Unbound Tide

Out in the Vonetis Sea, an island called Solari Isle was facing the storm of the century. As the waves rose higher and higher, muffled thunder rumbled through the gray clouds.

The villagers on the island were in a panic—the typhoon had come without warning and one fishing boat had not yet returned from the sea. They prayed to an ancient idol, hoping that the girl with the blood of the Great Serpent would hear them and bring their kin back safely.

That girl's name was Kalea.

The children, hugging their toys made in the image of the Great Serpent, began to sing a song.

"The wind howls; the waves roar. O Great Serpent, mighty as a mountain, hold back the raging tides..."

Their singing gradually faded in the increasingly fierce storm. Suddenly, a serpent tail swept through the waves and headed towards the depths.

Legend has it that a thousand years ago, a gigantic serpent emerged from the ocean to protect this island. It swallowed the typhoons and held off waves as high as the mountains with its body until it had exhausted all of its power. Before the Great Serpent perished, it left behind an egg. A thousand years later, a girl miraculously hatched from the egg. She had a human body, a gift from the land, and a sea serpent's tail, a blessing from the ocean. The goddess Kadita named her Kalea and took her to the sea where she secretly watched her grow up.

"Oh Mister Sea Turtle, why do you swim so slowly?" Kalea joked, as she wrapped her tail around the sea turtle and flung it across the sea with surprising strength. After seeing the splash way in the distance, she nodded with satisfaction. "You're welcome!"

"Silly sharks, why are you so weak?" Kalea spun her tail at great speed, stirring up a strong undercurrent. The sharks were tossed up and down, but Kalea effortlessly swam off. "Oh, it must be because your tails are so tiny!"

Kalea firmly believed that it was her weak, human-like body that was holding her back: "Look at those feeble humans. They're slower than the turtles, and even scared of the sharks!" If only she didn't have these bothersome arms and legs, she thought, then she could swim even faster! If she could finally take the form of the Great Serpent, no monster in the sea or on land would be a match for her! Oh, how she longed for that day. Kadita, who had been secretly watching over her, appeared and explained that she could not just shed her skin like a serpent. Unwilling to accept Kadita's words, Kalea challenged all manner of powerful creatures, hoping to prove herself worthy of the Great Serpent's power.

One day, while wandering the beaches of Solari Isle, Kalea was attacked by a swarm of corrupted elementals. Hearing the commotion, the villagers, led by Badang, came to her rescue. Badang erected giant walls of sand with his fists to split the enemy, while the villagers threw spears and fishing nets to subdue them. Ultimately, their combined efforts were successful in defeating the rogue elementals.

"These humans... maybe they're not so weak after all..."

Kalea began to secretly study how Badang fought with his fists as she quietly learned to peel bananas with her fingers. As the descendant of the Great Serpent, she was always reluctant to lower herself to learn from mortals, yet she couldn't help but be curious about their peculiar lives. Even though she tried to keep her distance from the villagers, she found her power was inexplicably connected to them. Whenever her power surged outward, it would always seek out those in need and heal them.

"I'm just here to test my strength against Badang!" Kalea would explain as she appeared more and more often around Solari Isle. Badang would always smile helplessly and act defeated. He saw from their sparring that the girl's heart was no longer set on just proving her strength.

Knocking down a whole coconut tree with one punch, freeing a stranded fishing boat with her tail—such acts were not just for her pride. When the villagers gathered to thank her, Kalea would always put her hands on her hips and proudly say something like, "I wasn't trying to help you, I was just bored and exercising my tail!" But all the while, the villagers could see her face blushing from the attention.

With a splash, Kalea leaped to action. She grabbed the side of the boat and gently deposited the fallen fishermen back on board with her tail. "Humans really are fragile! But you're pretty brave to be out here, even when you don't have a tail!" Kalea proclaimed while standing proudly and tapping the deck with her tail. The Great Serpent's power surged from her body and flowed into the fishermen, causing them to cough up the seawater they swallowed. Miraculously, they regained their strength as if nothing had happened.

"I'm sorry the boat can't be saved, but you two will get to witness the power of the Great Serpent!" Without waiting for a reply, Kalea grabbed the hands of the fishermen and dove off the boat as she zoomed towards the shore.

With her tail, she bounced over the waves, riding the wind and breaking through the surf. Kalea saw her reflection flickering in the parting waters; her tailing, swaying with purpose, and her hands, holding tightly onto the fishermen. That was who she was. She was no longer fixated on becoming the Great Serpent. As for the power that she once sought to contain, she finally realized she had already found its purpose.

"I guess this body isn't so bad after all!"

With the turbulent waves behind her, the shore came into sight. A child hugging a toy of the Great Serpent excitedly pointed towards the sea and shouted:

"Look! It's Kalea!"