Kai, Servant of the King, and Shepherd of Souls, picked up the water-resistant, leather-bound book and watched as the pages floated open. The ink, magically protected by the powers he contained, glistened. The inscription was delicate and elegant, the words of thousands of years spaced on the waving pages.
The words of kings, knights, and law. All contained in the book.
Stringing from the back of it, the Soul of the Sea undulated behind it, connected to the stone perch that it was bound to. It would forever connect the Book of the Sea to the pillar; should anything happen to it… A shiver slid down his back. Well, he wouldn’t think about that.
His eyes traveled along the walls and entrance, making sure no guards were peeking in on what he was doing.
The marble room was closed-off from the public, the temple created in honor of the Gods and the Book of Souls. It was as big as the throne room, but filled with jewels and gold, adorned with teal and silver curtains in honor of the God that had begun the Book. The ocean floor was covered with white marble plating and lined with teal inscriptions that spoke of the Ancient Warriors, the first of the Atlanteans. At mid-day, the sun shone the brightest through the diamond dome that was in the center of the ceiling.
It was a dazzling sight, one that he was surrounded with at that moment, but it did not take away the urgency or anticipation he was feeling.
“Arigslo magnacia.” He murmured the ancient words, awakening the Book, air bubbles wrapping around the it like a lover’s caress. It thrummed in his hands, light pouring from the pages. His arms heated from the strength of it, but he ignored it. The task at hand was too important to worry about such small things.
A rift had occurred somewhere. He’d felt the change only moments ago when sitting beside his Lord and Lady. It was a chilling feeling, one he had not experienced in ages.
The King had understood and given him leave. Now Kai stood there, above the Book of Souls, and he could only pray that it contained the answers he sought. The sensation had been one of pure menace, a threat to the sea that he recognized all too clearly.
Whatever had caused it, however, was another matter.
The pages flipped open, back and forth, pushing through the water with a speed that showed its worry. Many thought that the Book of Souls was just that…a book. A book given to them by a stranger, a book that held the fables of old and the lies of knights.
He knew differently.
The Atlantean Gods had graced his people with this book in the hopes of keeping a repeat of The Destruction from happening. They’d placed inside of it the greatest known tales of the Atlanteans and their law. They’d given their new king direction, and the Royal Family was once again restored to its true power.
Only he knew the truth, a curse that he had lived with since the beginning of time.
The pages continued to flip, reading what he felt and trying to find an answer, when he saw something that chilled him to his very soul. Never before had this occurred, not even when The Destruction had befallen them.
Black streams and blood-red splotches were surrounding the Soul of the Sea, orbiting the thread like a galaxy of threats and discord. Panic assailed him, a fear unlike any he had ever felt before causing his chest to seize and his lungs to freeze.
“No,” he whispered, shock ridding him of rational thought. “This…this cannot be. Not now, not when things are so prosperous.”
But alas, the proof was in front of him. The Soul of the Sea was blackening right before his eyes, and he had no clue—
The pages stopped flipping.
In the dim aquatic glow of the spacious room that honored the book, the pages that it had spread open to were blinding. He could barely believe what he was seeing, but as he registered the words and their meanings, the danger was prominent.
And…good. Desired.
Kai could not comprehend why he felt this way, but as the story began to unfold before his eyes, the tale of a deceived king whose life was stolen from him by the jealousy of one woman…the redemption at the end of the tale was patent.
The Book floated out of his hands. Projecting the story as clear as if he were there, he saw what was to come, and saw that the Sea was not in danger…but someone just as important was.
The sole heir, the First Ruler, and the man who had caused so much destruction and pain, that he’d been shunned by the very people he had sought to protect.
He was pressed against a strange cave wall, shoulders shredded and once-finely trimmed hair falling around his face in thick, unkempt waves. The desolation in his eyes was heart wrenching, and Kai suddenly felt a need to attack something, anything. By one look into his soul, Kai knew his past, his future, and his present.
He had not deserved this punishment, or any of the things that had been done to him. His instinct to protect his people had thrown him to the darkest pits of the sea, so far back that before this sudden rift, he had been untraceable… But then, Kai was like the rest of them.
He’d shunned the man, not knowing the why or how, only understanding that he had cost them their home and their kingdom and countless lives. Shame rocked him through and through. In the mid-years of his life, the Shepherd powers had been weak, and he hadn’t been able to tell the truth from lies; he hadn’t been able to tell the mistaken from the understood.
Because of their ignorance, this man had been tortured…and still held the blame of thousands on his shoulders when it was not his guilt to bare.
Kai’s eyes narrowed as the image transformed, and long, flowing blonde hair penetrated his view, overtaking the scene and morphing it into something that not even Kai could have predicted with his years of knowledge.
Astonishment held him frozen.
The Sea was most definitely not in any danger.
As the vision progressed, he knew for a fact that change was coming, and it was coming fast. He only had to worry about the state of the man that sat on the Atlantean throne at this moment, and all would be well, in place. Kai would feel guilt at his disloyal thoughts to the man who had become his friend, but he was the Shepherd. It was his duty, and always had been, to carry out the will of the Sea.
If this was what it wanted from him, then he was loathe to deny it. All would be ready for their arrival.
That is, if the couple survived the bleak storm that was coming their way.
The Book of Souls had reason to be scared; he just prayed to the gods that they took mercy on the poor couple who had a dangerous journey ahead of them.