Abyssal (ManxMan)

Time is of the Essence

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Time is of the Essence

The sound of something boiling on the stove always soothed Kai. He associated the sound with hot soup in the making, or a good, homely broth. It meant that his mother was home in time to cook him dinner. As well as a kickass ambassador, she was a great cook.

But it wasn't his mother's cooking bubbling in the pot hanging over firewood, it was a...

Kai sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He should be used to the supernatural and arcane by now, yet somehow the thought of Erasmus making a potion was too much. Apparently, this was where his senses drew the line.

With a grimace, he watched the black pot -a witch's black pot for crying out loud- bubble over. Its contents, a viscous purple goo, spilled out over the edges.

Erasmus, still in his man-form, rushed forward to put out the fire with a wave of his hand. He poured himself a cup and then threw back his head and downed it.

"What the fuck is that shit?" Kai pinched his nose the moment its horrid stench wafted to his nose.

"Language!" His mother yelled from somewhere inside the stone castle. Apparently sound traveled well in a stone castle.

For whatever reason, his mother had gone to tend to the General, who was still passed out like a light. Marius must have really caused some serious damage; it was a wonder how the General wasn't dead.

Kai ignored his mother; he wasn't in the mood to act all respectful toward Erasmus. He still hadn't forgiven the mage for his abhorrent attempt at manipulation.

You must forgive him soon. We need him.

I'll make him work for my forgiveness. Him and Ryodan.

Kai thought he heard the Spirit chuckle in his head.

"I already healed you." The Spirit was the one who healed Erasmus, actually, but it was Kai who'd let him. "What do you need that for?"

It certainly didn't look or smell refreshing.

Erasmus didn't say a word. He wasn't ignoring Kai, he was... ashamed. Too ashamed to even meet the Prince's eyes.

As he should be.

A day ago, Kai would have berated himself for being so rude and insensitive, but the time for tact and kindness was over. Especially when his so-called allies couldn't be trusted to not make decisions for him that involved sacrificing his friends so he'd power up.

He mistakenly and foolishly thought that Erasmus and Ryodan were different from the Nostrazians, that they at the very least didn't view humans as inferior creatures to be enslaved or sacrificed or otherwise ignored, but they were all the same. These fucking immortals and their endless derision and underestimation of humanity was really getting old.

"Well, hurry up and drink it. We need to find Hakan."

Kai didn't understand how his friend managed to drop out of the Spirit's teleportation spell while his mother didn't, and thank God for that at least. Not even the all-knowing Spirit seemed to know how that happened. According to the bewildered Spirit, this had never happened before.

Kai suspected that it had something to do with him, and Erasmus confirmed it once he was well enough to speak again. The magic reserves inside Kai, a half-breed, weren't enough to sustain a two-person teleportation spell. Not yet.

To put it bluntly, Kai was still too weak.

That irked. He was inadvertently responsible for losing his best friend. And the worst part was that they didn't even know where he was. Kai was terrified to even consider where his friend had dropped out of the spell. In the middle of the ocean? In a warzone? Into a volcano?! The more he thought about it, the more his insides twisted into a knot and iron fists wrung his heart dry of every drop of blood.

If something happened to Hakan...

He'd never forgive himself. He doubted he could even go on living.

"Hurry up!" he barked impatiently at Erasmus, who was still standing in front of the pot like an old maid.

Erasmus moved to do his bidding. "Yes, your Highness," he said without any protest, and put down his cup of goo.

Standing on two feet, Erasmus in his man-form was as tall as Kai, and closely built too. The only thing that was familiar were his purple eyes. He was certainly handsome with that ethereal merfolk quality that was now starting to get on Kai's nerves.

What good was that beauty when the inside was rotten black?

"You said you could try a locator spell?"

Erasmus nodded. "I will try."

"It's not enough for you to try. You have to succeed."

Kai would have made the Spirit cast the spell, but he was out of magic. There was none left for the Spirit of the Sea to draw from.

He couldn't afford to wait for his magic to replenish. Not when his friend could be in grave danger. In this predicament, time was truly of the essence.

"Cast your spell." Kai commanded.

And Erasmus did.

****

Hakan stared at the monster in horrified silence. By now, he was unfortunately pretty certain that he wasn't dreaming (more like having a nightmare) or in hell. He'd performed the pinching test. And it had been hours since he first woke up here. This was real. All of it, including the giant monster with tentacles giving him the stink eye from across the dungeon, chained to the ground by all his tentacles.

Three eyes stared at him with malicious intent. Scales covered every inch of its slimy body, except for its... He did his best not to look there, but it was difficult, considering there was a lot of it, and it was chained to the ground too just like its tentacles.

What manner of monster was it? A kraken?

Hakan was actually thankful he was locked up in a golden cage. If the monster somehow broke free, then his cage would keep him safe from... its thing's reach. Hopefully. Probably.

Two hours later, the giant steel door finally opened. Its old, rusted hinges creaked loudly in the silence of the dungeon, the sound jarring after hours and hours of complete silence save for the monster's occasional grunts.

His heart leapt to his throat and then proceeded to gallop at a hundred miles per hour. Was he finally going to meet his captor after the wait?

In walked three identical looking boys through the door. One of them held a key.

They're triplets, Hakan realized.

"We have come to prepare you." Said one of the triplets.

Hakan did not like the sound of that.