034

On the surface, little had changed. Perhaps it was a little more subdued than usual, yet storms still raged and calmed over the waters. The sun continued its cycle of death and rebirth, melting into the horizon each night and emerging again each morning. The tides persisted in their neverending dance with the moon. The grains of sand on the shore remained innumerable. But in the depths below, where kelp forests took root and anglers waited in the dark with their swinging lanterns, the Ocean had become silent.

The whalesong had disappeared.