Aetheria: Silvannia

Chapter 8

It wasn't long before the time came for me to set out to Malhia to visit my aunt and her family, bringing along the gift I had decided to give. Although I had the blood of a malhian in me by virtue of my father's heritage, I rarely came to visit both due to my busy schedule and my lack of affinity with anything related to water.

I glanced at the shore in front of me and took a deep breath. This location was situated between the eastern borders of Freesia and the western borders of Malhia, where the tides and the grasslands meet.

"It's alright, Silvannia. In any case, I'm with you as we travel further into the deep oceans."

I looked over my companion, also my fiancé, Alouence. He smiled at me kindly which I greatly appreciated. Well, that certainly made me feel a tad bit better. It's quite funny to think that despite being so powerful, I still held apprehension towards mere bodies of water.

"Okay." I said as I took a deep breath. "I guess it's about time we go."

We slowly walked towards the waters, our boots digging into the wet sand until slowly but surely, the waters that was slightly warm from the sun fully engulfed our frames.

A few moments after we were submerged, I was momentarily surprised when Alouence suddenly took hold of my hand. Perhaps as an engaged couple, we aught to do things like this so I just let it be.

I smiled a little. It wouldn't hurt to develop feelings towards one another. After all, the fact that I didn't object to the engagement and the possibility of marriage was partly because he wasn't a bad match. If only the others objecting to this matter thought of the same, but that's another matter to ponder about later.

On our way to the Malhian palace in the capital, I noticed certain details on the road that we were on that alarmed me.

"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?"

I glanced at Alouence and scrutinized his expression. Did he not notice it?

"I need to double check something. Would you mind if we stopped for a bit?"

He shook his head. "No, I won't mind. But-"

As soon as he agreed, I immediately made my way towards the coral reefs about ten meters away from the road we were on. There were fish swimming right in front of me so I squinted my eyes at the branches of coral that weren't blocked.

"This discoloration..."

I noticed that a few of the branches' tops had a strange discoloration. It was black with hints of a scattered green iridescence. The color was a jarring contrast to its vibrant body and was almost unnoticeable if it weren't from the slight miasma I sensed from them so slight to the point that it would be overlooked if not careful.

I felt the waves right beside me and I immediately turned towards the person that just caught up.

"Alouence, I have a question to ask you."

He looked at me with surprise and delight in which I found strange.

I sighed internally, almost feeling bad. I really do not know what he is thinking and I don't think he even noticed the reason I was acting so strange just now. I would probably ruin his good mood but I still had to bring this matter to his attention.

"Something is not right with this area. Do you see that slight discoloration in the coral reefs here and with those reefs that we passed by just now?"

He blinked his eyes in confusion for a moment before squinting his eyes at the reefs in front.

"And on that note, have you received any strange reports about anything happening here?"

As if realizing something, he stopped and looked at me with surprise.