Prologue

Not everything we see appears to be what it looks like- especially not here. Once you are born, there are bunch of different things that may happen to you. Dangerous things. And yet, the one thing everyone fears most are the changes. Not as metaphoric sense but literal changes. Especially the ones known as Divine Fusion. A phenomenon hardly understood, happening at random, albeit rare, has grown infamous throughout all the lands and seas.

If a young man, who long ago lost his family to a civil war ends up on the coast, he quickly will find himself fishing. By doing it he will manage to sustain himself, even without as much as a proper housing, since a kid alone can't manage to find such estates, especially after a war. 
While fishing might sound like a very good idea, especially after a civil war, there are a lot of things that haven't been brought into consideration. Before long, he started to understand how heavy a coup d’état truly is - boats were only few, mostly in miserable condition. People knowing how to construct one are either dead, or were summoned to the royal palace and forced increase naval force. Even fishing nets suffered from the time nobody took care of them. Surrounded only by those incapable of fighting as his seniors and teachers, he had to learn how to repair boats, weave fishing nets and then the actual art of fishing itself, too.
But this was the easiest part - as the long war has only ended shortly, the entire nation was in disarray. Bandits and plunderers were always close, thus even learning how to fight became a necessary, too. 

As the time flows, the day has come where his guardians and teachers collectively agreed that it has been long since he became an adult, or at least as capable as one. With an impressing palette of skills acquired during the this not particularly peaceful time everyone deemed him strong enough to finally set off to the sea by himself. To him, it was the greatest ceremony he could imagine. While he did hear about becoming of age ceremonies, given the situation he never actually believed that it is possible for him to attend one, mainly because the ones to decide whether the children are grown up or not, are the parents, per se.

In the early morning, with his fishing gear ready, he took off to the sea in a small boat, in the routine hardened by the countless days of work. As always, before the actual fishing begins, he does a quick check-up as to make sure he didn't forget anything.
Among the things he took on board were also tools imbued with magic, like the traps for the sea-ground creatures.
"Magic sure is fascinating" - he thought while setting off. - "Such a shame there is nobody specialized in it here. It sure would make a lot of things easier."
While he was taught some simple spells and tricks, it wasn't really anything beyond what everyone could do. Or at least, this is what he believes. 
As he was getting close to the place they left the ground traps yesterday, he figured he should perish these thoughts and concentrate on the work for now.

 Alone by the weight of it he could already tell that this one was exceptionally good catch.
"Good sign", crossed his mind. Once the trap was out of the water, he placed it in the middle of the boat and froze almost instantly. What he just saw was unlike anything up until now.
A wrinkly, soft looking creature with a lot of arms was dwelling inside the trap. he couldn't tell its exact shape or even color, as both were constantly changing, that is until it matched with both the trap and the board of the boat.

Fascinated by this bizarre creature, he slowly extended his arm to touch it - it felt like wood. If he didn't see it with his own eyes, he could swear it wasn't there at all, so unbelievable it was.
Then his attention turned to the wriggling of something right next to it. He knew this one well.
It was what the veterans called a slime, a creature known for the ability to inhabit any possible environment. They are known for the ability to crystallize the energy from their surroundings and forming it into crystals or stones. They then are stored within the creature and can be harvested and used in variety of ways. Ever since he started fishing, he encountered them regularly, almost everyday, as the waters around here are full of them and they often fall into the traps.
"So, the slime went into the trap and this thing simply followed" - this simple explanation was more than plausible enough to cover up the whole story. Without further ado, he put out the new trap and moved to the next one.

As he was busy with his work, noon approached. With no hidden interest he was checking on this mysterious creature every now and then, but there were no changes he could actually notice. The only thing he definitely knew is that it was still there, as the shape of the trap was way off whenever he touched it.
With how little space the boat has, he has no choice but turn back to the shore. Today he got  especially big haul,which made him rather excited, considering how it was his first time alone. This time around he sealed quite a bit into the sea -much further than usual, into the parts of water that everyone told him never to breach. He never really could understand that, especially since he never saw anything happening here besides the swarms of fish that just asked to be caught. But only today, just this once, and important detail slipped his mind. That being as to why he should never swim out this far.

As he was about to throw the fishing net for the last time today, his boat pulled to the side and he fell on his fours, barely managing not to fall into the water. A great shadow arose out of nowhere and covered the bright blue sky. he stood up on his knees and looked up, then froze completely - what he saw was a giant sea monster called rosse, exactly what he was warned about. He knew quite a lot about them, as they weren't that uncommon in these parts. Also, the one to teach him how to fight used to be part of a crew on some large ship before joining the military. He liked to tell him tales about different monsters he would have met both on land and in sea.
"Rosses, while not really hostile monsters, are found of meat. For they hunting they don't rely only on their teeth. I mean, just look at their size! whatever such an enormous beast considers its prey, must rather be a tough nut to bite! - Therefore they have this shell plates on their backs. If you were to see them close, there are giant, blade-like shaped scales on it. With this not only are they protected, they even are capable of attacking their opponents with it, causing them to bleed out, and quickly, at that. Whenever they jump out of the water, they almost always fall on their back. Not sure why they do that, though."
Back then, he rather thought of it as some sort of naval-forces fairytale, but now, he really wished for this to actually be one.

The monster's back was closing in fast. All he managed was to recall this one memory before the giant body fell on him and his boat, massacring it totally. One of the shells pierced his torso, hitting the boat underneath and devastating it completely. His face, pushed down by this giant force practically pierced though what was left of the board and with loud slam the entire world went silent - his eardrums couldn't bear the pressure created by hitting the water. he could feel both his legs being thrown to sides by the water current, he could feel the pain of them breaking, cracking of the skin as it busted open. His left arm landed on something just as sharp as the blade in his chest, severing it to the point where only the tendon was still keeping in attached. He could feel his right hand being impaled on some kind of spike.

For having his chest basically busted open, he believed to be awake and alive for quite long time - even if it were mere seconds of happening.
he could feel that the monster started so spin and toss around under the water. Perhaps, it noticed something was off and reacted accordingly.
Whatever was left of him slipped off the monster's back and started to slowly sink deeper. The last thing he managed to feel was strange tingling in what previously was his chest. With the rest of his strength, he decided to at least look at what was going to eat him now. As he looked on it, it got to him that he only could see with his right eye - the other one probably got smashed by the wooden planks.
To his surprise, he saw this strange beast from before - the one he found in the first trap. From the looks of it, this little creature hasn't had much more luck than he did - this time pitch-black, in awfully chopped state, it seemed to be trying to hide within him. As Consciousness was fading away, he noticed, that he actually didn't mind it. It didn't really look as if it had much to live and the thought of not dying alone was somehow comforting.

With this, his mind has fallen into darkness.