday when Luke turned to Comet and asked her if she wanted to see the lighthouse that used to be owned by her grandmother, Deyanira. She quickly accepted and asked when she could go. “Any time you want.” Luke said. Her face lit up with excitement as she went to her room to grab notebooks and sketchbooks. She glanced at her pet rabbit, Butterscotch and brought her along. She walked out of the house, blinded by the sun and tried to lift off into the sky to fly over to the lighthouse, but face planted into the sand. She reoriented herself and tried again, this time lifting off properly. She landed down on the sand just outside the door of the lighthouse. She opened the door and stepped inside. The place was ruined with cobwebs and vines. There were plants and weeds growing out of the floorboards and cracks in the stone. She carefully avoided the overgrowth and set Butterscotch down, who stayed close to Comet instead of wandering off, which struck Comet as curious. She pulled out her notebooks and wrote down what she found interesting and sketched the new plants she discovered. She climbed the many stairs to the top and found the lamp that was used to guide ships. The bulb inside the glass seemed to be broken and the glass itself was cracked in a few spots. She sat down on the floor, Butterscotch going up to sit in her lap. Comet started sketching again and sat for a few hours. She eventually stood back up and looked out the half-broken glass walls of the top floor. She noticed a figure swimming away from the island that Comet lived with her father. They stopped in the water and looked at Comet for a moment before swimming towards the lighthouse. Just a few seconds later, a large and bright light came from the island. Comet looked directly at it, shielded by a part of the glass wall that was intact. As the explosion settled, she felt a hand suddenly touch her shoulder. She jumped, startled as she flung around to see who it was. “It’s time to go home, dear.” said the mysterious person.
Notes:
THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE PREQUEL. WE HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED IT AND EVERYONE WORKING ON THIS BOOK IS SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO SEE WHAT WE HAVE IN STORE FOR VOL. 1 OF THIS SERIES AND WHAT IS TO COME, SEE YOU SOON VIEWERS!!!
~ Kbug_Agent_Tay out till next time!!! o7
Comet (Guest) on Chapter 2 Thu 02 Mar 2023 12:57PM UTC
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Kbug_Agent_Tay on Chapter 2 Tue 28 Mar 2023 07:16AM UTC
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s8bq2f35 (Guest) on Chapter 9 Tue 12 Sep 2023 04:18AM UTC
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Kbug_Agent_Tay on Chapter 9 Tue 12 Sep 2023 03:42PM UTC
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