Hey guys! So I just wanted to explain again why the chapters have become so short. It's because this story now uploads on Tapas as well, and Tapas allows a certain number of characters per chapter under their 'bite-sized stories' policy. That being said, the next chapter (which is already on Patreon for early access if you've got a dollar to spare ;P) is longer than the past updates. I've stretched it as far as I could. Thanks for understanding!
P.S What do you think of the Abyssal's cover I commissioned?! :D
Oh and that Patreon banner you see? I made it myself :3
True Danger
Despite his initial belief that he would never ever be able to get a shut eye in Marius' room, Kai soon fell asleep amid the sea of surprisingly comfy cushions. He dreamed about his mother and his home and his friend Hakan. He dreamed about the Turkish bazaars he'd run around as a child and loved so much. Finally, he dreamed about the golden merman.
"What are you?" he'd asked him in the dream while floating on top of the most beautiful coral reef Kai had ever seen. He'd been desperate to find out the true nature of this supposed power he possessed. Other than breathing under water, could he fly? Could he shoot laser beams out of his eyes? Could he compel people to tell the truth? Was he insanely rich and owned a black, armored tank? What? What the hell was this power he'd been kidnapped over?!
It had to be a power that others could take advantage of if King Marius had gone through all the trouble of kidnapping him and bringing him here.
The golden merman had regarded him with interest before swimming circles around Kai until Kai's head began to spin.
"Tell me!" he'd demanded, his desperation bordering on hysteria. He couldn't take the not knowing for much longer.
He feared that, pretty soon, he would break.
"Look inside you; you'll find all the answers you seek-" The golden merman had begun to say through ventriloquism when Kai interrupted him.
"Oh, don't give me that cliché crap! I don't think I have time to look inside. I'm already in the heart of Nostraza! If I don't find out now, then I fear I'm going to be taken advantage of. You will be taken advantage of! And I don't know how to defend you!" By the time he'd finished what he had to say, he was practically panting. Apparently, it was possible to run out of breath underwater.
He'd heard the echoes of a soft laugh bouncing off the walls of his mind. "You wish to protect me, my Prince?" He'd heard the notes of mild surprise in the merman's voice.
"Well, yes. If your power is truly awesome, then I don't want you falling into the wrong hands to be used against the Astrians -against my people," he'd confessed honestly. How he felt a sense of duty to a people he'd never known was beyond him. Then, he'd looked at the golden merman -really looked at him- and had said softly, "But I suspect you already know everything about me. After all, you do live in my head."
The golden merman had reached out a hand and touched Kai's chest, right over his heart, before saying, "And your heart."
Where he was touching, Kai felt honeyed warmth seep into his very bones.
"My Prince, I am the one who protects you."
Well, you haven't done a bang-up job so far.
The golden merman had heard that. He had tilted his head to the side and had said, "'You were in no true danger to warrant my appearance."
Kai's jaw had dropped to the ocean floor at that.
No true danger? No true danger?! He'd been kidnapped, assaulted, molested by a giant, slimy, sea monster, publicly humiliated, and then probed against his will! He'd constantly been in true danger this past day!
The golden merman had waved his hand dismissively, clearly having read Kai's mind again. "But your life was not in danger. Your captor has no intention of taking your life."
"But he strangled me!" With growing dread, he'd recalled when Marius had wrapped his large hands around Kai's slender neck in the tunnel and had squeezed until Kai legitimately thought that he was going to die.
"As I said, he had no intention of taking your life."
Kai had contemplated the golden merman's words.
"So you will only lift a finger if I'm on the verge of death?" he'd asked, choosing his words carefully.
"Yes, my Prince."
He'd gone deathly silent upon that revelation.
Could it be? Had King Marius known this about the power and had, for a lack of better words, tried to coax the power to show itself to him? The more he thought about it, the more the notion seemed very likely.
Kai had accused King Marius of almost killing him, and the King's baffling response was: Yes, I almost did. Yet it did not work.
King Marius was undoubtedly the most calculating man- er, merman he'd ever had the displeasure of meeting.
Finally, he'd broken the silence of the depths and had asked, "And what will you do to anyone who threatens my life?"
The golden merman's golden eyes had abruptly narrowed into slits, much like Marius' eyes, and the temperature of the water had dropped a good 20 degrees Celsius before he'd promised in a voice that was most definitely out of this world, "Rain down every pain and agony known in this plane of existence upon them."
Kai had woken feeling terribly cold.
He'd also realized two things from his dream; that his power was fearsome indeed, and that King Marius knew more about it than even Kai, its bearer.
He sat up against the cushions and aimlessly stared around him, waiting for the fatigue and coldness in his bones to wear off.
He glanced at his feet and his brows furrowed. He lifted and turned one foot to see that his cuts had indeed been healed away by none other than King Marius. He supposed that the mighty king had only healed him because he needed Kai's power.
His only consolation so far was that King Marius hadn't attempted to do what Kai feared he'd do.
Yet.
Marius had declared him the 'Royal Concubine', and if that position was anything like the traditional concubine, then he had to get out of this place and fast.
He spent the next few hours exploring Marius' room. He had no idea if it was night or day. He still wasn't even sure how long he'd been here. All the portaling had left him jetlagged.
There were no windows in the King's chambers; he supposed that that was probably a wise choice considering they were at the bottom of the ocean. Which brought him to his next question: How was the Palace not submerged in water? He would have thought that they'd taken him back to the surface if it weren't for the extraordinary waterfall in the Baths and the fact that he could somehow feel that he was underwater. Considering that he was now part of a world with portals and magic powers, perhaps it would not be a stretch to say that some form of sorcery or magic was involved in keeping water out of the Palace.
But for what purpose?
This was an underwater empire, the home of merfolk. Why would they choose to walk on two feet rather than retain their true form and swim freely?
This place was nothing if not confusing.
When he went to Marius' desk, the obelisk -or any part of it- was gone. His blood had also been wiped clean. He'd slumbered so heavily he hadn't sensed anyone come in to clean.
He walked past the desk and through an archway only to find himself in the biggest personal library he'd ever laid eyes on.
"Wow," he breathed an exclamation, genuinely stunned by the sight of hundreds of bookshelves lined with thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of books. It was truly a king's library, for the bookshelves appeared to be made of gold.
Disbelieving, he knocked on one of the bookshelves.
Yes, the bookshelves were made of stone-cold gold.
Kai was starting to think Nostraza was built on top of an underwater gold mine.
There were no dusty books or tomes in sight, and the cavernous room was lit with-
He gaped. Were those... blue-green bioluminescent jellyfish the size of massive chandeliers dangling from the ceiling and lighting the room? When one of them moved just the slightest bit, it confirmed his suspicions. But how were they surviving without water?
He counted sixteen of them spread out uniformly across the ceiling, all appearing to be of the same type.
A thought occurred to him. Would any of them suddenly detach from the room and fall on his head? Were they poisonous?
Surely not...
Another thought occurred to him. Would he find something about his power in this massive library?
Marius had to know about it from somewhere. He looked like the kind of... merman who would do extensive research and plan meticulously before attempting something as complicated and potentially messy as kidnap. So, it was not a stretch to assume that some information about his power could be within the pages of a book or few here.
It couldn't hurt to try, but he would have to do it quietly and quickly before Marius returned.
If his assholish golden guardian wouldn't just tell him, he'd find the information he needed to put himself on equal grounds with Marius himself.