THE BURNING HEAT of the sun and the noise of the waves crashing on the shore woke Asceia up. She found herself lying naked on the sand, feeling weak, exhausted, and in pain. She didn't move for a minute as she tried to regain her strength. She tried to search for nearby serceans but she didn't find any. She telepathically called for them, but no one answered. She slowly rolled over and pushed herself up. She was feeling dizzy but she found her balance sitting on the hot sand. No human was around, she thought this beach must be privately owned or it was rarely accessed by people.

Staring at the water that was meters from where she sat, her heart started racing. She was hyperventilating as she crawled away from the water. She can't stop her hands from trembling and she felt her eyes water. Until she ran out of strength and dropped back on the sand, desperately trying to calm herself.

"Troy..." she telepathically called. She was worried if Yrevia didn't call off the attack. With all of her remaining strength, she pushed her mind to search for him. She groaned when her head started to ache, the pain was throbbing, but she kept on enduring it. Pushing herself to her limits, she finally found him. She let him tap into her senses. For a second she felt relief knowing he was safe and fine. Their eyes met and she muttered, "Troy..."

And everything went dark again.

••°°••

HAVING HER CONSCIOUSNESS back again, opening her eyes, she was welcomed by the familiar ceiling and scent of the environment. Her worries faded away when she realized she was in the old house owned by Troy's family. She tried moving her hands but she groaned from the stinging pain it caused. She raised her arms and stared at her sunburned skin. She had clothes on, and the scrapes and wounds on her arms were bounded by a bandage. And the pain triggered her memories, what happened to her hurt more than the bruises and burns she currently had.

"I applied moisturizer with aloe vera on your skin, it will help with the burns and wounds." Her eyes darted to the person who had just come inside the room. It was Troy. He was walking towards her bed bringing a paper bag.

She instantly smiled seeing the smile on his face. For a second, her disappointment and anger dissipated. "I'm glad you're safe," she whispered.

He occupied the chair beside her bed. "How are you feeling?"

Looking back to the day it all started, she smiled wryly. All of her struggles, sacrifices, and efforts in saving her people and stopping the war between their kind and the humans ended in her demise. She lost everything. Her mother, the Order, her powers, her people, and the Ocean.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm not fine, Troy. I lost everything," she answered telepathically.

"You still have me...and Frejean. Though she's not here right now because they already left this town, she'll be back soon," he said, trying to cheer her up. "Besides, you also stopped the attack."

"How long was I out?"

"Twenty-four hours, I think."

"And no attacks?"

"Yes, I was monitoring the news and reports, no sercean-related activities were sighted. And the armed men stationed all over the coasts and Philippine seas were gone too."

"She really did it."

"Who? What do you mean?"

"It's a long story, but I was banished from the ocean in exchange for the human's safety."

"Banished? Your kind can do that?"

"It's a powerful curse, only the Order can do it."

"Curse?"

"It's not like the curse in the movies or stories. It's a form of telepathic torture where a sercean mind was forced to fear something. In my case, they made me fear the water. I can't get back in there, anymore."

"And how does that affects you? Losing contact with water?"

"I don't know...but one thing for sure, all of those cursed serceans didn't survive."

"Don't say that. We will find a way."

"Troy, something bad is brewing in the ocean. I can feel it. The new Order has planned something far worse than waging a war against humans."

"If that's so, then let's prepare. We'll be there when that time comes."

"I doubt that I can help, I lost my powers."

"Then we'll find a way..."