Sea Titan's Queen

Prologue

The distant racket echoed from outside the rocky walls of my prison. "Clang. Clang. Clang," the muted noise garbled through the pitch-black water to assault my dulled senses. I grumbled and flipped over to float on my other side, a tiny spark of annoyance flaring in what was left of my mind.

Long ago, I had shut myself into a deep hibernation that had lasted who-knows-how-long. One that I was seldom ever stirred from, but in the past while (it could have been weeks, or years — time held no meaning here) I had been roused repeatedly by the metallic, stony noises coming from somewhere above me, in the depths of the sea.

I couldn't be bothered to care much, I was more of a comatose vegetable than a living being at this point, but I did know that the sounds were gradually getting louder. The thought did flit through my sluggish mind, however, that the noise was not one that I had ever heard before. Never in my eons of existence, pitiful as the majority of it may be, had I any memory of such sounds.

Curious. A flicker of interest deep within the recess of my soul responded, but it was outweighed by the rest of my listless and detached self. I tuned the outside world out once more and began to fall back into my hibernation. I wished for death, but knew it would not come. I had once thought immortality to be the greatest of gifts, but for me it was now the most reviled curse. I longed for the true emptiness and freedom of death. I had long ago given up on being freed.

At first, I had thought that surely my parents would negotiate for my release. After all, I was the most beloved and impressive of their children. The only true Titan of my six thousand brothers and sisters — I was every bit as powerful as my sire Oceanus and my mother Tethys. Or, I had been. How could they leave me to rot in the most terrible place in existence? They had told me they would remain neutral in the war, supporting neither their Titan brethren, nor the Gods. But I had not. I could not stand by while Zeus and the other Gods decided to turn our world upside down and rule it themselves. So I had fought, and I had lost, along with the rest of my fellow imprisoned Titans. My parents had shown their true, despicable neutrality in the battle of the Titans and the Gods by not coming to my aid, and by abandoning me to Tartarus. It was the greatest pain of my life.

I had done everything to try and escape. Had even combined my powers with that of other imprisoned Titans, but to no avail. Tartarus was truly incredible — able to stifle and contain the might of countless deities within it. It did not make sense how this pit of Hell was able to so thoroughly subdue us, and we had never been able to discover the origin of Tartarus's power. What was the point anyways? It was clear there was no escape.

So here I remained — hovering listlessly in the aquatic black just behind what had once been the entrance to this forsaken prison. I knew that further below, others of my kind had carved out what homes they could for themselves, but the sea was my element. I would not leave it. I took what comfort it could give me here.

Soaking in my depressive oblivion, I was slow to realize that something had changed. The grinding, clanging noise had grown the loudest it had ever been, before a deafening crack rent the water around me.

I was physically shaken by the vibrations, shocked truly awake for the first time since I had given in to my imprisonment.

Cold water flowed in through a break in the stone, carrying with it a metallic, polluted stench that had me recoiling. My senses were raw and unused, making every sensation ten times stronger. What was going on in the sea above? Could it be possible that the seal of my prison had broken? Surely not, but I could not ignore the slightest chance it may be.

I swam over to the wall, seeing the barest hint of light creep in along the cracks with my enhanced eyesight — I felt a thrill of sheer joy and delight the likes of which I never had before. The stone had indeed fractured, and the break was large enough for me to reach a hand in, feeling the currents of the sea for the first time in eons. They caressed me with excitement. The sea had missed me too.

I smiled, and took a deep breath of that cleansing liquid. My senses were further shocked as I suddenly caught the scent of something sweet upon the water. It sparked through my nasal passages, fresh and feminine. It was the most delectable thing I had ever experienced, and it brought every dormant part of me raging back to life, affixed on the scent flowing in from beyond the wall.

Could it really be? After all this time?

"Mine," I growled out, the first audible word I had spoken in recent memory.

Newly invigorated, I reached out with both hands and called the waters of the ocean to me. I nearly moaned with pleasure at the familiar feel of it responding to my power — a power that was so long absent. The sea rushed to my bidding, tearing at the fractured rock and widening the hole, bits of stones rumbling like beasts as they crashed against one other.

When it was done, I stared at the entrance before me, not fully believing what my eyes and senses were telling me.

Tartarus was open, and I was free.

And that intoxicating scent beckoned me. It was time to leave.

With that, I uncoiled my long dormant muscles and propelled myself through the void, into open water.