🌊 The Drowned Pact

They say the sea remembers every soul it takes. Along the coast of Velharrow, the waves whisper names — not of the dead, but of those the ocean has yet to claim. The fishermen no longer sail after dusk, for under the black tides lie the ruins of an ancient city and a god who once ruled it. Marin Deyra, a lighthouse keeper’s daughter, lives alone among storm-beaten cliffs. She has spent years listening to the voices in the surf, writing their words in secret journals no one reads. On the eve of a blood tide, she hears a new voice — not a cry, but a song. It calls her by name. Drawn to the shore, Marin finds a man washed up among shards of coral and moonlit foam. Rhyss, the singer from the depths, bears eyes the color of drowned stars. He claims to be the last remnant of the sunken city — bound by an ancient pact to the sea itself. When Marin saves him, she breaks the pact. The ocean awakens in fury, demanding balance: one life must return beneath the waves. The longer Rhyss stays on land, the more the sea calls for her instead. Their love becomes a storm, each heartbeat dragging her closer to the deep. Together, they must decide who will be taken — or if love itself can rewrite the tide’s command. Because the ocean never forgets what it’s owed.