On the coast of the archipelagos belonging to the planet of Pelagion, a small boy was found nearly dead. The skin of the weak, scrawny boy seemed to glisten under the sun of Pelagion, quivering in pain. An old small stopwatch was tied to his neck. It wasn't long until the local fishermen found him.
"Ugh, this boy's a mess..." One of the fishermen muttered, "Alright, boys, bring him to the village and see if anyone knows who he is."
For the following weeks, the boy became the talk of the village. Eventually, he was adopted by a small family that lived on the outskirts of the village, being bestowed the name Nythera.
Nythera's 15th birthday marked more than just a passing year. It had been 10 years since he was found. Time had a way of molding him—quietly, resentlessly. The stopwatch on his neck was still dormant.
After his celebration he helped his parents fish as usual. His stopwatch never left his neck—not when he was knocked down by tides nor when the local kids teased him. One day merchants from the nearby metropolis came down to the archipelagos.
"It's finally wintertime, huh?" Binah said to one of the merchants.
Binah stood tall with his arms crossed. He was one of the archipelago's council members and Nythera's adoptive father. His chest was covered in intricate cultural tattoos. Nythera clung to his father, he was always quite cowardly when it came to seeing new faces.
"Hehe... indeed." One of the merchants said snarkily "The pigs back at Wyrmara already sent their research teams. The tides finally receded enough for those ancient ruins to reveal themselves."
"Traveling's already tough enough for you fellas." Binah said, "Now that those ruins opened up, i'm expecting more cases of insanity. It doesn't make it better that the creatures of the sea are finally awake too."
Binah sighed. He looked across the merchants and into the endless sea, where he saw the faint sihlouette of Wyrmara, the planet's capital, rested on the horizon
"Winter's already stressful enough for us."
Nythera sat on a nearby pier, looking off into the same waters as his father. His eyes widened as he heard something—a faint whisper brushing against his ear.
"Your destiny awaits beyond..."
The whisper dissolved into silence.
Somewhere beneath Nythera's collar, old gears began to move.