Bastian's Song [Complete--Editing]

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Arsenius

Arsenius hadn't slept in days. He shoved his shoulder against the stone door and strained to open it. Every waking moment of his past week had been spent in front of this door, throwing his body against it. Behind the door was the room that only the Selene-blessed Triton could enter.

And in that room was Arsenius' ultimate goal: the weapon that could wipe out all of the Selachs at once. Neptune's Trident; a relic touched by a god in days long passed that still held a fragment of his awesome power.

With each day that passed, the glowing moon on his wrist had grown just a little brighter. The door had given way just a little more. When the day cycle had begun, hours ago, the mark of Selene had become almost whole.

It filled Arsenius with dread.

Every moment that Bastian was unaccounted for, that the mark grew stronger on Arsenius' wrist, was another moment for disaster to pass. If he couldn't get into the room, if he couldn't get his hands on that Trident, then the Selachs would take Bastian.

They would take him and destroy him, and the last trace of Augustus would disappear from the world.

The door groaned in protest as it opened another knuckle's width. Arsenius sagged against the stone, exhausted. Behind him, his honor guard waited with a patience that only warriors possessed. Atreus broke rank and moved toward him.

"Arsenius, won't you consider eating something? You haven't eaten in a day." Atreus spoke with perfect calm. Of all his honor guard, Atreus knew Arsenius best. He knew why Arsenius had to get the door open and that nothing mattered more to him than destroying the Selachs.

Rather than waste his energy on speaking to Atreus, Arsenius just straightened up and shoved at the door again. He grit his teeth, and the mark on his wrist flared. The door groaned open another knuckle's width.

The door groaned again, and again. Arsenius never relented. His guard never left him.

When the Moon rose, the door had opened just enough to finally squeeze through. Arsenius slithered inside. It was dark, with no light but the glow from Selene's mark. He lifted his wrist, and the room lit up with silver magic. Runes carved into the floor sparked into light, like they had caught fire.

In the middle of the room was a raised dais, made of a shining silver metal. At the center of the dais a gold trident rested with its three prongs stuck into the ground. Arsenius swam straight toward it. He reached out to take it into his hand.

A voice stopped him. It was Bastian's voice, and Theodosius' voice, and Augustus' voices all in one. The voices of a hundred past Tritons surrounded him and spoke in unison, directly into his mind.

Why do you seek to use this trident?

Arsenius didn't hesitate. "I will destroy my enemies, for the sake of my clan."

You do not know what you ask for. To use this weapon is to lose part of yourself.

"I would lose all of myself, if it would keep Bastian alive." Arsenius grabbed the trident. Golden power burst into a pillar of light that blinded him. The metal of the weapon felt hot under his hand, but he held it tight and lifted it from the ground.

All the power of Neptune was his to command. Every living creature in the Ocean was his to do with as he willed. Arsenius turned his thoughts to the Selachs.

"Finally. You will pay for your sins against my family. I will kill you all."

Many leagues away, under the shadow of a volcano, the Selach tribe saw a light in the ocean. The light was beautiful, but it terrified them. 

And among them, only the son of Augustus knew what the light meant. Only Bastian knew that death approached them all.