Eclipsis: Water

Chapter 1

Alara looked like a human being from a distance - if you ignored the colour of her skin and the magnificent wings attached to her back, that is. She was around the same height as one, and would've been about 20 years old in human age.

There were four separate kingdoms in Sol, which was the part of Eclipsis that the Sun people inhabited. Fire, wind, earth and water.

Alara was a water fairy. Water fairies especially didn't look like humans up close. Their skin was mostly clear, just with the slightest tint of blue, ranging in every shade; they were almost see-through, as if they weren't completely solid. If they stayed still enough and you looked hard enough, you could sort of see your own reflection in them. Their eyes and their hair came in every possible shade of blue, and the latter floated about them as if they were submerged in water, even if they were on land.

Their wings came in the same broad range of blue shades, some having more than one, and they had a slight shimmer to them like when sun rays hit a large body of water. The clothes they wore were of extremely lightweight material so that there was no dragging when they chose to swim. Water creatures were the only kind that could still fly when their wings were wet.

Alara's skin was a soft baby-blue, her eyes and hair a midnight shade. Her wings were the colour of a glacier, so light that they were barely even blue. Her father often joked that if it wasn't for everything else they would have mistaken her for an air fairy.

Her father, Lir, was the King of the water creatures. Monarchy was not according to royal blood, however - anyone could become King or Queen, and it could change often. It was voted for by the creatures of each four types. If another candidate received more votes than the current ruler, they were no longer part of the monarchy, but could try to win again if they wished.

Lir had been King long before Alara was born, as the water creatures thought him kind and fair a ruler. Alara's mother Océane* was Queen, which coincidently was how her and Lir met. They had been together for many years before having Alara. Océane, like her husband, had the respect and admiration of her people.

As their daughter Alara was not an official ruler herself - the term "princess" was more of a nickname than an actual title, she had no more authority in leading the water creatures than any other citizen did. She didn't mind that, though, as she would've hated to have special treatment compared to others her age. The only person who dared to call her "princess", apart from her parents, was her sister Ondine. Ondine was a water nymph, so although her and Alara weren't sisters biologically, Lir and Océane had taken in Ondine when she was very young and loved her equally to Alara.

Ondine was about 18 in human years, making her about two years younger than Alara. Water nymphs had the same broad shade range of blue as water fairies, much like all the other water creatures, but also had additional shades of green.

Ondine's skin was periwinkle everywhere but her fingers and toes, where the colour faded into a sage-green. Her hair used to be the same colour as Alara's skin - a baby-blue, however after a lengthy time of persuading her parents, they had agreed that she could dye it. It was now mostly white, which Ondine had used to claim it would be like sea-foam - she had only kept the tips her original colour. Her eyes were a deep-green like the forest that separated the two halves of Eclipsis.

Ondine and Alara could pull off being biological sisters if you ignored the absence of wings on Ondine and the lack of webbed feet and hands on Alara. Not to mention the fact that Alara's ears were pointy and Ondine's were webbed and fin-like, meaning she could move them separately like any other limb. They were both incredibly beautiful - much like most of the other creatures in Sol.