Abyssal (ManxMan)

The Fool

The next chapter is already up on Ritoria! 

The Fool

The sea witch watched in horror and awe as his King destroyed the sunken metal vessel. The human vessel had sunk to the bottom of the sea some fifty years ago during a so-called World War. The first time he'd heard the term 'World War', the sea witch had been greatly amused. For how could there be a World War when it was just their world fighting itself? Humanity continued to be oblivious of the MerWorld's existence. He supposed it was just like the humans to be self-absorbed, unable to see what was right under their noses.

His usually collected, reserved King unleashed a deafening warcry and split the vessel in half using his trident. It exploded, engulfing him in a fiery explosion from which he emerged unscathed.

He floated away from the destruction, headed straight for the sea witch.

Terror gripped him anew.

"He's not there." The King growled with eyes so cold and blue, they looked like orbs of ice. It was a wonder how icy his gaze could be with all the rage burning just behind the sheets of ice. Considering the humiliation he'd been dealt, the sea witch perfectly understood the Nostrazian King's uncharacteristic reaction.

The King of Nostraza had been made a fool of.

For this grave offense, someone was going to pay for it in blood. The sea witch was desperately trying to ensure that it wasn't his blood.

And miserably failing.

The sea witch trembled. Somehow, the Astrian half-breed, undoubtedly with the help of the magnificent Spirit of the Sea, had fooled both him and his king yet again, casting another fake presence in the metal wreckage for the sea witch -and anyone else who tried to find him- to detect. Despite all the tricks he had up his sleeve, his magic was leading him astray the one time he desperately needed for it to function properly.

King Marius was on his last thread of patience -and clemency. Once it snapped...

Unless it already snapped.

Terrified of the possibility of being split in half just like the metal vessel, the sea witch stammered out, "I... He should h-have been here. I- I sensed-!"

"You sensed nothing!" Marius roared and thunder boomed in the distance. All nearby sealife disappeared; the fish schools, the living seaweed, and even the lively coral reefs went dormant. No one and nothing dared to appear in front of a raging Marius and possibly be subjected to his ferocious ire.

If only he could disappear with them too.

Marius seized the sea witch by the jaw, drawing him close until their faces were inches apart. There was nothing gentle about this touch; his fragile jawline was being crushed under the King's large, strong grip.

The look on his face made the liquid in his spine freeze. His King wore a vicious expression, any traces of mercy and clemency wiped from it. This close, the sea witch felt his rage radiating off him in waves. Each icy wave that hit him filled him with renewed fear until it was pouring out of the pores in his skin. No, the King could no doubt smell his fear, just like a killer shark smelling a drop of blood in the wide, open sea. And he was going in for the kill.

For the first time since receiving the honor of becoming the King's personal witch, the sea witch actually thought Marius was going to murder him. He'd failed him for the last time.

And it was all for that no-good Astrian half-breed who had dared to escape.

"Find him," he hissed in a voice that sounded closer to a demon's. His eyes flashed and the corded veins in his forehead popped.

Before the sea witch could squeak a 'Yes-sir', he was tossed to the side like a discarded rag. As he somersaulted in the water a few times, the ocean spun around. Bruises remained where Marius's fingers had squeezed his jaw and face.

By the time he straightened in the dark waters and his orientation returned to him, the King was gone.

****

The first thing Kai saw when he opened the cabin's door was his mother.

"Kai!"

"Mom!"

They tangled in a tight embrace. Kai inhaled deeply of his mother's scent; lavender, vanilla, and almond nuts. He'd missed this scent, its familiarity, its security. She smelled like home. Right now with their home exposed to and endangered by the people of the sea, she was home as far as he was concerned, and Kai went wherever his mother went.

He was immensely relieved that the Spirit had proved true to his word -at least this once. He'd indeed teleported his mother and Hakan to a safe place far away from the threat of mermen kings: Erasmus's cabin inside his underwater cave. For whatever reason, he'd elected to bring them here.

Was it really safe? Kai still had his doubts, especially about the cabin's owner.

Once he pulled away from his mother, he saw that familiar sharpness in her eyes. Unlike when he first saw her in their house, her gaze was focused.

Marius's spell of illusion that made her unable to comprehend her surroundings and the truth of them had been broken.

Is it your doing? Kai asked the Spirit, even though he already knew the answer.

It was ours.

Thank you.

Kai had hated that spell with every fiber of his being despite how necessary it was. It was almost as if his mother, who was still in her early fifties, had gone senile, or had been drugged.

"Are you okay?" His mother inspected him for any faults with a mother's keen, concerned eye.

"I'm okay." He kissed her on the forehead, something he'd promised himself to do once they reunited while in captivity in Nostraza's Palace.

"Do you... remember?" Kai wasn't sure what to ask his mother exactly. Where to begin?

"I do. A little. But Kai..."

Kai felt a frisson of concern coursing down his spine on rabbit feet at her changing expression and the distraught look in her eyes. "What is it?" Then, he looked around, saw the problem and concern turned to alarm. "Where's Hakan?" 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*

Poor Hakan. Kai just can't catch a break.

The next chapter is already on Ritoria! https://ritoria.com/en/chapter/98c0792f-3102-4c0c-ab5f-b3239f037664Abyssal Book 2 has started on my Patreon for all tiers! If you'd like to finish Book 1 and start Book 2, consider joining my Patreon! You can read ahead, get early access to chapters as well as exclusive NSFW Abyssal short stories and content!