Abyssal (ManxMan)

Rising Dust

Rising Dust

Everyone in the amphitheater saw their king get sent flying backwards and slam into a wall, but no one would ever dare recount what they saw outside it on pain of death.

Like the shattering of a snow globe, the Palace's quietude, and for the first time in anyone's memory, dissolved into chaos. For eons, the Palace of Nostraza, the Black Pearl of the Ocean, the Dragon's Black Eye, had stood impenetrable, utterly unbreachable. The magical dome that surrounded it ensured its impenetrability, and so the Palace had withstood many a vicious attack with nary a scratch in its invisible barrier to show for it. But this night, what a hundred armies had not been able to do, an orphaned, half-breed prince did.

The King of Nostraza had been hit in the very bosom of the Nostrazian Empire.

Upon seeing her king take a hit, a mermaid in the crowd unleashed a terrifying screech that shook the crimson walls of the amphitheater and echoed in the halls beyond.

Guards rallied.

"His Majesty has been hit!" A guard declared at the very top of his lungs!

Spears and tridents were raised, poised to strike, but they were shattered by the same wave of golden light that struck the king, and the guards that wielded them were sent to crash against the walls.

More screaming.

"We must save His Majesty!"

"Are you insane? We must get out of His Majesty's way! Soon, he'll unleash his wrath upon that filthy half-blood and it'll all be over in a flash! Come, let us hurry out of here!"

All the courtiers followed confident Lady Ezaoi out of the amphitheater, who strutted out with utter confidence in her King -or rather his destructive vengeance.

Marius, who had been momentarily stunned by the half-blood -or rather the Spirit of the Sea-unleashing his power, laughed.

The guards who remained turned to look at him with dread.

They knew very well what was going to happen next.

Grinning, Marius barked a command. They were to leave and keep anyone from coming in.

They hurried to do their king's bidding, inwardly thankful that they would not have to stand witness to their king's retaliation.

"Finally." Marius sighed, still wearing a grin. He climbed out of the wall in which the powerful wave had embedded him in. "You've kept me waiting." His grin fell. "I do not like to wait."

He regarded the Astrian Prince, who'd now taken on a new form, with a newly-found...respect.

He hadn't meant to take his life.

He had meant to bring out his true power, clearly aware of one of its most important and risky conditions.

How utterly ingenious.

It seemed that the prince being pushed to the edge had brought out his true fighting instinct; he was willing to sacrifice even himself for victory. Regardless of who or what he was, that was a sentiment a warrior king like Marius, who spent a great of his life on the battlefield, was begrudgingly forced to respect.

The unleashing of the Spirit had changed the Astrian Prince, it seemed. He rippled with raw, unchecked power; the likes of which did not exist in anything or anyone else, singular only to the Spirit who commanded the seas. It resonated within him and emitted in waves, reaching out to the magic in Marius' own body and brushing it like a wraith's chilly hand.

Marius felt renewed desire; he craved nothing more than to possess the Spirit of the Sea and begin to set things across the oceans right. While powerful, it was too indifferent to the suffering across its domain. For too long, the Spirit had neglected the rest of the oceans to human decay and the ravages of time, favoring the Astrian Kingdom above all others.