Notes on the Candlelight Sea - Cheth
The Bonefish, the Dead Leviathan, the Red Tide King – the fallen god Cheth goes by many titles, but all suit him well as the god of death and water.
Once a highly-respected deity – similar in grandeur to his twin sister Cheline, our divine mother goddess – he has been banished to the depths of the sea for the past five millennia, and can no longer be seen or heard by most of the living. But even in exile, the dreaded Bonefish continues to torment us – he now relishes his role as the final judge of our souls, greeting us with glee when we cross the Horizon Line. He allows us to challenge him for the right to return to life, but at the time of this writing, seemingly remains undefeated.
Many insist he secretly invades the beaches of our humble island homes, stealing souls away in the night. Others believe he is confined to the sea, incapable of walking on dry land. A precious few have even begun to doubt he still exists. But most have reached the same conclusion: the Red Tide King was a legendary monster, with a long list of profane crimes attributed to his accursed name.
We can only imagine what form this creature now takes. Some say he is a shapeless cloud of red. Others believe he can assume a wide variety of forms. But even darker is the rumor that he wears our spirits like clothing for his own sick amusement – a demon puppeteer with untold billions of faces.
Our only physical reminder of his existence are his bones, which lie scattered and broken upon the seafloor and islands. May those bones never again move, and may the sea one day be free of the Red Tide for all eternity.
