. Dragon Majesty .

EDIT: added some additional relevant bits and screenshots I forgot about

So for starters, if you spoke to Onionsan in chapter 1 and return on day 2, they tell you a secret in that sometimes they hear a song at night that's coming from underwater, additionally mentioning it sounds like it's coming from way deep down

the rest of their dialogue is equally ominous and then goes on to mention that they said they've heard the song before coming from the sea. The line about them feeling like they're gonna be making another friend soon also sticks out with me considering this character is absent in chapter 4 when you get to explore the town again and currently whatever happened to them is left ambiguous

now moving onto chapter 3, this is where the hints start to increase in frequency and get a lot more ominous. One thing that you've probably noticed if you've played the Sword Route is how every time you clear a board of enemies, the music will stop playing and be replaced by silence broken up by the sound of waves crashing, and nothing else. This sound effect also punctuates the quiet parts of where the song "SWORD" loops. additionally, board 2 when playing Tenna's version of the game is island and ocean-themed with the big secret of course being that the ice door is hidden on the northernmost part of the board past the sea (which Gerson specifically alludes to in his chapter 3 summary, above literally all else that happens in chapter 3), and if you manage to get there while Tenna is absent, Ralsei is very freaked out at you being there. finally in board 3 of the sword minigame, there is no music playing at all, being replaced ENTIRELY by the sound effect of waves crashing before you eventually make your way to the dungeon that many have noted mirrors the genocide run of undertale in how it demands you play it.

also minor but still worth noting, the eponymous "eram" spelled backwards is "mare", the Latin word for "sea". Whether this is actually intended or not I feel that a name that specifically spelled isn't for nothing

and now we move onto chapter 4. once you go to the lake, wait around a bit, leave and come back, you can find the Gaster follower NPC who blocks the library books with lore tidbits per-chapter hanging around at the lake spot where you would normally talk to Onion, who then gives you some very... interesting dialogue to say the least. this couldn't possibly be alluding to something more ominous now could it...?

continuing with a more minor example, fighting Miss Mizzle after she transforms out of her water cooler form, the battle flavor text alludes to the ocean, such as the crashing of waves (with the bonus bit of the sound of a distant storm... will that storm be hitting soon I presume?)

but of course the biggest example we're gonna see is Gerson giving Susie this little line of dialogue during his boss fight:

now this could be entirely metaphorical, but before the fight even begins, he mentions something very similar to what Onionsan was talking about in chapter 2

and of course this "ocean of ink" statement only gets even more ominous if you talk to an npc in town who gives you this very brief and easily missable dialogue casually mentioning tsunamis

All of this is also coupled with the fact that Undyne, a character heavily water-themed, is currently a captive of a character with the absolute most story-related gravity out of any character we've met, and it's very possible that there will be a plot point in a future chapter revolving around whether she lives or dies.

not to mention the final bit towards the end of the chapter where, in onion's absence, Susie comments on how she can hear music coming from the water

so what does this all mean? well, I'm not personally sure what it means, but as I already mentioned in how this is a toby fox game, I highly doubt that there would be so many little elements all focusing on a central theme to the point it's starting to feel like foreshadowing if he wasn't planning on doing something with it. just that right now, with how much more heavily the snow and ice themes and the immediate gravity of them being in the story in any capacity are being laid on, it is understandably a little easier to miss the ominous references to the sea creeping in and it's not something I'm seeing be talked about when it comes to the state of theories right now so I wanted to mainly put my hat into the ring on this. considering that ocean of ink is coming "soon", and seeing how Gerson noticeably stops talking about the lord of the hammer plot after the alluded Asgore chapter coming soon, if a plot point having to do with a water-based disaster or calamity of some kind is coming up, I have a feeling that it's going to come up possibly as soon as chapter 6 or maybe even the end of chapter 5.

anyway that's all goodbye

EDIT: YOU IN THE TAGS, YOUR BRAIN IS BEAUTIFUL