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Days away from his sixteenth birthday, Ashley Martin finds himself being whisked away on a cross country trip to Ravencrest, New York. Little does he know that his family is hiding a secret, and his forthcoming birthday will herald a moment of great change. Song of the Sea: Part 11

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Author's Note: Hello again! The story's really heating up now, and things are starting to come together. We've also got more about the poor lake. Busy busy chapter! Fortunately for you guys, that means that it's longer than usual. I hope you enjoy it :)

The picture is of Phoebe Tonkin, so all related copyrights and such belong to her.

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Once Max managed to recover enough to be up and about, Mom took the liberty of bringing him back home. We shared a heartfelt hug before he left; we would need to reevaluate our relationship very soon. Shortly after they were out the door, my phone started to ring. I didn’t recognize the number, so I wondered who it could be.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Ashley? This is Melissa,” was the answer.

“Melissa? Excuse me for asking, but how did you get my number?” I asked.

“Your mother gave it to me. I figured that you’d want an update on our progress in looking at the lake,” she said.

“Of course! Can you save the lake?” I asked.

“To be honest, we aren’t sure what’s causing this yet. Whatever’s wrong with the lake isn’t actually a poison. It’s worse. It’s a corruption,” she said.

“So, in simpler terms, the lake is essentially being filled with ‘evil’?” I asked.

“Sort of. I guess you could say that. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous… and it’s spreading. Your theory was right. It’s becoming more powerful and saturated within the waters with each passing day. If we can’t stop it, it will start seeping into the plant life around the lake,” she explained.

“What about the people around the lake? Is it used in the water supply at all?” I asked.

“Oh, no. It’s usually a bad idea to drink water from a place where we allow people to swim. We use wells and groundwater for the whole town,” she explained.

“Whew,” I sighed. “And if this hadn’t happened with Max, you wouldn’t have noticed until the plants started getting affected?”

“It’s certainly possible. I’m so sorry that this is the way we had to find out, though. Hopefully, our foreknowledge can save the town,” Melissa said.

“But only if you and the Coven can stop it in time…” I added.

“Let’s try to think positively, okay?” she asked.

“I believe in you,” I said honestly.

“We’re going to keep looking for the source of this corruption. It’s resisting any scrying spells we can use to examine the lake, so we’ll need to devise something stronger.”

“Sorry. I don’t really know much about magic,” I said.

I heard her laugh. “I’d hope not.”

“I hope that you can get to the bottom of this soon, and please call me if there’s anything I can do to help,” I told her.

“I will, Ashley, and thank you. And, I know this may seem like common sense to you, but please do not swim in the lake until this is done and over with,” she said

“Yeah, I think that’s pretty obvious,” I said, “I don’t know how far my resistance goes.”

“You probably wouldn’t have it if this were spreading through a medium other than water. Consider yourself lucky,” she said.

“I know,” I sighed.

“Be careful out there, okay?” she said.

“I will. You too,” I replied.

“Goodbye, Ashley,” she said.

“Bye Melissa,” I finished, listening as she hung up her phone. I really hoped that this problem could be solved before it got any worse. Before anybody else was hurt.

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Sleep didn’t come easily that night. Thoughts of the lake and Max kept my mind occupied. Thoughts of being helpless despite my drive to help. Thoughts of our wonderful lake slowly being consumed by evil and corruption.

I was tired come Sunday morning, but I felt that my time might be better spent if I took a nice long bath. Being in water always helped me if I was feeling a little down. Today, it didn’t help so much. Part of me wished that I wasn’t even in the loop at all. Another part knew that knowledge of situations like this were the price to pay for knowing more about the hidden side of Ravencrest.

I sighed, slipping deeper into the water. I slowly breathed it in, staring at my scales beneath the water. Every day, it seemed like another scale or two would turn green. The small spots of green made my tail look odd, but they didn’t diminish its beauty. I was happy to see that my tail would one day match Mom’s.

I guess I was feeling a little better about things when I got out of the tub. I just needed to keep my confidence in Melissa and the Coven. As Melissa said, protecting Ravencrest was kind of in their job description. I ran into Mom as I was leaving the bathroom in just my towel.

“Oh, good. You’re finished,” she said.

“Hi Mom,” I replied, “sorry I was in there so long.”

She smiled. “Sitting in some water always makes me feel better after a bad day, too.”

“So what’s going on?” I asked.

“I got a call from the dojo today. Carly wants you to come in for a one on one session,” Mom said.

“That’s strange. She’s never done that before. Maybe it has something to do with her knowing that we’re Nereids now,” I said.

“Whatever it was, it seemed important,” Mom told me.

“Okay. Can you take me then after I get into some workout clothes?” I asked.

“Of course, honey,” Mom said, leaving me to my little bit of preparation.

“What do you think she wants?” Mom asked once we were on our way.

“I honestly don’t know,” I said.

“I guess that makes two of us, then,” she replied.

“I just hope it’s nothing bad,” I sighed.

“I’m sure it isn’t,” she said, stopping at the dojo, “call me when you’re done, okay?”

“Okay, Mom. Bye,” I waved to her as I got out of the car. The dojo was unusually empty when I got inside. Usually, there was at least one class going, but it didn’t seem like anybody was here. There wasn’t even a receptionist at the front counter.

“Ashley! Glad you could make it!” I heard Carly call out.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I heard about what happened at the lake and thought you might want to blow off some steam,” she said.

“You heard about the lake?” I asked.

“Yeah. Your friends, Leslie and Jan, right? Well, they blabbed to some friends who blabbed to their friends and eventually someone blabbed to Cindy and then she blabbed to me. And here we are!”

If it originated from Leslie and Jan, then Carly probably didn’t know anything other than that Max nearly drowned. “Max is fine, but it was a scary situation.”

“I bet you had to use your special skills to save him,” she said, winking at me.

“You could say that,” I replied.

“So it sounds like you two like each other a bit,” she said with a smirk.

I glowered a bit. “What is it with you girls and relationships! I swear, it’s all you want to talk about.”

Carly cocked her head to the side. “Well, duh! How can you be a girl your whole life and not want to talk about that? Unless…” her eyes went wide. “You were a boy before your sixteenth birthday, weren’t you?”

“What?” I gasped, “I… no…”

“Oh, Cindy’s going to have a field day with this!” she cried.

“Wait, no! You can’t tell her! We moved here to hide my change!” I cried.

“That’s smart. You don’t have to worry about the possibility of someone noticing that a boy has disappeared and immediately replaced by a girl,” she said.

“So you’re saying that it happened to Cindy too?” I asked.

“She might kill me for saying so, but you betcha. She just, poof, became a girl the first time she transformed. Freaked everyone out,” she said.

“I guess I’m a little different, then. All Nereids are female, and I was lucky enough to be born male,” I said.

“Ouch,” Carly said.

“Yeah,” I nodded, “Mom says that Nereids mostly have daughters. I was the lucky one. On the upside, my parents knew this would happen my entire life and prepared for it.”

“Hence the moving and stuff,” Carly said, “nice. I’m glad you chose Ravencrest!”

“I think I am too. Well, minus the supernatural problems we seem to have,” I said, frowning.

“You’ll get used to it,” she chimed.

I sighed. “I guess I will, but it kind of sucks that my ‘special skills’ aren’t really conducive to helping out too much.”

Carly smiled. “I was thinking that we could work on that today.”

“What?” I asked, perplexed.

“Come on. I called you here for a workout, not to gossip, after all,” she said. I followed along as she continued. “Well, we both know that you’re no good in a fight against other Unseen, right?”

“Don’t remind me,” I glowered.

“I’ve been thinking of some ways to help you compensate for that. You do have strength and stamina going for you, but your reflexes are lacking. A weapon might help you get around that,” she explained.

“How would that help?” I asked.

“Proper use of weapons can give even a human an edge over us. Especially if they’re silver, but that’s another point entirely. Anyway, I really think it will help you to branch out your training a little more,” she said.

“Okay. What do you have in mind?” I asked, knowing that she already had suggestions lined up.

Carly smiled, then went to a wall where a selection of weapons were hanging. She took a staff that looked to be about six feet long and tossed it at me. I caught it, weighing it in my hands for a moment. It was taller than I was, but it felt very light.

“That’s a Bo Staff. How does it feel?” she asked.

“It barely weighs anything,” I commented.

Carly smirked. “That’s a very dense wood you’re holding there. It’s far heavier than it looks, and people like us can wave them around like simple sticks. Striking weapons like that staff are incredibly effective in our hands.”

“And the length means that I can keep an enemy at a distance,” I said.

“Exactly. That’s the main advantage of the Bo Staff. If you use it right, nobody can touch you without throwing something,” Carly explained.

“Or being really fast,” I mused, eyeing Carly.

“Well, you can’t win everything,” Carly shrugged, “I’ve got another option for you too. Toss that staff back to me, will ya?”

I did as she asked and she put it back on the wall, next tossing a pair of shorter sticks at me. I barely managed to catch both of them. Carly laughed at my effort. “They may not be inhuman, but your reflexes are still pretty good,” she said.

“Thanks. What do I have here?” I asked.

“Fighting sticks. We like to call them Bo Sticks, since they’re basically a Bo Staff cut in two. They’re good for quicker precision strikes and have good synergy with Jujutsu,” she said.

“And I bet the staff goes well with my kicks?” I asked.

“Definitely. Now, why don’t we spar a bit and see what my siblings have been teaching you!”

“What? Spar? But…”

“No buts! You’re ready, and I promise to go easy on you! Let’s go to the other room. We can start familiarizing you with your weapons later,” she said, leading me away once again. I put the sticks on the wall before following her.

I was soon at a familiar ring, where Carly wasted no time before throwing me into things. I spent the next hour and a half getting my butt kicked all over the place. On the upside, I was learning a few things that mere classroom instruction couldn’t teach me… like how to take a hit. I learned it too late to stop the bruises, though. If I kept this up, Mom might think I got assaulted or something. It felt like an eternity before Carly finally called it quits.

I huffed. “If that’s you taking it easy, I never want to see you go all out.”

Carly patted my shoulder, directly hitting a bruise. “You did better than you think.”

“I definitely won’t have fun during tomorrow’s class. I really wish I could heal as fast as you guys,” I moaned.

“Yes. Me too. We could work you a good bit harder if you did. On the upside, you can definitely take a hit better than a human, so your strength is helping there too,” she said.

“So that’s why Tracy Locke is already way ahead of me,” I deduced.

“That, and she seems to be a natural at this stuff. Seems to be a wolf thing,” she shrugged.

“Wolf thing?” I asked.

Carly’s eyes went wide for a moment. “Whoops. That probably wasn’t supposed to slip out.”

I just shrugged. “I guess I know where the Were-Wolves are now.”

Carly smiled. “Okay. Let’s make a deal. You don’t tell anyone that I let that slip about the Lockes and I won’t tell Cindy that you were born a boy.”

I shook her hand. “Deal.”

Carly winked, “I ought to warn you, though. If I was able to figure it out, Cindy will see right through you. She’s been a bit distracted lately, or she probably would have already made the connection.”

“Knowing her, we’d probably get along better if she found out,” I said with a small laugh.

“That’s probably a good thing. She’s one tough cookie, and I’m proud to have her as a sister,” she said, beaming.

“Has she been getting into fights or something?” I asked, “I remember that one time where she disappeared for three days.”

“Oh, that? She ran into a crazy dude wielding a silver dagger. It was a wonder that she survived,” Carly explained, although I got the feeling that she was withholding something.

“That’s the second time you’ve mentioned silver. I’m guessing that it’s bad?” I asked.

“Bad? Try horrible. That stuff is like poison to us,” she said.

“Are all Unseen vulnerable to it?” I asked.

Carly nodded. “As far as I know. Witches might be safe from it, though. You might be, too, but we can’t really test that. We don’t keep silver around for obvious reasons.”

“So that’s how humans can be dangerous,” I mused.

“There are people out there who want to kill us just because we’re different. Our numbers in Ravencrest kind of discourage them from coming here, though. They usually don’t last very long if they threaten us,” she said.

“I’d imagine not,” I said, smiling, “anyway, I should thank you for taking my mind off Max and the lake for a little while.”

“No problem. I wanted you to get some practice with the Bo Staff in today, but I can see that you’re all pooped out from my beatdown. We’ll start things tomorrow,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, smiling in relief. I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d last if the workout continued. That sparring was tough.

“See ya later!” she called out. I shared a last wave with her before taking out my phone to call Mom.

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Coming to school the next day felt unusually normal. Melissa didn’t give me any updates on the lake situation on Sunday, and I planned on stopping by the nurse’s office during lunch today to at least say hello. I already did it on a semi-regular basis since she sometimes complained about a lack of company down there.

My first order of business, however, was Max. I called him aside about fifteen minutes before the first classes started. He smiled at me, but I could tell that he knew that our impending conversation would be important.

“Morning, Max,” I said.

“Hey Ash,” he replied, then blushed a bit, “I take it that we need to talk?”

I let out a small laugh. “Call it the understatement of the year. The fact of the matter is that I kissed you on Saturday, and we can’t deny that it meant something.”

“So what are we going to do about it?” he asked.

“First, we need to stop dancing around things. I like you and you like me, right?” I asked.

“Is that a trick question?” he asked, laughing a bit. “Yes. I like you.”

I smiled. Hearing him say that right to my face sent warm feelings into my chest. “Then perhaps we don’t need to talk too much after all.”

“So that’s it, then? We’re officially a couple?” he asked.

“I needed some time to sort out my feelings and make sure that I wasn’t acting on the relief that you didn’t die on Saturday, but yes. I’d like to be your girlfriend, if you’d let me,” I said, blushing up a storm.

Max tenderly hugged me. “And I’d be honored to be your boyfriend.”

I surprised him by breaking out of our hug and jumping straight into a kiss. This time, I did it willingly… and it still felt right. Max was giving me a fake glare once we broke off.

“You know, you really have to stop with this ambushing thing. I never get the chance to return your kisses right!” he cried.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “But it’s more fun that way!”

“Only for you!” Max replied, retorting with his own tongue.

“Oh, alright. I’ll let you start our first good night kiss, okay?” I told him.

He shrugged. “Works for me! How about tonight, then?”

“Not tonight, you horny little devil. I’ve got class at the dojo, remember? We’ll do it tomorrow,” I said, smirking at him.

“Would you believe me if I said I forgot?” He asked, looking innocent.

“Nope. Now let’s get to class,” I said, taking his hand and dragging him down the hall.

“Hey! Geeze, you’re stronger than you look,” he told me.

“I get that a lot,” I said with a shrug. Unfortunately, I had to let go of him eventually since we didn’t share our first class. It was fun to drag him about like that, and I knew he was having fun too.

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Leslie made sure to rib me for all I was worth regarding Max in my classes before lunch. I was actually having a lot of fun with her, but lunch meant that I had to get serious again. I needed to go see Melissa.

“Do you mind if I tag along?” Max asked me as I finished my lunch and got ready to go.

“Sorry, Max. I’ve got to go alone today,” I said.

“I’m glad that you take the time to visit Miss Williams now and again. I’m sure she loves the company,” Jan said.

I nodded. “She doesn’t want an injury to be the only reason we’d come to her office.”

“Definitely. And in a school this small, injuries don’t come often,” Leslie said.

I nodded. “I’ll see you after lunch.”

I headed off to Melissa’s office once everybody got their wave in. I quietly knocked on the door and was happy to find that she was in. Her hands glowed for a moment as I walked in. She saw that I noticed and smiled.

“Don’t worry, Ashley. I’ve just warded the room so that nobody hears our conversation,” she assured me, “I take it this isn’t just a friendly visit.”

I smiled weakly. “You got me. Have you found out anything new about the lake?”

She nodded. “I had some time to call you yesterday, but your mother informed me that you were at the dojo.”

“Carly called me over there to take my mind off things for a bit. I think it helped,” I said.

“I also saw that you and Max are being a little more open with your affections,” she added with a knowing smile.

I shrugged. “There’s nothing like a near death experience to cause people to reevaluate things. I spent a lot of Saturday and Sunday thinking about Max and I… and I realized that I was spending too much time dancing around the prospect of us being a couple. Now that we’ve accepted that we both like each other, it feels right.”

“That’s great to hear,” Melissa said.

I sat down on one of the cots. “So, what’s going on with the lake?”

“We’ve discovered that the corruption is being spread by something inside the lake. It seems to be an object of some sort, but it is furiously resisting any spells we use to examine or move it. In a couple of cases, our spells were corrupted and turned against us,” she explained.

“Oh my god…” I gasped, “is everyone okay?”

Melissa nodded. “We were a bit frazzled, but we’re lucky that we weren’t trying to directly attack it.”

“So you’re thinking that if this object can be somehow removed from the lake, we can save it?” I asked.

“Exactly. That seems to be easier said than done, though,” she said.

“Well, whoever put this there may have planned on you using magic to try and remove it since the water is becoming more and more deadly. We’ll have to figure out another way to remove it,” I said, thinking about the situation.

“That seems to be the case. The longer we leave it there, the more powerful it becomes. If we don’t hurry, we won’t be able to stop it at all,” Melissa grimaced, revealing that the gravity of the situation was taking its own toll on her.

I took a deep breath. “Have you considered the idea of someone simply going down and retrieving it?”

Melissa gasped. “That’s impossible! At its current saturation, it’s been predicted that nobody could last more than a minute before being grievously affected by the corruption. We’d be killed before we could finish drowning!”

“You can’t last more than a minute, but I can!” I declared.

“No, Ashley! This is too dangerous!” Melissa cried. “You may last longer down there, but we can’t be sure it will still be enough!”

“Do we have any other options?” I asked, “The longer we let this go, the harder it will be to stop…”

“Dammit!” Melissa almost roared. It was the first time I’d ever seen her lose her cool. “I can’t condone you risking your life like this!”

“Do you think that I want to do this? This thing is made to resist magic. We need to use something that its user isn’t expecting!” I argued.

“And that something is a Nereid,” Melissa said quietly.

I grimaced myself. “It might be our only chance.”

Melissa sighed. “We can’t do this. Not without weighing in all of our other options. Come see me after school, and bring your mother too.”

I nodded, my heart heavy. “Okay.”

“You should head back to class. I’ll clock out early and start contacting some people. I’ll be here after school,” Melissa said. I left the office very worried for the future of Mom, myself, and Ravencrest.

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The school day seemed to drag on for a week. My friends knew I was upset about something, but I couldn’t tell them anything. I eventually found myself sitting in Melissa’s office with Mom, waiting for Melissa to arrive. In the meantime, I updated Mom on what was going on. I was about to get to my proposed plan when Melissa stepped into the office with an older woman in tow. I took one look at her and just knew that she was far more than she seemed.

“Is this the one?” she asked Melissa, turning to me.

“Yes,” came her answer. The old woman walked closer to me.

“My name is Agatha Crawford, High Counselor of Ravencrest’s Coven,” she said, introducing herself to me.

“I’m Ashley Martin,” I politely said. I was in the presence of someone very powerful.

“I’m her mother, Janice,” Mom added, shaking Mrs. Crawford’s hand.

“So you’re the Nereids who seem to have half the town’s Unseen in a buzz,” she stated. I gulped.

“We aren’t trying to cause trouble, Ma’am,” I said.

“Of course not. From what Melissa tells me, you’re willing to risk your life to save your new home,” she said. Mom’s eyes bored into me.

“Just what do you mean, young lady?” Mom asked.

“The object in the lake that I told you about just before we were interrupted… I proposed that one of us might be able to swim out and take it out of the lake before it got too powerful,” I explained to her.

“I can’t let you do that! You’re only sixteen!” Mom exclaimed, looking to Mrs. Crawford. “If that’s what it will take to save the town, I’ll do it.”

I grabbed Mom’s hands. “I need to do this, Mom. I’m younger, so I’ll probably be able to last longer in the lake. Even if it’s just by a few seconds, they may mean all the difference. I can do this.”

Mom scowled, but seemed to see the truth in my words. She turned to Mrs. Crawford. “Is there any other choice?”

She scowled herself, shaking her head. She turned to me. “There are many uncertainties in this plan, Ashley. Are you sure that you’re willing to do this?”

I stood up. “I may be new here, but Ravencrest is my home. I’m not going to sit by and let it die. Not without trying something.”

Mrs. Crawford nodded. “Keep that determination with you. You will need it for the trials ahead.”

I just gulped again as she left the room, leaving us with Melissa.

“Come on,” she said, “we need to get to the lake as soon as possible. We can’t afford to waste any time.”

Wordlessly, we both nodded and followed her out of the school.

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The drive to the lake seemed to take forever. I was shaking like a leaf the entire time. This definitely wasn’t my plan for Monday afternoon, and I seriously doubted my chances of surviving this crazy endeavor. We just didn’t know enough.

“Are you sure you want to do this, honey?” Mom asked, “This is a serious risk you’re taking.”

“I know,” I said, “but I have the best chances of doing this.”

Mom sighed. “I wish there were some other way.”

“Me too,” I agreed. As we finished the drive, I took a good look at the lake. It looked no different, but I knew that something was seriously wrong with it. Melissa had gotten there ahead of us and stood waiting as we got out of the car.

“Follow me,” she said, “we’ll show you where the object is.”

“Do you have any more ideas about what it is?” I asked.

“We suspect it to be an artifact of some sort. An object of great, and dark, magical power,” she said. I involuntarily shuddered.

“Will it do anything to me if I touch it?” I asked.

“I wish I knew, but I simply don’t. We’re going into this blind. Everyone involved hates this, but you and Janice are our best chances at doing this.”

“You’re planning on sending both of us?” Mom asked.

“If Ashley should… fail, you’d be able to finish retrieving the artifact if Ashley was able to move it from its original resting spot,” Melissa told her. That didn’t get my hopes up very much. They were setting up contingency plans in case I died. I turned to Mom.

“I’m not going to die. I’m going to do this,” I told her with a resolution I wasn’t quite sure I had. I’m sure the words themselves helped her spirit though.

“I believe in you, honey, but it’s a mother’s job to be worried,” she said with a weak smile. I hugged her. It made us both feel a little better. Melissa led us to an area on the shore of the lake where a small group of women was standing. I recognized Mrs. Crawford and Melissa told me that the others were the Drakes. It was Mrs. Crawford who walked toward me.

“Are you ready?” was all she asked. I nodded numbly.

“And none too soon. Take a look at this,” Melissa said beside me. I looked at the edge of the lake, where some plants were trying to thrive because of the nearby water. Except… they had wilted and turned a dirty black color.

“We don’t have any time to waste,” Mrs. Crawford said curtly, “The plume of darkness at the bottom of the lake is where the artifact lies. Speed is of the essence, young one.”

I nodded and began to strip. I tried not to worry about it; I was surrounded by other girls, after all. Once I was naked, I gulped and turned back toward everyone.

“Ashley, go down and get the artifact as quickly as possible, and then swim toward the shore across from here. The Drake’s house is directly across from us, and they’ll be able to help you recover once you’re done,” Melissa instructed to me. I nodded at her, glad that she was at least voicing confidence that I would survive.

“Wish me luck!” I yelled out, taking a leaping dive into the water. I shifted into my Nereid form before I even touched the surface, to ensure that I could reach my top speed as fast as possible.

As soon as I touched the water, I shivered. It felt absolutely horrible. The wrongness I felt on Saturday paled in comparison to today. I knew that even I wouldn’t be able to last very long in this corrupted water. I put all of my energy into rocketing down, toward the deep plume of darkness at the bottom of the lake. Tendrils of darkness seemed to be radiating from it, slowly undulating and spreading away from the source. I had to resist my urge to avoid the center of the darkness. I winced as I dove right in.

In the deepest point of the corruption, I could feel pain and exhaustion start to seep into my body. I gritted my teeth and reached forward in the pure darkness, toward the center of the mass. My hands eventually closed on something. It felt kind of like a sphere, and I knew that it didn’t belong here. This was what I came here to find. I gripped the object tightly and lifted it out of its resting place. As soon as I moved it, pain lanced through my body. I screamed under the water, where nobody could hear me. I almost dropped the artifact, but I knew that I couldn’t turn back without it.

I didn’t bother to examine the artifact as I began to swim up and toward the beach, trying to ignore the intense and growing pain that flowed through me. I concentrated on swimming toward the beach and the surface of the water, but something kept distracting me.

I felt something boring into my mind. The artifact was speaking to me; telling me to put it back. Demanding that I put it back. Trying to convince me that I shouldn’t move it. The right thing to do would be to put it back.

Every time I refused the demands, more pain lanced through my body. I pressed on, terrified at the realization that the artifact seemed to have a will of its own. Terrified that it was trying to control me, and that I was seriously considering turning back and following its demands.

…Just to stop the pain.

I swam for what felt like an eternity. It seemed like I would never reach the beach. The pain was becoming greater and greater. My vision was starting to fail me, and my tail wasn’t always responding to my commands. The artifact’s demands seemed more and more lucrative. It was promising power, immortality, anything to make me turn back.

I couldn’t turn back. But the pain was too much! I had to keep going. But its argument had no flaws! I couldn’t fail Ravencrest! What if putting it back would save Ravencrest?

I had to fight it! I had to end it! I changed course, swimming straight up for the surface. I knew what I could do with this infernal artifact. I could actually see the beach ahead of me. It was hazy and blurry, but it was there. I couldn’t reach it myself, but maybe I could throw it…

The artifact seemed to read my intentions, sending crippling pain down my body to try and stop me. Now that I was on the surface, my screams tore through the air.

I wouldn’t let it win.

The pain became unbearable, but I couldn’t stop moving. Not now. Not when I was this close.

With the very last of my strength, I brought the artifact above the water and threw it as hard as I could, my body going limp as a last flare of pain tore through my body. I didn’t have any energy left to scream as I slowly began to sink into the water. My hazy vision finally became dark as I felt all other awareness leave me.

My last thought was the solemn hope that I had succeeded.

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