The silence after the light faded was heavier than sound.
I stood on the sacred temple platform, heart still pulsing with the echo of the Ocean's Heart. Around me, the merfolk stared—some in awe, others in disbelief. The queen slowly stepped forward, her long silver hair swirling in the water like smoke.
"You carry the song now," she said softly. "You are bound."
"I don't feel different," I whispered, though my voice wavered.
Isaac reached out, steadying me. "Your eyes," he murmured. "They're glowing."
I turned to the water, catching my reflection in the smooth coral wall.
He was right.
My pupils shimmered with the same blue hue as the shard. My skin glowed faintly along ancient patterns, swirling along my arms—mer markings. I was no longer just human. No longer just an outsider.
I was something in-between.
"You've awakened the legacy," Korrin said, swimming slowly toward me. He looked solemn, but not angry—not like before. "But awakening it is not the same as controlling it."
I nodded. "Then teach me."
A murmur rippled through the merfolk.
"She is willing," the queen said. "And she is ready."
"But," Isaac stepped forward, tension in his shoulders, "we still haven't fixed what brought us here in the first place. My father—he stole something. What was it?"
Korrin's gaze hardened. "A key. Not just any artifact. The Aether Ring. It controls the gate between this world and yours."
I sucked in a breath.
"A gate?" I repeated. "Between the human world and the mer world?"
"It was never meant to be used," the queen said bitterly. "It was forged during the last war to seal what cannot be killed."
"What did your father want with it?" I asked Isaac quietly.
He shook his head, shoulders stiff. "I don't know. He always spoke about 'ending regret,' about finding redemption beneath the sea. I thought he was just obsessed. I didn't know it was real."
Korrin's eyes narrowed. "He knew. And he used you."
Isaac didn't argue. His silence was loud enough.
"He's in Atlantis Point," Korrin added after a moment, glancing toward a dark rift beyond the temple. "A place even we don't go lightly. You want answers—you'll find him there."
"I'll go," Isaac said.
"No," Korrin said. "We'll go."
For the first time, I saw something different in his eyes. A hint of trust. Maybe even regret.
The queen turned to me. "You must stay. Learn the chant fully. Without it, you cannot hold the Heart if it fractures again."
"But I need to help them—"
"You already have," she said. "Now let us help you."
---
The next few hours were a blur.
Korrin and Isaac left with a small group of guards, swimming toward the darker currents. The queen led me to a sacred chamber—a sanctuary of coral spires and glowing shells.
There, I met Elder Sira, a mermaid with violet scales and eyes like starlight. She was the keeper of songs.
"You must learn to sing," she said, her voice deep and melodic.
"I'm not a singer."
"You are now," she replied. "The chant binds reality. It is not music. It is command."
She began teaching me syllables I could barely pronounce, sounds that curled like waves and burned my throat. I tried again and again until I collapsed, chest heaving.
"It will come," she promised. "You are not the first to break."
"I don't want to break," I whispered.
"Then bend," she said. "And listen."
She guided my hands to a glowing shell.
"Close your eyes," she said. "And feel what the ocean remembers."
I did.
And suddenly, the shell sang.
Not in words—in memories.
My mother laughing as she danced with glowing dolphins. My father, standing at the edge of a cliff, holding the Aether Ring and whispering something I couldn't understand.
And then… darkness.
Something deep.
Something waiting.
---
When I opened my eyes again, I felt the temple tremble. A wave of dread crashed through me.
"Korrin," I whispered. "Something's wrong."
Sira's face paled. "You felt it."
"Where's the queen?"
But even before I finished, I saw the lights above shift to red.
The ocean had changed.
---
End of Chapter 14