Rylla… yes, that sounds right. That’s who I am.

Alinavious… where have I heard that before?...

Oh! Duh, that’s the goddess. Our Goddess of Time!

Yes… our goddess…  I asked that priestess about her a lot. I saw her often.

But what did I do then…?

“It’s true! She told me all about the goddess of time!” Rylla told her friends.

“We have our own gods to worry about, Rylla,” one of them said.

“Why did you even go there in the first place?” another asked.

“This priestess was different from the stories we’re told about the land! She was kind and didn’t try to hurt me or capture me at all,” Rylla said.

“You just took a huge risk, Rylla. One of these days, you’re gonna go too far,” a third friend said.

Rylla got a little angry. “I’m telling you, I know what I’m doing! The surface isn’t as dangerous as everybody makes it out to be!” she yelled.

    “We’re concerned for your safety. We just don’t want you to get hurt,” the first friend said.

    “But…” Rylla protested.

    “What if this nice priestess turns out to have an ulterior motive?” the second friend said.

    “I…” Rylla stammered.

    “You know how land dwellers get around merfolk. They go crazy, especially about mermaids,” the third friend said.

    “... You’re wrong…” Rylla murmured quietly. However, none of her friends would listen to her.

    “Come on. Let’s just leave her be for now. She’ll have to think about this,” the first friend proposed, after which they all just swam off again.

Rylla looked down angrily while tears left her eyes only to drift off around her. She knew that they were wrong. They just had to be…

“... What did that priestess tell you?” came a meek voice from somewhere behind Rylla.

“Huh?” Rylla looked around to see where that came from and was met by two younger merfolk. A boy and a girl. She rubbed her eyes and swam over to them. “You wanna know more?” she asked.

The boy nodded shyly while the girl just hid behind him. They must have been siblings.

Rylla put up a meek smile. “Well…”

They wouldn’t listen to me at all. They were so mean!

But… then there were some who did listen. Just two children at first… but more soon followed. They told their friends, who told their friends and so it spread!

A lot of people started listening to me. Some even came with me to see the priestess by the river… all super sneaky of course!

But then… what happened next?

“Just as the currents of the ocean, time flows ever onwards!” Rylla explained excitedly to all that would listen. She had actually gathered a decent following among this part of Listanta. Hell, even her friends, who had condemned her months earlier, were now among her most avid supporters.

But as the group of merfolk dispersed again to go about their day, Rylla was surprised to find a group of royal guards swimming directly towards her. She gulped. Was she in trouble?

“Are you Rylla?” the foremost merman said.

Rylla nodded wordlessly.

“We wish for you to come with us,” the man said gruffly.

“Am I… in trouble?” Rylla asked meekly.

“That remains to be seen,” the man replied.

Rylla felt the colour drain from her face. Things had been going so well. Now, things could very well change in major ways for her. What was she to do?

The guards… they came for me. I thought I was in deep trouble. They must have known I swam up to the surface… several times.

I mean, I diiiid break the rules, hihihi

But… was I really in trouble?

Rylla carefully swam into the throneroom, being led by the two guards that had come to pick her up. She definitely did not expect to receive an audience with Empress Varisia the Second herself! What was she to do? Had she messed up this badly?

“Rylla, I presume?” the Empress said, her voice filled with melodies. She was sitting on her throne, inspecting her nails.

Rylla gulped. “Y-yes… that’s me,” she said.

“You’ve been attracting a lot of attention as of late, haven’t you?” Empress Varisia said.

“Well… I wouldn’t… I mean… I guess you could… yes, I have, ehehehe,” Rylla said nervously while toying around a little with her own fin.

“Got any idea why that is? Any particular reason?” Varisia asked. Only now did she look away from her nails to look directly into Rylla’s eyes.

Rylla gulped a second time. The fact that she had the full attention of the Empress now only made this all so much worse! She was going to find out about her crimes… she was going to lock Rylla up or worse! But… she couldn’t just lie to the Empress of the Seven Currents. That was out of the question! So she sighed and resolved to tell the truth. “I… I’m sorry… I… I swam up to the surface!” she cried out.

Varisia… actually seemed quite surprised. “You… swam to the surface?” she asked, confused more than anything.

“I… met with this priestess… by a river inland. She told me of the Goddess of Time and… and I’ve been spreading her teachings…” Rylla explained. She was totally done for now… 

Varisia had one eyebrow raised. “You’re… not inciting some sort of rebellion…?” she asked.

“Rebe-... wha-...?” Rylla asked. She then burst out laughing. “You thought…!” she cried out.

Varisia pressed her forehead into the palm of her hand while groaning. “Enough!” she spat.

Rylla instantly snapped to attention again and saluted the Empress. “Yes ma’am!”

Varisia started swimming around her in circles. “So you’re telling me that all of these people are flocking to you… simply to listen to you talking about this goddess of yours?”

“Yup! Isn’t it great? I never thought it’d catch on so much,” Rylla cheered.

The empress then paused again and placed her hands on her hips. “Well then. Let’s hear it,” she said.

“... Hear what?” Rylla asked.

Varisia rolled her eyes. “About your Goddess of Time,” she said.

“Oh! You’re interested?!” Rylla asked excitedly.

“That remains to be seen…” Varisia muttered.

Rylla… just started giggling again. “That’s funny. That’s the same thing that guard said,” she said.

“Today, Rylla!” Varisia said sternly.

Rylla saluted once more. “Yes, ma’am!” she said. And so, she began her usual routine. She talked about time. About its benefits. About the teachings. About how time was like the currents of the ocean. Or… was it the other way around? Regardless, she talked Varisia’s ears off for what had to be at least an hour. Every so often, Varisia and even some of the guards would ask her a question but mostly they left the talking to her. She left out no detail.

When she was done, Varisia nodded. She placed her hand over her mouth and swam back and forth, deep in thought. “Very well. You are free to go,” she said while waving Rylla off.

“... I am?” Rylla asked.

“Yes. The guards will escort you out, though I may ask to see you again,” Varisia said.

“Oh! Okay then! Well uh… Time be with you!” Rylla said while making peace signs with both of her hands.

With that, she was off again. She certainly hadn’t expected to give mass to the Empress of the Seven Currents of all people but hey! The more, the merrier, right?

The Empress just wanted to listen to me too, just like everybody else! That was so surprising! She even said she might call upon me again… and she did.

More people followed me. More people listened to me. So… I went back to that priestess. I just had to tell her about all this good news!

“... And then even the Empress listened! It was great, you should have been there!” Rylla exclaimed excitedly.

“That’s incredible! You know, you might make a fine priestess of time yourself,” the priestess said. 

“You think so?” Rylla gasped.

“I know so,” the priestess said while nodding. “Wait until my sisters hear about this!”

“Your sisters? I’ve never met them,” Rylla pondered.

“They tend to not really stay close to the water… They’re both somewhere inland currently,” the priestess said apologetically.

“Awww… that’s no fun,” Rylla muttered.

“But I can definitely invite them over here. They’ll both be very interested in hearing about you and what’s happening down in Listanta,” the priestess said.

“Yeah! That would be… wait… actually… that might not be such a good idea. We can’t attract too much attention to ourselves. Land Dwellers go totally crazy over us. Especially over mermaids for some reason. I wonder why…” Rylla said.

“I can promise you that we will not spread the word further unless we have permission to do so,” the priestess said with her hand over her clock-faced heart.

“Hmm… wait… maybe… maybe… Oh but… would she…? Maybe I can… yes and then… ohohoho, yes!” Rylla said excitedly. She had a new idea! This was going to get exciting!

The priestess giggled. “What are you planning?” she asked.

“You’ll see! You’ll see!” Rylla said and she quickly dove back underwater to swim back home. She had a lot of things to do!

I had an idea, and it might have even been a good one too! Yes! Gosh, I’m getting excited just thinking about it! Wait… I already carried out all of that. That all happened in the past. How long ago was it even? Yesterday? Last week? No… longer than that… much longer.

Those voices… they’re getting a little louder. A little clearer. Who are they? And where are they? All I’m seeing is darkness. Do I even have eyes with which to see? I don’t really feel anything either… Well, I feel the currents. I always feel the currents. I am one with the currents. How… did that happen? I’m a mermaid… right?

Think, Rylla, think… what happened next?

“Empress Varisia… it is an honour to meet with you,” the Water priestess said while kneeling, with the other two priestesses following suit.

The Empress eyed all three of these women intently. She had never even seen a land dweller before, let alone three! And what curious specimens they were… all three of them were different from one another. Of course, there was also the fact that they had legs and feet.

“These are the priestesses of time! It was a lot of work to get them here… It must suck to have legs. They had to walk all the way here! Can you believe that? And then there was that big ravine between here and that island, and…”

“Yes, thank you, Rylla. I understand,” Varisia said while rubbing her temples.

“To what do we owe this audience?” one of the other priestesses asked. She was the one that seemed a little floaty, according to Rylla.

“Well, Rylla here has told me all about what you three stand for. Your plight seems… interesting. And it has clearly grown in popularity among my subjects as of late. Perhaps we can come to some kind of accord,” Varisia said.

“An accord? What do you mean, Your Majesty?” the third priestess said. The planty one.

“You build churches and shrines up on land for people to gather in droves and learn. I believe it would be beneficial to us for there to exist a church here in Listanta as well,” Varisia said.

The floaty priestess almost jumped up with excitement. “That would be great!” she cheered.

“But… none of us could truly manage it. It was already quite the hassle to come here,” the planty priestess said.

The river priestess clapped her hands together. “We don’t have to. There’s already someone here who seems eager to fulfil that role,” she said.

Rylla felt all eyes land on her at that point. Confused, she looked around herself to make sure they weren’t looking at someone behind her. “Me?” she asked.

“Of course you, Rylla!” the floaty priestess said with a huge grin.

“Oh! Oh? Right! Yes!” Rylla replied and she dashed forwards, getting maybe just a little bit too close to the Empress. “That’s okay! Right?” she asked.

Varisia pushed Rylla back a little with a big frown on her face. “Yes, it is,” she said.

“Oh yay! Thank you thank you thank you!” Rylla cheered. She grabbed Varisia’s hand and shook it vigorously.

Varisia quickly pulled her hand back and sighed, quickly motioning something towards their guards who had reached for their tridents. After all, Rylla did not have any ill intentions. She was reckless, naive, and definitely not the brightest anemone on the wall, but she was not malicious.

Rylla, meanwhile, went back to the air bubble containing the priestesses and had begun shaking their hands as well.

“I shall arrange for you to meet with some of our foremost architects to design this church but first, this does not come for free, of course. Our people have always avoided the surface and the land. We defend our territory and ward off any of your ships that dwell too close to Listanta’s borders. The mere fact that you met Rylla was because she Broke. Our. Rules.” Varisia hissed those last words through her teeth.

Rylla laughed nervously. “Sorry…” she said softly.

“But that is air over the bridge now. As our city keeps growing, it will become increasingly difficult to maintain this barrier between us and the surface folk. Perhaps this combination of your church and our city will be the connection we need to finally close this gap between our people,” Varisia said.

“You… wish for us to act as your representatives on the land?” the planty priestess asked.

“Exactly. It will be difficult for us to do so ourselves,” Varisia said.

The floaty priestess grinned. “I think we can accept these terms,” she said eagerly.

Rylla didn’t really understand what was going on. Something about connections and reprecious… repercentages… repercursives… whatever that word was. But everybody seemed to be smiling so that meant things were going well at least!

The first meeting went very well, yes. While Listanta started construction of the Temple of Eternal Currents right over a mana vein, the priestesses up on land started speaking on behalf of the mermaids to bring about an alliance of sorts.

Well, that’s all well and good but I was going to have to manage a whole church! I guess I just… had to continue doing what I was already doing but this time I had a title! And a building! Oh but that wasn’t all. The mana vein under the temple was going to play a major role in the process too. With the help of the priestesses, we built tubes to direct the mana up, up, up, and into the spring…

The Spring of Aeons

Right… wait, is that where I still am? Perhaps…

Wait… I think I’m beginning to see something. I see… colours. Pretty colours!

Mana? Maybe…

The church was eventually opened and I received lots of guests. The other priestesses, lots of merfolk from the city, and even Empress Varisia came by a few times!

But then… What happened then? Something big happened. Something amazing… 

When the last of the guests for that day left the church, Rylla was left to her own devices again. She had been managing this temple for about two years now. She met back up with the other priestesses often enough, as well as with Empress Varisia, although those meetings usually only lasted as long as her patience would allow.

Things were going very well… but there was something up with tonight. Rylla couldn’t quite place why but it was as if something was about to happen…

And, wouldn’t you know it, something did happen. Within the spring, where the mana had always swirled, a light started shining. It was dim at first, barely standing out among the colourful mana, but it quickly grew in intensity.

The figure of a woman appeared, completely bathed in bright light. It was as if she wasn’t truly there at all. The light made it very hard to see any sort of details.

“Rylla,” she spoke. Her voice was ethereal and echo-y. There was a kindness in her voice that quickly soothed the mermaid’s shock over this whole occurrence.

“Th… that’s me…?” Rylla stammered.

The woman chuckled. “It is okay. You have nothing to fear,” she said.

“Who… are you?” Rylla asked while biting her lip.

“I am the currents of Time. I… am Alinavious,” the figure spoke.

Rylla gasped and curled up to hide behind her own tail fins. “The… G-g-goddess… of Time!” she stuttered.

The goddess chuckled once more and outstretched her illuminated hand to place it on Rylla’s cheek. “You’ve been working very hard in my name, haven’t you?” she said.

Rylla gulped. She felt the same kind of nervousness as she had felt when she first met with Varisia. “Y-yes. I… am your priestess here,” she said.

The goddess nodded. She literally appeared to be beaming with pride. “Your hard work has not gone unnoticed. Your actions have brought my teachings to the merfolk, and even brought about peace between merfolk and those on the surface. I wish to bestow upon you my blessing as your reward, if you accept it of course,” she said.

“Your blessing?” Rylla asked.

“Yes. A transformation fitting for one such as you, should you accept it,” the goddess spoke.

“You mean… like that of the others?” Rylla asked.

“Yes, though I have something a little unique in mind for you,” the goddess replied.

She definitely had something unique in mind. What was it again? Is that what I am now? What I still am? It must be.

Those voices… they’re still there. They’re talking.

“Who could she be?” “Can she hear us?” “She’s becoming more physical I think!” “This is unbelievable!” “Wait until,” “the Empress hears,” “of this!”

Who were they talking about? Are they talking about… me? But, wait. One thing at a time. I’m not even done swimming through the currents of my own memories!

The goddess… she offered me a transformation just for me. And what did I do then…?

The goddess had extended her hand. Rylla was free to take it and embrace time just as the priestesses of the land had done before her. If she did so, she would be changed forever. Was she willing to do that? Well, after everything that she had already done, dedicating her life to this goddess seemed like an obvious choice but it was still pretty scary. Tentatively, she reached forwards with her own hand… and took that of the goddess.

The goddess smiled and placed her other hand on top of Rylla’s and slowly, she began pulling her in.

Rylla’s eyes darted around for a moment. She was going to be pulled into the spring?! But… the mana… wasn’t that a little dangerous? However, the soothing figure of the goddess shining so bright was there. She would never bring harm to her. This was going to be a blessing, not a curse. She trusted her.

More and more, the goddess pulled her in. Into the Spring. Into her new life. When her hand touched the swirling mana it actually appeared to make way for her, welcoming her into its embrace. Into the swirling mana. Into the embrace of time. Into the currents. Into the arms of the goddess. The waters welcomed her eagerly. Soothed her.

When at last she had fully entered the swirling currents, the goddess placed her illuminated hands on Rylla’s cheeks. “Accept this blessing, Rylla, and take up your role as the Seeress of Eternal Currents. As a Keeper of Time,” she whispered. With that, the figure of the goddess dissipated again as if she hadn’t been there at all. It wasn’t all just a figment of her imagination, was it?

But that is when she realised that something was happening. She could feel that her hair was changing. It had always simply flowed around in the water but now, it felt like her hair was growing bigger? As if several hairstrants fused together into several tubes. It was… curious. Not only that, it felt almost rubbery to the touch.

She was still confused about it when suddenly, she could feel that several of the tubes that were part of her hair started floating upwards to the many tubes on the ceiling. She looked up to see what was going on just as her hair connected to one of the tubes.

Nothing could truly prepare her for what happened next.

The mana that had flown freely into the swirling vortex of the spring now flowed directly into her through this one tube. And then another. And then another! It was pure magic. No… it was something else. It was the currents of time.

At first, Rylla could not make sense of it all. She closed her eyes to try and focus but the flowing mana was making that quite difficult. It all flowed through her head, down through her body, into her mermaid tail and right out the bottom again. The whirlpool of mana was now simply flowing within her rather than around her.

She still had her eyes closed but… she could see something. She saw… a tiny stream of water, barely wider than a piece of thread. Curiously, Rylla reached out for it and tentatively pressed a finger into the stream. Strangely enough, the stream was not disturbed and flowed right through her finger. However, the moment she touched the stream, something big happened!

He rode day and night on his horse for this moment. Several knights had joined him on this rescue mission. Now that they were finally in front of this accursed castle, he drew his sword and raised it skyward. “Today, we will finally slay the evil princess and rescue the dragon!” he shouted. His fellow knights cheered and raised their own weapons after which they charged the castle and… 

“What in the…” Rylla gasped as she finally managed to withdraw her finger again. That was… odd to say the least. What even was that beast it was riding on? It looked like a horse but on four legs. Could it have been… a landhorse?

Wait, that wasn’t the most pressing question to be asking at that moment. Why did she have that strange vision in the first place? It was as if she was a completely different person!

And that’s when she noticed a second stream, right next to her. Just as before, Rylla curiously reached her finger into the stream. Perhaps…

With a smile, she unlocked the door and opened it. Today was finally the day. Her library, that she had worked so hard on to set up, was finally opened. There were a handful of people already waiting and they all eagerly walked in. “Welcome, people! Enjoy these books to your heart’s content, so long as you don’t crease the pages!” she said eagerly. She then turned around towards her desk and…

“Whoah!” Rylla exclaimed. That was yet another person entirely! And in a completely different place too!

But wait… no, these streams weren’t the only ones. There was another next to it. And another behind her. And another. And another! Soon she realised that she was completely surrounded by a seemingly infinite amount of threads of water, all dripping down. Where they came from, where they flowed to, Rylla could not say. All she knew was that, at least currently, they all passed through here. Through her.

Rylla was actually getting a little excited and went through some extra streams, just to see what would happen.

He ate to his heart’s content. His lovely wife had made him another wonderful meal. He would definitely have to outdo her again tomorrow when it was his turn to cook! Perhaps he could…

She wobbled on her broomstick. It was only her first time flying one after all!

“Now try turning,” her teacher said to her.

“R-right,” the young witch stammered as she leaned to the right but she leaned just a little bit too much and almost fell off! She just barely managed to stabilise herself and…

He dashed through the woods. He had just snatched up a chicken from one of the farms and carried it around in his mouth. His family would surely appreciate this meal, so long as he could outsmart the hunters. Not a problem, of course, for he was the trickiest fox in this part of the woods. He looked around and began hatching a clever plan involving… 

“Do you, Henriette, take Brittany, to be your lovely wedded wife?” the pastor asked.

She smiled broadly and held the hands of the love of her life. “I do,” she said. She had wanted to say those words for years now. Today she was finally going to marry her and…

This was fun! She was seeing all of these different threads of life going on right at that moment! She had to see more!

He yawned and scratched his nose. He then dipped his knife into the jar of butter and began spreading it on his bread. “Just another day…” he mumbled to himself…

Well that one wasn’t very interesting…

She smiled seductively at him while slowly pulling down his pants. She then opened her mouth to…

Rylla blushed madly and retracted her hand again as fast as she could. That was DEFINITELY not something she should be looking at!

Still though, there were so many things going on around her, so many things happening in the world right at that moment. Didn’t the goddess say that she was now a seeress? A seeress is usually someone that knows all. Well, she did now have the knowledge of everything going on right at that moment at her fingertips.

Goodness, wait until others hear about this! Wait… the others… Eagerly, Rylla swam through the many different streams within her and eventually found a stream that she instinctively knew to belong to the river priestess. She touched it just to see what she was up to.

“And so… you ran away, huh?” she said.

The frightened girl nodded wordlessly.

“Oh, you poor thing… you can stay within this shrine for as long as you wish,” the priestess of the river said reassuringly. Of course, the girl couldn’t stay here indefinitely. The priestess would be travelling back to the main church in two weeks and she wasn’t sure whether this girl would be willing to make that trek, or any other place for that matter. There had to be a better solution to this conundrum…

“A runaway?” Rylla pondered. How curious. It would seem that that priestess had other worries to think about. Well, no matter. She could always check in again later.

With so many streams going on around her, it was kind of difficult to keep track of it all. She knew she perhaps wasn’t the best at keeping track of things in general but now? It was almost impossible! Perhaps she should take a step back?

She managed to open her eyes again. She was… still in her church. Still in the Spring of Aeons. Her hair had now connected to the twelve different main tubes, pouring the flowing currents of time right into her and out of her tail fins. She saw that her skin had morphed as well. No longer was she a normal mermaid. She was more mechanical now, made of metal and magic. She felt… strange. Time, mana, water, it all flowed through her. She truly had been transformed by the goddess. Into a time elemental. Into a Keeper of Time.

Into the Seeress of Eternal Currents.

A smile formed on her face. This was good. This was great! She definitely hadn’t expected to end up here when she first started watching the river priestess’s shows but now that she was here, she couldn’t help but feel truly happy. She’d found her calling!

With a dreamy, blissful feeling overwhelming herself, she started swimming around in circles within the spring. There was an endless amount of streams that she could tune into, after all…

I transformed. I transformed! That’s right! I’m the Seeress of Eternal Currents! Rylla the Seeress, hehehe. Has a nice ring to it!

Those endless currents… I watched them often. I looked over them. I could see villains scheming their nefarious plans and warn the good guys in time. I could help people who were wondering what others thought about them. I could see and know so much…

Everybody was happy for me. The visitors, the other priestesses, even Empress Varisia!

But then I fell asleep? Why did I sleep? And for how long? What happened? Why can’t I remember? Well, I can’t think while asleep. I think it’s time to wake up!

Slowly but surely, Rylla opened her eyes. At first, all she could really see was white. Her eyes had to adjust to the light after all. Slowly though, things started getting into focus. She could… see the Spring. Well, she was almost always swimming inside of it, so that was to be expected. She could also feel the tug of her hair on the tubes above her, meaning she was still connected.

She yawned and stretched her arms before rubbing her eyes. Slowly but steadily, the surrounding area came into view. She could see her Spring of Aeons. She could see the tubes above her that still connected to her hair as they had always done. She could see the flow of mana that coursed through her and back down to the mana vein below.

And she saw that she was surrounded.

Rylla gasped when she saw how many people were actually there. Were these the voices she’d heard earlier? “Oh! Hello! Good afternoon!” she said as she felt the current time innately. Whoah, she slept in until the afternoon?!

The people in the room stayed silent. They just stared at her with their mouths agape.

“Uhm… is there something on my face?” Rylla asked as she frantically started feeling around just in case.

“N-no… ?” one of them said, sounding very uncertain.

Rylla looked at the woman that had just spoken. She did not recognize her but there was something familiar about this metal lady standing there. Quickly, Rylla closed her eyes and began scouring through the many streams of mana within herself. Upon finding the correct stream, she touched it quickly to know a little more about this woman.

“Hmm… so your name is Bridget,” Rylla mused.

Bridget gasped as well now. “How did you…” she asked.

“Know? Duh! I’m Rylla, the Seeress of Eternal Currents! I’m the one that’s tied to the Spring of Aeons,” Rylla beamed proudly.

“Seeress Rylla…?” Another woman asked.

Rylla did the same quick scan as she had done before. “That’s right, Lavini!,” she said excitedly while winking. Then she placed her fingers on the side of her head as if attempting to send out mind waves. “I can see everything that is going on right at this moment everywhere… if I want to of course!” she explained.

“You just,” “appeared out of,” “no-where,” two more women said, looking very similar to one-another.

“I did? You’re not pulling my fin, are you Zexa? What about you, Xeza?” Rylla asked. That seemed… strange. Why would she just… appear? Wasn’t she within the spring this whole time?

The women all looked at each-other with concern in their eyes. “They’re not joking…” Bridget said.

“That was crazy! You were just a shape floating around at first but you formed slowly over time while my mom and aunts reactivated the Spring,” the pink-haired girl called Estella said.

“Whoah…” Rylla mused to herself. She stared off into the distance while thinking about that. Then she giggled and knocked on her own head. “Hehehe, sorry, I can be a little absent from time to time.”

The people around her all eyed each other in confusion. There was certainly something fishy going on but, well, whatever. She focused and a moment later, a popping sound could be heard. It was her hair that was disconnecting from one of the tubes. Slowly, more pops could be heard as she fully disconnected and allowed the mana to flow into its usual vortex again. With that, she left the spring and stretched her fin. “Anywho, anybody got something to eat? I’m starving!” she said.

“Wait… didn’t you just say you were tied to the spring?” the asymmetrical woman called Julia said.

“Duh. I’m tied to it but that doesn’t mean I can’t leave whenever I want. It just means that I’m the only one that can go in,” Rylla said.

“Hold on! We have many more questions first,” one of the mermaids present said.

Rylla swam over. “Well? I’m all ears. Ask away uh… who are you?” she asked.

The mermaid came to attention and presented her trident like a true soldier. “Captain Ael of the Second Legion. And, uh… well… let’s start with this, then. Why did you know their names but not mine?” the mermaid asked.

“Oh! That’s because I just left the Spring. I can only do my seeress thing when inside. Outside, I’m just like your regular old mermaid!” Rylla explained.

“I… see,” Captain Ael replied while looking over the seeress’s body.

Rylla placed her finger on her chin and looked off into the distance again. “That’s strange… I thought everybody knew these things by now. I’ve explained it many times,” she mused absentmindedly.

“How… long were,” “you,” “in there, Rylla?” Xeza asked, breaking the silence.

“How long? Well…” Rylla started. It was only then that it finally dawned on her exactly how long she had truly slept. There was a dissonance between what her mind thought was the current year and what the currents of time flowing through her told her. And that dissonance wasn’t small either. “... for… over a thousand years?!?! That’s like… a hundred years, only ten times longer!!!” she yelled surprised before curling up into a ball. This was unbelievable. So much time. She had slept for so long. How could this have happened? What caused this?

“W-wait! Calm down!” Bridget said.

Rylla peeked up and eyed the metal woman.

“I want to ask… are you perhaps a Keeper of Time?” Bridget asked.

Rylla nodded with a sullen look on her face.

“That’s…,” “incredible!” the twins said in unison.

“We’ve been looking all over for you!” Estella cheered.

At this point, Rylla perked up a little again. “You have?”

“Seeress Rylla, allow us to introduce ourselves properly,” Lavini said while bowing her head in reverence. “We are members of the new church of time. We have each become a Keeper of Time ourselves, in the pursuit of your awakening. Yours and that of your companions.”

At this point, Rylla shot up. It was only now that she finally noticed the obvious. “You’re time elementals too!” she exclaimed.

“Well yes,” “we are,” Zexa and Xeza said.

“Well, why didn’t you say so sooner!” Rylla said excitedly. She had forgotten already about her earlier moping and was instead swimming at an extreme speed around the time elementals to check them out from all angles.

Meanwhile, Bridget turned her attention to Lavini. “I can’t believe we’ve finally found one!”

“Indeed. I for one was not expecting this outcome for this trip. Maybe Rylla here can be of great help in our quest to find the others,” Lavini responded.

“Wait!” Rylla yelled as she came to a full stop. “What do you mean ‘find the others’?”

“Uhm, you’re the first of the original Keepers we’ve been able to find so far. The others are still missing,” Estella said.

“M-missing?” Rylla asked. That was worrisome to say the least. Hurriedly, she dove back into the spring and reconnected using only one tube. Quickly, she started mentally scanning the streams. “Come on… I know you’re there… hmm… grrr… where are you…?” she mumbled to herself.

“Uhm,” “Rylla?” the twins asked.

This was strange. Their streams weren’t there at all. How could they be gone? But wait… they weren’t gone. Rylla could still feel them somehow… What was going on? Were they perhaps asleep as well, just like she had been herself? That’s when she made an even more startling discovery. “Wait, WHERE EVEN IS THE GODDESS?!?!”

“Rylla!” the twins yelled together.

“Huh?!” Rylla gasped as the tube let go again.

“Please, let us explain,” “the situation,” the twins said. 

Rylla’s lower lip trembled as she looked at them with pleading eyes.

“Unfortunately,” Lavini started. “We must inform you that our goddess, Alinavious, has passed away. It is the very reason why you were slumbering.”

Rylla just blinked at her. Was this… a joke? Alinavious couldn’t really be dead, could she?

“As for the other Keepers,” “We believe that they,” “are still asleep somewhere,” “just like you were,” “yourself. With your help,” “we are sure,” “to find them soon,” the twins said.

For Rylla, everything was just a huge mess. For all she could remember, one moment she was swimming around in her Spring of Aeons and the next, a thousand years had passed, all of her fellow priestesses were slumbering somewhere, her goddess was apparently dead, and now there were new Keepers of Time? There were lots of questions floating around that needed answering but she didn’t even know how to begin asking them. All she could see was that these people were offering her help. That these were people she could perhaps trust. “You will?”

“Absolutely!” Bridget said.

A meek smile formed on Rylla’s face. “Thanks, you guys,” she said. 

“We can start by explaining everything we know so far, if you wish, and then perhaps you can share with us knowledge of the past?” Lavini proposed.

Rylla nodded. “Sounds good,” she said with an appreciative look in her eyes. “But first… food!” she yelled and with that, she dashed off towards the exit of the church, easily navigating the many hallways.

As Rylla vanished from sight again, Bridget looked to the others in the room.

“Aaaand she’s gone,” Julia said.

“I am still finding what has just happened here hard to believe,” Lavini said.

“Yeah. I mean, what do we even do now?” Bridget asked.

“I suppose we shall have to find her again,” Lavini said.

“How? She was so fast and Listanta is ginormous!” Estella whined.

“Leave that to us,” Captain Ael said. She turned her attention to one of the other guards. “You. Please inform the Empress of what has transpired here. Leave out no details! The rest of you, go out and search the nearby markets. Somebody is bound to have seen her,” she said.

“Yes, captain!” the guards said. They saluted and followed after the others as well.

“So now,” “we just wait?” the twins asked.

“That seems to be our only option,” Bridget nodded.

Lavini smiled. “Ladies, I say we have reason to rejoice. Not only have we woken up one of the original Keepers, we now have a treasure trove of information regarding ancient times,” she said.

“Mother’s right! Though… Rylla doesn’t seem exactly seer-like to me,” Estella mused.

“You’re not exactly nun-like yourself,” Julia joked.

“Shut up!” Estella yelled, causing the whole group to laugh.

“Well… if there’s,” “truly nothing else,” “for us to do, then,” “it’s time for your,” “present, Julia,” Zexa and Xeza said with devious grins on their faces.

“W-wait… what?” Julia whimpered.

“It’s time for,” “your new bikini,” the twins said as they started dragging their lover out of the room.

“Wait, stop! Not out in public!” Julia yelled while blushing madly. The rest just giggled among themselves. Even captain Ael appeared to find the display amusing.

Bridget eyed the flowing mana of the spring of aeons again. Finally, they were going to learn more about the most distant past. A time before the timestorm. She couldn’t wait to speak to the Seeress of Eternal Currents again.