Whelmed

Kiora waited.

Mostly patiently.

When the great beast the locals called Tromokratis had emerged from the depths - shark teeth gnashing, crab claws snapping, various unattributable appendages.... noodling - she had been decidedly nonplussed.

When Tromokratis breached the surface and let loose an echoing bellow - with the immense pressures of the deepest depths where he resided "off his chest", so to speak, Tromokratis was exploring exciting new magnitudes in his ragesongs - Kiora shook her head to quell the ringing in her ears, but was otherwise unmoved.

And when Tromokratis had taken his first mighty stride towards land and raised a towering wall of water; when the sea was rising and overtaking the sky, when the great wave was crashing and scouring the land and sea everywhere except Kiora's immediate vicinity, Kiora had been underwhelmed.

Later she might admit to herself that she had been "whelmed" a little. But not "over-". Never "over-".

She had seen much, much worse.

She still saw them, whenever she closed her eyes. When she descended to the pitch black, silent depths, she could hear those skittering, slithering hordes. When she dreamed, she dreamed of those monstrosities emerging from their prisons, the eye not quite able to comprehend them, even in dream. In her waking visions, she saw them still devastating her home, and as she felt her mana-bonds vanishing, she knew these visions to be prophecy.

She had felt a little bad as she broke the god-forged chains that had held Tromokratis deep beneath the sea. She had doubted herself as she watched the kraken unleash its fury upon the natives of this plane.

But she had needed to see it. And now that she had, she knew that it didn't begin to match the scale of the destruction being wreaked upon her own home now.

Merfolk don't know the saying "fight fire with fire," but Kiora had always been a fast learner.

So she waited.

And watched.

And explored.

And in her wake, she left destruction, and a few survivors with newfound respect for the sea.

And one day, when she finds what she seeks, she will return to take back her home.