Deep Water

The city of Aethelgard was sinking. The foundations had been liquified by the arrival of the deep. The Cathedral collapsed into the sea.

Elara stood on the balcony of the ruined palace, watching the water rise. It wasn't a catastrophe to her. It was a cleansing.

She looked different now. Her humanity was a memory. She was something new. A siren. A queen.

Xylia condensed her form, shrinking down from a mountain to a woman. She stepped onto the balcony behind Elara. She was dripping with stars.

She wrapped her arms around Elara’s waist, resting her chin on Elara’s shoulder.

"The surface is broken," Xylia whispered. "They will hunt us if we stay."

"Let them hunt," Elara said, leaning back into the embrace. She felt the cold, possessive love of the goddess, and for the first time in her life, she felt completely, utterly safe. "They will not find us."

"Where shall we go, my bride?" Xylia asked.

Elara looked out at the infinite, dark ocean that had swallowed the city of lies.

"Deep," Elara answered. "Take me home."

Xylia smiled. She swept Elara into her arms.

Together, they stepped off the balcony. They didn't fall. They drifted down, slipping beneath the surface of the black water without a splash.

They descended into the crushing dark, past the ruins of the world that had rejected them, down to the quiet, star-filled kingdom at the bottom of the sea, where they would rule forever in the silence.