Chapter 5: Stranger above the waves.

..."The surface is not another world. It is simply another way of seeing the same ocean."...

...— The Lost Chronicles of Thalassara...

Kael

The city of Thalassara disappeared behind us with every stroke of my tail.

Its sapphire glow slowly faded into the darkness until only the endless sea remained.

I didn't look back again.

If I did...

I wasn't sure I'd have the strength to leave.

The currents grew colder as Rowan and I crossed into the Open Deep.

This part of the ocean belonged to no kingdom.

No patrols.

No villages.

Only towering underwater cliffs and trenches so deep that even sunlight feared them.

Rowan swam beside me in unusual silence.

For him, that was almost alarming.

"You've been quiet for ten whole minutes," I said.

"I'm mourning."

"What exactly?"

"My peaceful life."

I couldn't help smiling.

"You volunteered."

"I did."

"I distinctly remember you interrupting a royal council."

"I also remember looking incredibly heroic."

"You looked late."

"I was fashionably late."

"We don't wear clothes."

"Details."

A school of glowing ribbonfish darted between us, their silver scales flashing like shooting stars before vanishing into the dark.

The farther we traveled, the stranger the water became.

The familiar songs of whales had faded.

The coral forests were gone.

Even the currents felt... uncertain.

As though the sea itself had entered territory it no longer recognized.

Rowan's expression gradually turned serious.

"Do you feel it?"

I nodded.

"The Tideheart."

Its magic pulsed faintly through the water.

Not strong enough to guide us.

Just enough to remind us we were heading in the right direction.

Toward the human.

Toward Adrian Ashford.

Hours passed.

The water above us slowly brightened.

At first, it was only a pale shimmer.

Then streaks of gold pierced the surface like countless glowing spears.

I slowed instinctively.

"So..."

Rowan whispered.

"This is it."

I had seen paintings of sunlight.

Heard songs written by explorers.

Read ancient journals describing the sky.

None of them came close.

The light wasn't merely beautiful.

It felt alive.

We swam upward in silence.

The sea grew warmer around us.

The waves became gentler.

And then...

My head broke through the surface.

Air.

Real air.

Cool wind rushed across my face.

I drew my first breath above the ocean.

It felt different.

Lighter.

Sharper.

I blinked against the morning sunlight.

Above me stretched an endless blue sky with clouds drifting like great white whales across its vastness.

No ceiling of water.

No dancing reflections.

Just...

Infinity.

For the first time in my life...

I understood why humans looked upward.

Rowan surfaced beside me.

His mouth hung open.

"So..."

He finally managed.

"The sky is real."

I laughed.

"It appears so."

A distant cry echoed overhead.

A white seabird glided effortlessly through the air before disappearing toward the shoreline.

Rowan followed it with wide eyes.

"...It swims without water."

I chuckled.

"It flies."

"I liked my explanation better."

Far ahead, a narrow strip of golden sand curved along the coastline.

Beyond it...

Rose a city unlike anything I had ever imagined.

Glass towers glittered beneath the morning sun.

Bridges stretched across sparkling water.

Ships crossed the harbor like tiny silver insects.

Asterhaven.

The human world.

Hidden beneath the waves, I had spent years studying it through books.

Now...

It stood before me.

Real.

Waiting.

And somewhere within that city lived the man whose eyes had followed me into my dreams.

I rested a hand over the satchel at my side.

Inside, the silver vial shimmered softly.

The Transformation Elixir.

There was no turning back now.

I looked at Rowan.

He grinned.

"Ready to become human?"

I looked once more toward the unfamiliar shore.

"No," I admitted.

Then I smiled.

"But let's do it anyway."

The shoreline was closer than it had appeared.

Gentle waves rolled toward the beach, carrying the scent of salt and something unfamiliar.

Flowers.

I'd never smelled flowers before.

"They're... loud," Rowan said, wrinkling his nose.

I blinked.

"Loud?"

"The smell."

I laughed.

"You make absolutely no sense."

"I usually don't."

Together, we drifted toward the shallow water.

The golden sand brushed against the end of my tail.

I reached into my satchel and carefully removed the crystal vial.

Inside, the Transformation Elixir shimmered like liquid moonlight.

"So..." Rowan murmured. "Last chance to swim away."

"I thought you wanted this mission."

"I did."

He looked toward the towering city in the distance.

"I'm just realizing humans built... all of that."

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

I uncorked the vial.

A cool mist escaped into the morning air.

The liquid smelled strangely sweet.

"To seventy-two hours of pretending we're not ourselves," Rowan said, raising an imaginary glass.

I shook my head with a smile.

"You always find the strangest moments to joke."

"It's a gift."

Taking a slow breath, I drank.

The liquid was ice cold.

For a heartbeat...

Nothing happened.

Then a sharp warmth spread through my body.

It raced through my arms, my chest...

...and finally reached my tail.

I gasped.

It didn't hurt.

Not exactly.

It felt as though every scale was being rearranged by invisible hands.

Silver light wrapped around me beneath the water.

The current spun gently, hiding me from view.

When the light faded...

My tail was gone.

In its place...

Two legs.

I stared.

"...They're smaller than I expected."

Rowan burst out laughing.

"You were expecting three?"

"I meant compared to my tail."

He finished drinking the elixir.

Moments later, another swirl of silver surrounded him.

When it disappeared, he looked down and immediately frowned.

"...I have knees."

"Humans do."

"They're inconvenient."

He attempted to stand.

The moment he lifted himself onto the sand—

Thump.

He landed flat on his back.

I couldn't stop myself.

I laughed.

Loudly.

"Oh, now you're laughing?" Rowan groaned from the ground. "Some prince you are."

"You looked so confident."

"I was."

"You fell."

"I was betrayed."

"By gravity?"

"Exactly."

Still chuckling, I offered him my hand.

He accepted it, only for both of us to lose our balance.

A second later...

We were both lying in the wet sand.

For a long moment, neither of us moved.

Then Rowan started laughing.

Before I knew it...

I was laughing with him.

The sound echoed across the empty beach.

It felt...

Free.

Eventually, we managed to stand.

Walking, however, proved to be an entirely different challenge.

"My legs won't listen to me," Rowan complained after nearly falling for the fourth time.

"Take smaller steps."

"I am."

"Those are leaps."

"They're elegant leaps."

"They're not."

A flock of seabirds scattered as Rowan stumbled toward them with his arms flailing wildly.

"I've fought reef sharks with more dignity than this," he muttered.

After several embarrassing attempts, we finally found a rhythm.

Slow.

Awkward.

But steady.

Our soaked clothes clung uncomfortably to our skin.

"We can't walk into the city like this," Rowan observed.

I looked around.

Not far from the beach stood a small wooden cottage with colorful clothes fluttering from a line in the breeze.

Freshly washed.

Dry.

Rowan followed my gaze.

His grin returned.

"I think the humans have left us gifts."

"They're not gifts."

"They're unattended."

"That's different."

"It sounds different."

I sighed.

"We'll leave something in return."

He reached into his satchel and pulled out a perfectly round pearl.

"This should cover a shirt."

I stared at him.

"You brought pearls?"

"I'm not uncivilized."

Despite myself, I smiled.

Perhaps our first lesson about the human world would begin with learning that intentions didn't always make actions acceptable.

Far beyond the quiet beach, the skyline of Asterhaven glittered beneath the morning sun.

Somewhere among those towering buildings...

A man named Adrian Ashford was beginning another ordinary day.

Completely unaware that two strangers from beneath the sea had just stepped into his world.

And fate...

Had already begun closing the distance between them.

...----------------...

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***