Chapter 18 – Born of the Sea, Marked by Four

I remember hearing voices.

A lot of them. Loud, panicked, overlapping—like waves crashing over each other.

Telling me to run, like someone was after my life.

Then... nothing. Everything just… went black.

But I wasn’t dead.

At least, I didn’t think so.

Because when I opened my eyes, I was sitting in a place I’d seen before.

A beautiful lake. A massive tree on its bank.

And I was underneath it again—just like last time.

Same glowing flowers, same little cottage up the hill.

Everything looked exactly like when I’d first come here and met the sea angel.

Except this time, something was different.

A hand was reaching out to help me up.

She was gorgeous. Like, unreal gorgeous.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone that pretty before.

She wore this soft blue dress with golden accents, and on top of her head was a halo—glowing bright like someone stuck a star on her head.

“I haven’t seen my child in so long,” she said, eyes brimming.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a hundred years.

You’ve grown so much—into such a fine young lady.”

Then she pulled me in and hugged me, holding me tight against her chest.

I don’t know why, but she felt... warm.

Like home.

So I hugged her back. Instinctively. I didn’t even think about it.

But I shook it off and asked her,

“Why do I feel connected to you?

Why does hugging you feel like… everything will be okay? Like nothing can go wrong?

Who even are you?”

“I am Amarisila. The Sea Goddess.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The one you call Sea Goddess. That’s me.”

She touched the side of my face gently, like I was made of some glass. “And you, Elara, are one of my children.”

“Okay, hold on.”

I stepped back just a little. “You mean… like child child or like… 'everyone’s a child of the sea' kind of thing?”

She laughed. “I am the mother of the sea. I gave life to the merfolk, the tide, the first waters. I watched as humans and elves rose where my waves reached. So yes, all of you are mine. But you… you were born right here, under this tree, in this realm. You carry more of me than most.”

I just stared at her for a second.

“…What.”

She didn’t push. She just stepped towards the lake and knelt beside it, brushing the surface with her fingers like she was thinking through centuries.

“I brought you here today because you deserve the truth,” she said. “And because it’s time you awakened what’s inside you.”

“Inside me?”

She nodded. “Your powers. Your sigils. The magic you were born with… all of it was sealed the day you were taken away to the world you grew up in.”

My mouth went dry.

“You mean I actually have magic? Like, real magic? I’m not just some half-lost ocean girl who keeps almost dying?”

“You have more than you can imagine,” she said, standing again. “You carry four sigils, marks from each realm. Sea, forest, land and… one that doesn’t belong to this world.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Wait, wait, wait, four?”.

I didn’t even know what to say. I think I just… sat down. On the grass. Like my brain short-circuited.

She smiled again, that calm, knowing kind of smile. The kind that makes you feel like she’s already seen the end of your story.

“You come from a long line of protectors, Elara,” she said. “Those who were once divine, cast down for love. They broke the Law of the Veil — the rule that forbade guardian angels from falling in love with mortals and making any relations with them.”

“So… my ancestors were lawbreakers?”

She laughed softly. “They were believers. And they paid the price. When those guardians were cast down,” she explained, “they didn’t die. They were stripped of divinity and became something new. Mortal... but not like others. Their magic was raw, unfiltered. And they passed that power down through generations — carefully, protecting it, marrying only among others like themselves. That line is what became the Abyssari.”

My brows shot up. “And I’m one of them?”

“No. You are more.”

She paused, then stepped closer, reaching out to press a gentle hand over my heart. “Your parents were both Niraya — hybrids born from the bond between guardians and mortals and each Niraya carried two powers each for generations but that changed one day. When your parents came together… they didn’t just pass that on. They created something no one thought was possible.”

“All four,” I said quietly.

She nodded.

“Sea. Forest. Flame. Sky.”

Her fingers moved as she said them, drawing small glowing symbols in the air like the sigils I bear on my shoulder. I didn’t recognise them at first glance, but they felt familiar somehow. Like they were mine.

I glanced down. “They’re… inside me?”

“Yes. Each one sealed for your protection. Because if anyone found out what you carried before you were ready…” Her expression dimmed. “The wrong hands could twist that power into something catastrophic.”

I swallowed. “So why tell me now?”

“Because the seals are starting to break on their own. And once that begins, you need to be the one in control. Or someone else will be.”

She stepped back a little, letting the lake’s light reflect across the surface.

“When the time comes, you’ll need to awaken your sigils one by one with relics I left behind before I got sealed. Each one will show you a memory your parents left behind. They saved them for you.”

“Memories?”

“Wait—like… I’ll get to see them? My parents?”

“In pieces,” she said. “But the parts they wanted you to remember. Vision shells. Fragments of your childhood — the moments they couldn’t keep, but didn’t want to lose. Every relic you find will unlock one. And when the final one is recovered…”

“You’ll find them?” I whispered.

“The last of their soul fragments. Still waiting… for a goodbye.”

I didn’t say anything for a long time.

I just sat there, staring at her, trying to breathe through the lump in my throat.

My parents. I’d never even thought I’d get to see them, not even like this. And now she was telling me there were pieces of them with their memories, still out there waiting for me?

That wasn’t fair.

That wasn’t even real. And yet… it somehow gave me hope.

“I didn’t even know them,” I said. “But I think I’ve missed them my whole life.”

She nodded like she understood exactly what I meant.

“You will see them again when the time is right.”

I swallowed and looked down at my own hands. “You said I carry all the sigils. That I’m something rare. But how did that even happen? What does it mean? Where… where did all of this begin?”

She didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she turned towards the lake again, the water glowing with soft colours like the sky just before sunrise. Then she spoke, slowly this time.

“Before the realms were shaped, there was only silence and nothingness. And in that silence, the High God gave away a piece of himself, a fragment of his heart and from that, I was born.”

I stared at her. “You’re saying… you were the first?”

“I was the sea. Not just the water, Elara. The soul of it. The first creation that could feel. That could love. That could grieve.”

She knelt again beside the lake and let her fingers skim the surface. “I was meant to be the beginning of life. And I was. My sorrow gave birth to the first mermaid. My joy created the song that shaped the currents. But the others… the ones who came later… they didn’t like that I was loved most.”

“Who?”

“The Throne Gods. They came after. Born from his thoughts, not his heart.” She looked at me again. “They wanted balance, control, order.

I was chaos. Emotion. So when I gave too much of myself to mortals, they called it betrayal.”

“And sealed you?”

She nodded, just once. “They erased me from memory of all the mortals in this world. Built a new god in my place. The one your people now call the Tidefather.”

“Delkaris.”

Her face hardened at the name. “He wears a crown made from lies. But he will fall. One day.”

That gave me chills that made me think… damn, what did I just get pulled into.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧