Part of Your World

Prologue

If you looked out into the ocean today, you would recognize only what you have acknowledged your entire life. A deep, dark expanse of blue. Humans long ago forgot how to look deeper than the naked eye allows. If they hadn't, you could look into the sea and find an entirely different world, filled with magic and wonder. You would see the cities, creatures, and magic that lives just below the surface of that mysical blue. If you were to sail between the two continents humans have dubbed "Europe" and "Africa", you may even find yourself floating over one of the greatest sea kingdoms known to man. Atlantica.

Altantica was an enchanted kingdom ruled by the just King Triton, and his beautiful wife, Athena. Atlantica was a place of merpeople, and of magic. If you could only see what it had looked like! What it had been like! A single glance would reveal to you an entire realm of laughter and joy. Merfolk swam everywhere, though there was no traffic (mind you this was before roads confined everyone to singular paths.) A peep into a beauty parlor would reveal dark skinned mermaids having beautiful shells braided into their hair. If you were to splash into a restaurant, you would find tables full of merfolk, chatting happily while they ate. They had a society very similar to ours, only much more efficient. You see, these creatures didn't have a specific monetary system. Instead, they traded goods for what they required. A few good shells could get someone a nice oyster dinner for two. In this way, there were no conflicts or money troubles, excluding the occasional bicker over the worth of a dozen pearls.

But the jewel of this kindgdom was Triton's castle itself. It was an extravegant palace, centered in the very heart of the kingdom. It was a wonder, showered in gold, with 8 tall pillars, intertwined and interconnected. In this palace resided many servants, in addition to the Royal Family of Atlantica. This consisted of the King, Queen, and their 7 daughters. Each girl had a slighty different personality than the rest, although if one wasn't paying very careful attention, it would be difficult to find any variation. Only one of the seven girls really stood out.

Ariel was the youngest of the King Triton's children, and by far the most rebellious. She didn't do it on purpose, she was simply forgetful and reckless, as many children are. Ariel was  obsessed with the surface world, the land above the waves. It was a different realm of possibilities to her, and she longed desperately to visit it. She would spend day after day collecting artifacts from a place she had only been to in her dreams. In this way she became attached to a world she'd never even seen.

As the years went on, the kingdom's reach spread and its people were happy. Ariel's collection filled her childhood room, and as she grew, she begged her father to tell her more stories about the world above. He happily obliged, watching with fascination as his young daughter's dreams blossomed. Little did he know that the surface world's dreams grew too. But to King Triton their dreams would soon become his hellish reality.