Shackled Ocean Heart

Seralyndra Veliriane T. Virellthane never really had a place she could call home. Not truly. She grew up in a house that wore the label of faith but forgot how to love. To her, it wasn’t a family—it was a daily trial. Her every breath was a burden, every smile a mask. She did everything right. Top of her class. Rules followed to the letter. She was the kind of girl parents bragged about—except hers never did. Instead, they treated her like she was a flaw in their perfect picture, a crack in the glass they refused to admit was there. And when you hear you’re worthless enough times, you start to believe it. There were nights the silence grew too loud, and the weight of her own thoughts crushed her from the inside. There were mornings she didn't want to wake up, not because she was tired, but because existing just hurt too much. Maybe they were right. Maybe she really wasn’t meant to be happy. But then he happened. Drevanthos Kaelithar V. Maldraven—sun-kissed skin, tired eyes, and that crooked smile that looked like it could talk your demons into sleeping for just one night. He showed up like an unfinished poem—flawed, reckless, human—and for the first time, someone saw her pain without her having to bleed. One simple thing changed everything: he kissed her forehead. That was all it took to quiet the war in her chest. Her chaos paused. Her walls cracked, just enough to let him in. And in his arms, Seralyndra learned that softness didn’t make her weak—it made her real. She wasn’t too much. She wasn’t broken beyond repair. She was wanted—mess, scars, and all. But happiness, she learned, isn’t a promise. It’s a fragile thing. Because just when she thought she’d finally climbed out of the darkness, life reminded her it still had storms waiting. And this time, she was drowning in them alone. The sea she once called her freedom now whispered her fears back to her. The waves she loved no longer danced—they dragged. And in the echo of everything she’d lost, she had to ask: Was love ever hers to keep? Or just something borrowed from someone else’s story?