“Dad, what’s behind the horizon?” a young girl asked. She didn’t look older than six, her brown hair was bound into two pigtails. She was sitting on a blanket, next to her a man, her father.

He looked at his daughter, thinking how to best answer her question. Shice she was little, his daughter was fascinated with the ocean. He still remembered her crawling towards the sea, the moment she could. Always asking to go to the beach and look at the waves.

“Hm, a good question. I don’t know to be honest.” Her father bagang. The young girl, Clare, looked at her father in shock. This was the first time her father said that he didn’t know something. “So you don’t know everything?” She asked in disbelief.

“Hahaha, no sadly i don’t.” He gave his shocked and saddened child a quick glance before continuing. She looked like her world just crumbled into pieces, she always believed her parents knew everything.

But the next words of her father took all the sadness away. “I don’t know what's behind the horizon, but I heard stories. Do you want me to tell you?” Clare’s eyes immediately switched from sadness to pure excitement. “Yes! Please tell me. Pretty please.”

“Hahaha, that was a fast switch.” Her father said while patting her head. “Then listen closely. And let me tell you a story about a young adventurer who explores the sea.”

_____

Clare stood at the same beach as back then. It has been ten years since she heard the story of this young adventure from her father. And she has held this story very close to her heart ever since.

As she stood at the familia beach, it almost felt like time stopped. The beach looked the same as it did ten years ago. Reality however was cruel, and time couldn’t be stopped.

Ten years were a long time and she experienced many good as well as bad things. In that time she learned how to sail and fish, how to read the sun and the stars for directions. She learned so many things she never thought she could do, but she still persisted. Pushing herself in order to stand where she stood now.

But these ten years didn’t just bring good things, first was her mother.

____

Clare kneeled before her mothers bed. Her condition had been bad for a while now, she could barely stand, and coughed a lot. Because of that Clare couldn’t do much with her mother, but despite feeling so ill she would always listen to her daughters stories and little adventures around the island.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It became tradition for Clare to tell her mother every night what she did. The smile on her mothers face, when Clare told her about the new goal she had, was so bright that it could rival the sun.

That was Clares way to let her mother experience the wonders outside of their house. So when her mother asked Clare if they wanted to go to the beach together she was over the moon.

That day was the happiest day of her life. Back then she didn’t notice the sad look on her fathers face when the mother and daughter pair left the house. Her mother was healthy after all. Why would anyone be sad?

The two of them sat together on the beach looking at the horizon, and Clare told her about the plans she had for the future. “And when I’m at that underwater city, I will definitely bring a souvenir for the two of you.”

The mother looked at her daughter, who told her about a sunken city as beautifully as the sea itself, and her plans on how to find it. She noticed the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she didn’t want Clare to see, so she hugged her as tight as she could.

“Um mom? Is everything alright?” Clare asked a bit startled at the sudden hug from her mom, but quickly recovered and hugged her back. “Yes.” her mother answered, “I will be waiting for that souvenir.”

That was the last day Clare spent with her mother, and she was never happier then in that moment. Which was quickly followed by the worst day of her life, when she found her father crying over her mothers bed, and saw her mother lying unmoving inside it.

She died with a smile on her face and tears on her cheeks, as she recalled the beautiful day she spent with her daughter, and the lie she told her at the end.

____

The young god awoke, his eyes wet with tears, looking down at the pages of the book, he saw that they were the same, marked with old and new ones. “It felt so real.” he whispered, rubbing the tears away. It was the first time in his life that he felt so sad. It was as if he lived through the emotions of Clare as she wrote this book.

He felt irritated. Before he experienced this vision, he didn’t care much about the girl named Clare, but that had changed. After this vision he started to care more. He started to understand her, the pain she went through, the happiness she felt, and the dream she dreamt.

“Her dream,” he spoke. “Her dream is the same as mine.”

The moment the young god was born he felt an incredible strong urge to see what secrets the sea held. So strong in fact, that he ignored the humans that worshiped him. He was born with a dream.

“To see all the secrets that the ocean held.”

The young god spoke. It wasn’t the exact same dream, but both had a commonality. To see the unknown, to travel through uncharted waters. And in this moment a new dream started to take root in the young god of the sea. One he, again, shared with the young woman named Clare.

Though he still didn’t care about most humans, his interest peaked. He wanted to learn more about her, understand her more.