The Siren’s Lament

The ice walls of Islon's northern reaches sheltered the merfolk for a thousand years, but they also buried all hope of life. Defying his ancestors' teachings, Erian abandoned his frozen homeland and entered the warm sea, whose waters corrode the flesh and blood of his people, to seek the source of the ocean's unending calamities. He met Leora of the Serandi royal family, a clear-eyed seeker beneath the splendor of a golden age. Together, they crossed the divide between their peoples and explored the ruins of the deep sea, uncovering a secret buried for a thousand years: the decline of the four seas was never the fault of any one people, but a catastrophe engulfing the entire ocean, caused by blockages in the deep-sea ley lines. Only by venturing into the abyss, ten thousand fathoms deep, could they restart the sea's lifelines and save every ocean. The price was half a lifetime, an eternal stigma, and a fate that would never let them return home. The vast seas were reborn, and all their people were saved. But their savior could only drift alone between the warm and cold oceans, enduring a century of solitude.