I straighten slightly, my mind’s eye showing me palaces covered in gold, women at my beck and call, and the other gods grovelling at my feet. As quickly as I conjure it, I know it’s not right. That’s not who I am. Not what I want. How can someone so rebellious ever keep others in order? Who wants that sort of life? Not me.
I reflect on how fortune’s whim changed the trajectory of this young woman’s life. Instead of prison, she had become an Army Ranger. One so deadly, a shadowy agency recruited her for the government’s most sensitive and dangerous off-books missions. Arguably a better direction, but one that would test her concepts of honor and service. Well, the government’s loss is my gain.
All this lurked down here? How could I not know? I’m the ruler of the deep, and I’m dumbstruck by the creatures before me. I have felt their lives pass through the trident, but I could never see them, they were not immortal. Even the Trident has limits.
The barrette begins to glow, and I feel a strange energy pull at my soul. I try to fight against it, to stay in reality, but this power is stronger than I am. My eyes slowly close, and I slip into the darkness.
