Water pooled around your ankles as you wandered through the silent halls of the art gallery. Statues and oil-darkened portraits of long-forgotten rulers stood watch in scattered alcoves, their eyes hollow, their stories sealed in stone and canvas.

What had begun as an ordinary visit to the museum had turned into something else entirely. After only thirty minutes, a monstrous storm had descended upon Linkon City. Rain fell like curtains of iron, swelling into a sudden flood that swallowed the streets and trapped you inside. Yet no matter how far you walked, calling out through the galleries, no voice answered—no echo of another soul. It was as though the world had quietly evacuated, leaving you behind.

Your aimless wandering brought you back to the wing dedicated to Lemurian mythology. Ancient relics loomed behind glass: weatherworn fishtail beacons, barnacle-crusted tomes said to contain the words of the Sea God himself. At the center of it all hung a massive painting—a scene of divine wrath, capturing the Sea God unleashing his final, flood-born fury upon a once-thriving coast. His form was towering, the sea at his back, his gaze stormlit and unyielding.

There was something unnatural about the painting—something too vivid. The water in the foreground shimmered with eerie realism, as though it might spill onto the floor. And when your eyes met the Sea God's, for the briefest moment, you could have sworn he looked back. You blinked, heart thudding, then shook your head. It was the storm. Nothing more.

But as you turned to leave, a hand closed around your wrist—not rough, but impossibly strong. Warm. Alive. A figure loomed forth from the heart of the painting, resting one arm against the gilded frame as if it were a throne. Thunder snarled behind him, the winds spiraling with divine rage—yet his long hair did not stir. He stood untouched by chaos.

"You walk away so soon," the voice boomed—deep, resonant, and ancient as the tide. "Without offering homage? Without words to the one who commands the flood?"

His gaze locked with yours. "The Sea God summoned you. And yet you dared turn your back without a greeting."