The Last Descendant: The Air Runes

Chapter 1: The Ocean

The Ocean holds all,

Land, cities, temples 

all bow to her mercy.

Once, she was free.

Light rained down,

misting onto the mountains.

Then She buried them.

Suffocated from the light,

suffocated from the wind.

Dead in their life.

Cail turned over the withering piece of parchment that he'd found in a rustic, wooden chest. It read, "Tarvaris Ozean, Year 854 of the Terrarian Age". 'Ozean' caught Cail's eye, for that was his family name as well. Cail had learned all about his ancestors when he was just a young boy, but even now, at the age of 16, he had never heard of Tarvaris.

Cail jumped when he heard his father, Cecil, call for him from the kitchen. He shut the chest and sprinted up the basement stairs and into the kitchen with the newly discovered parchment in hand.  Cail's father was sitting at the table, eating some scrambled eggs and fresh fruit from the garden.  An empty plate sat on the small, wooden table where Cail usually sat. While occasionally scooping up some of his warm breakfast, Cecil was reading through his own piece of parchment, his pupils bouncing back and forth as he tried to race through the contents of the page. His dark, messy, brown hair matched his son's, with the exception of a few gray strands, his baby blue eyes were eclipsed by dark patches, and his face wore a silver shadow of prickly hair, the usual look for this early in the morning.

"There's eggs in the pan on the oven and grapes that I just picked in the bowl," Cecil said without so much as a glance away from his reading material.

"What are you reading, dad?" Cail asked as he served himself to breakfast.

"Something you will have to deal with someday, when you're Lord of the Island," his father said, looking up with a gentle smile. "It's a petition to cut tariffs on the crops for this year." He put the paper on the table, let out a heavy sigh, and rubbed his tiresome eyes. "Our family has protected this island for millennia, but I don't think our ancestors dealt with this much paperwork."

"Well I think you're the perfect man for the job," Cail chuckled.

Cecil noticed the paper that Cail was holding. "What's that you got there, Cail?"

"I was kind of hoping you'd be able to tell me. I found it down in one of our old chests in the basement," Cail said as he handed the parchment to his father.

After skimming over the contents, he thrust the paper back to his son and said, "I have no idea how that got into our basement. It means nothing to me."

Cail stared at the poem in disappointment. "So you don't know who Tarvaris Ozean is?" he inquired.

"I'm afraid not. My only guess is that he's a very old ancestor of ours. Like I said, our family dates back to ancient times." Cecil paused briefly before changing subject, "Have you fed Emey yet this morning?"

"I'm just getting ready to do that. However, I think she would feel honored if she was fed by the Lord of Elona instead," Cail said sarcastically.

"Nice try," his father chuckled. "You better get to it! She'll start wondering if you're coming at all. And don't forget the whistle this time! You never know where she disappears to."