First Visit

A rivulet of sweat rolled down Erasmus' face. They'd just left the familiarity of the sea and he was already sweating bullets in the humid morning weather. He glanced upward to see that the sun had already begun its dutiful ascent up the sky, and briefly wondered what the weather was like at high noon. Hopefully he wouldn't stay long enough to find out.

Erasmus hated the surface nearly as much as he hated the Nostrazian King, and he'd succeeded in never stepping foot on land ever again since... Since the day Prince Kai was born.

Erasmus inwardly sighed as memories assaulted him, fresh as a morning mist.

He'd accompanied King Kaerus on his first visit to see his human wife and his newborn son. His friend had brought him to see his half-breed newborn, and Erasmus didn't remember ever seeing him look happier. A proud father, he stood over his child's crib, holding his firstborn in his arms preciously, protectively as if he meant to shield him from the world. A deep sadness had belied his happiness, and he'd looked like a merman who'd had to give up one thing to gain another. Evidently, he had.

"Is it gone from you?" Erasmus had whispered to Kaerus in hushed tones, who was still cradling his son to his chest. A mane of red had peaked out of the light blanket the baby had been tightly wrapped in. Swaddling, the humans called it.

Without looking at him, King Kaerus muttered a sad, "Yes." And then he'd gazed upon his child with sorrowful awareness, knowing what Erasmus already suspected and fully dreaded. The half-breed inherited the Spirit of the Sea. The King of Astria had lost the kingdom's most lethal weapon.

"But you're still alive!" Erasmus had bellowed with a growing alarm, startling the child into a crying fit. He'd felt fear, something he rarely experienced, lick his heart. The consequences of this transition were going to be catastrophic. Especially once their people -and the rest of the merworld- discovered that the Spirit of the Sea now resided in a half-breed who for the first part of his life would remain unaware of their existence. It would be anarchy.

Kaerus had flashed him a disapproving look for startling his son, then shushed and gently rocked his son into silence and then to sleep.

Very slowly, as if the half-breed would shatter if he but put a little pressure, he lowered him into the crib and covered him up to his chin with another blanket.

Bent over his sleeping son, Kaerus had looked older than he'd ever seen him look before. There was tension in his face and shoulders, his hands fisting and unfisting at his sides.

A weary king with the weight of their world on his shoulders. It was a burden none of them would ever know, a burden his son had inherited as the rightful heir. And the endless dangers that came with it.

His heart had gone to his friend and he'd wanted to say something to reassure him, but he'd wisely kept quiet, giving him the time he needed to process the loss of the Spirit. Alongside visiting his newborn for the first time, they'd rushed here to confirm that the Spirit had truly left their king, and they had.

Kaerus once told him that he'd gotten used to the Spirit occupying his body and that he couldn't imagine what life would be like without him.

Erasmus remembered thinking that King Kaerus would soon find out.

"He told me it may happen. Before he left."

"He?" Erasmus had asked.

"The Spirit."

"Why did it happen? Why did he leave you?"

"To protect him."

"He could have done that from your body."

Kaerus had looked away.

"Sire?" Erasmus knew his king was keeping something from him. "You must tell me," he'd urged, his voice laced with concern. If it was something threatening, then as advisor to the throne, he needed to be told.

Finally, Kaerus had raised his head and put a hefty hand on Erasmus' slight shoulder, nearly covering all of it. Even in his true form, he was physically a slight thing, with wraith-like pale features, little meat and protruding bone.

The look on his king's exquisitely-beautiful face had stunted his heart.

"Old friend, I am not long for this world." The King had declared unflinchingly with absolute certainty. He'd looked as resigned as can be, as if he'd already accepted his death.

Startled, Erasmus had vehemently hissed, "You cannot know that. Just because you lost the Spirit doesn't mean you'll immediately die. How do you think the rest of us have been living?"

Kaerus had smiled forlornly then, dropping his hand and the subject. He'd made no attempts to convince the old mage, and Erasmus had dismissed his words as nervous talk.

What a fool, he'd been. He should have listened, truly listened to what his friend was telling him. He should have asked the questions that now plagued him with every rise and fall of the sun. Things might be different if he had ignored his emotions and fears and did what was needed of him as an advisor.

If he had, Kaerus might still be alive today.

After that day, there had been no occasion for him to come on land, and thank the Spirit for that.

"What's wrong with you? We must move quickly." General Ryodan commanded in brisk tones, casting an annoyed look his way. He'd stopped halfway up the cliff, lost in his memories and his old regrets.

He was growing ever restless, the confrontation that was soon to come making him absolutely insufferable and irritant. To think that someone as experienced in combat as the General would be less anxious.

Then again, they were going up against the Black Conqueror. Though a powerful warrior himself, Ryodan was no warrior of legend. And he was much younger, with years worth of experience in battle separating the two of them. The intelligence their people had accumulated -and paid for in blood- of their number one enemy over the years was that he was also an adept magic-wielder. No, not merely adept. Worthy of being dubbed a mage himself. Ryodan's anxiousness was therefore understandable. Admittedly, it was beginning to rub off on the wary mage.

"They say he can single-handedly take on an army. And win. Tell me that's an old wives' tale." Erasmus said.

When Ryodan said nothing, Erasmus began to regret their carefully-constructed plan. Suddenly it didn't seem so carefully-constructed. They'd rushed to scramble together a plausible plan that would give them a fighting chance, more like. Their entire plan hinged on the integrity of the barrier he'd constructed around the house and his teleportation prohibiting spells. But their goal wasn't to beat Marius in battle. Their main goal was to get in, grab Kai and his mother, and get out with as few appendages and limbs lost as possible.

It would be like getting blood from a stone. If Marius was half the mage he was rumored to be, then he was already dismantling his spells.

They needed to hurry.