"Fiiiinnley. Hello! Earth to Finnley! You alive in there, pal?" A blonde haired woman with dog ears spoke to the shark man leaning against the cafe's counter.
"You've been staring pretty intensely at your phone for the last ten minutes, what's so interesting? Customers will be coming in soon, it's not like you to be lazing around playing on your phone when the cafe has just opened, whatever you found must be good if it's got your attention so much!" The dog woman, Goldie, spoke again, tilting her head to the side, looking quite curious. Finally, Finnley looked over at her, looking momentarily confused.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I zoned out." Finnley apologized sheepishly. Goldie suddenly started smirking, her tail wagging behind her.
"Oh, I get it! You were daydreaming about your boooyfriiennnd~!" Goldie giggled, laughing loudly as Finnley quickly grabbed a nearby magazine and threw it at her, which she avoided by stepping out of the way.
"Oh, shut it, you! I don't have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend so don't even start on that either!" Finnley growled, clearly annoyed by the blue eyed woman's antics.
"Don't you have stuff to do? If I remember correctly, you're in charge of doing dishes this morning, and wiping down tables, and sweeping in front of the cafe..." Goldie groaned loudly as Finnley began listing off her tasks for the morning
"Bec ain't gonna be happy when he comes in if you haven't done your job. Wanna get scolded again like yesterday? And the day before? And the day before that?".
"Fiiiine, I'm going, I'm going!" Goldie huffed. Turning his attention back to his phone for a moment, Finnley quickly finished reading the news article he had been reading on his phone when he zoned out. The article was about sign ups for a swimming competition that would soon be held at the beach of the city where he lived. He didn't do well with lots of people watching him, but Finnley still desperately wanted to sign up, and compete in the competition. He adored swimming, and he was quite good at it as well, and this competition would give him the chance to finally show off his skill, something he had longed to do for quite awhile.
After taking a few moments more to think and make up his mind, Finnley put his phone away, deciding it wouldn't hurt to try signing up. According to the news article, the place to sign up for the competition was at the beach. He would head there after his shift at the cafe was over, since the cafe happened to be fairly close to the beach, the location of the cafe being one of the many reasons why Finnley chose to work there instead of getting a better job.
The bell above the cafe's front door jingled, signalling that a customer had arrived, making the blue-gray haired shark turn his attention towards taking the person's order.
---
"Heading out already?" A girl with tiger features and short black hair asked Finnley curiously as he took his apron off, and picked up his bag.
"Yeah. Got stuff to do today. I'll see you tomorrow, Akira." Finnley answered, reaching over and playfully ruffling the girl's hair, despite her protests, before walking to the front door of the cafe.
"Okay, then. I'll see you tomorrow too." Akira waved to Finnley as he walked out. Akira spoke so quietly, Finnley was often unsure what she even said half the time. The girl was quite shy, and he had yet to ever see her stand up for herself when a customer would harass her, which unfortunately happened quite often, leading Finnley to have to look after her while they were at work. Over time, he had begun to see her as a little sister, leading to him playfully picking at her by ruffling her hair as he had done just a few moments ago, or doing small things he knew would annoy her slightly, but still make her laugh from time to time. Finnley often worried about her due to her shyness and lack of confidence.
After making a quick stop at his apartment so he could change out of his work clothes and into his regular clothes, Finnley arrived at the beach. Spotting a booth with a few people crowded around it, Finnley began making his way towards it.
"This is the place to sign up for the competition that's being held soon at this beach, right?" Finnley asked the red haired man running the booth, once he was finally able to get past the other people.
"That would be correct, yes. My name is Benny, I'm the one who is running the competition. You are here to sign up for it, I'm assuming?" Benny asked. Finnley nodded.
---
The next day at work, Finnley could barely contain his excitement, and was doing his tasks quite cheerfully. Finally, he would have a chance to show off how well he could swim! Leaning against the cafe's main counter was Goldie, watching the shark curiously. Akira stood behind her, holding a broom to sweep with, but instead watching Finnley as well.
"So, uh... Who are you exactly? You're definitely not Finnley, he's never that happy about wiping down tables!" Goldie asked, earning her a glare from the shark.
"He might be acting a bit strangely, but judging by the look he just gave you, he's definitely Finnley." Akira answered the dog woman.
"Hmm, guess you're right, Kira. That's a certified Finnley glare right there. Anyways, what's gotcha so happy, buddy?"
"I signed up for a swimming competition yesterday." Finnley answered. Goldie gasped, looking amazed, as did Akira.
"Really?! I didn't know you had it in ya! ...But you're Finnley, you'll probably get nervous and chicken out last minute." Goldie earned herself another glare.
"That's great, Finnley! When is the competition being held? I'll be sure to come watch and cheer for you!" Akira asked.
"It's this Saturday, at one am. They are doing it at the beach."
"Ah, darn. I gotta work on Saturday, that means I can't come torment you before you start!" Goldie whined.
"You'll have to make sure you torment him for me, okay, Kira?"
"I... Would rather not... He'll probably already be nervous, I wouldn't want to upset him too..." Akira squeaked quietly.
"Bah, you're no fun!" Finnley couldn't help but be amused by his co-workers antics. Goldie might be a pain sometimes, but in the end, he knew she was just joking and playing around, no matter how much of a prick she might be being. ...Speaking of pricks, where was one of the cafe's regular customers? He didn't come in yesterday, either.
---
On the day of the competition, Finnley felt excited, but also like he was about to die from nervousness. However, his excitement quickly began fading once he arrived at the beach, and saw how dark the clouds were. It was clearly about to storm, though the weather forecast had said it would be sunny.
"All competitors, please come this way and verify yourselves, and then you shall be lead to the starting point!" Finnley heard someone call. Glancing at the water, there were buoys to help guide swimmers in the direction they are supposed to go, and a small boat farther off in the water. There was a surprising amount of people around as well. Surely Benny didn't intend to go through with the competition when it was clearly about to storm...? The waves would make it difficult for people to stay above water.
Against his better judgement, Finnley decided to go ahead and verify himself. Maybe they'd cancel the competition last minute, and reschedule for another day?
Afterwards, Finnley and the other swimmers, around fifteen of them in total, were led to the spot on the beach where they were to start the competition, which happened to be the dock. There were plate things with each swimmer's number on it lined up on the dock, and the buoys in the water led to the boat Finnley had noticed. There had yet to be any announcement of it being cancelled...
"Hey, bro, you sure this is a wise idea? Bouta storm pretty badly, I don't got a good feelin' bout this." One of the swimmer's, a ginger haired woman, called out to someone. Looking around, Finnley noticed she seemed to be talking to a certain red haired man, who was sitting in the life guard tower. Where was the actual life guard...? Maybe on the boat?
"Eh, it'll be fine, no need to worry sweetheart.The weather forecast said it isn't going to rain today, so it isn't going to. And if it does, oh well. Everyone will be done swimming by then, I'm sure." Benny called down to the woman. Finnley didn't have a good feeling about this. He should back out now while he has a chance. But... This might be his only chance to show off how well he can swim, sure people visiting the beach on normal days could see him, as would anyone at the public pool when he swam there, but not like this. He was awkward and nervous a lot of the time, so this might be his only chance to actually make something of himself too...
He noticed a few of the swimmers decided to leave, leaving ten of them in total.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Time for the event to begin! Grab your snacks and drinks, and let's see which of these fine swimmers will arrive back at the goal first! They will be swimming to the boat we rented just for the occasion, and back!" Benny spoke, using a megaphone. The clouds had gotten even darker, and the wind had begun to pick up, but it was too late to back out now. Hopefully Benny was right, and it wouldn't start raining until after they finished swimming.
"On your marks, get set... Go!"
---
This was a mistake, Finnley quickly decided. Only a few minutes after all the swimmers had jumped into the water, it had began raining.
He swam quickly, hoping to make it to the boat and back before the waves got bad. He found it much easier to swim when he was actually under the water, so although it was a bad idea considering the situation, he did it anyways. He could swim quicker this way, so hopefully he could make it back to the dock in time.
The waves had already gotten pretty rough by time Finnley reached the boat, which didn't take long. Taking a quick moment to catch his breath, he pushed off the boat and began swimming back towards the dock. As he swam, he began finding it harder and harder to stay above the water long enough to catch his breath, wave after wave crashing down on him. Before long, it was clear things weren't going to go the way they were intended.
"Help me!" Finnley heard someone shout. Oh no. He dove under the water, hoping he could see the person. Once he spotted the person, desperately flailing around in an attempt to stay above water long enough to catch their breath, clearly having begun to panic, he began swimming towards them. Finnley was having a hard time swimming himself, but he couldn't leave this person. He wasn't sure if there were even any life guards around to help them.
Before he could reach the person, he realized he desperately air, and started to swim back towards the surface. He was quickly pummeled by wave after wave, and was not getting the chance to breathe. After being forced back under the water again, Finnley tried once again to stay above the water long enough he could get air.
Only to feel something tugging on his leg, preventing him from reaching the surface this time. Oh no. No no no no no. Finnley reached down quickly, desperate to get untangled from whatever had found its way around his leg. He was unable to tell what it was, and was having trouble getting untangled. His lungs felt like they were about to burst. He had to get free, he had to!
The shark continued to struggle, and it seemed as though whatever had wrapped itself around his leg was getting more tangled the more he tried to untangle it. It couldn't end like this! No!
He felt himself beginning to lose strength. No, no, no, he couldn't drown. He couldn't die here. What about his father, Davey? Akira, Goldie, and that purple spider prick that visited the cafe almost daily? He couldn't die yet, he couldn't leave them!
But as Finnley felt the last bit of his strength leave his body, while he was still unable to get untangled, he began thinking. ...Was there a point in living? People might miss him if he died, but what did he really have to live for? He had no particularly valuable skills besides swimming. He didn't want to find a better job, because he liked his job at the cafe, so it would take him many years to be able to save enough to buy a house and not have to live in his tiny apartment or his father's house. He always worried the cafe's owner because of his violent ways of stopping creeps, and his father always worried about him. He had no idea whether his crush actually liked him, and he was sure he was too awkward for a partner to want to stay with him anyways. And Goldie could probably fend off creeps at the cafe herself, or someone else would come along that could.
...So what's the point in living? Was Finnley's final thought, as his vision faded to black.
---
Finnley's eyes slowly blinked open, and he was greeted by the light blue sky above, and the sun shining brightly. He slowly sat up, looking around. Where was he? He was surrounded by deep, calm water, but... He didn't seem to even be in it! Standing up, he discovered he could walk on the water, each step causing a ripple. Where was he? There didn't seem to be any land around, or even any fish in the water.
"Hello there, young man." A voice behind him spoke, startling the shark. Turning around, he saw a tall blue and white figure behind him, that almost seemed to be made of mist and water. It seemed human-ish, but...
"Uh, hi...?" Finnley spoke nervously. Whatever this thing was, it was tall. Even taller than his father!
"You are wondering where you are, and what I am, I presume. This place," The figured gestured around at the water surrounding them.
"Is my section of the realm of the gods. I am the god of water, Nunia." The figure, which Finnley now knew was a god, explained. If this thing, Nunia, was a god, did that mean he was dead...? The memories of what happened during the swimming competition came rushing back. Oh. ...So he was definitely dead, then.
"I suppose I should explain why I have brought you here. As you know, the 'swimming competition' that was held in the realm of the mortals, in which you took part, was a disaster. Out of the ten people who participated, only two survived. Those lives could've been saved, had the man in charge chosen to call off the event. He tricked the beach's life guards into leaving as well, because he didn't want to have to pay them extra for working during a fairly large event. Those lives were needlessly lost due to the man's foolishness, and could have had a chance at being saved had someone been there to watch over them." Nunia spoke.
"This angers me greatly. At the time of disaster, however, I noticed a certain someone had chosen to try to save one of his fellow swimmers. This certain someone was you, of course. Though you failed to even make it to the person, you at least tried, when no one else dared attempt it. I have several servants around the world, but none in the part in which you reside. So, I have a proposition for you." Finnley tilted his head to the side as the water god continued to speak, curious.
"You died during the event. If you accept my offer, I shall grant you your life back, as well as immortality. At the moment, your soul is here in the realm of the gods, however your body is still in the mortal world. I am using my powers in order to preserve it at the moment, essentially freezing it in stasis, so that if you choose to accept my offer, your body will be completely fine when you awake. Alongside granting you immortality, I would also give you control over water, and the ability to breathe underwater. In exchange, you would devote yourself to saving innocent people whom are drowning, and help me with whatever errand I see fit." The god explained. Finnley thought the pros definitely outweighed the cons of Nunia's offer, although he did wonder what errands the god would possibly have him do.
If Finnley accepted, he could go back to living his life, even though it probably wasn't the most ideal one. He could see his father again, and his friends, and Louis... And this would give him a purpose in life, instead of just existing for no real reason...
"You may take time to think about it, however keep in mind that time passes differently in the realm of gods. Every five minutes here is roughly one week in the mortal world, and you have been here for nearly nine minutes." Nunia offered. Wait, what?!
"Okay, sure! Just bring me back to life! The longer I'm gone, the harder it'll be to get my life back on track and everything sorted out!" Finnley spoke quickly. He really should've took more time to consider Nunia's offer, but if he had been dead for two weeks already, there was no telling how hard it'd be to get everything in his life back under control! For all he knew, he might already be buried six feet under the ground!
"Alright, then. As you wish. Upon taking my hand, you will have officially made a pact with I, and you will be permanently bound to it, and I shall return you to the world of the living." Nunia reached out their hand, and Finnley quickly took it. In just a single moment, his vision went completely white, and then black.
---
"F...nle..." Finnley heard someone calling. He couldn't make out what they were saying. They sounded so far away. Finnley felt so cold... Where was he?
"F...nley...!" They sounded louder this time. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite make out who it was. What were they trying to say? It kind of sounded like his name...
"Finnley!" The voice suddenly sounded loud and clear, as though the person was right in front of him. Did the voice really belong to who he thought it was? Slowly opening his eyes, Finnley was greeted by a familiar person with pale red eyes and lavender colored hair, who looked quite happy to see him.
"You've been staring pretty intensely at your phone for the last ten minutes, what's so interesting? Customers will be coming in soon, it's not like you to be lazing around playing on your phone when the cafe has just opened, whatever you found must be good if it's got your attention so much!" The dog woman, Goldie, spoke again, tilting her head to the side, looking quite curious. Finally, Finnley looked over at her, looking momentarily confused.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, right. Sorry, I zoned out." Finnley apologized sheepishly. Goldie suddenly started smirking, her tail wagging behind her.
"Oh, I get it! You were daydreaming about your boooyfriiennnd~!" Goldie giggled, laughing loudly as Finnley quickly grabbed a nearby magazine and threw it at her, which she avoided by stepping out of the way.
"Oh, shut it, you! I don't have a boyfriend, or a girlfriend so don't even start on that either!" Finnley growled, clearly annoyed by the blue eyed woman's antics.
"Don't you have stuff to do? If I remember correctly, you're in charge of doing dishes this morning, and wiping down tables, and sweeping in front of the cafe..." Goldie groaned loudly as Finnley began listing off her tasks for the morning
"Bec ain't gonna be happy when he comes in if you haven't done your job. Wanna get scolded again like yesterday? And the day before? And the day before that?".
"Fiiiine, I'm going, I'm going!" Goldie huffed. Turning his attention back to his phone for a moment, Finnley quickly finished reading the news article he had been reading on his phone when he zoned out. The article was about sign ups for a swimming competition that would soon be held at the beach of the city where he lived. He didn't do well with lots of people watching him, but Finnley still desperately wanted to sign up, and compete in the competition. He adored swimming, and he was quite good at it as well, and this competition would give him the chance to finally show off his skill, something he had longed to do for quite awhile.
After taking a few moments more to think and make up his mind, Finnley put his phone away, deciding it wouldn't hurt to try signing up. According to the news article, the place to sign up for the competition was at the beach. He would head there after his shift at the cafe was over, since the cafe happened to be fairly close to the beach, the location of the cafe being one of the many reasons why Finnley chose to work there instead of getting a better job.
The bell above the cafe's front door jingled, signalling that a customer had arrived, making the blue-gray haired shark turn his attention towards taking the person's order.
---
"Heading out already?" A girl with tiger features and short black hair asked Finnley curiously as he took his apron off, and picked up his bag.
"Yeah. Got stuff to do today. I'll see you tomorrow, Akira." Finnley answered, reaching over and playfully ruffling the girl's hair, despite her protests, before walking to the front door of the cafe.
"Okay, then. I'll see you tomorrow too." Akira waved to Finnley as he walked out. Akira spoke so quietly, Finnley was often unsure what she even said half the time. The girl was quite shy, and he had yet to ever see her stand up for herself when a customer would harass her, which unfortunately happened quite often, leading Finnley to have to look after her while they were at work. Over time, he had begun to see her as a little sister, leading to him playfully picking at her by ruffling her hair as he had done just a few moments ago, or doing small things he knew would annoy her slightly, but still make her laugh from time to time. Finnley often worried about her due to her shyness and lack of confidence.
After making a quick stop at his apartment so he could change out of his work clothes and into his regular clothes, Finnley arrived at the beach. Spotting a booth with a few people crowded around it, Finnley began making his way towards it.
"This is the place to sign up for the competition that's being held soon at this beach, right?" Finnley asked the red haired man running the booth, once he was finally able to get past the other people.
"That would be correct, yes. My name is Benny, I'm the one who is running the competition. You are here to sign up for it, I'm assuming?" Benny asked. Finnley nodded.
---
The next day at work, Finnley could barely contain his excitement, and was doing his tasks quite cheerfully. Finally, he would have a chance to show off how well he could swim! Leaning against the cafe's main counter was Goldie, watching the shark curiously. Akira stood behind her, holding a broom to sweep with, but instead watching Finnley as well.
"So, uh... Who are you exactly? You're definitely not Finnley, he's never that happy about wiping down tables!" Goldie asked, earning her a glare from the shark.
"He might be acting a bit strangely, but judging by the look he just gave you, he's definitely Finnley." Akira answered the dog woman.
"Hmm, guess you're right, Kira. That's a certified Finnley glare right there. Anyways, what's gotcha so happy, buddy?"
"I signed up for a swimming competition yesterday." Finnley answered. Goldie gasped, looking amazed, as did Akira.
"Really?! I didn't know you had it in ya! ...But you're Finnley, you'll probably get nervous and chicken out last minute." Goldie earned herself another glare.
"That's great, Finnley! When is the competition being held? I'll be sure to come watch and cheer for you!" Akira asked.
"It's this Saturday, at one am. They are doing it at the beach."
"Ah, darn. I gotta work on Saturday, that means I can't come torment you before you start!" Goldie whined.
"You'll have to make sure you torment him for me, okay, Kira?"
"I... Would rather not... He'll probably already be nervous, I wouldn't want to upset him too..." Akira squeaked quietly.
"Bah, you're no fun!" Finnley couldn't help but be amused by his co-workers antics. Goldie might be a pain sometimes, but in the end, he knew she was just joking and playing around, no matter how much of a prick she might be being. ...Speaking of pricks, where was one of the cafe's regular customers? He didn't come in yesterday, either.
---
On the day of the competition, Finnley felt excited, but also like he was about to die from nervousness. However, his excitement quickly began fading once he arrived at the beach, and saw how dark the clouds were. It was clearly about to storm, though the weather forecast had said it would be sunny.
"All competitors, please come this way and verify yourselves, and then you shall be lead to the starting point!" Finnley heard someone call. Glancing at the water, there were buoys to help guide swimmers in the direction they are supposed to go, and a small boat farther off in the water. There was a surprising amount of people around as well. Surely Benny didn't intend to go through with the competition when it was clearly about to storm...? The waves would make it difficult for people to stay above water.
Against his better judgement, Finnley decided to go ahead and verify himself. Maybe they'd cancel the competition last minute, and reschedule for another day?
Afterwards, Finnley and the other swimmers, around fifteen of them in total, were led to the spot on the beach where they were to start the competition, which happened to be the dock. There were plate things with each swimmer's number on it lined up on the dock, and the buoys in the water led to the boat Finnley had noticed. There had yet to be any announcement of it being cancelled...
"Hey, bro, you sure this is a wise idea? Bouta storm pretty badly, I don't got a good feelin' bout this." One of the swimmer's, a ginger haired woman, called out to someone. Looking around, Finnley noticed she seemed to be talking to a certain red haired man, who was sitting in the life guard tower. Where was the actual life guard...? Maybe on the boat?
"Eh, it'll be fine, no need to worry sweetheart.The weather forecast said it isn't going to rain today, so it isn't going to. And if it does, oh well. Everyone will be done swimming by then, I'm sure." Benny called down to the woman. Finnley didn't have a good feeling about this. He should back out now while he has a chance. But... This might be his only chance to show off how well he can swim, sure people visiting the beach on normal days could see him, as would anyone at the public pool when he swam there, but not like this. He was awkward and nervous a lot of the time, so this might be his only chance to actually make something of himself too...
He noticed a few of the swimmers decided to leave, leaving ten of them in total.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Time for the event to begin! Grab your snacks and drinks, and let's see which of these fine swimmers will arrive back at the goal first! They will be swimming to the boat we rented just for the occasion, and back!" Benny spoke, using a megaphone. The clouds had gotten even darker, and the wind had begun to pick up, but it was too late to back out now. Hopefully Benny was right, and it wouldn't start raining until after they finished swimming.
"On your marks, get set... Go!"
---
This was a mistake, Finnley quickly decided. Only a few minutes after all the swimmers had jumped into the water, it had began raining.
He swam quickly, hoping to make it to the boat and back before the waves got bad. He found it much easier to swim when he was actually under the water, so although it was a bad idea considering the situation, he did it anyways. He could swim quicker this way, so hopefully he could make it back to the dock in time.
The waves had already gotten pretty rough by time Finnley reached the boat, which didn't take long. Taking a quick moment to catch his breath, he pushed off the boat and began swimming back towards the dock. As he swam, he began finding it harder and harder to stay above the water long enough to catch his breath, wave after wave crashing down on him. Before long, it was clear things weren't going to go the way they were intended.
"Help me!" Finnley heard someone shout. Oh no. He dove under the water, hoping he could see the person. Once he spotted the person, desperately flailing around in an attempt to stay above water long enough to catch their breath, clearly having begun to panic, he began swimming towards them. Finnley was having a hard time swimming himself, but he couldn't leave this person. He wasn't sure if there were even any life guards around to help them.
Before he could reach the person, he realized he desperately air, and started to swim back towards the surface. He was quickly pummeled by wave after wave, and was not getting the chance to breathe. After being forced back under the water again, Finnley tried once again to stay above the water long enough he could get air.
Only to feel something tugging on his leg, preventing him from reaching the surface this time. Oh no. No no no no no. Finnley reached down quickly, desperate to get untangled from whatever had found its way around his leg. He was unable to tell what it was, and was having trouble getting untangled. His lungs felt like they were about to burst. He had to get free, he had to!
The shark continued to struggle, and it seemed as though whatever had wrapped itself around his leg was getting more tangled the more he tried to untangle it. It couldn't end like this! No!
He felt himself beginning to lose strength. No, no, no, he couldn't drown. He couldn't die here. What about his father, Davey? Akira, Goldie, and that purple spider prick that visited the cafe almost daily? He couldn't die yet, he couldn't leave them!
But as Finnley felt the last bit of his strength leave his body, while he was still unable to get untangled, he began thinking. ...Was there a point in living? People might miss him if he died, but what did he really have to live for? He had no particularly valuable skills besides swimming. He didn't want to find a better job, because he liked his job at the cafe, so it would take him many years to be able to save enough to buy a house and not have to live in his tiny apartment or his father's house. He always worried the cafe's owner because of his violent ways of stopping creeps, and his father always worried about him. He had no idea whether his crush actually liked him, and he was sure he was too awkward for a partner to want to stay with him anyways. And Goldie could probably fend off creeps at the cafe herself, or someone else would come along that could.
...So what's the point in living? Was Finnley's final thought, as his vision faded to black.
---
Finnley's eyes slowly blinked open, and he was greeted by the light blue sky above, and the sun shining brightly. He slowly sat up, looking around. Where was he? He was surrounded by deep, calm water, but... He didn't seem to even be in it! Standing up, he discovered he could walk on the water, each step causing a ripple. Where was he? There didn't seem to be any land around, or even any fish in the water.
"Hello there, young man." A voice behind him spoke, startling the shark. Turning around, he saw a tall blue and white figure behind him, that almost seemed to be made of mist and water. It seemed human-ish, but...
"Uh, hi...?" Finnley spoke nervously. Whatever this thing was, it was tall. Even taller than his father!
"You are wondering where you are, and what I am, I presume. This place," The figured gestured around at the water surrounding them.
"Is my section of the realm of the gods. I am the god of water, Nunia." The figure, which Finnley now knew was a god, explained. If this thing, Nunia, was a god, did that mean he was dead...? The memories of what happened during the swimming competition came rushing back. Oh. ...So he was definitely dead, then.
"I suppose I should explain why I have brought you here. As you know, the 'swimming competition' that was held in the realm of the mortals, in which you took part, was a disaster. Out of the ten people who participated, only two survived. Those lives could've been saved, had the man in charge chosen to call off the event. He tricked the beach's life guards into leaving as well, because he didn't want to have to pay them extra for working during a fairly large event. Those lives were needlessly lost due to the man's foolishness, and could have had a chance at being saved had someone been there to watch over them." Nunia spoke.
"This angers me greatly. At the time of disaster, however, I noticed a certain someone had chosen to try to save one of his fellow swimmers. This certain someone was you, of course. Though you failed to even make it to the person, you at least tried, when no one else dared attempt it. I have several servants around the world, but none in the part in which you reside. So, I have a proposition for you." Finnley tilted his head to the side as the water god continued to speak, curious.
"You died during the event. If you accept my offer, I shall grant you your life back, as well as immortality. At the moment, your soul is here in the realm of the gods, however your body is still in the mortal world. I am using my powers in order to preserve it at the moment, essentially freezing it in stasis, so that if you choose to accept my offer, your body will be completely fine when you awake. Alongside granting you immortality, I would also give you control over water, and the ability to breathe underwater. In exchange, you would devote yourself to saving innocent people whom are drowning, and help me with whatever errand I see fit." The god explained. Finnley thought the pros definitely outweighed the cons of Nunia's offer, although he did wonder what errands the god would possibly have him do.
If Finnley accepted, he could go back to living his life, even though it probably wasn't the most ideal one. He could see his father again, and his friends, and Louis... And this would give him a purpose in life, instead of just existing for no real reason...
"You may take time to think about it, however keep in mind that time passes differently in the realm of gods. Every five minutes here is roughly one week in the mortal world, and you have been here for nearly nine minutes." Nunia offered. Wait, what?!
"Okay, sure! Just bring me back to life! The longer I'm gone, the harder it'll be to get my life back on track and everything sorted out!" Finnley spoke quickly. He really should've took more time to consider Nunia's offer, but if he had been dead for two weeks already, there was no telling how hard it'd be to get everything in his life back under control! For all he knew, he might already be buried six feet under the ground!
"Alright, then. As you wish. Upon taking my hand, you will have officially made a pact with I, and you will be permanently bound to it, and I shall return you to the world of the living." Nunia reached out their hand, and Finnley quickly took it. In just a single moment, his vision went completely white, and then black.
---
"F...nle..." Finnley heard someone calling. He couldn't make out what they were saying. They sounded so far away. Finnley felt so cold... Where was he?
"F...nley...!" They sounded louder this time. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite make out who it was. What were they trying to say? It kind of sounded like his name...
"Finnley!" The voice suddenly sounded loud and clear, as though the person was right in front of him. Did the voice really belong to who he thought it was? Slowly opening his eyes, Finnley was greeted by a familiar person with pale red eyes and lavender colored hair, who looked quite happy to see him.