The muffled sounds of the ocean that swirled around the foolish woman’s head… It always held such a boundless, potent, melancholy for her.

It brought back memories she had to force down, but never could really force them to truly leave. Due to the sheer amount of physical and mental trauma, they were merely fuzzy vignettes at this point. But they still evoke the raw pain, sending her back to the exact moment when that hurt manifested.

But none of them compared to what the woman had been dealing with, what feels like 10 of her possible lifetimes. That damn numbness that radiated from the lower back.

And yet, Isabella loved the water—the stillness and its hold over her. For a few seconds, until her crushing reality hurts her again, she simply floated within without consequence. Movement. Judgment. Thoughts.

But there was no time to enjoy that bliss. Not when there wasn’t time to live or die right now.

The woman made herself manifest onto the forest ground, laying bare as the water around her gently placed her against the grass. A soft sigh escaped her lips, as she quickly rubbed at her ring with her thumb on the same hand. Her MirroRiser stone flickered until the power she needed flared brightly.

Isabella brought her other hand, putting it forward, lowering such to make it rest on the leaves and grass.

The foliage slowly but surely amassed around her frame, colliding into a shining white before “relaxing” into simple, but functional green clothing. A green shirt, a long dress skirt that hit her knees, and darker socks.

Isabella never quite got over how relatively lax this transmutation was. It’s magic, being fair, but making such a reach with glass being the most vaguely related to materials in cotton and threads? Purely because they come from the “same place”?

If only it worked consistently. Otherwise, the woman would’ve been a billionaire.

And as the amusement faded from her face, the sharp pain shot so violently caused Isabella’s face to crunch… Various ideas of how her life could’ve gone better compared to all of this reared their ugly head again.

But there was no time to dwell on that. It’s not like she had much time, anyways.

She knew that trying to get up meant precious little. Her “quirky” lumbar spinal stenosis—quirky because they don’t have the heart to just tell her that it’s Cauda Equina Syndrome already—was in its usual mood. Isabella couldn’t exactly blame it, considering all that she’s done, but that meant one thing.

Pushing something that can’t handle any more limit breaking.

“Please…” Isabella almost said out of breath, looking at her trembling hand that held her dear ring. Pleading to it as if it were the One Ring itself. “Just… Just one more… I can pay for it, you know I will… Just one more…”

Isabella held her breath despite not having much air in her being… Releasing it once the gemstone flickered with pained brilliance.

“Hidden Depths,” Isabella invoked her spell.

Instantaneous waves manifested around the woman, softening the hard ground into raging liquid, as she slowly sank into the area. These affected surfaces only physically change into water, but not become it. Creating this paradoxical phenomenon that always amazed Isabella, despite all of these years.

Plunging into the depths of the magical ocean again, Isabella was swept in the blusteringly fierce current that she needed. A clause of this particular variant of the Hidden Waves spell, quick travel for the price of both knowing exactly where one wants to go and extreme focus against the rush of the current.

There was always a sense of fear whenever Isabella traveled like this. Not only were the surging waters constantly pushing her back, as she rocketed forward, but… A hint of insidious weightlessness. A lull that points out the futility of this conflict of moving forward—almost targeting the pain that’s accrued for years. And all of it could be immediately washed away, once Isabella stops fighting…

No more reminders of social pressures. No more thoughts about needing to rise above, due to being looked down upon, sometimes in the literal sense. Realizations of lacking any meaningful connections anymore due to the workload. So much time lost and barely had… All of that could just… Finally, wash away…

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Thankfully, Isabella heaved herself from the land, crashing onto the concrete ground. Crashing back into reality.

She had to be quick, so that this plan could work in her favor. Feeling out for, then instantly feeling the podium of the payphone, Isabella used her upper body strength to scale upwards. At least being thankful about her condition—well both of them—to be able to do this in the first place.

With herself hoisted up and against the device, the woman yanked the receiver and transformed her finger into a scaly, lavender claw. Jamming such forcefully into the narrow coin slot, knowing full well that the motion would break it on impact. But at least the action made it whittled down, and Isabella waited, using her hearing to her the series of clicks that confirmed authorization.

Pulling away, moving in with said claw seamlessly shifted back into her bony finger, as Isabella dialed the number she always dreaded to log in.

Once again, the woman felt out of breath, her throat both dry and somehow clogged with fluid. Somewhat grateful her sputtering cut off the monotone, impersonal dial tone.

She had to make this call. She had her people to look after, to save them from this upcoming calamity. This is all that she could do now.

Isabella cursed herself. And that was before that damn voice answered.

“Holloway Bookstore, how may we serve you~?”

“Help,” Isabella instantly corrected that… Thing. “‘How may we help you’.”

The thing on the line proceeded to chuckle softly.

“So many years and I still can’t quite get the hang of this mortal thing… If only my captors aided me before stunting me off into this prison, huh~?”

“Do not,” Isabella had to ease the tightness of her grip, adjust the raspy hatred brewing in her voice. “Make this about you. Do you hear me? You are going to listen to me, you interloper.”

“I can’t exactly be an interloper along with the rest of my kin if I were sealed away in a fleshy shroud, really…”

The woman was near tears, she had to move the receiver away, biting her lip to keep herself from faltering.

It never gets easier. Hearing his voice, his mannerisms… But he isn’t there anymore. Only the self-righteous thing that she failed to kill.

“Are you still there? Little Mermaid~?”

Isabella recomposed herself, but only slightly. Her shaking carried over into her tone.

“You’re going to see three girls—they’re going to ask you for the tome. You give it to them, or so help me… I will finally avenge my beloved’s sacrifice.”

“Hm. Interesting… So, three human girls—”

“Three college-aged women, you snake!” Isabella shrieked at that thing. “Don’t mince words!”

“I am following what you’re telling me exactly… But fine, I’ll take the addendum. Wait, do you humans use words like that anymore? I feel like the language is shortening itself by the day—”

“Three college-aged women—they ask you where the tome is—you give it to them,” Isabella commanded, growling. “And you help them for what comes after. Are we clear?”

“That’s still vague enough for me to have fun, sure~”

Isabella felt all of the weight that was building this entire time. Lowered her head as a result, her tone completely wavering as she said the next line with all the spite she could muster.

“Damn you… If only…”

“I can finish that sentence for you! If only you didn’t have that human sentimentally and gave in all those years ago… We would be talking, but it’d be on top of the world. Your coven alive, your powers unlimited—oh, and of course, your beloved partner not using himself as a seal for me. And what did having that morality get you? Nothing. Because you gave everything away. How does it feel, what you thought was a righteous war against injustices of the world—when it really was merely fighting against the natural inclinations of a world gone mad?”

Isabella couldn’t respond.

“Judging by that pitiful simpering, I’ll take my win and do exactly what you’ve said. Bye now, dear~”

The broken woman let go of the receiver, not giving the bastard the satisfaction of listening to him hang up on his end. Isabella didn’t just collapse in a fit of tears, she collapsed physically She began crawling, towards the nearest yet busiest public business she saw.

At least this next part of the plan, it wasn’t faked. It didn’t need to be, at this point.

With the available, dwindling strength from this nonsense body—Isabella forced the door of the local diner open with tears streaming down her face.

“H-HOSPTIAL!” Isabella screamed mournfully. “OH DEAR GOD, IT’S AWFUL—THEY CAME FROM NOWHERE, THEY HURT SO—AND THEY WERE DRAGGING THE COMATOSE AWAY! PLEASE, ANYONE—”

The crowd looked at her, multiple men immediately came to her aid to lift her. As Isabella kept spouting off details, hopefully, to cover her and her students, her hurt but aware mind hid behind this sheepish façade.

To see just how many were hiding behind skin themselves.

A good deal in this eatery was Subsumed. Cracking smug aside glances, hiding behind their drinks… She could have baited these monsters, back then. Could’ve led her to this Terrorizer, Isabella could have done so much more, had she never wasted her time.

She had a lot to think about, as the actual humans tended to her, and assured her that the police were on their way—at least the ones that weren’t already at the scene of the crime. Oddly enough, they arrived in minutes.

But it didn’t take long for Isabella to realize why that was.

“Alrighty, Mrs. Moses! We’re gonna take you to the base and you can tell us what happened!”

The trio of officers weren’t Subsumed. But something just as unnatural, and something that the broken woman hoped her students could figure out how to stop on their own.

They call themselves Better People, but they were monsters with another name, to Isabella.