"Eve," A heart-wrenching plea crackled through the booming of thunder, piercing the storm in desperation.
But the voice quickly muffled, and the raging sea fell into an abrupt silence.
My eyes lost focus as beams of light reached out like ropes, a ladder, a way out.
But the endless expanse of darkness seemed to have arms of its own, only pulling me tighter and deeper.
The sun's remaining streaks of light failed to warm my skin, just as the abyss refused to freeze it.
Paralysed, I let my body sway with the current as silence rang in my ears.
"Ataraxia." The word spun, causing the corner of my lip to rise and a bitter saltiness to trickle into my mouth.
The word was a harsh reminder of the years I spent in the library reading everything and anything I could to learn more about the world that lay beyond.
"Ataraxia: The feeling of serene calmness," My internal chortle continued. I never thought I'd use that word to describe how it feels to die.
The sea swept away the endless noise rampaging beneath my skull.
However, as I sank deeper into the vast blue void, a single dream began to eat away at eternity's peaceful embrace.
A spark that even death couldn't snuff out.
This world I've only ever known as words on a page.
I just… I just wanted to see it for myself, not from the comfort of a book or from the cage of an island I call home, but to experience it with my own eyes, and maybe even become a Spell Weaver while I'm at it.
My ears ached as the growing pressure continued weighing down on me. Only amplifying the tightness in my chest.
I almost accepted that it was all for nothing, that only death lies beyond, at least in my story.
"Cease your worries, child," a bellowing yet all-knowing voice rang from the depths.
The haunting sound defied gravity as my body flung like a rag doll in its wake.
"The Tide has been waiting for you," the voice sang, and a flicker of a grin seeped into the words.
My heart thumped, and if only for one final moment, life surged beneath my skin. Flicking my legs, I desperately grasped at the water until I was staring down into the endless black void.
The salty water torched my hazy eyes, but still, I stared, my body frozen. All my vision could muster was a pair of gargantuan glowing red eyes, each larger than a battleship, as they rose from the depths.
I gasped, and hardly a fraction later, I realised my mistake as my fingers weaved around my throat as if to stop the icy water from flooding in.
Cayden Dragomir:
Present day.
Neoma 13th, Year 500 After Elarion
My teeth ground together as I scraped away at a small black stone, shaping it with a thin steel knife.
Its wiry blade cuts like hot steel through butter.
Before long, a sweet breeze washed over my face, breaking my concentration, and my eyes traced over the endless blue horizon, painted gold by the setting sun, complementing the warm Neoma breeze.
The blissful changing of seasons made my mouth salivate as I pictured the fresh fruits ripening on the trees.
But my gaze lingered on the endless sea of gold.
I often found myself staring across the ocean. There was something about not knowing what lay beyond that always filled me with a weird sense of salvation.
Almost as if I was waiting for some sentient being to come and change this cursed place for the...
"Aaaaah, Cayden?" Ezra called out.
The uncertainty in his tone made me raise an eyebrow as I dropped my knife and began leaping from rock to rock, following his muffled voice.
Water sprayed high in the air as waves slammed into the rough rocks.
What in Ravaryn's name is he doing so close to the shore, I thought, spotting Ezra who was gesturing towards a small alcove in the rocky harbour.
As I drew closer, the sharp rocks became uncharacteristically smooth, forming something of a wall between us and the crashing waves.
I was about to question Ezra, but he must have read the confused look on my face.
Instead of explaining himself, he simply turned his attention deeper within the alcove's protection.
My confusion grew into a web of knotted rope as something, or rather someone, had washed ashore.
Albeit not the sentient deity I had imagined.
Instead, there was a boy no older than the two of us, albeit pale and slender in figure, and with his body sprawled across the glossy stone.
"I wonder where this squirt came from," Ezra chimed, his short form cutting in front of me as he made his way towards the body.
Instead of following Ezra, my mind was stuck on the wall of rock behind us.
As my gaze lingered on the barrier of stone between us and the ocean, I tried to picture what kind of enormous wave could carry a whole person over the top of it.
But it wasn't just that.
Even if the ocean had thrown him into the alcove, there were no bruises or even abrasions on his skin. In fact, he appeared completely uninjured.
Considering the smooth, sunlit stone slab he was lying on, one would think he had simply decided to take a nap there if it weren't for his salt-crusted hair and sand-sparkled skin.
"Cayden?" Ezra looked up at me.
His eyes were wide in disbelief, and his tone the same agonising uncertainty as before.
"This twerp's still breathing."
Everett:
"Why am I the one who has to carry him?" a stern voice groaned in the distance.
"It's that, or I drag 'em through the mud," another, more playful voice interjected, this time sounding far closer than before.
A sharp pain coursed through my body as if I were just waking up from a long, restless sleep.
Tingles shot up my arm as I clenched my hand into a weak fist. The smell of salt and earth filled my nose, and all that my eyes could see or... remember was two enormous red eyes that smiled at me from the endless black ocean.
At that moment, the fatigue that consumed my body subsided in a swift flurry and was replaced by a startling shiver of fear as I remembered the enormous creature that launched at me from the depths.
"WAAAAAH," the shier trill cracked from my dry, raspy throat.
And the next thing I knew, my body came crashing to the hard ground.
"For the love of Rynora, my soul just flew out of my body," a playful tenor voice screeched in response.
"Besides, weren't you in some kind of coma a second ago?"
I groaned, pulling myself up from the dry dirt.
With my eyes finally adjusting, I instinctively began analysing my surroundings.
Contrary to the high-pitched, aggressive voice that I had heard, the figure standing over me was easily a head taller than I was, with flowy black hair and chiseled features, as he poised with the dignity of a general.
He wore thin, rectangular-framed glasses with slightly dimmed lenses. That did very little to hide his amber coloured eyes behind them.
"Well, at least I won't have to carry you anymore," he said nonchalantly as he continued walking away.
"Don't mind 'em, he's damaged goods that one." A short figure appeared at my side, reaching a hand down in my direction.
"I'm the refined gemstone you're looking for," the petite kid puffed out their chest.
But their near-miniature stature only made the prideful expression look even more ridiculous.
A soft cackle escaped my cracked lips as the small curly-haired blonde helped me to my feet.
"Do you doubt the mightiness of me, Ezran of The Sparkling Hollow?" his eyes squinted with annoyance.
"Ezran," I pondered aloud.
"So you're a boy?" The words trailed out with a hint of surprise.
"BAHAHAHAHAHA," an eruption of laughter thundered across the valley as the nonchalant and cold boy from before was practically gasping for air in his own enjoyment.
"You thought I was a G-GIRL." Ezran lunged playfully into a familiar and trained stance before reaching behind his back.
Instinctively, my body recoiled as I recognised his attack, and in a matter of seconds, I had already bounced a couple of steps backward.
Snapping from his daze, the taller boy shot Ezran a subtle scowl, and without any need for words, Ezran had already frozen stiff.
"You move well for someone so... frail," he said.
After his previous outbreak of laughter, I was almost certain that his cold demeanour was just a facade.
But now that his eyes had finally landed on mine, I couldn't help but compare his hardened gaze to that of the elders from my village.
"With training like that, you're clearly no commoner," he continued, breaking me from my thoughts.
"I... I suppose not," I replied as he held his gaze expectantly, but when I said nothing more, he simply turned to continue walking ahead after nodding for me to follow.
"I'm Cayden, and that 'refined gemstone' is my twin brother Ezran," he exaggerated, not bothering to turn around.
"Just call me Ezra, only grandma calls me Ezran. This beanpole just does it to piss me off," he huffed, crossing his arms as he walked up next to me.
It wasn't until both of the boys were shooting side-eyed glances in my direction that I finally got the hint.
"Oh, um, my name's... E-Eve," I choked as I peeled my salt-baked tunic from my skin. But my brows only furrowed as I couldn't even remember my name.
"Eve?" Cayden repeated.
"I don't suppose you've got memory loss too now, coma boy," Ezra Chimed.
"Well, Everett, welcome to The Sparkling Hollow," Ezra expressed proudly.
Everett was a good guess. And I don't dislike the name, but despite my blurred memory, I could tell that Eve meant something entirely different.
Before I could ponder the thought myself, I was instead completely entranced by the village ahead.