The daughter of the sea

“Would you like to hear her story, Marina? The terrifying story of the innocent Daughter of the Sea?”

“Yes!”

“Very well. Listen closely…”

 _-_-_

The sun set as the first Daughter was killed. One of my sisters. I was enraged. How dare they! They would pay for killing my sister… One of the Daughters of the Sea. They tried to pull out their sword, but I wrestled it out of their hand, pushing them to the floor. They had no bow to help them now. It felt as if I saw my blue hand grasp the hilt of the sword from afar. Blood sprayed like a fountain from the killer’s heart. I removed their mask, and it was… Another of my sisters. I had no time for surprise. As I turned and felt my other sisters arriving, I realized how the situation looked. They would think it was me. I couldn’t stay. 

I whispered to the water the true story, hoping that my sisters would talk to the little puddle on the ground. They should at least hear the truth, even if they don’t believe it. They arrived to see me kneeling on the floor, my blue hair soaked with green blood. I was holding the mask in one hand and the sword in the other. I saw the expression on my youngest sister’s face. Terror. First came the guilt, then I ran to the forest. There was no way I was being framed and caught… And I would not be brought to Mother. I ended up at a small pond. I knew going into the water was risky; if my sisters found this pond, they’d know I’d been here. Mother could also find me through the water. But I needed it to wash out the blood.

The irony of it struck me. Once an honored Daughter of the Sea, now sure to be an outcast. All because of her. Cordelia. That spoiled, no good- never mind that. Mother would never believe me… would she? I got out of the water and kneeled in front of it. I whispered through the water to Mother. It felt like forever before the water in the pond rose up, shining with a gentle blue light. The water slowly formed into the shape of Mother. Maybe I could ask forgiveness? 

“Achlys,” said Mother, her voice coming from every direction, “You have killed two of my daughters, your fellow sisters, fled, and whispered to my waters your polluted excuses. And now you contact me willingly. You have disgraced me, Achlys. You are now an outcast among the Daughters of the Sea, and all of the seas of this land.”

“Mother, I swear I did not! It was her! It was-”

“I shall hear no more of your excuses, Achlys! You shall become powerless, and forever look as a Daughter of the Sea with no symbol. You shall be forever disregarded among all of the Daughters and the disdainful humans. I cannot seize you through your contact, but I can do this.”

It came without warning. My inward essence was being pulled out, a glow was leaving my chest. My breath left for a second and I felt something inside me crumble. I felt different.

“You shall no longer wear my honor, nor my crest or my clothes.”

I felt a sudden shift, my clothes became unbearable, and I became very cold. I looked down. They were torn and haggard. The pants barely made it past my knees, and the selves didn’t make it halfway through my forearms. The fabric was so thin that it felt as if you could nearly see through it. I gasped. I was being punished for a crime I never committed, and the punishment was terrible. All of this was terrible.

“Mother,” I exclaimed, “These are pheasant clothes! I should not wear these. I'm your daughter, let me return home!” I screamed, lunging at the water.

“You are no longer my daughter! You may no longer find water, wherever you look, and while you shall never die of it, you shall have an everlasting thirst!” yelled Mother, and the water drained from the pond. She vanished, leaving me all alone. 

“Mother?” I said one more time, not realizing the reality. She would surely come back… Right? No, I was truly alone, and it was all her fault. She’s also dead, said a voice in my mind. I shut the door on it. What was this strange little voice? She was the one who made Mother steal your beauty, it said. I smashed it this time. I came back to reality for a second, taking in the sight of the empty pond in front of me. The voice had left. But it’s right, I thought, It’s all her fault! 

It felt like I had been walking ages when I came upon a large lake. Finally, water! I walked up to the lake and tried to get into it. The water split all around me, making a large circle. I tried to reach my hands into it to drink, but the water shied away. I thought back to what Mother- no, she was not my Mother anymore- to what the Sea has said. That I would have an everlasting thirst. This is what she had meant. I walked through the water to the bottom of the lake. I sat down and thought. Tried to find my thoughts. All I could think is that it was all her fault. The Daughters of the Sea never ceased their search for something. They would find me… and kill me. It was up to me to stay alive as long as possible- or try to find a way to prove that I was innocent. 

 _-_-_

“Did her mother really abandon her?” 

“Yes Marina, her mother left her in this way forever to be haunted by her sisters.” 

“But she’ll prove her innocence, right?”

“In time you shall know.” 

 _-_-_ 

After my encounter with the lake, I’d set off in search of a human settlement. Perhaps I could make a living there, or find a way to prove my innocence. I’d have to prove it, or else they wouldn’t stop hunting me. These thoughts buzzed through my head as I trudged through the barren landscape, my thirst feeling unbearable. Just then, I saw smoke in the distance. Humans. I’d nearly started to sprint over to the smoke when I remembered that I did not look human. My annoyance and anger boiled. Mother had essentially banished me from both sides. The Children of the Earth and the Daughters of the Sea. How would I blend in with the humans if I did not look like them? Surely the humans- Children of the Earth- would do as they always do with their pride and greed. Abuse me nearly as much as the Daughters of the Sea wanted to. Perhaps I could find someone that did not care. Maybe somebody alone? Like… those workers who worked on the farms. What were they called again? Oh! Farmers.

 _-_-_

“Is it true that she actually forgot what a farmer was?”

“Marina, my impatient little girl,” she said, touching her nose, “Yes, she did. After all, the Daughter of the Sea had only ever seen her Mother give them food, not a human. If she hadn’t gone to school, she wouldn’t know what a farm was!” 

“Ooh. Continue, continue, Granny!”

 _-_-_

I wandered the lands in search of a farm. Once, as I passed through a small stretch of rainforest, it started raining . The rain formed a kind of cylinder around me, the only part of the sky not raining for miles upon miles.

To me it felt like years, though it was most likely only a few days until I arrived at a farm a few miles away from a village. When I knocked on the door, an old man came out. He seemed annoyed as I asked him if I could work on his farm. He was tempted to refuse- he didn’t want to have to give me all of the necessities and pay me money. I offered to work simply for my necessities. He accepted. He gave me a hat, longer pants, and a cloak. When I asked him about the shelter, he told me to sleep in the barn. He gave me my instructions for tomorrow. I was to wake up early and come help him water the crops, remove any weeds, fix up the extra fields that need work, and come back to cook the food. He also insisted that I clean up the barn, because he hasn’t cleaned it in a long time. As I headed to the barn which was on the outskirts of the field. What did he mean when he said it was dirty? Wasn’t I sleeping there? When I got there I knew what he meant.

The barn was full with hay and other crops, with empty boxes piled all over the place. The crops were lying on the floor when I got there. I groaned. I was not waiting until tomorrow to clean this place up. I raised my hand and started to say the words before I remembered. She’d taken my power away, as well as my beauty. It’s all the fault of Cordelia, it’s all the fault of Cordelia. It was the voice again, whispering into my ear with a sing-song voice. I stamped it out- that made it quiet. So I set to work, manually packing all of the things into the boxes. When I had finished, I slept in the corner of the barn on a box of hay.

The next day was tiresome. After watering the crops with some difficulty, I tried to remove the weeds. The tool I was using wasn’t working, so I used my hands instead. As I worked, I was again reminded of the eternal thirst in the back of my throat. It felt fatal, as if I ought to die from it. Next, he sent me to a field to sow some seeds. The thought of food at the end of the day kept me going. 

Finally, near sunset, I was able to ask the man where I was to cook food. He led me into a tiny compartment near his house. It had all of the things that humans used for cooking. Now to cook like a human. I tried to remember a recipe. Then I remembered that I needed to know what ingredients I had first. I asked him what he had, and after he’d told me I figured that I could make something… A recipe for banana cookies jumped to my mind. I began. The first batch was perfect. I ate two before realizing that I would have extra. 

The first thought that came to mind was to sell them in the village. It was a while after sunset, so I ran to the village with my cookies and my cloak. No one could see my skin at night, right? I arrived at the village and decided to sell each cookie for a half dollar. The last was sold near midnight.

This was the way each day went. Every night I wondered about the day ahead as I ran toward the village, my throat burning with the unforgotten thirst. And every day was harder than the last.

After years, I finally had enough to start my own farm. I bought a plot of land and all of the necessary equipment. I sowed the seeds and waited for them to grow. Most of the time I would spend in the peaceful library. All of the nights were spent there, and they gave me free food. One day, as I was wandering the libraryw, I found a corner that I hadn’t seen before. I looked through the books and found a large, leatherbound book. It was titled, The Unbreakable Oaths. I carefully opened up its old, dusty cover to the first page and started reading.The third section of the book is what surprised me the most. It was titled something along the lines of “The Oath of Truth,” and it said something very special within:

“The Oath of Truth- translated into the magical language, ‘Kuvir Ith Munthir‘- has often been used to make somebody tell the truth. The only twist that makes this oath different from the other four is that it must be said on one’s dying breath. The beginning words go as such, ‘By the power of Kuvith Ith Munthir, I swear by the last beats of my heart and by my last dying breaths,’”

This astonished me. A chance to prove that I was innocent. But I quickly pushed it away. I refused to die just to tell them the truth.

I washed the idea of committing the oath out of my mind, though the words always lingered. I heard gossip throughout the village of a visit from the Daughters of the Sea. I dismissed it as lies. And so I continued with my life, planting and harvesting the crops.

I awoke one morning to the sound of trumpets. They were here. And they could feel me, just as I could still feel them. They would find me. I was a fool. Why had I not run while I had the chance? I looked out of my window. They were coming. I stood no chance. I quickly looked for a way of escape. A window in my bedroom looked into the forest. I could escape from there by jumping. The Daughters of the Sea were so close. If they saw me, I was dead. I ran out into the forest, hearing shouts behind me. They were chasing.

I knew the end was coming. They would kill me for the thing I didn’t do. And it would be all Cordelia’s fault. Why did she do it? Why? My steps became slower. The endless thirst continued to slow me down. Eventually, I collapsed onto my knees. They caught up to me. I was dead. And it was all her fault. I tried to run away, but they seized my arms. I would be brought to The Sea. All because of Cordelia, curse her name. I struggled in their grasp, but they held me tight. They dragged me back to their carriage. I’d forgotten how big it’d been, made to hold all of my sisters. I still remembered, however, the large and frightening room in the back that had one singular table with four shackles… I shivered. 

It’s only been minutes. I was lying on the table, my limbs caught by the shackles. I was shaking and crying, refusing the thought of being brought to Mother. I screamed into the nothingness of the room, screamed at Cordelia and Mother and everything and nothing all at the same time. I saw my youngest sister come into the room out of the corner of my eye. I remembered the look on her face when she’d thought I’d killed Cordelia and Oceania. I stopped crying and screaming, stopped everything and stared at the roof, pretending not to acknowledge her.

Finally, we’d arrived at the waters. Now I would see Mother. I shut my eyes hard.

They’d taken me into the palace. I remembered it from my early memories. It felt so long ago... I nearly laughed at the irony. I’d once told myself that I’d never come back here. Now, though, I’m here. They put me in front of a small pond of water in an air-filled room. Out of the water, the shape of Mother arose.

“I know you won’t believe me, but it was all her fault!” I screamed like a mad woman. I felt some of my sisters staring at me, silently asking me to tell them who “her'' was. I waited for Mother to reply.

“I’ve heard your excuses, Achlys. I don’t believe them, and I never shall,” she said.

“I order her punishment to be death. She may stand in front of me until her last dying breath,” and so was Mother’s punishment for me. The words made something in my mind click. Perhaps...

Mother told my sisters to begin. The fire roared underneath me. It was unbearable, the burn. The searing heat felt like being burned alive. That was my punishment. Fire. I felt my skin start to char. The thirst and the flames created a cruel combination- it felt worse than a desert.

The searing started fading into the background while becoming more and more apparent at the same time. Once I was close to death, they removed me from above the fire. My skin had become flaked with black char. I felt myself fading and coming back, a never ending cycle. I kept on reminding myself of what I had to do.

I was nearly dead. My last dying breaths were coming.

“Mother,” I said, my lips charred.

“I’ve told you that you are not my daughter. You killed Cordelia and Oceania.”

“Maybe I can change your mind with something.”

“With what?” Mother asked, trying to hide curiosity.

“An oath.”

Mother’s eyes widened. She knew of it. I let out a bitter laugh.

“By the power of Kuvith Ith Munthir, I swear by the last beats of my heart and by my last dying breaths, it was not I who killed Oceania, but Cordelia. I killed Cordelia, not knowing it was her under the mask. I ran because I knew you would not understand. I was innocent, Mother. And it’s all Cordelia’s fault.” 

_-_-_

“And those were her last dying words,” Marina’s grandmother said.

“That story is scary. So she proves herself innocent, then dies?”

“Yes. There is something that I like to take away from this story. Can you guess?”

“Hmm…. I don’t know, what is it?”

“Not all stories have a happy ending.”

 _-_-_