Chapter 1
Far out in the ocean, deep below the waves that glimmer like the finest sapphires with milky white froth, lies the domain of the Sea Empress and her kin, the ondine. Hidden by the tall and spiky hydrothermal vents, beneath the canopies made from red seaweed stands a quite beautiful palace made from sea glass and shells, gently gleaming with the light coming from large gemstones and luminescent creatures swimming around it. For over a thousand years, the Sea Empress has ruled her kingdom with an iron hand, without anyone daring to challenge her rule. The Sea Empress had been a widower for many years and a terrifying woman for sure, with a fishtail so decorated with glittering jewels and gemstones that it was hard for her to carry alone. Yet the Sea Empress was a very wise woman, and exceedingly proud of her high birth; on that account, she wore twelve grand pearls on her tail, while others, also of high rank, were only allowed to wear six. However, she was deserving of very great praise for how long she had ruled her kingdom, but especially for her care of the little sea princes, her six sons, each more beautiful and delicate than any creature dwelling on the land, yet the most beautiful of them was the youngest one, not even a century old, a youngling, Kalliste. Kalliste had a pearlescent tail that glimmered delicately as the light from shimmering gemstones hit it, not to mention his wavy, long hair that looked like it had been woven from the finest white gold strands no mortal jewelsmith could ever master. Many had come for his hand, and each one had been turned down by the Sea Empress, not satisfied by the crop, knowing well her son could have more. Yet Kalliste’s mind wasn’t bothered by such things; his heart belonged to the waves above his deep dwelling place. Unlike his older brothers, Kalliste had never visited the surface and yearned for it more than anything else on the whole ocean floor. Eagerly, he listened to the stories his brothers would tell him, longing to be allowed to visit the world above his, but year after year, his mother had declined his pleas without giving him any reasonable reason as to why.
Kalliste sat alone in his little garden, mindlessly letting his tender hands turn down the meticulously picked shells and colorful stones only to turn them back up as his gaze was strictly fixed somewhere far away, veiled by the thick shroud of darkness only the depth could provide. His brothers had left there mere moments ago, telling him to stay back as they traveled to the surface to catch the last light of the day. The garden was blooming with corals and different kinds of plants that could only thrive in the deepest of the oceans, a colorful little thing with tall bush-like walls to hide within. Kalliste’s brothers had helped him to gather oddities from sunken ships, and his favorite one was a marbled statue of an unknown woman with golden streaks running across the stone, placed in the corner of a beautiful flower bed on which Kalliste sat right now, looking up, his thoughts with his brothers and the world above. For them, the statue was a curiosity since the woman had no tail but instead two legs. Kalliste had no idea how they could swim or move at all, but according to his brothers, humans could use them with ease, yet what was even stranger to Kalliste was what his brothers claimed humans covered themselves with; pieces of fabric like that on a ship’s sails, the ondines had no use for such things and decorated their bodies with jewels and trinkets, something Kalliste thought was much more beautiful than a plain cloth, but there were other beautiful things above the waves and Kalliste yearned to see them too.
“Oh, you should see how the dusk dances on the waves,” Eioneio had gushed before leaving, “Warm orange and red lights are mixed with the blue darkness of the sea, rivaling the most vivid gemstones here at the palace!”
“Yet it’s nothing like what happens after the sun sets behind the horizon and reveals the marvelous diamonds hanging from the sky, colored by even more tones than what we have here in the depths,” Iearal had added, laughing like he always did, “sometimes there are veils of green dancing with them!”
“It does sound grand,” Kalliste had always replied back with a jealous tone in his voice.
Part of Kalliste knew they were only doing it to tease him, to get a reaction out of him, but there was excitement in their voices that they could not hide underneath their needling, and it was even harder for Kalliste to conceal his disappointment. His brothers could experience something prohibited from him, and their stories only made his yearning grow larger each year, and even they had wondered from time to time why their mother refused to let Kalliste visit the surface. But soon it would be my turn, or at least that was what Mother had promised, Kalliste thought to himself. Every time Kalliste had asked to be allowed to enter the surface, the Sea Empress had forbidden it, ”You’re too young, and it is too dangerous,” she had said, not believing him to be safe even with his older brothers or palace guards, but usually such lectures ended with the promise he would be ready one day. According to Kalliste’s mother, the ocean was full of dangers that preyed on younglings like him; his older brothers had already proven themselves one way or another and thus were allowed to go as they pleased, to Kalliste’s annoyance. One such danger was the Sea Witch, who was feared by every other living creature in the sea. Kalliste had never met him but had seen him from time to time prowling the kingdom’s edge. The guards were meant to keep him away, but it was said that the Sea Witch was a far more powerful creature than perhaps even Kalliste’s mother, and as such, they too feared him. But the Sea Witch seemed to keep his distance, never wandering over the border between his darkness and the light of the Sea Empress’ kingdom. Any reasonable ondine knew to avoid the Sea Witch, for he was said to hunt down and kill their kin for his mad draughts and spells, and Kalliste was no different; every time he had seen him, he had either hidden or darted away as quickly as he could back to the warm safety of the palace.
Kalliste hummed softly by himself, wondering what his brothers were seeing right now. He had a hard time imagining all the things they had tried to describe to him; none of it sounded real to him. During their trips to the surface, Kalliste was happy about the solitude and seclusion the garden offered; it was far enough from the palace not to be bothered by any wandering servant or guard, but close enough to swim to if his emotions ever got hold of him, something a proper prince would never allow, as his mother had always lectured. Besides, it was the only place his mother allowed him to wander, and even that had taken some convincing by Kalliste’s older brothers. The garden was truly a place of his own, and he had laughed and cried there many times before, but most importantly, it was a place where he could be alone and dream about the world above.
All of a sudden, Kalliste could feel uneasiness creep under his scales, one which could only be felt when someone stood near you without you knowing it. Before he had any time to turn around, he already knew who it was; there was only one man who could bear such a burdening darkness with him.
“Once again, the little prince has been left all alone in his garden,” a low growling voice said behind him, inching closer in a way that made Kalliste tremble. The Sea Witch was almost as old as their mother and just as terrifying as her. He had a long fishtail like the rest of the ondines, but out of it grew long tendril-like tentacles almost as tall as the tail, eerily floating in the water and grabbing onto any object near them, some now clutching onto plants and corals, breaking them with ease as he drew closer to Kalliste. The Sea Witch’s long, dark hair was like a wavy veil shrouding his burly body, which could easily snap any little ondine into two.
“Y-you’re not supposed to be here,” Kalliste shivered, backing away from the monster, drawing closer to him. The Sea Witch had been exiled from the kingdom a long time ago for wielding magic older than the ondines themselves. He had gone mad with the power and, as such, lingered in the fringes, consuming anyone foolish enough to wander into the darkness. The old magic the Sea Witch wielded was not familiar to Kalliste, and it had been prohibited a long time before he had even been born. “It would have destroyed the natural balance of things,” the Sea Empress had told him, and Kalliste believed her. Not only because she was his mother, but because of the visage before him told every part of his body to run. To someone like the Sea Witch, Kalliste was nothing but prey to be caught, and the hunter had no reason to hurry as he approached Kalliste slowly.
“Then scream, little nymph, call in the guards to chase me away if you dare,” the Sea Witch mocked, almost laughing at the thought.
“How do you know I was left alone? Maybe my brothers are just around the corner?” Kalliste asked, still backing away from the stalking beast.
“I’ve been watching you from afar for a long time now, little nymph. There is no one here for you,” the Sea Witch’s tendril touched Kalliste’s cheeks and curled almost gently next to it, “Your mother does you wrong for not letting you visit the surface, my little one and I’ve seen you yearning for it, but soon you will make a choice that will change your life forever,” he added with a gleam in his eye, “You will regret it more than anything else, but in the end you shall reach your truest of self.” The Sea Witch withdrew his tentacle and backed away, giving Kalliste a chance to escape if he wanted to, but to Kalliste’s surprise, he didn’t want to escape, even though every raised scale on his tail told Kalliste otherwise
“What do you mean? Have you seen my future?” asked Kalliste, now clearly curious about their strange encounter. He still feared him, of course, but something in the way he had talked had piqued his interest where others would have fled by now.
“I can see every current you could have taken and have dived into,” the Sea Witch answered, “... And you’re a prince of many wrong dives.” The Sea Witch began to swim slowly around Kalliste, moving him exactly where he wanted him without the little ondine noticing it.
“I’ve hardly had any chance to take any currents myself; my mother wouldn’t allow it,” Kalliste answered with honesty. For most of his life, her mother had decided what he would do, how he should act, or even wear, and Kalliste had obeyed her orders to the letter, yet she still had denied him of his dearest wish.
“Not taking a one is a choice as well, my child,” the Sea Witch grinned, “You’ve been under your mother’s will for long enough, it’s time for you to make your own path,” he tempted, moving a little bit closer to Kalliste who in turn backed away slowly in the opposite direction, hitting his back to the statue in the corner of the flower bed. The Sea Witch quickly closed in on the little ondine and wrapped his tendrils around his frame, pulling him like a trapped fish closer. Kalliste let out a sharp shriek and stared at the exiled man right in front of his eyes in terror. His rugged features were nothing like the delicate and smooth faces of the ondine. The Sea Witch had darker eyes than the deepest of depths, and jagged pieces of dark shells stuck on his jaw like a beard.
“Now, now, my little one, scream again and I will snap your neck,” the Sea Witch’s large grin revealed his sharp teeth, which had undoubtedly ripped into the skin of ondine like Kalliste many times before, along with his talon-like claws. One of his tendrils slithered across Kalliste’s pale skin, curling around his neck and putting a little pressure on it. He wanted to scream again, but he forced himself to stay silent. Even if Kalliste would not be muffled by the Sea Witch before he could scream again, the guards would be there too late to stop the horrible creature.
The Sea Witch reveled in the fear he saw in the prince’s beautiful blue eyes and in the tension of his small body trembling like a frail seaweed under his touch.
“Do you want to know why your mother won’t allow you to the surface? Why she tells you to stay away from humans?” The Sea Witch whispered, pulling Kalliste even closer, his lips almost brushing Kalliste’s pointed ear. “Please,” Kalliste pleaded as the Sea Witch’s tentacles coiled around him, feeling the burdening weight of his body against his own, “Please, let me go, you can’t eat me!”
The Sea Witch scoffed, “I can and I will if I wish to do so, but fear not. I’m here only to deliver a message,” his slithering forked tongue pushed against Kalliste’s soft pointed ear down to his neck as the Sea Witch’s hand found his chest that was only covered by shimmering jewelry, “Your mother wants to use you as her pawn in her little court game. For that she needs you to stay as unblemished as possible to find the best mate to spread her rule even further and through your beauty and body she has more than enough to spend,” the Sea Witch squeezed Kalliste’s nipple, the sudden sensation sent throughout Kalliste’s body was strange but not completely unwanted, “I could take it all away before you make your tragic choice,” the Sea Witch whispered, “I’ve seen your currents and I can offer you an alternative, a way for you to find your truest self and what you truly crave for without great suffering.”
“No!” Kalliste shouted, trying to wriggle free, “Please, let me go!”
The running underwater streams brought with them the alerted sounds of the guardsmen, only audible to the sea folk. Kalliste’s scream had been heard after all, and soon the guards would be there to save him. The Sea Witch brushed his lips against Kalliste’s, barely touching his ajar lips before releasing Kalliste from his tight grasp and pulling away.
“As you wish, my little nymph,” the Sea Witch said with an almost bittersweet tone. “Farewell.” The light coming from the guards’ gemstone lanterns got closer as the Sea Witch disappeared into the darkness, from which he had come, leaving the shocked Kalliste as alone as he had been before.
The first of the guardsmen arrived there quickly, rushing to the little ondine’s aid and asking what had happened, yet Kalliste was unsure himself of what he had just experienced. He had been given a warning, and a sensation of something else he was still processing in his mind. Kalliste told the guards that he had been spooked by a bolting octopus, apologizing for bothering them, and they seemed to accept his very obvious lie. For them, it would be an offense to claim otherwise. It wouldn’t have mattered much if he had told them the truth, either, since the Sea Witch was already gone and he had remained unharmed.
Or had I, Kalliste thought as he followed the guards as they returned to the palace, glancing behind him with puzzled wonder, yet too frightened by the experience to stay there any longer for the night. Kalliste’s unexpected yet short meeting with the Sea Witch hadn’t gone at all as he had seen his darkest nightmares. There had been something else in his dread, a thrill, the way the Witch had coiled himself around the prince and locked him in place. There was a strange freedom in being controlled that way by someone, and Kalliste did not dare to explore such feelings just yet.
