The 2025 J.U.C. Awards | Submitted Category: WRITING / Short Story | Submission Code: W15 #JUC2025 | Dedication theme: #WaterActionDecade | Word count: 1328

IN THE ARMS OF FATE, WE MUST CONFIDE”

[#JUCAwards2025] Ephyra loved the familiar feeling of floating inside the lake she knew as home; not that deep so that she felt light, and not so close to the surface, being hit with just the right amount of the warmth from the sunlight, scattered throughout the gentle current swirling around her. For thousands of years, many naiads looked after bodies of water, building their own families and communities. For quite a time, this lake had been Ephyra’s home. The lake and the nymphs were one; they would feel what the lake ‘’felt’’. When the water evaporated, she would feel lighter, when there was a storm, she would notice herself feeling much more irritable, brewed with emotions.

Sometimes, she would go to the surface to speak to the tree nymphs; dryades. Her usual sage green skin would turn a peachy mint color when she visited the land.

Today seemed especially exciting for Ephyra, an early morning visit to her dryade friend. This type of weather was her favourite; air fresh, a mist covering the air and making the color of the pine trees pop in the grey toned air, leaving a feeling of chilliness. Though, her upbeat mood would soon perish, as she saw her good friend Berilles on the verge of tears, frantically talking to the dryades around her. Ephyra quickly made her way to Berilles’ side, trying to comfort her. ‘’What’s going on? Is everything okay?’’ she asked quickly. The two dryades next to Berilles lowered their heads. ‘’Our sisters at the forest next to us are losing their lives, their trees are dying, one by one!’’ as Berille replied, Ephyra put a hand on her shoulder assuringly ‘’H- How?… Drought? Landslide? Storms?’’. ‘’Humans’’ Berille replied dryly. Berille was usually upbeat and approached problems with calmness. Seeing her like this made Ephyra feel concerned. Although the dryades around Berille were also on edge about this situation, they continued to comfort Berille. Ephyra was met with two consecutive nods from them, and she understood that she needed to give them space. ‘’I’ll see you later, okay?’’ she asked softly. Berille, though hesitant, said ‘’Yeah, sure.’’ softly. Ephyra patted Berille softly on the shoulder before starting to walk back to the lake, drowned in her thoughts. She didn’t think that humans would be capable of achieving such thing. As she went deeper into the water, she was met by familiar faces she has known since she was born.

Every naiad lived close together underwater, in depths where humans couldn’t handle the pressure. Ionic style pillars built on the bottom of the lake became a central structure for naiads’ community over a millenium. Most of the time, this community would be brought together to pray to the gods. The smaller kids, although there weren’t much anyways, would swim around the pillars, like Ephrya and her sisters used to do. Ephyra made her way towards there. First thing in her mind was to inform the others of what she learned moments ago. Ephrya first spotted Thalassia, on the bottom of the lake, braiding their little sister Pheobe’s hair with long pieces of seaweed. Thalassia must’ve noticed Ephyra because she didn’t even turn around before saying ‘’Hey Ephyra, you’re back sooner than I expected, is everything alright?’’, while continuing braiding Pheboe’s brown hair. Ephyra swam towards where Thalassia and Pheobe were faced. ‘’Well, I have some news, take it as how you understand.’’ Thalassia tilts her head and stops braiding Pheobe’s hair. ‘’Go on, you’ve got my attention…’’ Ephyra paused for a moment before continuing to speak. After explaining Thalassia what Berille said to her, Thalassia seemed to believe her almost immediately.

‘’So uhhh…’’

‘’Yes.’’ Ephyra interjected quickly.

‘’I mean, what do we do? Can we do anything at all?’’ Thalassia seemed concerned.

‘’I don’t really know, I think its best if we just see what happens, approaching this with prejudice would probably make matters worse. Should we inform everyone?’’

‘’Whatever you say, Ephyra, I have no clue.’’ Thalassia shrugged, ‘’Come on Phoebe, I’ll continue later’’ as she patted their little sibling on the shoulder assuringly. After that, both of them disintegrated into the water, leaving Ephyra staring at the empty water. She sighed and quickly moved towards the communal space. There weren’t many nymphs visible, but Ephyra could feel the presence of many around her. Her eyes searched for the eldest of the community, Crenaia. Crenaia was easily noticable with her waist length wavy silver hair which glistened like pearls. She was living in the sea before coming to here, earning herself a respected position among the community. Crenaia was the one who gifted Ephyra some of her pearls, which she now almost always wears in her hair. Ephyra quickly started to explain the situation to Crenaia, and was told not to worry, and precautions would be taken if needed. Not that Ephyra worried though, but others around her seemed to be.

***

After a week of human settlement first began near the lake, Ephyra started regularly visiting the newly established small town. They seemed nice, to say the least. She was even helping humans get access to drinkable, clean water (one of many perks of being a nymph). Most other nymphs though, they were a whole other story. They acted very reserved, they reduced the amount of time they visited the land, spending most of their time inside the lake. Fortunately, the trees of dryades were left untouched by people, that made Ephyra feel a lot more comfortable helping the people. Though as time passed by, humans’ demeanor started to change towards nymphs. They always asked for more water, to a point where Ephyra felt exhausted, she wasn’t able to meet the expectations, so she was yelled at. That moment made her decide that she would no longer be visiting anywhere near the town.

A panic atmosphere was starting to surround the lake. As the settlement grew, their wastes grew. Air grew denser around the town, harder to breathe. People there wanted to get rid of the smell, so they started dumping their wastes in the lake. This obviously resulted in the lake becoming dirtier, and in relation, the nymphs started to become sick and tired. The water had given them life, and now, as it sickened, so did they. Its waters had been their lifeblood, flowing through them as surely as the seasons passed through the world. They couldn’t disintegrate into the water so quickly, most were practically trapped in their physical form. Their once lively and colourful skin turned a sickly green. Of course, they tried so hard to make up for the damage done to the lake, but it did no good. There were no ways of trying to flee, as the nymphs were bonded to the lake. Ephyra, arms weak as she looked up at the once clear surface, now dark and covered by the garbage disposed. The magical glow once surrounding her was long gone. She knew what was going to happen, and felt deeply responsible for what had happened. Ephyra looked down at her hands, fading, this time not into the lake, but with the lake. As she compeletely faded away, the pearls braided onto her once brown hair, slowly started to fall towards the bottom of the lake. An indicator of her past existence.

Although the gods would like to reject the idea as much as they like to, Prometheus defying the Olympians and introducing fire to humankind was a deadly mistake to all the other species. Advancements in technology disturbed everyone, including the gods. It did more harm than good. The concept of civilization interjected with pre-existing cycles of life, just for the sake of their own survival. Like Ephyra, many beings who lived off of these systems lost their lives because of avoidable side effects.

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The 2025 J.U.C. Awards | Submitted Category: WRITING | Submission Code: W15 #JUC2025 | Dedication theme: #WaterActionDecade | Word count: 1328

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