Ray is low on time, luck, and hope; his only chance is an artifact that may not even exist. But upon meeting Landon, Ray is beginning to believe he might find all four.
*****
Cambion...
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On the long list of awful things that had happened to Ray, the artifact ranked in the top ten.
Ray hated the thing.
It was as if Lady Shobu had purposefully made the artifact as irritating as possible. Even now, she was taunting him, annoying him, beyond her fiery tomb. He thumbed the artifact, irritably. It was in poor taste. Someone of his standing should not have such idle habits. Yet, rubbing his thumb along the smooth edge of the metal-born petal never failed to focus his thoughts.
Presently, Ray's thoughts were frantic and furious as his thumb worked over the edges of the artifact and his eyes bore into a map. Unfortunately, unlike people, maps were not capable of succumbing to fear. No matter how hard he glared, the map would never curl over, choking out the answers that Ray direly needed.
"Your Majesty," a male voice said.
Ray's body reacted before his mind caught up to it. He grabbed the nearest object - an unlit candle and its holder - and hurled it at the man. The thing collided with the door frame, clattering to the ground. Ray's chest heaved, breaths coming in violent gasps. The intruder was lucky that Ray had a poor aim in this state.
"What do you want?" Ray snapped, turning back to his map and to thumbing the artifact.
"The captain- the captain just wanted to ask if you still wished to sail out tomorrow," the intruder said, the words coming out a bit rushed.
It was good that he was uncomfortable in Ray's presence.
"It doesn't matter," Ray said.
And it didn't. For almost two years now, Ray had hunted for the Crimson Sheath. Yet no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find it. Yet, every season, Ray could feel his body deteriorating. He could feel himself dying. And even if Ray was the type to resign himself to fate, it was far too late for that now. The artifact was a constant reminder that life existed for him, just outside of his grasp. There wasn't a day where the artifact wasn't urging Ray on.
It was a horrible, cursed thing. It guided Ray, pulling him in the direction of the Crimson Sheath, but this was not the kind of pull that was marked on a map. Ray never had any idea where he would be led and never felt any closer to finding the Crimson Sheath.
"Yes- yes, your Majesty!"
Ray slumped into his chair, massaging his temples as if that would help. He tried to tell himself that he'd always known finding the Crimson Sheath would be a difficult - if not impossible - task. It had taken time to find a captain and a crew willing to go in the direction a king pointed. It had taken time for Ray to realize the Crimson Sheath was in one of the dozens of island kingdoms.
All Ray needed to do was be patient and eventually, he would find the Crimson Sheath. However, he simply did not have the time to be patient. His twentieth birthday was in a matter of months and after that... Ray did not know for how much longer he would have the strength to continue his search. A year or two if he was lucky but... Ray really was living on borrowed time.
