Shui

水
Shui

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Raised deep in the realm of the Tidelord, Shui has always felt the call of the sea. It was in his blood from the day he was born, singing him to sleep at night and waking him just before the dawn. He has witnessed the colors of sunsets on the water and the colorlessness of the sky in a storm, driving and gray like the most violent night. The depths were his to explore, and the older he got, the farther he dove, ready and willing to explore.

But then the monsters came.

Sometimes, in the dark heart of Sea of a Thousand Currents, things stir, things that have been asleep for thousands of years. They rustle and shake and come alive, hungry after their slumber. And they come to the surface in search of sustenance.

Shui is lucky to have survived. When the first beasts were rising, he was diving deep into the Leviathan Trench, searching for sunken treasures or ancient pearls, all ready to be dredged up and carried to shore. Such items always turned a profit, something he used to support his parents as they grew older and couldn’t spend nearly so much time training and scouting in the sea anymore. Slinking through a decomposing skeleton of something great, he had been hidden behind a massive rib, and the beasts had not seen him. They cast great shadows on the ocean floor, blotting out what little life was left, and they rose in groups, their cries echoing dark and deep through the water.

After that, the violence began. The beasts raided clan after clan, driven by primal hunger. There was nowhere safe to go, and in fear of his life, Shui fled the sea to the driest place he could imagine. There, he found Clan Kumvera, situated comfortably far from any water deep enough to hold anything half as big as a single beast, and he lived there for months merely as a refugee, scared to stay, scared to go, waiting for news that it might be safe to seek his family again. But no news came, nothing definitive, so he stayed still longer until he was approached by Norgaladir and offered a job: earn his keep as a member of the Sky Warriors, or begin the journey home. One or the other.

He accepted the job, paralyzed by the thought of giant eyes in the dark of the trench. Norgaladir outfitted him with his own uniform, and now he flies in formation with nine others, patrolling the Shifting Expanse for signs of trouble. His lust for adventure has been dampened, clearly, but he works hard to make a living among the Kumverans, eager to do well. Of course, one eye will always be turned homeward, no matter how much effort he gives to the Sky Warriors; the thought of news arriving one day fills him with joy and dread simultaneously, and he hopes that one day, when the news comes, he will be strong enough to face it. For now, though, he waits, training himself to be stronger. To be unafraid.

Bio by Tues.