The coral-glow had dimmed, but not enough to hide the mess Elara had made trying to "awaken her powers." A cracked conch bowl lay sideways, its contents glimmering sadly across the shell-tiled floor. A shimmerfish — tiny, translucent, and grumpy-looking — sulked in a corner bubble like it had witnessed unspeakable trauma.
Elara winced.
"Sorry, little guy. I was aiming for 'ancient chosen one,' not aquatic demolition crew."
Kaelen — smug little creature — was sprawled upside down on her bed like he'd personally defeated gravity.
She stared at the relic, still warm in her hand.
"You could at least come with an instruction manual," she muttered. "Or a tutorial. Or subtitles. Anything."
She narrowed her eyes. "Okay, magic shell. Let's try this again."
She held it up dramatically. "Reveal your secrets!"
Nothing.
"Open sesame?"
Kaelen, curled beside her, peeked open one eye.
"Worth a try," she muttered.
Then, slowly, she pointed the relic forward like a wand. "Aqua Beam!"
Kaelen blinked.
"Fireball?" She paused. "Wait. Waterball?"
He tilted his head, concerned.
"If I were in a novel," she muttered to Kaelen, "this would be the part where I suddenly level up, or a system window tells me what my powers are."
"Or maybe some ancient mentor shows up and says, 'Ah yes, the chosen one must master the Spiral of the Sea,' and boom—training montage."
She snorted, running a hand through her damp hair. "But no. I get relics that glow and no instructions."
Kaelen blinked, tilting his head.
She sighed. "My roommate back home used to binge those fantasy webcomics. Always said I'd be the broody background character, not the heroine. Joke's on her—I'm living the plot twist now. Minus the cheat codes."
Kaelen let out a soft chirp, paddling in a little circle like he approved anyway.
She dropped the relic and flopped backward onto her sea-fern bed.
"Ugh. Why can't I have a status screen like in manhwa? Or a scroll. Or—"
"Try not yelling at it like a deranged octopus."
Elara froze.
"…You…?"
Kaelen blinked. Then, cheekily:
"Oh, great. She finally hears me. Do I get a ribbon?"
She stared. "You can talk?"
"Well, not out loud. But telepathically, yes. I'm evolving. Obviously."
Her jaw slackened. "Why didn't you say anything before?"
"Because someone was busy sulking, talking to furniture, and nearly poking herself in the eye with a magical relic."
Elara gave a breathless laugh, then slumped back into the coral nest.
"…This is insane."
"Took you dying and moving into a mystical underwater realm to figure that out?"
She blinked at him. "…How do you know I died?"
"You mumbled it in your sleep. Also, the way you stare at sea-beds like they're algebra tests gave it away."
Elara gave a small snort.
"…I was in college," she murmured. "Had a dorm, roommates who barely remembered I existed. Then… I drowned. And woke up here. No status window. No helpful tutorial. Just sea monsters, creepy seers, and relics that hum like they know my name."
Kaelen let out a low chirp.
"Definitely not your average manhwa opening."
She laughed again, softer this time.
"You know about manhwa?"
"No clue what that is. But you keep comparing life here to one. So I figured it's either a human myth… or a really bad guidebook."
Elara wiped at her face and smiled faintly.
"You're annoying."
"I'm adorable."
A silence settled, lighter than before. Elara watched the relic's glow pulse between her fingers.
She exhaled slowly. "What do you think this thing even is?"
"I think… it likes you."
Elara tilted her head. "Can relics like people?"
"You tell me. You're the one it sang to."
She waved the relic like a wand again. "Mystic beam… spiral burst… shiny go!" she tried.
Kaelen blinked.
"You're just saying anime move names now."
"Better than accidentally summoning squid."
Kaelen snorted.
"What even was that?"
"Just... spell stuff. You wouldn't get it. You don't have Harry Potter under the sea."
"We have hairy hermit crabs. They bite toes."
She groaned. "Not the same."
The relic gave a faint pulse. She sat upright. "Wait. That's good, right? It pulsed!"
Kaelen leaned over. "Or it's hiccuping from secondhand embarrassment."
She inhaled sharply and held the relic close. "Alright. Focus, Elara. Channel inner fantasy heroine. Maybe… pretend I'm in a novel."
She closed her eyes. "Great Sea Spirit, grant me your power!"
Nothing happened.
She opened one eye. Kaelen was doing the equivalent of an undersea eyebrow raise.
"…Shush."
She tried again.
"Okay. I am the chosen one. The tides bend to my will. May the spiral of truth reveal—"
PLOP.
The relic slid out of her hand and bonked her forehead.
Kaelen actually rolled onto his back laughing.
"Oh yes, you're terrifying. The sea trembles in fear."
"Don't make me turn you into a fried fishstick," she grumbled.
"You'd have to catch me first. Besides, I taste like destiny."
Elara sighed dramatically and flopped back down. "You're annoying little guy. Cute, but annoying."
"I take that as a compliment. Selkyn pride."
She blinked. "Wait… Selkyn?"
Kaelen sat up proudly. "I am a Selkyn."
She squinted. "A what now?"
"Selkyn. My kind are rare. The Sea Goddess made us from coral and songfoam. We used to guard sacred places and relics. Before everything went weird."
Her curiosity sparked. "You have family?"
"Of course I do! I wasn't just born floating in a kelp cradle." He paused. "Though that would've been cool."
Elara leaned forward. "Where are they now?"
Kaelen's voice dimmed slightly. "Gone. Most of them. I got separated while playing near a trench. Then monsters came after me. I ran. I felt something strange… and I followed it. Found you."
Elara's throat tightened. "You followed me all this time?"
Kaelen gave a soft chirp. "You felt… different. Like… the sea remembered you."
She blinked at him. Then burst into a watery laugh.
"That's the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."
"I can be poetic too, y'know. Just not all the time. Too much poetry makes my fins itch."
Elara clutched the relic again. "Okay. Teach me. How do I magic?"
"Didn't you just try to cast 'Aqua Beam'?"
"That was an experimental phase."
"Try feeling it. Not ordering it. Relics are like seaweed—if you pull too hard, they tangle. Flow with it."
She closed her eyes and took a breath. Beneath her skin, a warm current stirred. Gentle, unfamiliar.
The relic pulsed once.
She focused harder.
It pulsed again.
Kaelen watched, tail twitching. "Hey… you're doing it."
Just as she felt a shimmer of something move up her fingers, her palm heated too fast.
Elara yelped, flinging the relic upward—where it bounced off a coral lamp and landed in her lap.
"…Ow."
Kaelen tried not to laugh. "That's… a start."
Elara groaned, flopping onto the bed again. "Maybe I'm not cut out for sea magic."
"Maybe you're cut out for chaos magic."
She snorted.
Then, turning serious, she looked at him. "Why me, though? Why follow someone who clearly doesn't belong?"
Kaelen tilted his head. "Because you're not just someone. You're… part of the sea's song. I've heard bedtime stories. The Niraya—they were born of tide and spark and my kind only used to bond with them and no else. My grandmother said their presence felt like coming home."
Her breath hitched. "Niraya?"
She shook her head slowly.
"You didn't know?" Kaelen blinked. "You're basically sea-royalty with amnesia. That's, like, peak drama. Your friend would be screaming."
"Guess I ruined the dramatic reveal." He puffed up. "But hey—look at the bright side. You've got a talking Selkyn, a shiny relic, and apparently a forgotten race bloodline. That's worth at least two book deals and a spin-off."
Elara chuckled, eyes misty. "Thank you."
Kaelen leaned forward. "Also… you said you fell into the sea?"
She nodded slowly. "I—was shoved. I think. The memory's blurry. Some people… I trusted them, and they—" She stopped.
Kaelen's voice was soft this time. "Then I'll stay with you. So no one can shove you again."
Her lip trembled. "You're being sweet again. Is this a phase?"
"Only until you make it weird."
They laughed. Then sat quietly, the relic pulsing faintly between them, like a heartbeat shared.
Kaelen climbed onto her lap smugly.
As they both settled, the glow faded again — but this time, Elara didn't feel disappointment.
She felt something stir.
Not power. Not magic.
Hope.
Then, Kaelen twitched.
"…Don't panic," he whispered. "But there's a heavily armored sea guy outside. Pretty sure he's not here for tea. Or hugs."
✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧
Kaelen's voice still echoed in her head as Elara stood at the threshold of her coral-framed doorway. The soft ripple of sea currents stirred the bead-strings hanging from the arch. Beyond them, a tall figure loomed.
Scaled armour, woven from reef-fiber and shimmering with dull bio-luminescence, covered the stranger from neck to fin. His expression was unreadable beneath the crystalline visor that shielded his face, but the spear he held—etched with an ancient tide-glyph—made his purpose painfully clear.
"Elara of the Mark," he said.
Her heart dipped. That title again.
"You are summoned by the Elders. The test of Sealorn awaits."
Kaelen, who had promptly dove into her sea-fern pillow at the first knock, peeked out again. His fins twitched with something that wasn't quite fear—but wasn't curiosity either.
"...That escalated quickly," Elara muttered.
The journey through the reef was quieter than she expected. Not tense, not cold—just still. As if the sea held its breath. Her escort did not speak. Kaelen, tucked along her shoulder like a sullen barnacle, whispered only once.
"The Sealorn isn't... a regular relic. It sings when the sea hears something familiar… something it never expected to return."
"So... what does it want with me?"
"Not want. Just recognize. If you're born of the sea, it hums. But if you carry power the sea once mourned—like the marked ones—it sings."
"Awesome," she muttered. "I'm either a glitch in the system or a sea-born omen."
They passed a small child pressing seashells into a stone wall—who looked up at her and stared. Not in awe. In fear.
"The Temple of the Spiral lay buried deep beneath the reef...", hidden in the oldest part of the city. Its outer shell looked like a massive fossil half-buried in the seabed—smooth, curved, and glowing faintly along its ridges. Guard-posts flanked the entrance, but it wasn't soldiers who watched them.
Inside, the walls curved in smooth spirals, like a chambered nautilus. Instead of coral, the pillars were carved from fossil-shell and speckled crystal. The ground beneath her shimmered—tiles of mother-of-pearl and sea glass lit up as she stepped across them, casting gentle rays through the water.
As they entered deeper, the quiet grew heavier. Figures in soft robes drifted between the halls—seers, fortune tellers, tide-watchers. They watched Elara as she passed, some with curiosity, others with quiet dread.
One older woman with glowing eyes whispered into a shell and tossed it into a fountain. Another, seated before a scrying basin, looked up sharply—then quickly looked away.
Kaelen whispered, "This place has seen too much. The Sealorn has slept for ages. Some don't want it woken."
They reached a vast chamber—round and domed. Symbols spiralled across the walls like drifting song-lines. At the centre, atop a black pedestal of polished stone, rested the Sealorn.
It wasn't an eye—not really. A massive conch, ancient and spiralled, sat still and pulsing with soft light. Tide-marks shimmered across its surface. The water around it felt charged, like it remembered storms.
Elara stepped closer. The Elders stood in a half-circle behind it. Silent. Watching.
"Place your hand upon it," one finally said. His voice sounded older than the sea itself.
Kaelen floated nervously beside her. "You don't have to do this."
She looked at him. Then at the Sealorn.
"I think I do."
Her fingers brushed the shell.
Warmth. A ripple. Then—
A sound. Not a voice. Not a song. Something in between. A low trill, rising like a memory. The chamber dimmed.
And the Sealorn began to sing.
The sound was haunting. Not loud, but deep—like a lullaby pulled from the ocean floor. Elara froze.
Kaelen stared, wide-eyed. "...It recognises what the sea lost."
One of the Elders stepped back. Another murmured, "It hasn't sung since the vanishing."
"She is what the tide brought back," said the oldest among them.
Another elder leaned forward. "She bears all four marks... not scattered. Etched together. No record speaks of such a thing."
A murmur followed. "Then she isn't just marked... she's something unknown."
The glow brightened. The Eye pulsed once, twice... then faded. The song ended.
Silence.
Elara lowered her hand. Her skin tingled. It wasn't just magic—it felt like a memory had passed through her.
Before Elara could speak, the water stirred—cold, sudden, wrong.
A woman slid into view from the shadowed arch. Not a guard. Not an elder. Something else.
She was beautiful, unnervingly so. Her hair flowed like spilled blood, long and red, and her eyes were entirely white—clouded like deep sea glass. Her lower body was unmistakably mermaid, but her fins shimmered with black and violet edges, twitching with each movement like a predator tasting scent.
In one hand, she held a twitching fish—half-dead, glowing faintly. With a sharp flick of her nails, she sliced its belly and let its blood trail into the water. Then she smiled—straight at Elara.
"So you're the one he's been watching."
Kaelen darted close, hissing.
Elara's voice came out sharper than she expected. "Who are you?"
The woman gave a mocking tilt of her head.
"Dalila. Loyal to my dark king—and very, very curious about you."
She swam closer, just enough for Elara to flinch. Then she reached out and scratched a thin line across Elara's arm—casual, like testing softness.
She licked the blood.
"Mm. A Niraya. How delicious."
The fish in her grip gurgled, and she silenced it with a squeeze, popping its body like a pouch.
Dalila leaned in close, whispering,
"When he sees you, little treasure he'll crush you because he hates your kind. Isn't that exciting?"
Her laugh cracked like bone on stone—sharp, dry, impossible to forget.
The seers stepped back. None stopped her.
Then she vanished in a swirl of shadow, fins slicing through the water like knives.
The seers stood frozen, none daring to follow. Even the guards hesitated, casting wary glances down the corridor where her laughter had faded.
Elara was still trembling. The cut on her hand had stopped bleeding, but it lingered—hot, tingling, like a memory that refused to close.
Kaelen circled tightly around her, his fins stiff with unease. "She wasn't supposed to be here… none of them were."
An elder stepped forward, eyes narrowed. "Send word. Inform the court she's returned."
Another whispered, "We must seal the upper halls again. Her presence… it changes everything."
A soft hand touched Elara's arm. A temple attendant, voice low and kind despite the tension, said, "You should rest. The Sealorn has spoken—and now, so have shadows."
Elara followed, glancing once more at the Sealorn. The relic no longer glowed. The song was over. But its echo hadn't left her ears.
She did not sleep that night.
And far across the ocean, something ancient stirred in its depths—no longer silent.
✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧