Hey all!

Chapter 3 of Touched by Fire has been published! I'm super happy with how it's coming along so check it out :) It has a lot of the same themes as Into the Deep so hopefully you'll like it!

- darkcrystalss

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Waves. The ocean crashes far above, a hurricane unleashing its thunderous power upon the world. Lightning. Jagged stripes paint the water a brilliant cacophony of colours. Howling wind.

But to Y/N, everything is peaceful. Her mind wanders, following the ocean currents, melding into the rolling waves. She can see everything, and nothing. Feel all the swirls of the sea, but no heartbeat, no breaths.

Everything feels so close yet so distant. Too blurry, a haze she can't break through. She can vaguely recall flashes of sharpened teeth, agony ripping through her flesh.

Lysanthir. Her Lysanthir.

Is this death?

Am I dead?

She doesn't feel dead. Though she doesn't exactly feel alive either.

Y/N drifts along the ocean floor. Her mind detached from her body, lost in the rolling sand. Undulating along the seabed, passed from current to current.

She's caught in this limbo. A confusing daze. Tranquility covers her in a blanket of warmth, shielding the panic lurking just beneath the surface. A panic that she has to make a choice—she can't stay in this eternal non-existence forever.

Does she want to go back? Go back to a life with Lysanthir, a life in Athtar as a murdukann?

She wouldn't just be a murdukann, either. She would be the mate of a Kyren. Bestowed with both power and responsibility.

Y/N enters a kelp forest. She watches a school of minnows meander through the seaweed. The fish glisten as they dart between the greenery, tails flicking in unison.

She knows she doesn't have to return. It's her choice.

Right now, this is the in-between. Y/N can either go back, or she can move on. Move on and go through the veil between this world and the next. Who knows what would await her there.

But that would mean death. It would mean leaving behind everything she knows, everything and everyone she loves.

Y/N lets the ocean lull her into a reverie. Brilliant jade seaweed brushes its tendrils against her mind. She basks in the soft feeling as sleepiness washes over her.

She knows she needs to make her decision soon. She can't stay here, fading away in this suspended state. Although it's serene, it's too calm, too hushed. Her thoughts, her emotions are so muted.

She may not be dead, but she isn't living.

The storm far above lets out a thunderous roar. A scream of anguish and despair. It grips Y/N, holding her tight and refusing to let go.

Something far away is calling out to her, desperately trying to reach across the ocean. To collect her wandering soul, bring her back to him.

Y/N reels, tossed between underwater currents.

Choices, choices. Die with her humanity or live as a murdukann.

It's time.

Y/N lets go. She lets the hurricane whisk her away in its feral embrace.

~~~~~~~

Y/N's gills wrench open with a snap. Oxygen floods her body, her heart thudding once more.

It beats uneasily, sputtering back to life.

Then the pain hits her. A rigid soreness that spreads down her body, sensitive and cramped.

It's as if her body had been petrified, turned to stone as her mind fled to the open sea. And now every muscle, every joint and nerve ending and blood vessel is reawakening. Rediscovering what it means to be alive.

Y/N's eyelids flutter. Apprehensive, she carefully moves a finger, then two. Trying to remember what it's like to have a body, to be more than a detached spirit.

She doesn't want to open her eyes just yet. She's not ready to see the effects of the turning.

Her murdukann tail. Y/N can feel it. A foreign sensation of fins and scales along her lower half, fusing her legs together.

She curls her fingers, digging her nails into her palms. The stinging pain reassures her that she's truly alive. Back in control of her body.

Her stomach clenches, empty. Ravenously hungry.

Steeling herself, she lets her eyes open. A dark room greets her. She's no longer in that cave, nor is she back in the quarters she shared with Lysanthir.

Y/N is laying in a single bed, satin sheets draped over her. The room is dark, the only light coming from beneath a closed door. And she's alone.

To her left, a side table is adorned with a woven basket. Y/N props herself up on an elbow as she leans over and flips the lid open. Inside is an array of edible seaweed, dried fish strips, and marine berries.

Her stomach growls. Starving, she wolfs down the basket's contents. The berries burst sweetly under her tongue, the fish salty and tough. The seaweed slides down her throat with ease.

Once satiated, Y/N dares pull off the sheets from her body.

A tight white tunic covers her chest and upper torso. It ends at her waist, where skin fades to scales of shimmering silver and blue. Shades of turquoise, azure and midnight form a long tail ending in powerful fins.

With a shaky hand, Y/N trails a finger along her scales. Silky smooth, yet she can feel the strength within them trembling just beneath the surface.

Letting out a shaky breath, she tentatively rises from the bed. The feeling of her tail is so new, the movements clumsy and uncoordinated. Wanting to make for the door, she gingerly flexes her fins.

And is promptly launched across the room.

She smacks against the door with a thud, a squeak escaping her lips. Her tail seems to be a little more powerful than anticipated.

Alright then, let's try this again.

Y/N opens the door and, with a very gentle flick of her fins, emerges into an empty hallway.

She has never been in this part of Athtar before—though that's not entirely surprising. The underwater fortress is a sweeping medley of chambers and tunnels.

Where is everyone?

Y/N rubs her eyes, trying to clear her mind and think straight.

Although she could stay put and hope someone comes to her, she's done waiting around. She did enough waiting in the limbo state.

With another soft flex of her fins, she heads down the hallway.

She's still getting used to her tail. Having to use her arms for balance, her swimming is somewhat jerky and uncoordinated. She's now realising the extent to which having legs had been a disadvantage in the water. How much they were a hindrance.

Voices begin to float towards her from somewhere ahead. Y/N picks up the pace. Her tail wobbles slightly but she steadies herself against the wall.

As she continues, her surroundings slowly begin to grow familiar. She rounds a corner and enters the ornate chamber with the painted domed ceiling. The first room she was brought to in Athtar.

Memories and nostalgia wash over her. Of her gills emerging. Of Ryfon and Katerina.

And most importantly of Lysanthir. The one who changed her life for evermore. The one she is destined for.

The voices grow louder, emerging now from behind another closed door.

Y/N's tail spurs her along. Her hand finds the door handle, wrapping around the cool metal. Although the sounds are muffled, she can make out Vesryn's distinct intonation. And another voice—Lysanthir.

Y/N turns the handle and swings the door open.