No clue where I am

I didn't realise when I had stopped sinking. At some point, the sea just vanished. The pain in my chest from drowning faded and the voices in my head went quiet. There was only black everywhere my eyes went and still. Like the universe forgot I existed.

I kept floating in that void for a while. Minutes? Hours? No clue.

Then came a sudden yank which felt like a cosmic fishing hook had caught my ankle. I plummeted fast, with wind howling past me even though there was no sky. I couldn't even understand the logic of this place.

And then, a SPLASH.

Like I'd just fallen into a giant bathtub or a pool with a high temperature which made me panic and gasp altogether. And within a moment, that feeling faded just like nothing happened in the first place. No choking or salt in my throat. I opened my eyes and found myself underwater plus breathing.

"What the hell..."

My voice came out clear which was hard to believe. All I could see around me were glowing coral reefs, floating jellyfish the size of beach umbrellas, shimmering towers in the distance like underwater skyscrapers made of glowing stone and pearls.

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn't bring myself to stop staring. then out of nowhere a thought clicked in my head that what if I have died and this was heaven which makes sense why everything is looking so neon.

I tried to check myself, my clothes were… mostly intact. Jeans, or what was left of them and one sleeve was ripped clean off. I probably would have looked like I lost a fight with a gorilla.

My hair floated in front of my face which was longer than I remembered. Definitely glowing, but still the same mint green I had before.

"Was I not even given a new body after dying?" 

Then my eyes shifted towards something very unexpected. A glowing tattoo on my left shoulder which I don't think I ever got done all my life and it wasn't even my type. It was a circle made of feather on one side and a tree branch on the other, with a seashell at the base and a flame rising from the top. and to top it off, It was giving off light like energy waves. 

"Creepy."

Several thoughts kept rushing in my mind while I stood there on the sand with water everywhere around me and schools of fish passing by. then it struck "…Did I get isekai'd into a fantasy novel with the sea genre with shining fishes?"

Maybe I was in a game because there was no explanation to all these luminous creatures and me breathing in the water. There was nobody to ask so I tried random theories in my head like remembering which book I read the last time and even tried a few Ninja hand signs. but nothing happened.

I tried calling out the status window, trying to figure if it was some litrpg genre story but still nothing. 

"Okay. now this is getting frustrating."

If this is really some kind of a transmigration, then it's really unfair to end up in a Sea World and also with no plot armour or any cheats."

And that's when it happened. A massive shadow slid past me. Something… huge. I turned slowly while praying to not be a shark.

It was a whale.

A freaking whale just… swam by. Majestic, peaceful and regal, and the moment it turned slightly, I saw the pattern on its back which were white ridges like… letters?

"No."

"No freaking way." They spelled out two words:

WHALE PASS

"You have GOT to be kidding me." Apparently, this universe had dark jokes.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧

Slowly I started to realise that the water was different here. It wasn't salty and didn't sting my eyes, didn't even press in on my skin like ocean water back home. It also didn't feel wet, just... soft and gentle. Like breathing air through silk.

Everything was shiny like a full-blown underwater laser show like the one they charge fifty bucks for at a planetarium.

Was this even the same world? I glanced at my hands. Still five fingers. Still mostly human. "If I had to end up underwater, couldn't I at least have become a cool mermaid or something?"

I wiggled my legs which no doubt were still legs with torn jeans and nothing like a mermaid tail, or shiny gills, not even a Disney sidekick in sight.

As I floated, spinning slowly, trying to sort out where I was, something moved in the shadows. Just behind the coral shelf, too quick to catch.

It felt like someone was watching me. A ripple formed that had nothing to do with currents.

It made me still, even though I couldn't see anyone there but deep down I had this feeling that I wasn't alone. Something or someone truly was watching me.

While I was still panicking over if I was in danger or not, something slammed into me at full speed.

"ACK—WHAT THE—"

I spun and flipped, like a drowned acrobat and when I stopped tumbling and looked up, there it was.

"A… dragon?"

It didn't look like any fire-breathing, scaly or terrifying like those in movies. This one was pink. Like, baby-shower, bubblegum, Valentine's glitter pink with gold-edged fins, long sleek limbs, and a tail that curled like it had attitude. His eyes were glowing teal and he looked kind of pissed.

"Seriously?" he snapped. "You just float around like that? No spatial awareness?"

"Excuse me," I gasped. "You hit me!"

He snorted. "Yeah, well, you were in the way. I don't normally expect random mortals to just hover in front of coral highways."

"Mortals?! Okay, whoa. Are you a dragon or a sassy sea iguana?"

He flared his fins. "I'm a Saelkyn, which is like a sea dragon but sleeker, smarter, and way better looking."

I stared. "You're pink."

"Don't start," he warned, eyes narrowing. "Everyone starts with the pink. It's a coral blaze. And yes, I've been mocked since hatching. So if you say 'cute,' I will drag you to the trench and leave you there."

"Totally not cute," I said immediately. "Horrifying. You terrify me."

"Good. Keep that energy."

We hovered awkwardly for a second and then it hit me. "…You can talk," I finally said. "Like, actually talk."

"No, I'm sending psychic Morse code through your fillings," he deadpanned. "Yes, I can talk. Most living things can. What, do you expect me to squeak like a dolphin?"

"Honestly, I wouldn't have been surprised."

"But, you speak English in this world?"

Is that what this is? You're the one speaking common tongue, not me. Be grateful because most creatures here just hiss, growl, or sing curses."

He circled around me, inspecting everything like I was a suspicious clam.

"You're from above, aren't you?" he said. "Figures. You smell like… land. And fear. And maybe expired shampoo."

"Rude."

"Also, you've got a sigil glowing on your shoulder like a bad tattoo from a magic rave. You have no idea what that means, do you?"

"Do you?"

"Nope," he said cheerfully. "But it's bright, and weird, and if you walk around flashing that, you're gonna attract attention, and not the good kind."

I hesitated, then looked at him. "Can I… come with you? I don't know where I am. I don't know anyone here. You're not trying to eat me, which is already a massive help. So yeah. Let me tag along. Please?"

Kaelen squinted at me.

"Why are you even here? Did you just fall in? Get dumped by a surface god?"

"I don't know!" I threw up my hands, which made a swirl of tiny fish scatter. "One second I was drowning, then blackness, then yanked through a void, and now I'm here with neon fish, whales with tattoos, and a pink sea lizard insulting my shampoo!"

Kaelen's fins twitched. "First off, sea dragon, not a lizard. Second, you really don't remember anything useful?"

"Nope."

He let out a long exhale and a bubble trailed swirling from his gills.

"Hopeless. Completely hopeless. Fine. You can tag along. But if you slow me down, I'm tossing you to the next whale I see."

"Thank you. Thank you so much coral blaze."

Then he muttered, "I'm only taking you with me because you'll get yourself eaten before noon if you wander off alone shining like a deep-sea snack light."

"Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet. Just don't call me cute and we'll get along."

"…No promises."

His fins flared again. "I swear to the Tidefather, I will yeet you into a coral field."

"You'll what?"

"Nothing. Come on."

I swam after him still confused, still glowing, and 98% sure I was hallucinating this place.

 I kicked hard, trying to manage not to spin like a drowning starfish.

Not sure if it was adrenaline, my shiny shoulder-mark, or just sheer stubbornness, but somehow I stayed afloat even when the water pulled like a riptide. Maybe the sea had decided not to murder me. Yet.

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧