Prologue

The **Prologue** is the beginning of *Phantomarine*. It was published in May 2021 as part of the webcomic's arrival on Hiveworks, supplanting "Chapter 1: King of the Red Tide" as the beginning of the story.

## Plot summary

The schooner *Mantaluna* sails through the southwestern Candlelight Sea, five thousand years after the Fracture. Onboard, Princess Phaedra Philemon and her dog Katja cannot sleep due to the howling of thousands of seaghosts keeping them awake. The ghosts appear to have been spooked by something. Cal, the trip's chaperone, enters the cabin to tell her how bad it is outside, asking her to stay there. Phaedra refuses, saying it isn't fair to let the others deal with the situation alone. As she leaves her cabin, Phaedra leaves a small paper manta ray by a portrait of her father, asking him to hold down the fort.

Accompanied by Kat, Phaedra climbs up to the wheel deck, where Lani greets her with "Happy 2 A.M.!" There are no flashing lighthouses, and no fog or ships, although Irving says it would be easier to see without all of the lights on. Phaedra, however, suspects that they are being followed, by either "*them*" or "*him*". The princess gives orders to turn off the lights and get back inside the barrier of the lighthouse road. Cal agrees, planning to bring the ship in to Grand Physalia.

Amidst the crowd of ghosts in the water, a pair of red eyes watches the schooner. However, a pair of bandaged feet walking across the surface of the sea surprises the eyes. The new arrival is a pale archer in a ragged cloak, causing the eyes to comment in a strange language. Onboard the *Mantaluna*, Lani wonders if the Fata Morgana would even be able to recognize the ship without seeing its name, and Phaedra says she would be surprised. But as Phaedra laughs about what her mother would do if the ship, which belongs to her, was damaged, the archer takes aim and fires.

The arrow hits Phaedra in the heart, and as her friends react in shock and the injured princess reacts with confusion, three more assassins, brandishing swords and spears, leap onto the deck of the ship. Cal, Lani, Irving, and Katja are all swiftly killed, as a rain of arrows takes out the protective lights along the *Mantaluna*'s waterline. As the dying princess falls over the back of the ship, she silently calls out to the goddess Cheline and the prophetess Shoshana, regretting that she had so little time to serve them as she wasn't done yet. A ghost bites Phaedra's hand just before she hits the water, and a few more bites follow as she sinks.

But the bites stop, and Phaedra lands on the ocean floor. She is surprised to find that she is no longer drowning, the blood and seabite is gone, and she is now wearing her coronation dress. A strange voice speaks, rhetorically asking what else a dead princess would wear to an audience with a dead king. Panicking at the word "dead", Phaedra whirls, surprised when her sword suddenly appears in her hand. The voice opines that it did not expect to see Phaedra this soon, but when the princess demands to know who is speaking, the voice responds with mockery, through a chorus of thousands of seaghosts. For five thousand years, the voice has been nothing *and* everything.

But the god of death has only one name no matter what soul he is wearing, and he demands that Phaedra say it. "Cheth." He welcomes Phaedra to her final judgement, commenting that she should not be surprised at his appearance given what her "prophetess" did to him. Shaken, Phaedra turns and stands up to the fallen god.

## Appearances

### Characters

* Cheline (Mentioned only)
* Cheth
* Cheth's favorite lady (As a ghost)
* Irving Ellery
* Katja
* Hinalani Leina
* Daphne Philemon (Mentioned only)
* Phaedra Philemon
* Pharos Philemon (Picture only)
* Shoshana (Mentioned only)
* Caladrius Silenus

### Events

* Assassination of Phaedra Philemon
* The Fracture (Mentioned only)

### Groups and titles

* Fata Morgana
* King-Admiral (Picture only)
* Philemon family
* St. Gourami Marlins (Mentioned on shirt)

### Locations

* Salabay Archipelago
	+ Grand Physalia (Mentioned only)
* St. Gourami (Mentioned on shirt)

### Other

* Ghostwater
* Gods' Tongue
* Horizon Line
* Lighthouse road
* *Mantaluna*
* *Narval*
* Phantomarine
* Seabite
* Seaghost

## Pages

1. The Horizon Line
2. Gods Above and Below
3. The Portrait
4. Happy Two A.M.
5. Him Him
6. Mother's Wrath
7. Heartbreaker
8. The Massacre
9. So Little Time/The Fall of Phaedra
10. A Red Realization
11. Nothing and Everything
12. Cheth