Prologue

Silence. It was almost always silent in the shrine of the Goddess of Water, save for the echoing sound of water droplets falling either onto the ground or into the pool of water.

Suiren was perplexed. Villagers generally didn't leave her offerings so late at night; let alone treasure boxes locked shut. The child-looking goddess held the chest in her hands as her golden eyes scanned over it. Whoever had placed it in her cave-shrine hadn't revealed themselves. In fact, Suiren had been asleep when they walked in. It was an impressive feat, she thought, for someone to be able to sneak up on her.

She walked over towards one end of the cave where a piece of rock jetted out from the wall, forming a table of sorts. She set the treasure chest on it and tried to open it up by force; the wood cracked and nearly broke because of the force Suiren used. She stopped immediately and shook her head. "I shall have to show Master Takushiki this tomorrow," the goddess mused aloud.

Leaving the chest on the rock, Suiren walked over towards the pool of water. She did not sleep on a normal bed; she slept surrounded by what she loved most, the water.

It could have been considered cold but Suiren was used to it by now. Once she was in the water her legs transformed, as did the bottom of her dress, moving together and shifting. By the time Suiren began to make her way over to the one rock she laid her upper half upon, Suiren's legs and bottom of her dress had shifted into a blue fish tail. From where her ears were jutted out two fins and the golden arm bracers, with their three red jewels, also formed two fin-like appendages, but instead of blue they were gold.

Generally, Suiren wore her hair up, but she never did so when she slept. She undid the bandage-looking bands around her pigtails and allowed her hair to fall down to her waist, where her lower half turned into a fish tail. After setting the bandages next to her rock Suiren rested her top half against it and shut her eyes, determined to fall back asleep.

However, as Suiren fell into unconsciousness she didn't notice the purple glow coming from the treasure chest, nor did she hear the clicking of the locks. The only thing she heard was the familiar dripping of water and nothing else.