- 7 hours ago
She Stole My Curse
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Short filmTranscript
00:00My sister poisoned all ten of my children.
00:02Then she pushed me into a deep rift current terror.
00:04I died in the dark water below.
00:06And I woke up on the morning of the tide bond ray,
00:08staring at the same sky, breathing the same cold water.
00:11I lay still for a moment. Let it settle.
00:13We'd arrived on the abyssal realm together,
00:15my sister Sela and I.
00:16Two women dropped into a world that ran on tide power and blood wake.
00:20The clan chief had lined up every unmated male in the coral.
00:23We were supposed to choose.
00:24In last life, Sela told me to take the lionfish before.
00:27Lionfish lay soft eggs, easier than giving birth.
00:31She smiled like she was doing me a favor.
00:33She took the great white shark, the only A-rank male.
00:36What she didn't tell me was that she already knew lionfish eggs hatched in large clutches.
00:41I chose Cole.
00:43I got pregnant fast.
00:45One clutch, ten hatchlings, all A-rank.
00:47In a coral clan that had seen maybe five A-ranks in a hundred years,
00:51that was enough to make Cole the next clan chief
00:53and turn me into something the coral elders called Abyss Chosen.
00:57Sela got one B-rank from the great white shark,
01:00then another, then three more, nothing better.
01:02She couldn't accept it.
01:03She crept into Cole's reef den.
01:06He threw her out in front of the whole coral clan.
01:08The great white shark ended their bond
01:10and drove her and her children into the dead current.
01:12In less than a month, all five of her offspring starved.
01:15I was the one who took her back in.
01:17I gave her food.
01:18I gave her warmth.
01:19She killed my ten hatchlings one by one,
01:21and then she pushed me into a deep, rift, current tear.
01:24I still remember weightlessness.
01:26So this time, I was not choosing Cole.
01:29The tide bond right was already moving.
01:31The clan chief stood at the front, arms folded,
01:33watching the males line up.
01:35Sela was beside me, her shoulder just barely touching mine.
01:38I felt the exact moment she decided to move.
01:40A small shift in her weight, a breath she didn't finish.
01:43She crossed the water toward Cole like she'd rehearsed it,
01:46pressed herself against his arm,
01:47tipped her face up to the clan chief.
01:49She looked back at me.
01:50Clan chief.
01:51That smile.
01:52I choose Cole.
01:54I looked at Cole.
01:55Cold current blood.
01:56No warmth in the dry tide.
01:58Three months of tide sleep every year,
02:00leaving whatever female he'd chosen to manage the reef den
02:03alone in the collapsing food chain.
02:05No hunting skills.
02:06Without the coral clan around him,
02:07he couldn't even feed himself.
02:08She thought she'd taken the prize.
02:10She didn't know what she would pay.
02:12I turned and looked at what was left.
02:13A B-rank whale merfolk.
02:15Two C-rank sea turtle merfolk.
02:17Near the back, a manta ray merfolk
02:19who had been watching me since I swam in.
02:21Brow creased.
02:22Expression difficult to read.
02:23I started toward him.
02:24The crowd shifted.
02:25I thought about my ten hatchlings.
02:27Quiet and good.
02:28Never any trouble.
02:29A-rank every one of them.
02:30And felt something cold and settled
02:32move through the grief.
02:33Not this time.
02:34I was about to open my mouth.
02:35A palm hit my face so hard
02:37I bit my cheek.
02:40It's you!
02:41The female in front of me
02:42was bonded to the coral clan's tiger shark merfolk.
02:44She was shaking.
02:45In her hand was a white jellyfish tentacle for me.
02:48She said she'd found in her mate's reef den.
02:50Her tide should do form as a white jellyfish.
02:53The crowd turned around.
02:54One voice at the back.
02:56Then three more.
02:57I looked past her shoulder
02:58and found Sela near the middle of the crowd.
03:00She'd practiced that expression.
03:01I was certain of it.
03:02Last life she hadn't needed it.
03:04Last life I hadn't stood in her way.
03:06Oh, Lyra.
03:07I didn't want to say anything.
03:09But I did see you swimming with Leo that night.
03:12One sentence.
03:13Every door in the room closed at once.
03:15The manta ray merfolk stepped back.
03:16The clan chief's eyes were already on me.
03:18I tide shifted on the spot.
03:19White jellyfish.
03:20Clean tentacles.
03:21Full circle.
03:22Every angle.
03:23Nothing hit me.
03:24The crowd went quiet.
03:25I shifted back.
03:27No damaged tentacles.
03:28That filament isn't mine.
03:30A damaged tentacle root scar on my inner thigh.
03:32Small.
03:33Deliberate.
03:33Someone in the crowd saw it.
03:35That was enough.
03:35I had spent this entire second life
03:37thinking I understood what Sela was capable of.
03:39I had underestimated her.
03:41Out.
03:42I looked at Sela one last time.
03:44She was holding back a smile.
03:45I turned and swam.
03:46No argument.
03:47No appeal.
03:47No tears.
03:48I swam through it with my back straight
03:50and I didn't stop until I was outside.
03:53Sela came to see me off.
03:54Like a female who had already won.
03:56Don't worry, Lyra.
03:57There are powerful males out there.
03:59Maybe you'll find the right one.
04:01Thanks for the encouragement.
04:02Cole has a lot of stamina.
04:04Lionfish nature is what it is.
04:06Once or twice a day is just recreation for him.
04:08I watched the warmth leave her face.
04:09You should build up your strength.
04:11Wouldn't want to disappoint him.
04:12I turned and swam.
04:13Didn't look back.
04:14The Coral Clan's current line
04:16was a boundary of cold and warm curtains
04:18meeting in the water.
04:19I crossed it without slowing.
04:20The dead current ahead was dark and unmapped
04:22and the water was cold.
04:23She thought she'd won.
04:24She hadn't thought about the dry tide.
04:26Cole would enter tide sleep.
04:27Three months.
04:28Maybe more.
04:29She'd be alone in the reef den.
04:30No warmth.
04:31No provider.
04:32No idea how to feed herself
04:33when the food chain collapsed.
04:34She'd spent her whole life
04:35letting other people manage the hard parts.
04:37She had no idea what she'd actually chosen.
04:39I had swum this path before.
04:41Last life I swam it in grief.
04:42With nothing to my name
04:43except a tide healer's knowledge
04:44I'd spent years building.
04:46This life I knew where it ended.
04:47At the far end of it
04:48there was a rift.
04:49Something inside that the Coral Clan
04:51had never seen
04:51and wouldn't know how to measure.
04:53Something that had been alone so long
04:55it had forgotten what trust was like.
04:56He'd been close to dead when I found him.
04:58I was the one who pulled him back.
05:01I didn't make it far
05:02before I heard it behind me.
05:03Heavy strokes.
05:04Low and deliberate.
05:05Closing fast.
05:06I tide shifted without thinking.
05:08Dropped into jellyfish form and fled.
05:09The water rushed past
05:10and the dead current blurred
05:11at the edges of my vision.
05:13Behind me
05:13the blue shark merfolk
05:14wasn't bothering to be quiet.
05:16He knew what a lone female
05:17outside clan borders meant.
05:19He knew how it ended.
05:20I fled until I saw the rock face.
05:22A narrow opening in the coral.
05:24Dark inside.
05:24Barely wide enough
05:25to turn sideways and fit through.
05:27I went in.
05:27Behind me
05:28the blue shark merfolk stopped.
05:30He circled the entrance twice.
05:31His strokes slowed
05:32then stopped entirely.
05:34He cursed once.
05:35Low and ugly
05:36and I heard him leave.
05:37I didn't understand why.
05:38I shifted back
05:39and stood still
05:40breathing hard.
05:41The rift went deeper
05:41than I'd expected.
05:42The water inside
05:43was stale and cold
05:44and underneath that
05:46something else.
05:47Rot
05:47and infection
05:48and the dense animal scent
05:50of something very large.
05:51I took one more step
05:52into the dark.
05:53Something in the black moved.
05:55I stopped.
05:55My heart was loud
05:56in my ears.
05:57The smell hit me harder now.
05:59Animal.
05:59Enormous.
06:00Close.
06:01Whatever was in here
06:02the blue shark merfolk
06:03had known.
06:04Whatever was in here
06:04had made a predator
06:05who hunted lone females
06:07turn around without a sound
06:08and swim away.
06:09I stood in the dark
06:10and didn't move.
06:11I already knew
06:11what was in there.
06:12Last life
06:13it was the same rift.
06:15The same darkness.
06:16The same smell.
06:17I took one more step forward.
06:19The sound that came out
06:21of the dark
06:21was not a roar.
06:22It was bigger than that.
06:24It hit me in the chest
06:25before it reached my ears.
06:26A pressure through the water.
06:28Through my ribs.
06:29And for one full second
06:30my body simply stopped.
06:31Every instinct told me
06:33to turn around.
06:33My feet didn't move.
06:35The dark shifted.
06:36And then I saw him.
06:37White.
06:38Enormous.
06:39His fin crest
06:39caught the faint
06:40bioluminescent light
06:41from the rift entrance
06:42and held it.
06:43His mouth was open
06:44wide enough
06:44to swallow my head whole.
06:45The sound still rolling out of him
06:47bounced off every wall
06:48and came back
06:49from all directions at once.
06:51He hadn't moved.
06:53I stood where I was
06:54and looked at him.
06:55The roar faded.
06:56The rift went silent.
06:57He still hadn't moved.
06:58I had heard roars before.
07:00The great white shark
07:01merfolk in the coral clan.
07:02The whale males
07:03during mating season.
07:04Those roars said
07:05I am here.
07:06I am dangerous.
07:06Come closer and find out.
07:08This was different.
07:09This roar said
07:09Go away.
07:10I looked at his tail fin.
07:12Even in the dark
07:13I could see it.
07:13The flesh was wrong.
07:14Swollen and dark.
07:15Pale patches
07:16crawling through the wounds.
07:17The torn fin crest
07:18was infected at its root.
07:19He had been lying here
07:21a long time.
07:21Too long to hunt.
07:22Too long to do much of anything
07:23except wait.
07:24He opened his mouth
07:25and the sound hit me again.
07:27I took one step toward him.
07:29The roaring stopped.
07:30Gold eyes in the dark.
07:31Very still.
07:32Watching me cross the distance
07:33between us
07:34one step at a time.
07:35I didn't stop swimming.
07:37I turned and fled again.
07:39I made it two strokes
07:40before I noticed
07:41something strange.
07:42The sea dragon was roaring.
07:44But he wasn't moving.
07:45He hadn't even shifted.
07:47It felt like he was just
07:48trying to scare me off.
07:49Then I smelled it.
07:51Rot and infection.
07:53I looked closer
07:54and saw the flesh
07:55of his tail fin.
07:56The wounds were deep
07:57and crawling with white.
07:58The fin crest
07:59was torn at the root.
08:00I stopped.
08:01I turned around.
08:02Hey, you're hurt.
08:04I know deep sea medicine.
08:05Will you let me stay?
08:07The sea dragon
08:08looked at me for a moment.
08:09Then he slowly unfolded
08:10his injured tail fin
08:11toward me.
08:12The wounds were bad.
08:14I gagged
08:15and got to work anyway.
08:16Opened my pack
08:17and found the wound powder.
08:18Before I'd arrived here,
08:19I'd studied tide healing
08:20and coral toxins.
08:21Once I was in the coral clan,
08:23that knowledge had made me
08:24the settlement's tide healer.
08:25I'd treated half the coral clan
08:27at one point or another.
08:28Not one of them
08:29had spoken up for me today.
08:31The bitterness sat heavy
08:32in my chest as I worked.
08:33When I finished,
08:34the sea dragon's aggression faded.
08:35He nudged his head
08:36against my sleeve.
08:37A thank you.
08:38Then his stomach growled.
08:39Twice.
08:40He'd been injured
08:40too long to hunt.
08:41He was starving.
08:42I'll go find food.
08:44Wait here.
08:45I turned to go.
08:48His tail curled around my ankle
08:49and pulled me back.
08:51Then he exhaled
08:52a low temperature deep current
08:54that enveloped me entirely.
08:55The dragon current mark.
08:57His power on my skin
08:58would keep most predators
08:59back instinctively.
09:00I thought of the blue shark
09:01merfolk from earlier.
09:02This sea dragon's rank
09:03had to be extraordinary.
09:04That was the only explanation
09:05for that kind of deterrent effect.
09:07I didn't go far.
09:08I stayed close to the rift
09:09and gathered what I could find.
09:10Small crustaceans.
09:11Some edible reef plants.
09:13By the time I got back,
09:14the bioluminescence
09:15had dimmed to night cycle.
09:16No fire needed.
09:17The sea dragon's body
09:18put out a constant gentle warmth
09:19that filled the rift.
09:21I stayed.
09:21During the day,
09:22I changed his bandages,
09:23foraged for water and food.
09:25At night,
09:25he curled around me
09:26in dragon form,
09:27his body warmth
09:28wrapping me like a second skin,
09:29and we slept together.
09:30Half a month passed.
09:31Then one day,
09:32I came back to the rift
09:33and stopped dead.
09:34A man lay where
09:35the sea dragon had been.
09:36White hair.
09:36Gold eyes.
09:38You're back.
09:40You're the sea dragon.
09:43My name is Vayne.
09:46I'm Lyra.
09:49With the wounds healed,
09:50Vayne could swim.
09:51He couldn't do anything
09:51strenuous yet,
09:52but the first time
09:53we went out together,
09:54he showed me
09:54what he was made of.
09:55A deep-sea giant crab.
09:57Under a minute.
09:58He seared it
09:59with a short burst of breath,
10:00and it was done.
10:01That night,
10:01I ate real food
10:02for the first time in weeks.
10:04Crab shell crackling,
10:05fat hissing and popping
10:06from the dragon breath heat.
10:08I ate until my face
10:09was greasy
10:09and asked Vayne
10:10whether he was A rank.
10:11Are you A rank?
10:13No.
10:14I don't have a rank.
10:15I stared at him.
10:16Every male merfolk
10:17had a rank,
10:17but the tide power
10:18I'd seen from him
10:19was beyond anything
10:20the great white shark
10:21merfolk in the coral clan
10:22could manage.
10:23But your tide power...
10:25Vayne shook his head.
10:26No rank.
10:27Never had one.
10:28That was why
10:29his own clan
10:29had driven him out.
10:30They'd called him a monster,
10:32abandoned him
10:32as a hatchling
10:33in the dead current.
10:34The memory
10:34clearly cost him something.
10:36His eyes went distant
10:37and sad.
10:37Born without a clan,
10:39whatever had made him
10:39this strong,
10:40he'd earned it alone
10:41the hard way.
10:42It doesn't matter.
10:43You have me now.
10:45We're friends.
10:45Vayne went red.
10:48Another month passed.
10:49Vayne healed completely.
10:50The dry tide was coming.
10:51We started going out early
10:52and coming back late
10:53to stock up.
10:54He hunted.
10:54I gathered deep sea medicines
10:55and reef plants.
10:56We came back full
10:57every time.
10:58I thought maybe
10:58it would just stay like this.
10:59Then Vayne's heat cycle hit.
11:00I woke up one morning
11:01to find his body burning.
11:03Don't leave the rift
11:03for a few days.
11:04I have to go somewhere.
11:06I have to go somewhere.
11:08Then he took two strokes
11:09and his body gave out.
11:10When he went down,
11:10I saw everything.
11:11I understood immediately.
11:13Every merfolk
11:13had a regular heat cycle.
11:14When it hit,
11:15instinct won over reason.
11:16He'd already pushed himself
11:17past his limit.
11:18Don't be scared.
11:19I won't touch you.
11:20I'll handle it myself.
11:22He was fighting his own body.
11:23His neck was corded
11:24with strain.
11:24The sounds coming from his throat
11:25were low and desperate.
11:27I watched him.
11:27My chest ached.
11:29Vayne,
11:29do you not want me?
11:31How could you even ask that?
11:36When his hands came up
11:37to hold me,
11:38I was scared.
11:38What coal had put me through
11:39had left its marks.
11:41He was always rough.
11:42There was no pleasure in it.
11:43Only something close to endurance.
11:44Vayne was stronger than coal
11:45by a wide margin.
11:47I braced myself.
11:48But there was no pain.
11:49Vayne was gentle
11:49in a way I hadn't known
11:50was possible.
11:51Like his fin crest
11:52against a still water.
11:53Light enough
11:54that I felt like I was floating.
11:55I lost track of time.
11:56When I finally noticed
11:57the world again,
11:58the dry tide currents
11:59had shifted outside the rift.
12:00That dry tide,
12:01I was warm.
12:02Vayne kept the rift heated
12:03with his body warmth.
12:04When the cold currents pressed in,
12:06he curled tighter.
12:07At night,
12:07he wrapped me in his warmth.
12:09His dragon form
12:09pulled around me
12:10like a second snake.
12:11After that first time,
12:12he became a little enthusiastic.
12:14Eye contact.
12:15Next thing I knew,
12:16I was against the rift wall.
12:17Not that I minded.
12:18He was good at it.
12:19I never once wanted to pull away.
12:20With that kind of frequency
12:21and no precautions,
12:22it wasn't long before
12:24I noticed something different
12:25about my body.
12:26I pressed two fingers to my wrist
12:27and checked my pulse.
12:28Pregnant.
12:29When I told Vayne,
12:31he went still.
12:32Really?
12:34You're really carrying my hatchling?
12:36He lifted me straight off the seabed.
12:38We were both laughing.
12:39After that,
12:40he treated me like
12:41I was made of sea glass.
12:42He was at my side constantly.
12:43He insisted on doing
12:44everything himself.
12:45Lying in the warmth of his arms,
12:47I thought again about last time.
12:48Coal was a cold current,
12:50bloodtight merfolk.
12:51In the dry tide,
12:51he gave off no heat at all
12:53and he entered tide sleep.
12:54While other males made sure
12:55their females were fed
12:56through the season,
12:57I was out in the dead current alone,
12:59trying to find something edible.
13:00My tide healing skills
13:01kept me fed, barely.
13:02The merfolk I treated
13:03gave me scraps.
13:04But after the ten lionfish hatchlings
13:06were born,
13:06scraps weren't enough.
13:08Coal entered tide sleep.
13:09He could survive on stored energy.
13:11The hatchlings were too young.
13:12They needed real food.
13:13Constantly.
13:14I foraged alone.
13:15A white jellyfish.
13:16Small,
13:17and not built for hunting
13:18in the dry tide.
13:19Who didn't dare go far.
13:20I brought back small crustaceans.
13:21I brought back dried reef algae.
13:23The hatchlings were good.
13:24All ten of them.
13:25A rank.
13:26And not one of them
13:26ever picked a fight
13:27or made trouble.
13:28They helped with the reef den work.
13:29Thinking about them,
13:30my throat closed.
13:31I'd failed them.
13:32I hadn't kept them safe.
13:34Lyra.
13:35What's wrong?
13:36I wiped the corner of my eye.
13:37Just homesick.
13:38He went quiet.
13:39Is being with me not enough?
13:41No.
13:41That's not it.
13:42Being with you
13:43is the best thing there is.
13:44I changed the subject.
13:45I assumed I'd never
13:46see my sister again.
13:48She showed up at our rift
13:49that same night.
13:50Vayne heard the sounds.
13:51He went to check.
13:52I heard a familiar shriek.
13:52Wait, don't kill me!
13:53Sea dragon, please!
13:54I came out to find my sister
13:55in the water outside
13:56the rift entrance.
13:57I looked at her in the dark
13:58and almost laughed.
13:59Why are you here?
14:00You know her?
14:01Never seen her before.
14:02Vayne's intent
14:02sharpened immediately.
14:04Lyra!
14:04My sister screamed.
14:05Don't let him kill me!
14:07I came all this way
14:08to save you!
14:09Sis!
14:10That word, sis,
14:11it stopped Vayne cold.
14:13He pulled back.
14:15Is there a misunderstanding,
14:16Lyra?
14:17I sighed.
14:18I swam over to my sister.
14:20What do you want?
14:21She put on her most
14:22conciliatory face.
14:23I talked to the clan chief.
14:25He said you can come back.
14:26I didn't move.
14:28She pushed harder.
14:29And Lyra,
14:30the Coral Clan is in trouble.
14:32Two settlements are about
14:32to go to war in a current war.
14:34This whole area
14:35is going to become a battlefield.
14:36You two aren't aligned
14:37with either side.
14:38You'll get caught in the middle.
14:39Hearing my sister's warning,
14:40I remembered.
14:41There had been a current war.
14:42Last time.
14:43But last time,
14:44the war had ended
14:45because of my ten
14:46lionfish hatchlings hatching.
14:48Ten A-rank merfolk
14:49born at once.
14:50The opposing clan,
14:51the Ura,
14:52had taken one look
14:53and surrendered on the spot.
14:55He was the one
14:55who declared me abyss chosen.
14:57Said I carried
14:58a rare destiny.
14:59That I had been sent
15:00to the Coral Clan
15:00as a gift from the abyss god.
15:02But I had no interest
15:03in my sister's advice.
15:04Vayne and I had built
15:05something real out here.
15:06There was no reason
15:07to go back.
15:08I told her no.
15:09No.
15:11She looked straight
15:12at my stomach.
15:14Lyra,
15:14you're pregnant,
15:15aren't you?
15:16Even if you don't care
15:17about yourself,
15:18think about the child.
15:19You two can live
15:20free out here for now.
15:21But what about later?
15:22What about your hatchling?
15:24Do you really want
15:24to raise a child
15:25with no clan behind them?
15:26That landed.
15:27This world was brutal.
15:29Vayne,
15:29as strong as he was,
15:30had nearly died
15:31alone and raped.
15:32What would happen
15:33when our child was born?
15:34All in the dead current
15:35was full of things
15:35that wanted to eat them.
15:37I looked at Vayne.
15:38He seemed to read
15:38what I was thinking.
15:39He came over
15:40and took my hand.
15:41Lyra,
15:42let's go back.
15:43After I told my sister yes,
15:45she let out a long breath.
15:46Then,
15:47is there anything to eat?
15:48She ate like she hadn't
15:49seen food in weeks.
15:50Her stomach was enormous,
15:52but her arms and fins
15:53were thin as coral sticks.
15:54She'd had it rough.
15:56Not hard to guess why.
15:57Cole had almost certainly
15:58entered tide sleep by now.
16:00My sister had never worked
16:01hard a day in her life.
16:02Nothing short of starvation
16:03would have pushed her out here.
16:05After the meal,
16:05she lay down in the outer part
16:07of the rift to rest.
16:08Vayne folded me
16:09into his arms as usual.
16:10My sister glanced over
16:11from across the rift.
16:13The look on her face
16:14was pure envy.
16:16In the middle of the night,
16:17I got up.
16:17Unbelievable.
16:18This life,
16:19and she still gets
16:20to eat like that,
16:22bonded to some rankless creature,
16:24and she's still got nerve
16:25to look pleased with herself.
16:26She rubbed her belly.
16:27Come on, little ones.
16:28Come out fast.
16:29I stood in the dark
16:30and let it wash over me.
16:31Even now,
16:32I couldn't fully understand
16:33where her hatred came from.
16:35We were twins.
16:36Before we'd ended up here,
16:38our parents died in an accident,
16:39left the two of us
16:40to figure out the world together.
16:42I remembered what they'd always said.
16:44You're the older one.
16:45Take care of your sister.
16:46So I did.
16:47I gave way.
16:48Every time,
16:49on everything.
16:50Whatever was best,
16:51I let her have it.
16:52Somewhere along the line,
16:53she'd decided that was simply
16:55how things should be.
16:56I was supposed to give her
16:57everything good.
16:57I was supposed to be beneath her.
16:59I wasn't allowed to have things
17:00she didn't have.
17:01By the third day,
17:02back in the Coral Clan,
17:03I understood exactly why
17:04she'd worked so hard
17:05to bring me home.
17:06Her due date was close.
17:07She was terrified of dying
17:08on the birthing ground.
17:09She needed me there.
17:10I'd gotten her through all three.
17:12There was a second reason, too.
17:13She wanted me to watch.
17:14She wanted me standing there
17:16when she produced
17:1620 A-rank lionfish merfolk
17:18and climbed to the top
17:20of the Coral Clan.
17:21She wanted to see my face.
17:23Life back in the Coral Clan
17:25wasn't easy.
17:26Even with Vayne beside me,
17:27plenty of females
17:28still looked at me with hostility.
17:29They didn't want me near their mates,
17:30so I stayed close to the reef den.
17:32I was shut out.
17:33My sister, meanwhile,
17:34used her memories
17:34from last time to play prophet.
17:36She predicted a few major clan events
17:38and a stretch of bad current
17:39accurately enough
17:40that the Coral Clan
17:41elevated her status considerably.
17:42She told everyone
17:43she was the Abyss Chosen,
17:44sent by the Abyss God,
17:46carrying 20 A-rank merfolk.
17:48The Coral Clan believed her completely.
17:49Then the current war began.
17:51Vayne was sent to the front.
17:52Within days,
17:53every fighter in the Coral Clan
17:54had noticed
17:55that his dragon tide power
17:56exceeded that of the A-rank
17:58Great White Shark merfolk
17:59by a significant margin.
18:01His raw strength
18:01was in a different category altogether.
18:03This world ran on tide power.
18:05Strength was everything.
18:06And yet,
18:07because Vayne came out unranked,
18:08the Great White Shark merfolk
18:10grew jealous.
18:10He gathered the other males
18:11and turned on Vayne.
18:13They sent him alone
18:13into a aura of anger.
18:15When the others had what they needed
18:16from the distraction,
18:17they swam,
18:18left him there.
18:18I didn't find out
18:19until Vayne came back
18:20with serious wounds.
18:22I went straight.
18:23It's fine, Lyra.
18:24Vayne caught my arm.
18:25Even with all of that,
18:26they still couldn't touch me.
18:27I came back in one piece,
18:28didn't I?
18:29I looked at the cuts
18:30across his body.
18:31Vayne, I'm sorry.
18:32I shouldn't have brought you back here.
18:34This place isn't right for you.
18:37Let's go home.
18:38Back to the Rift.
18:39No.
18:39He was suddenly urgent.
18:41If we go back,
18:41you'll be homesick again.
18:43We stay here.
18:45As long as you and the hatchling are safe,
18:46I don't care what they do to me.
18:48Something cracked open in my chest.
18:49I remembered what I'd said in the Rift,
18:51that I was homesick.
18:52He'd been carrying that
18:53the entire time.
18:54You're in my home.
18:55He thought I meant the coral clan.
18:57Let's go.
18:58Just the two of us.
19:00I'd almost convinced him.
19:02Lyra,
19:03get to your sister's reef den.
19:04She's going into labor.
19:06I heard the screaming
19:07before I reached the entrance.
19:08I swam inside,
19:09blood in the water.
19:10The same scene as the first time,
19:12last life,
19:12when she'd had her first bad labor.
19:14Back then,
19:14it was the great white shark
19:15from her folks' fault.
19:16His build was large.
19:17The offspring inherited the size.
19:18The head got stuck.
19:19But lionfish eggs were soft and small.
19:21They should have come out easily.
19:22I got my answer fast.
19:23I helped her deliver ten eggs.
19:25Then I felt more inside.
19:26I was reaching for the next one
19:27when my sister's body seized.
19:30She's convassing!
19:32Nobody here knew that word.
19:33I shouted instructions.
19:34They found a smooth piece of coral
19:36and pressed it between her teeth
19:37so she couldn't bite through her tongue.
19:38I used the moment
19:39to pull the rest of the eggs out.
19:40I counted 20 in total.
19:42She passed out when it was done.
19:43I mixed a tonic
19:44and got it down her throat.
19:45If she makes it through tonight,
19:46she'll live.
19:47If she doesn't,
19:47there's nothing more I can do.
19:48I turned to leave.
19:50Cole grabbed my wrist.
19:51She's your sister.
19:53You should stay and take care of her.
19:54Even now,
19:55even with his female unconscious in the water
19:57from a dangerous labor,
19:58he didn't want to sit with her through one night.
20:01She's your mate,
20:02not mine.
20:03I'm not responsible for her.
20:07I've already done far more than she deserves.
20:11I swam out of the reef den into open water
20:13and felt the exhaustion hit me all at once.
20:15Vane was waiting outside.
20:17My heart twisted.
20:18What are you doing here?
20:19With wounds that bad,
20:20you should be resting in the...
20:23He pulled me into his arms before I could finish.
20:25His voice was rough.
20:28Lyra, we're not leaving.
20:29I started to ask why.
20:30Then I felt it.
20:32Something warm and wet soaking into my shoulder.
20:34I brought him back to our reef den,
20:35pushed him until he talked.
20:37He cried harder.
20:38Vane had been waiting outside my sister's reef den
20:40the entire time.
20:41He'd heard everything.
20:42He hadn't known that was what birth looked like.
20:44He hadn't known it could be like that.
20:46He was terrified.
20:47If I went into labor out in the dead current
20:49and something went wrong,
20:50there would be no one to help me.
20:51I felt tears on my own face before I realized.
20:54Vane,
20:55not everyone has a labor like hers.
20:57Maybe mine will be easy.
20:58Then we're still not leaving.
21:00His voice didn't waver.
21:01Even if the chance is one in a hundred,
21:02I won't let you suffer.
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