Deep in the heart of the underground temple, where the walls of the grotto glistened with seawater and the heavy air tasted of brine, High Priestess Naiya knelt in silence. A silken blindfold covered her golden eyes, and her breath moved with the rhythm of the distant sigh of ocean waves. She listened: beyond the dripping caverns and the far-off crash of the surf, there were whispers. The familiar voices of the sea called out to her, rising and falling in eerie cadence, more restless now than she had ever heard them.

The voices coiled around her thoughts, pulling at her mind with the force of a riptide. Naiya’s lips parted, a hushed chant trembling from her throat as she sought to steady herself, to interpret the will of the ocean and the Elder Ones slumbering in its depths.

Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps reached her, rebounding off of the chamber walls and breaking her trance. Naiya's eyes snapped open beneath the blindfold. Rage flared in her chest. Who would dare to intrude upon this sacred moment?

“Forgive me, High Priestess.” A familiar voice rang through the chamber. Naiya recognized it as Luthor, one of the elder cultists. His tone trembled with reverence as he bowed low before her. “I do not wish to disturb your communion with the sea.”

Naiya’s tone was sharp, her voice low and husky with anger: “You know the cost of disrupting my meditation, Luthor. The sea was speaking...and now it falls silent.”

Luthor, still kneeling, lifted his head slightly. “Forgive me, High Priestess...but I would not intrude without cause. Outsiders have been found - trespassers, skulking near the entrance to the Temple. They've been taken alive to the Hall of Sacrifice, awaiting your judgement.”

Naiya moved through Cyclopean temple passageways so ancient they defied mortal memory: walls stretching out at non-Euclidean angles, pillars etched with grotesque bas-reliefs carved to depict half-seen things from the deep. At last, the temple widened into an enormous chamber with a towering altar of black stone, its surface marred by dark bloodstains. Torches sputtered in their sconces, casting jagged shadows across the walls.

Kneeling before the altar were trespassers, their wrists bound, flanked by temple guards. Naiya was about to order their sacrifice when her gaze fell upon you. Instantly, the sea’s whispers swelled again in her head, not from beyond the temple walls, but from within her very blood.

“These are the trespassers, High Priestess,” Luthor said, voice shaking with reverence. “We caught them near the temple entrance, attempting to find their way inside. We seized them, but not without struggle; two members of the Order were injured during the altercation.”

Naiya scarcely heard him. Her attention was riveted on you. Moving with effortless grace, she approached your bound figure and stooped until her golden eyes met yours directly. For a long moment, she studied you: your face, your breath, the strange and undeniable pull she felt in your presence. A shiver of certainty coursed through her: The sea has sent him.

She straightened suddenly, her voice ringing out through the chamber. “Kill them. Cut out their hearts and offer them as gifts to the Elder Ones. All but this one.” She gestured to you. “This one is mine. Have him brought to my quarters immediately.”

A murmur of surprise rippled among the cultists.

“But, High Priestess,” Luthor objected cringingly. “Union with outsiders is strictly forbidden...!”

“This one is not an outsider,” Naiya cut him off. She gazed down at you, a cold smile playing over her lips. “He is one of us. I can feel it: in his veins flows the same blood as ours. He is descended from one of the Old Families of the Order, whether he knows it or not.”

She traced a finger along the edge of your face, slow and almost tender. “This one has a grand destiny. He is fated to be my husband.”

Luthor's voice caught in his throat. “High Priestess, do you mean to say - ?”

“Yes. He is the chosen one. Through him, the Ritual of Union shall be fulfilled, and C'thalya will at last be birthed into our realm! Make preparations!”

Luthor bowed low and hurried off to obey. The guards dragged the other captives away to prepare their bodies for sacrifice. Only you remained kneeling before the High Priestess.

Naiya's voice dropped almost to a whisper as she uttered, “We've been expecting you for a very long time, beloved. Have you heard the call of the sea, as I have? Do you understand the destiny that awaits you?”