20th December 1941 – Deep Below the Atlantic Ocean

The Chasm People/ The Sharka Tribe

Namora paddled her feet for extra speed as she cut through the ocean’s water faster than any missile of mankind could ever manage.

Not for lack of trying… especially now since Mankind was raging a war on the surface that had begun to threaten the Oceans of Atlantis.

Namora darted around, making sharp turns where necessary as she navigated towards The Sharka Tribe, or as they are now known The Chasm People.

The Chasm People had always been a Nomadic tribe until a few years ago when they showed interest in settling down and re-joining the Atlantian Empire once more.

Namora spun in place, gathering currents around her body like an underwater tornado…

Atlanteans were thought to feel the currents so they could never get lost in the Oceans.

Namora took full advantage of the feathered-fins on her ankles that provided her with a unique speed enhancement that few other Atlanteans possessed.

The feathered-fins were usually a genetic trait only prevalent amongst those in the Royal Family.

It allowed Namora to guide fluids and use the innate magic in Atlantean blood to enhance swimming speed.

Still, even when swimming without her feathered-fins, Namora was confident in her swimming capabilities.

Of course, not all Atlanteans could move as unhindered in the water as Namora, but an Atlantean could manage at least 80 mph in the deepest depths of the ocean.

Such a speed could rival most cars of humanity, and even on land, Atlantians were stronger and faster than humans.

Sadly, without water for an extended period of time, regular Atlanteans would find their strength dwindling away after around ten minutes.

Atlanteans were born with a physique suited to withstand harsh temperatures, staggering pressures, and long periods of isolation so it was no surprise that they were superior in every way to the humans that claimed the surface.

Atlanteans aka Homo Mermanus were born with four basic advantages that defined their species.

Amphibious Physiology – the ability to breathe underwater but not the surface…

Superhumanly Acute Senses – the ability to experience the ocean as if they were on land…

Superhuman Strength – the ability to lift four tons easily…

Superhuman Speed – the ability to move fast on land and in the water…

Obviously, Namora was a cut above the rest…

Something she attributed to the fact that unlike everyone else, she was a Human/Atlantean Hybrid, an origin which she shared with few other Atlanteans…

Most notably was The Prince himself – Namor.

It was not rare to discover humans in shipwrecks, but usually, they were killed on sight…

Namora and Namor were amongst the lucky few hybrid children who were allowed to live due to their great potential.

Still, despite her many advantages, Namora noted that Atlanteans were similar to humans.

Humans had talents that separated them from the average, and Atlanteans were much the same.

Some preferred swimming, other preferred crafting weapons, some researched species of the ocean’s depths, and some would occasionally rise to the talent of Atlantean Sorcery.

Still, in an environment where everyone was super strong and unnaturally acute, average Atlanteans, despite their superior physiology to mankind, found themselves feeling relatively normal.

There were as many happy days in Atlantean History as they were sad days…

Atlantean Kingdoms were by no means united, a trait shared with human countries…

War would occur and shake the ocean depths, creating massacres that would lead to the extinction of Ancient Atlantean cultural practices.

Though Atlanteans thought themselves superior to humanity, Namora lived by one simple belief ‘As above, so below’.

Exiting her deep thoughts, Namora was forced to swerve to the side as someone even faster shot past her position with a sonic boom.

While Namora was sure that many could rival her speed in the Ocean, she only had one other person on this mission that could exceed her by so much – Namor, Prince of Atlantis.

‘I can’t believe I was named after him…’ Namora scorned inside her mind, but her irregular heartbeat told a different story from her thoughts.

The tale of unrequited love in the budding.

“We must hurry…” Namor shouted, his voice carried by the water ripples as clearly as it would sound on land “If this is truly the Unforgotten Stone, we must seal it away or destroy it as soon as possible…”

Namora also knew the seriousness of the situation but there was only so much she could do when their official guides were lagging a bit behind.

Soon, five female Atlanteans of varying sub-species made their presence known, catching up to Namora and Namor.

These five, known as The Swift Tide, were riding abnormally large sharks, rays, octopuses, and sea horses respectively.

The Swift Tide was a group of young Atlantean female heroes that recently gained notoriety by defeating several ancient beasts from the depths of The Trench.

From what Namora could understand, their ultimate goal was to put a stop to the discrimination that Atlantean women faced at the whims of Atlantean men.

‘As above, so below…’ Namora thought once more, noting that women were underestimated in both Human and Atlantean society.

Finally arriving at Namora’s side atop her King Shark mount, Kharsa spoke respectfully “I am sorry for slowing you down my liege… our mounts are still young and cannot move so swiftly…”

Kharsa was a famed Atlantean Army General at one point, but these days she had become a hero to the women of all Kingdoms that resided below the Oceans, and even some on the surface.

“Do not mind it, Kharsa…” Namor replied, a pulse rippling from his forehead as he used his Aquatic Telepathy to calm the mounts “I am just a bit anxious given our mission…”

Namor had the unique ability to converse directly with all aquatic creatures, while others took months to tame mounts, he could achieve the same result with single-lined commands.

Sycorax, a rare Atlantean Sorcerer, waved her staff from atop her giant Octopus mount and sent forth a pulse of blue energy that caused the water to brighten and bubble…

Within a couple of seconds, the once exhausted mounts were back to full health, ready to continue the journey anew.

Namora squinted her brows a bit in jealousy since she had little talent with taming Aquatic Beasts and almost no talent in manipulating Eldritch magic.

Her only advantage was the fact that she was like a super-Atlantean compared to other Atlanteans.

As if understanding Namora’s feelings, Sycorax urged her mount to swim next to Namora, placing a tentacle on her shoulder in comfort “Don’t worry Namora… it will take a few more years for your talent with Aquatic Beasts to blossom…”

Namora gave Sycorax a bright smile for her encouragement but she didn’t feel any brighter inside her heart.

She had always sought Namor’s attention, especially now that her teenage heart could understand what ‘love’ is, but she could never get his attention with her lack of talent.

While she was absolutely a talent amongst talents, such a status was not enough to someday guarantee her the seat of the Queen at Namor’s side.

The Queen had to have a hand in all Atlantian Disciplines, including magic... something she had absolutely no aptitude for.

“We have arrived…” Namor shouted, slowing his speed as they approached the valley of The Chasm People.

The Valley was a work in progress since The Chasm People had been a Nomadic Tribe before, hence they were building an entire kingdom from scratch.

Thankfully, that made entrance to the valley relatively easy as Namor, Namora, and members of The Swift Tide just swam towards the tallest pillars in sight.

Namor, Namora, and the others floated down gently and immediately knelt in reverence of the Atlantean that sat on the throne at the center of the massive pillars.

“Greetings your Majesty, Attukar!” Namor greeted, followed by Namora and the others.

It was customary for royalty to greet royalty first before the others would also pay their respect.

“You may stand now, young Namor…” King Attukar responded, gesturing his staff for Namor to stand “You had no obligation to kneel in the first place…”

“I am but a prince… a king need not kneel to another king, but a prince must…” Namor replied, gesturing for Namora and the others to stand upright as well.

There were much more pressing concerns so Namor couldn’t worry about following all the useless proper etiquette of Royalty.

“GRRRRRRR!”

A loud groan escaped the lips of the teenage boy standing next to King Attukar, and the King could only smile wryly as he introduced his son “This is my son, Attuma… he will be joining you on this quest… I hope this becomes a new bridge between our people…”

“As do I…” Namor responded, pushing off the ground and floating in the water once more, signaling that he was ready to tackle the task at hand.

“Why don’t the kings deal with threats as dangerous as the Unforgotten Stone themselves?” Namora inquired, remaining on the ground as a protest to the mission ahead.

King Attukar laughed slightly at her question, while Namor and the others had severe looks as if Namora had committed a serious crime.

It was taboo to question a King.

“YOU!” Attuma yelled, ready to attack Namora but his rage was quelled with a wave of King Attukar’s palm.

“Actually, all the kings below the Oceans are very weak… we have lived nearly three hundred years, and have long past our prime…

Still, we can probably manage to decimate a kingdom using the last of our embers… which means that should any of us leave our kingdoms, we can attack the vulnerable kingdom…

That is why heroes are required to handle the dangerous matters of these times, because should one king move, all the other kings must move as well…” King Attukar explained tiredly.

Of course, King Attukar did not mention that most kings in this era are simply flowered vases due to the lack of conflict over the past thousand years.

Namora nodded and pushed off the ground, floating in the ocean’s water alongside Namor, Attuma, and the others.

With the unfurling of her feathered fins, Namora only left a trail of bubbles as she shot off into the distance, towards the direction of their heroic mission – The Unforgotten Stone.

Namor unfurled his feathered-fins as also shot off, followed closely behind by the mounts of The Swift Tide.

Finally, Attuma directed a final glance at his father as veins squirmed beneath his muscular physique, then he also shot off with greater strength than even Namor and Namora had demonstrated.

-----------------

Not long after Namor and the others left, a guard appeared beside King Attukar’s throne “Are you really sure about this? They will likely die or be corrupted by the Unforgotten Stone…”

King Attukar sighed and seemed to age a dozen years in a mere moment “We have no choice but to do this… Atlantis and our Tribe need to be tied with blood…

Namor and Attuma are males and cannot be wed… so we have to send them on an impossible mission…

Should both princes die to the Unforgotten Stone, we would be united with The Atlantean Empire through the blood of vengeance against the Unforgotten Stone, but should they live…

Both boys will be united by a bond that defies death and struggles…”

“As the King wishes…” The Guard whispered, turning around to exit through a few pillars.

However, King Attukar didn’t even have an inkling of what happened next, the only thing he recognized was a dagger plunged through his heart from behind his throne.

“Wha-wha why?” King Attukar stammered, blood mixing with the crystal clear water.

“Sacrifices must be made to keep the timeline as close to the original as possible…” The Guard whispered, removing the helmet covering her head “Don’t worry dear young King… you were meant to die so I am merely rectifying an error that will occur…”

The fake Guard twirled her fingers and the heavy armor was quickly replaced by an orange monk robe through the use of Eldritch Magic.

The next instant, the unknown individual was gone, leaving behind the corpse of a King.

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Namora, Namor, and the others swam forward at incredible speeds until they detected darkness that seemed to wash over an entire section of the ocean.

The darkness was so palpable that even Namor, as the most powerful, had the urge to turn around and forget all about the Unforgotten Stone.

“So dark!” Sycorax murmured, casting a weak charm that shielded the mounts from the darkness that would have eroded their minds.

“This is a bit unexpected…” Attuma murmured, and then directed a disdainful glance at Namor “If you are scared, best run back home to the palace prince… I will handle this…”

Just as Namor was about to retort, everyone lost sight of Namora as she increased her speed to the maximum in an instant.

--KRKKRKKR!—

The next thing they noticed was Namora holding open enormous pincers that were threatening to behead a dark-skinned human.

“A human?”

Everyone gasped at the fact that a human could make it so far under the ocean…

“Have they truly grown that advanced?” Namor questioned, contemplating if the next great war would be Atlantean against Humanity.

“No, he is dying…” Attuma corrected Namor’s misconception but had no opportunity to explain as five enormous Dark Eels flashed into his peripheral vision.

Being the warrior he is, Attuma was quick to react, directing a punch at the incoming head of an incoming Dark Eel while electricity ravaged his body.

The Swift Tide was a little late to react but they also combatted their respective opponents flawlessly.

Namor was the only one caught off-guard due to staring at Namora and the human.

---------------------

“A human?” Namora asked surprised, it was her first time seeing one in many years.

Seeing that Tyrone was slowly being killed by the pressure of the Ocean, Namora wiggled her feathered fins a bit and bumped their heads together, forcing the currents to flow around Tyrone.

Despite popular belief, Atlanteans could not manipulate the Ocean or any water body…

Such a practice was only reserved for the King who wielded the Trident…

The trident could also only manipulate water through some complex science that Namora could not understand.

Of course, there were unique talents like Namor born with the ability to directly manipulate the water, but even then, it would take years for the ability to be combat-ready.

What most Atlanteans did, that humans referred to as Hydrokinesis, was read the flow of currents.

It was similar to how human sailors could read the ocean’s currents and select the best traveling routes.

Atlanteans, after many years of surviving the depths of the Ocean, could read the currents and apply subtle physical force to alter the currents in their favor.

However, just like anything in life, the technique to manipulate Oceanic Currents takes years of study to learn, and even longer to master so most Atlanteans would never learn the technique in their lifetimes.

Thankfully, Namora was amongst those who could be considered a talent in this area, and that was exactly the technique she used to curve the Oceanic Currents around Tyrone’s fragile human constitution.

“What are you?” Tyrone asked wearily.

Namora could not reply since her hands began to burn with dark eldritch energy, obviously infected with a malicious curse that sought to end her life.

“UGGHHH!” Namora grunted in pain, and Tyrone was quick to take her hands into his own, relieving the pain by allowing the dark eldritch energy to flow into his body.

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