-By sea one way, by land another-
 
I had been lurking the depths of the endless tides since the lands had changed into unrecognizable masses.  My waterfall gone.  My crystalline pool no more.  Like the old world I was washed away into the sea, and it is only now -five years later- that I decide I am lonely. Lonely?  It was a weird feeling for me.  Creeping up from the darkest of depths I feel it tug me towards the lands.  Each flick of my finned tail propels me nearer to the island of land.  My reptilian-like eyes can see the clouded mirage of craggy cliffs above as I near the opening of a cove.  I press on and around the edges, choosing my break to the surface carefully.  Slowly.  I could not know the dangers that may wait for me there.  I did not fear anything here in my waters.  Here I am Queen, Siren and Heathen. 

These shorelines are something from a distant memory.  Not that this land is a memory, but the emerald cloaked trees stir something from within me.  A youthful past in which my sister and I played tag between the silent pillars.  My adopted sister who I had accidently harmed by what I was. Running, chasing, hunting.  It was the first time I felt the creature take hold and I had spent many years hiding myself away.  That is until one day I met someone much like me and I could finally be myself...

My head rises higher above the water's surface to gauge the distance to the shore and to scout for any that may be watching me.  Iridescent scales glitter in the faint sunlight like mini prisms. My aqua eyes, slitted for the darkness of the ocean, squint as they adjust to the air.  Do I dare leave the safety of my sea on a whim of feelings?  My mind juggles the ideas as I draw nearer to the tree line.  Ocean water shallow and I can feel the rocky bottom brush along my sleek body.  As contact is made, I feel the change.  My great finned tail morphs into a matching hind set of appendages.  The foreign parts of me I had long forgotten push me up above the waters and onto pebbled land.  I stagger, like a newborn foal.  Stumbling forward slightly, shifting my weight to my front half to regain my balance.  A wispy snort is expelled from my muzzle as I breathe in strange air, strange smells.  Tangled black strands fall across my face, covering my unchanging eyes.  They, along with my scaled skin, are the only remnants of my altar form.  

I was out of my comfort zone, out of my element, and vulnerable here...

It is strange here, on this solid ground.  My body feels heavy, like dead weight.  It is not the weightless fluidity I was used to in the waters.  It takes a moment for me to adjust, to breathe.

It is in that moment that one appears.  Soundless, weightless.  Much like the fogs that cloak the seas from time to time.  The sudden dark image startles me and an instinctive reaction shifts my weight to my backside.  The swift change, to weakened limbs, tumbles me back into the shallow brackish tide.  Hocks buckle and I stagger to save myself from falling, all while trying to process what it was that had caused such a chain of events.  Reptilian eyes try to focus as I collect myself once again.

Hello. Welcome to the Chamber.

I shake the tousled black threads from my view as I process the spoken words. "The what? Chamber?"  Of all the lands in Beqanna this one I did not recognize by name, but I had never been one to join in on the politics of the kingdoms.  I had also been gone for quite some time.  My weight shifts along the cobble stones of the beaches and I decide it best to remain wallowing in the shallows in case I must retreat much faster than my legs could function right now.  I am cautious of this unknown being, his dark mass and yellow eyes both cause suspicion and curiosity to stir within me.

Have you been here before? 

My mind mulls over the question of the stranger and I consider both possible meanings, to me.  "Hardly," I reply simply.  My eyes judge the situation and character for what it seems.  Dark figures do not simply appear from the shadows for good reasons.  I know this trick all too well, though only when the creature within me takes hold.  Now it whispers caution and unlike most times I listen to it.  The hunter knows when it is being hunted.  

"And you? Have you been here long?"  My voice is more angelic than his by far and I do not dismiss the grin that plagues his face.  Had circumstances been different I may have been the one pursuing the creature before me, luring him into the depths of my ocean home.  Singing sweet melodies of guaranteed bliss, but that is not me today. Today I seek something else, though I am unsure yet of what -or who- it is...

The sea waters lap gently at my heels as I remain still unmoved from the waters embrace.  It is a comfort of sorts.  Beads of water roll gently down my blackish scales; tiny prisms of light reflecting the beauty in their dark depth. My ears flick to the stranger as he speaks.

Shame... I've lost track.

I can relate as time has escaped my grasps as well.  Time means little when you are an immortal creature.  My understanding is shown with a shying of my gaze on the shadowed man.  Snips of memories pass over my mind. My uncle, my sister, Kuma, Jesper, Leilan, Ivar... Ischia and my pool with waterfall curtains; the giant palm trees and the curious parrolets that sang sweet melodies with me there.  A faint smile tugs at my black lips.  A realization of why my heart has pulled the Siren from the sea washes over me...

What were you looking for, if not the Chamber?

My reptilian eyes blink away the memories and look again to the stranger.  His question pulls the answer from my tongue without much thought, "home," I breathe gently into the air.  I realize now the reason for my return to land, the how is much more complex though.  My uncle and Kuma -who had taken me in as a child- have passed to another realm a long time ago.  The others may have fallen to such fates as well, I truly did not know.  Maybe if I could find Ischia, I could begin my search!

With a slight hesitation my legs draw me up onto the shores.  It was strange to move all four of them in tandem and it was not without concentration.  They bring me before the stranger, within a better speaking distance.  "I am Deiti," my words pause as even those are foreign to me these days, "Is the Chamber your home?...  Your kingdom?"  I have never been one to engage in diplomatic forums.  Ivar is -was- the only one I have ever known to hold a rank within a land, but it was less formal, our interactions.  I was but a trinket -a play thing- in my pool within the land.  I left the rest of the duties to the others within the harem.  Only interacting when called upon, or with those who came to drink from my crystalline pool.  So, I do not know what to expect with this interaction, especially with the company I keep now...

And where is home?

The answer was never as simple as it should be, was it?  Was home a place?  Someone?  A feeling?  I consider the answer and give only what I know to be home, "It is a tropical paradise with long stretching beaches.  Forests, thick with vegetation and creatures of all shapes and colors.  A deep blue pool at its center with waterfalls as a backdrop."  That faint smile from before grows more defined, "Do you know of it?  Ischia?"

I had only visited one other land like it, Tephra.  They were similar but very different.  I had never set foot on its shores, but from the river channel that cut thru it, I had seen the fiery mountain.  Being a creature of the water, I avoided flame and lava was no exception.  My body shifts slightly, relieving the heavy of my body from one tired limb to the next.  How one stands all day I am unsure.  He draws my attention back as he answers my previous queries.

My name is Jamie.  I am one of its rulers yes.  But it is not my kingdom.

The emphasis on my has me tilt my blackish face in thought.  It could mean several things, I guess.  In my mind things were either yours, or someone else's.  So, I assume as much is at play here, especially since he had expressed he is only one of the rulers, another idea that is unfamiliar to me.  It does not move me one way or another, because again I have never dealt in kingdom politics.  I was much more simplistic, often seeking solitude -or purgatory- if something stirred deep within me.  There had been that one time I drug my own friend into the depths of my pool. The instincts had been too much then and overpowered my control...

Ischia. Yes, I've heard of it.

For a brief moment there is the elated feeling I'd been longing for.  Just hearing the name of my home rushes the feeling through my body.  A warmth I have not felt within the vast abyss of the ocean I had occupied for quite some time.  It is also in that brief moment that something else within me begs caution.  That in my minds wanderings I've forgotten who, or what, company I have found here.  I see it now in his eyes, a darkness.  It banishes the warmth to a bone quacking chill.  One that has my legs buckling and stepping away from the dark man. 

Never had the pleasure of visiting myself.

His bringing attention of the mark on his chest stirs more feeling within.  Ivar has scars, my sister has scars.  It was not usually gentle things that mar the flesh so deeply. My ears twist, half searching for the faint lapping of waves I have left the safety of.  Half listening to the shadow creature speak, yet again.

I don't think I'd much fit in in a place like that... What do you think?

The question seems rhetorical but still I offer an answer just the same.  Ischia, as I had known it, was not immune from the creatures of the darkness, being one such myself.  If it is a sinister darkness in which is implied.  With much smoother tone than expected, I speak, "The Ischia I knew welcomed all."  It is the creature within that begins to pull the strings.  Where my altar equine self would crumble apart, the Siren rose to save face.  "Though this kingdom does suit you well I must say," the words flow like wine as sapphire eyes sparkle, putting even the stars to shame.  My movements now are smooth and flawless, each step placed perfectly.  With the sea still to my back I would have turned tail and tried to run, if I had been in control.  But not now.  Not this time.  The Siren hungers for danger.  Excitement.  And so, I find myself stepping forward, a seductive grin forming across my fine features, baring the faint glimmer of carnivorous teeth. "You should most definitely come visit sometime. My pool there is quite...refreshing," for drink or swim I do not say.