War of the Ocean

Prologue

Copyright to this book belongs to DukendDuchess (Izzy). All ideas in this book are original and no part of this book is to be used without the permission of the author.

Clouds heavy with rain covered the silver moon and the world darkened. Waves crashed onto the reef below and sprayed water like shrapnel from an explosion. It was angry tonight. Strong winds blew, filling the sails of a wooden ship and pushed it towards the rocks rising from the sea like jagged teeth, waiting to swallow the whatever came into its grasp. Desperately, the sailors on board tried to change the course of the ship but they could not. As they ran about the ship's slippery deck, they knew that they would crash and drown. There was no point in trying to lower the rowboats, the force of the waves would merely obliterate them.

Suddenly, the waves ceased their persistent battering at the side of the ship. The wind stopped howling. The sailors stopped panicking. Although the clouds did not clear from the silver moon, the ocean was calm once more. Everything was still and an eerie silence grew. But the silence did not last long for soon a sweet, melodic sound could be heard. Singing.

At first, it was quiet but grew louder and louder in a crescendo until it drowned out all else. The voice was so beautiful and powerful that the sailors searched their surroundings for the singer. They spotted her in the water with only her shoulders and above visible but that was all they needed to see as her physical beauty matched that of her voice. Her eyes were like sapphires, glittering against her pale skin despite the lack of moonlight. Her hair was so wet it was impossible to tell what it's true colour was as it hung limply, falling beneath the ocean's surface. She was enchanting.

Slowly, she began to swim backwards while she sang, luring the ship towards her as she had countless times before. She watched as the sailors turned their ship, mesmerised by her angelic voice. They were so deeply under her spell already that they did not notice which direction she was leading them in, nor did they care. Not even as the ship's hull hit the reef. Her task was complete and yet, she continued to sing, keeping the sailors beneath her spell for she did not want them to suffer as they drowned. The ship began to break apart and sink onto the ocean's floor where a graveyard of ships awaited, the sailors sinking with their vessel.

At last, she released her hold and watched, a single tear slipping from her eye. She hated how her brother gave her these tasks. She hated how he used her Siren voice as a weapon. She hated sinking these ships and watching those on board drown. As much as she hated it, she had to for her brother was her king and the Mer had to obey they king or there would be severe consequences. Raising a hand from the warm, salty water, she wiped her tear away and began to sink back down into the depths. But something stopped her. Something was struggling against the waves a few metres away. It was a man from the ship, one who was desperately clinging to life.

Surprised, she swam closer to investigate. None had ever attempted to survive before, especially not after she sank their ship. She could tell that this man splashing about was growing weaker by the second. Should she save him for his efforts at survival? Swimming closer still, she stopped before him and her sapphire eyes met his green ones. They stared at one another for a moment and the began to sink beneath the gentle waves.

With a flick of her smooth, silver tail, she dove down to rescue him, the man who dared to resist the sea. Hooking her arms beneath his, she pulled him to the surface so that oxygen could inflate his lungs. Carrying him to the shore took up most of her strength and the journey took far longer than usual as his added weight slowed her down. She was relieved when the land finally came into view and she began the final stretch to the beach.

Swimming right up to the shore, she brought him right up onto it so that he lay on his side on the dry sand. Once she was certain that he wouldn't be drowned by the tide, she pushed herself back out to sea. Lying in the shallows, she waited until dawn broke, watching him. She wanted to ensure that someone found him and took him away from her brother's cursed kingdom of the ocean. She wanted him to tell the other humans what a wretched place it was and to keep far away from it. She did not wish to sink anymore ships.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when another man stepped onto the beach. Though he did not see him immediately, the other man came across the one she had rescued cried out for help. Several more men rushed down to the beach and assisted in carrying him away. Sighing, she turned back out to the open ocean and dove into its depths. She would have to return to her brother now and face the consequences of saving the life of a human but it did not bother her. The human was safe and there was nothing that her brother could do to make her life any worse.

The journey back to the underwater palace took just as long as the one from the shipwreck to the shore for two reasons. The first being that she was tired from dragging that human across the ocean and the second was that she unwilling to. Her thoughts did not matter, she had to return or else her brother would scour entire oceans searching for her. In the end, he would end up killing her.

Once she saw balls of light glowing in the dark, she knew that she was almost home, if that prison of a palace could be a home. A stone archway came into view and a merman could be seen guarding it, preventing unwanted creatures from entering the city of the Mer. She approached slowly so that the merman was alerted of her presence well before she reached him.

'Who are you?' The merman demanded but froze when she swam into the light. 'I apologise, Your Highness.' He bowed at the waist, showing his respect. Or was is submission? She had been unable to tell since the coronation of her brother, since the day he began his reign of terror, causing their subjects to cower before them.

She nodded in acknowledgement. 'You are forgiven,' she told him kindly. He rose from his bow and quickly darted out of her way, allowing her to swim past him. She passed through the arch and entered the city, heading towards the palace.

The Mer's palace was a breathtaking, golden structure lit with thousands of balls of light. Hundreds of Mer and different types of fish swam in and out of it daily, carrying messages or ensuring the King's happiness. The gardens surrounding it grew millions of seaweeds and underwater flowers of various colours. Inside, the walls were lined with coral and extraordinary pieces of Mer artwork but not once would one come across something from the human world. The King had something against humans and forbid anything of theirs to be in his presence although no one knew why. Quickly, she swam to her brother's throne room and waited as the guard slipped inside to check if the King was able to see her. Seconds later her returned and gave her a single nod. Slipping around the corner, she entered the throne room.

It was the most extravagant room in the entire palace. Golden coral covered the walls while pearlescent shells covered the floor all the way up to to the King's throne. It was carved from stone and decorated with shells, coral and bits of coloured seaweed. The King sat upon it, his dark tail lazily draped over one of the arms while his right elbow rested on the other, propping him up as it gripped a trident. For the most part, he looked like her with sapphire eyes and pale skin. But his hair was far shorter and naturally dark with a coral crown resting on top of it. He smiled down at her.

'Arelena, my dear sister,' from those words, she knew there was trouble. 'I heard you rescued a drowning man.'

Hi guys!

I really hope you enjoyed the prologue, are you ready to get into a new fantasy world? I'll put the first chapter up in a minute but after that I will update one chapter every Monday and Thursday. Don't forget to vote and comment!

Izzy :)

20/1/18:

I've been meaning to come back to edit this book for a while and I've finally found the motivation to do it. That, and I've decided I want to rewrite parts of the ending...

So I'm starting that now and will try edit at least two or three chapters a week which will take some time.