Song of the Abyss

A short form yuri visual novel
Releasing early May 2025
Bluesky      Ko-Fi

Partially non-linear and featuring 4 endings, Song of the Abyss takes place from the perspective of a jellyfish mermaid, whose default name is Cnidra.

The Setting

In this modern fantasy, outside the sight of humans dwell sea creatures of myth.  Of those sea dwellers are the Shallows mermaids, more traditional social mermaids with fish-like features, and Deep mermaids, a more solitary people living in the darkness of the abyssal zone and beyond, where light cannot penetrate.

Their environment having shaped their behavior and physiology, Deep dwellers are similar to their sea jelly counterparts. They find most anything that comes within reach to be food, using electric signals and the motion of the water to hunt. With so little light in the land of their residence, those few Deep dwellers bold enough to venture to the surface find even simple tasks difficult.  A Deep dweller's skin is soft and easily damaged; they communicate primarily using touch and bioluminescence, so their vision is limited and they see entities only as dark blurs.

Spritework in progress - this is just a sample demonstrating how Cnidra sees the world.

The Story

Cnidra's life is static. Day after day, her pool is safe and unchanging - and she would have it no other way. It is only when a new intern - the Visitor, who can also be named - arrives and hears her song that Cnidra's daily rituals are disturbed and her world shaken.

Written in an ethereal, formal style, emphasizing Cnidra's elegant and alien nature, Song of the Abyss is a story about self-discovery as much as it is about the importance of companionship.

With sprites by aya and beautiful CGs by amelaive, this free short story - about 10,000 words - is as hopeful as it is melancholic.

About the Developer

Stardust and Snowflakes is an independent writer and developer with more than a decade of experience in publishing fiction, favoring dark and abstract styles.