This is the first draft of the prologue/first chapter of a book I plan to write once I finish my other one, Our Star (If you haven't taken a look at Our Star, please do. It would mean the world to me.) I uploaded this to show that I have been working on things lately, believe it or not :) Thanks for reading.

Prologue

Once upon a time there was a far away land, forgotten by the rest of the world. The little pocket of land and water rested beneath the land around it. High canyon walls surrounded it completely, almost impossible to climb. The majority of the little kingdom was made up of water. This is where our story begins… in the midst of the grand ocean was a kingdom… a kingdom beneath the sea.

“Naom! Hey, Naom, wait up!”

Naom swished her fin and turned around to face her friend, Aselmanie. “Hello,” she smiled.

“You don’t have to swim so fast, you know.”

Naom laughed. “Well, if you don’t want them to find us, we have too.” Naom sped up, swimming as fast as she could towards the south-western canyon wall.

“Why are you going that way?” Aselmanie yelled out. “It’s too close to the shore. Hey, Naom, slow down. Let’s hide here!”

Naom didn’t slow down. She kept swimming, laughing as she went. Aselmanie rolled her eyes, yelling out, “When are you going to learn some responsibility? We don’t want you to get hooked!”

Far ahead, Naom could barely hear her friend. The game didn’t really matter to her. She wanted to go as far as she could. She wanted to see one of the aiom. Hide and Seek could never be as fun as that. She approached the canyon wall, and swam up to the surface. Far above she could see grass and bushes. This part of the wall was lower than the rest, though she suspected that if she were able to walk like the aiom she would be able to see it go up further.

She slid behind a large rock, praying that Aselmanie would not direct their friends to her hiding spot. Most of the merfolk were afraid to rise to the surface, though she could not understand why. They would hide in the center of the ocean, cowering whenever a ship floated high above them.

Suddenly, she heard voices above her. They were quiet because of the distance, and she couldn’t make out a word they were saying. Someone seemed to be yelling, and another was sobbing. Naom wondered what could possibly be going on. She ducked under water, suddenly afraid that the one who was yelling might see her. Under the water it was quiet again. Naom glanced around to make sure none of her friends had found her hiding spot yet, and let out a sigh of relief. Wondering how long the game would last she looked up once more, wondering if the aiom were still up there.

Curiosity took over and she let her head break the surface, just in time to see something falling from the cliff. Panicking, Naom rushed to where she projected the object to land, catching it just in time. She quickly swam out of the way, as not to be seen by the aiom. Hiding behind the rock she finally took a look down at what she was holding.

There, in her arms, was a child. A child of the aiom. A little baby girl. An aie.