Thera 1.01

“The ocean is a dangerous place.”

Chalk scraped against a blackboard as Luna listened with intent. She sat straight in the classroom— starkly juxtaposed to the other young Elves her age who were visibly bored— taking notes while the lecture droned on.

“Even the highest-leveled individuals in the world dare not sail in unexplored waters. The creatures that lurk in the deep are a threat to any seafaring vessel. Tempest Sharks that gather in the hundreds are capable of befalling the greatest of fleets in a single night, while Krakens have summoned terrible storms that wiped out entire coastal cities off the map.”

The Elf boy sitting next to Luna yawned, and it was at that point, her mind began to wander too. Professor Junia had a talent of making even the most interesting of subjects dull. As much as Luna tried to be as studious as possible, she was still a child by Elf-standards. She picked at the leaves on her desk as her gaze ran lazily along the roots branching over the classroom’s walls.

And all Luna could think about now was her encounter with the Mystic Turtles a decade ago.

“But the greatest danger lies not in what is known. Rather it is the unknown— what we have yet to discover of the deep sea. No one has dove into the bottommost depths of the ocean and returned alive. The greatest Gnomish inventor in history, Volodin Zinon, dared this challenge and turned back out of fear of his life, never speaking of what he saw. Merfolk tell tales of the legendary creatures lurking where the sun does not reach. Even now, we still know not why the great island nation of Elysius sank nearly twenty thousand years ago…”

According to Mother, the life of a Mystic Turtle was harsh and cruel. Luna wished she could be there at the beach, protecting the little babies as they made their way to the sea. But no one knew the exact moment the eggs would hatch, and even if they did, it was a pointless endeavor. Nature would always run its course, even if they’d intervened.

Because… well, as Professor Junia said, the ocean was a dangerous place.

* * *

Thera hit the water hard. The golden aura protecting her shattered like a glass window struck by a loose rock during a terrible thunderstorm. Her world spun as she was sucked in by a whirlpool and whipped by the waves. She was far, far, far away from the beach— separated from the rest of the still-stranded baby Mystic Turtles.

Her vision darkened as she gasped. Disoriented, discombobulated, and disassociated, she wiggled her little flippers in an attempt to regain her dulled senses. But she was caught in a net of bubbles; a stream of effervescence. She sank like her body was made out of stone into the coiling grasps of the snaking seaweed at the seafloor.

The green algae latched onto her as she tried to swim back up in a panic. But Thera didn’t know what was up, down, left, or right. Navigating through water was very different from land, and her mind was in too much of a daze for her instincts to guide her here.

So she struggled, tangled in the seaweed. She splashed and spun. At one point during her desperation, her head poked out of the water, letting her take in a refreshing breath of air. That was all she’d manage before a sea current picked up and carried her further into the deep ocean.

What…? she thought as she was dragged along by the waves. Her mind raced to keep up with her body.

Before Thera could make sense of what was happening, a blurred figure dove past her. The ripple in the water sent her tumbling. Her vision whirled with her as she was knocked to the side. She saw blotches— dark shadows that swam past her in a hurry. A dizzying eclectic of colors swirled around her as she waddled her flippers trying to catch herself.

And thud! The lone Mystic Turtle crashed into a hard surface.

Thera winced as her soft shell barely dampened the landing. She lay on the back of a large gray thing. Something that was calloused; easy to cling on to. She blinked and looked past the bubbles.

A massive eye stared back at Thera. The pupil alone was three times the size of the baby Mystic Turtle. It was oddly-shaped too— a horizontal slit curved upwards into a slender crescent. The rest of the creature was so large— so enormous— that Thera couldn’t make it out.

It had an elongated face. Its head alone was thicker than the rest of its body. It had four pairs of fins on either side of its body, each one larger in size the closer they were to the tail. It let out a huff, and air bubbles escaped from a little hole at the top of its head.

It was a Tesserene Whale, although Thera didn’t currently know this.

“Begone, child of the sea,” its voice echoed through the waves, somehow speaking in the ocean— somehow speaking in a language the baby Mystic Turtle could understand. “This path offers you no safety. All you will find is misery.”

Thera tremulously clung onto the side of the creature’s face in fear, but the next puff by the Tesserene Whale sent out a pulse of water. It knocked the baby Mystic Turtle back, sending her tumbling far out from the sea current. The seaweed trapping her flippers untangled from her body as she watched schools and schools of fishes swim past her in the distance, and she slowly descended to the seabed.

Exhaustion settled in as she lay there amongst rows of giant kelp. Her eyes fluttered shut, drained from all that she’d been through from the moment she was born. Above the waves, a storm raged on. She heard the muffled crackling of thunder as she finally succumbed to slumber, half-buried in the sand and hidden by the underwater plant life.

A few hours passed. The storm subsided. A monstrous mantaray swam over the kelp forest, and a little starfish made its home next to the unconscious Mystic Turtle. Thera blearily blinked her eyes open as she shifted in the sand.

Where? Her half-formed thoughts filled her head as she took in her surroundings. Thera was surrounded by giant kelp— the branch-like algae looming over her. A world of dark blue trapped her. She could barely see the moonlight from the night sky leak through the sea surface.

An uncomfortable feeling rose within her as a few bubbles escaped her shell, and she felt an urge to resurface for a moment. But a small movement in the sand drew her attention. Thera braced herself, remembering the little black things that burrowed out of the ground and attacked her.

However, no monster assailed the lone baby Mystic Turtle. Instead, a small creature drew back— one that was only half her size. It was pinkish-brown in color, blending in with the sand. It lay flat and was shaped with five protruding parts.

Thera waited for the starfish to lash out, but nothing happened. Instead, the starfish seemed to slowly move away from her. That drew her curiosity. She apprehensively leaned forward and observed it for a minute. It was now one foot to the left of where it had originally been.

What… this? Five minutes passed, and the starfish navigated around one of the giant kelps. Half an hour later, it was nearly a hundred feet from where it started, and Thera continued following after it.

At first, the baby Mystic Turtle was puzzled as to why it fled her. But she recalled how she felt when she had thought the starfish was a threat. And she realized it was feeling the same thing.

Scared? Thera tilted her head inquisitively. The starfish didn’t answer. Of course not. It couldn’t hear her thoughts, and she couldn’t speak. She poked it with a flipper to try and convey something, but that only made the starfish run faster.

Although, in its case, it was still moving incredibly sluggishly.

Why scared? Communicating was hard when you didn’t even fully comprehend the concept of communicating. But an instinct— no, a desire— drove Thera. And the short encounter with the Tesserene Whale made her determined to relay the fact that she wouldn’t harm the starfish. Not… scary. I’m… not scary.

But a greater need overcame her. Thera crawled around another giant kelp, and her stomach groaned. She paused. A single instinctual thought crossed her mind.

Hungry.

Thera looked at the stem of the giant kelp. It drew her in, and she found her mouth chewing on the algae. The starfish got away in the background as Thera feasted on the kelp, satiating her hunger. She ate and ate and ate until she was full.

More bubbles left her body as she drew back, satisfied. Then the uncomfortable feeling inside of her grew too much, and she instinctively swam up to the surface. Thera moved her flippers oddly as she left the seabed for the first time since she woke up. Swimming was difficult at first, but she eventually got the hang of it just as she breached the waves.

Her head poked out for a few moments, and she once again breathed in. Thera looked around, seeing the sable dome hang overhead. There was no beach nearby. No signs of the flying creatures that picked her off the sand. And… her brothers and sisters were not there.

For a moment, Thera felt a feeling she didn’t understand. Melancholy. Sadness. Despair. All of them at once.

Then she submerged herself back into the water. Just in case those flying creatures appeared. Just to feel safe. And she looked down. The starfish was still there, hiding amongst the kelp forest.

Good. For some reason, she felt attached to the starfish. It reminded her of her brothers and sisters who were gone… even though it was a pink blob that looked and acted nothing like them. But to ease the emptiness in her heart, she descended. Thera followed after the starfish as it fled from her.

As long as it was there, she would feel… happy.

So, days passed. Then over a week. Thera lived in the kelp forest, following after the starfish wherever it went. She fed on the algae as she swam within the vicinity of her traveling companion, always keeping it in sight. They were not the only ones that lived here. There were other starfishes, but they were a different color and Thera cared not for them.

There were also these little creatures with elongated bodies. They were smaller than Thera, and they had dozens of appendages sticking out below their heads. Tiny strings of antennae stuck out of their mouth and wobbled whenever Thera saw them.

These shrimps weren’t even half her size. Although they did travel in packs, they were scared of her. They didn’t dare approach the lone baby Mystic Turtle. Not that she’d hurt them.

Thera once reached the fringe of the kelp forest. For a moment, she considered going out there. Just to see what it was like. It looked desolate, apart from a few shadows moving in the distance. But the starfish didn’t venture there, so Thera stuck to what she knew.

The dark blue world of the sea would brighten then dim every so often. Thera noticed that it was cyclical. That, sometimes, when she surfaced for air, the sky was bright with white blotches and a golden ring shining overhead like when she’d first been born. Other times, it would be dark with a single silver circle, just like when she woke up in the kelp forest.

And it wasn’t contingent on whether she woke up or went to sleep either. Thera slept twice more since meeting the starfish. It would try to leave her each time, but she would track it down eventually, and the sky was always different.

This is nice, Thera thought as she lay in the sand. Her starfish companion was crawling up ahead, picking up little brown things with the bottom of its body. I… like this.

Just as she began to luxuriate in this life she’d gotten used to, a dark shadow shot past her. It swam through the kelp forest, breaking one of the giant kelp in half to reach the starfish. Thera looked up in alarm. She didn’t know what this creature was, but she recognized an attack when she saw one.

The baby Mystic Turtle scrambled after the shadowed creature. But it was too quick. It scooped up the starfish and swallowed it in a few bites. Thera stared in shock at the gilled creature. At the way it happily flapped its fins as it ate her starfish friend.

It was slightly bigger than Thera. A fish with glinting gray scales. It happily spun around as Thera’s replacement for her brothers and sisters vanished in mere moments.

And a terrible fury boiled within her.

No! She charged forward, swimming as fast as she could. The gray-colored fish was quicker than Thera, but it didn’t notice her. It stupidly stayed there as she reached its back and began to unleash her wrath.

[Power Bite]! Thera tore through its scales with a single bite. It realized it was being attacked and tried to flee, but she gave chase. She barely kept up and continued her onslaught. It would’ve gotten away until one of her bites tore off its left fin, then it was over. [Power Bite]! [Power Bite]! [Power Bite]—

Blood filled the water as she ravaged the gray-colored fish. Until, finally, it stopped swimming. Thera followed its body as it floated to the surface and the Voice of the World once again echoed in her mind.

You have leveled up!

[Fledgling Testudine (Mystic Turtle) - Level 1] -> [Fledgling Testudine (Mystic Turtle) - Level 2]!

Skill gained: [Hunting Dive]!

But Thera simply floated there. At the surface of the ocean. As the waves gently rocked her body, and the sunlight limned her shell. She didn’t move. She didn’t feel triumphant. There was no reason to feel any satisfaction from that.

After all, the ocean was a dangerous place, and this was the life she would have to live. Alone. Without her brothers and sisters. Without her starfish friend. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt before. She was no longer sad. Instead, she was enraged.

And when she returned to the kelp forest, she brought her anger down on all the gray-colored fish she saw.