Salt has been used for years to ward off evil. But as the oceans are drained and filtered to be made drinkable, the evil that was trapped there is unleashed.

The evils were 5 spirits, and they each wanted entertainment through the agony of human beings.

The first spirit, and the most bitter, was the Pacific. She was lonely, as she was so large and devoid of any company. Unlike other oceans, that seemingly had life so nearby, it seemed the Pacific had nothing and no one to nurture. She didn’t care for the sea creatures that swam in her depths, she only yearned for the life forms she could never sustain. The Pacific was the last ocean to come back into her own mind, however. The salt was drained slower, and so her agony was drawn out. By the time she was freed, she only longed to see those people, who she had one longed to get to know, suffer. So the Pacific helped the animals that inhabited her mutate, so that they might terrorize those awful humans, those vile creatures that sought to burden her with their needs, their hunger and thirst, as they had the other oceans.

Next was the Atlantic. Though smaller than the Pacific, the Atlantic too was lonely. She felt cut off from other oceans, as though the continents that surrounded her were caging her in. So she, too, began to hate humanity. She was the first ocean to come into consciousness, the first ocean to be filtered and drained of her very substance, her dignity. So she decided the only way to correct this disgusting behavoir, was to terminate it. She willed her surface to heat, until the sea life inside her died, and so many did she kill that the water was polluted. Millions died from her outburst, and the settlements of humans near her quickly disbanded, or were killed off.

The Indian Ocean was perhaps the least angry of the five spirits. Her agony was neither so quick it felt as if she had been scared awake from a dream, nor so long lasting that she prayed for the day her banks were emptied. She liked her balance of land life and sea. She adored people, who she considered her own children. But she was mischievous, and she enjoyed playing pranks on her inhabitants, so she too, allowed the sea creatures inhabiting her to mutate into horrific beasts.

The Southern Ocean did not care for human life, but as she was so isolated, it hardly made a difference. Therefore she did not allow her sea creatures to mutate, nor did she allow the water to pollute. Her land was seen as sanctuary, however few moved to the edges of her banks, for fear her attitude might change.

The last ocean, the Arctic Ocean, had long since frozen over again. Her spirit was not released, due to the human laws restricting the chemical treatment of her waters. Humanity had learned long before that the spirit of the Arctic was colder than her icebergs. If the spirit of the Arctic was released, she would heat not only her own surface, but the entire world.

The only thing keeping the ocean spirits from destroying the world was their hate for each other, else their divided veiws on how to deal with the disease that was humanity. So the people on the coasts lived in fear, and started to resent those that lived further inland, who they thought to be safe. So they refused to send water inland, and the inlanders refused to send food to the islanders on the coast, and humanity quickly died out. Do not judge the humans too harshly however. Maybe, instead of becoming cruel and spiteful, they had only learned what it was like to be an ocean spirit.