FOURTEEN: The Neverending Sea
Waves crashed loudly against the cliffs, the roar constant in Isiah's ears. The wind was just as bad, whipping his fringe into his eyes and threatening to strip him of his coat. With it came droplets of water pulled from the ocean, splattering his face and clothes. He blinked past the water and wind and stood at the end of the cliff.
The Neverending Sea lived up to its name. As far as he could see, the ocean raged. Dark clouds filled the sky but it had yet to rain or snow again. It was strange to think that he stood at the edge of Vishera. Never in his life had he thought he would come so far and yet, there he stood, watching the ocean swell and fall below him.
"Could you come away from there, Isiah?" Rina called from behind him, her voice muffled by the wind. "You're making me nervous."
"Not a fan of heights?" Emrick asked as he wandered back over to them. She shook her head and he let out a loud burst of laughter. "I have the feeling you're going to hate the rest of this little journey."
Even with the stone in his pocket, Isiah shivered. The wind pulled the heat it gave away from them, leaving him at the mercy of the biting wind. Creating a fire he could control would be difficult, if not impossible. He couldn't risk the wind spreading it where he could not follow.
It wasn't as cold as it would be without the stone, but he had gotten far too used to the heat it provided. From the way the other three shivered and pulled their coats tighter around themselves, they'd gotten too used to it as well. He had never really relied on his magic too much before he found the stone, due to his powers being so weak. It was no surprise that the stone would get the better of him in that regard.
"Apologies, Rina, I just wanted to see. I didn't mean to make you nervous," he said when he stopped next to them. Rina's face had paled considerably since they reached the cliffs and she looked as though she would bend over and vomit at any second. He had no idea how to comfort her. He wasn't scared of heights, if anything, they gave him a strange sort of thrill when he stood on the edge.
She waved him away. "Just be careful," she said. "I don't want to see anyone fall off."
"It's weird to think we're at the edge of the world, huh," Emrick said, staring over Isiah's shoulder. "You'd think there'd be more to it."
There wasn't much in the way of anything, just the snow and the cliffs and the ocean. The occasional tuft of grass poked out from beneath the crisp snow, the only real colour in the mess of greys and whites. Even the ocean was more grey than blue, ready for the arrival of a storm.
According to Emrick's map, there were no towns nearby in any direction, just Reed and a couple of smaller ones to the south. Their supplies would have to last until they reached Askarune's Sanctum and that was if someone was there. For all they knew, it could have been abandoned long ago, seeing as it was so out of the way.
There could also be someone like the Father waiting for them there. Guilt pooled in Isiah's gut at the thought of him. He'd only known the man a few days, but he'd been innocent in everything, like a lot of people who had died since the treaty. No one deserved to be killed by Jonin's brutal hand.
Hopefully, there wouldn't be a repeat of what happened at Ishin's Sanctum. All they needed to do was get the stone and leave. If they were quick, hopefully no one would catch up with them, if there was anyone following them. There most likely was. It was doubtful Harudan would let them run around Vishera with his brother without sending someone to look for them.
At least it wasn't Jonin. if what they saw at Reed was anything to go by, he was sticking by King Harudan's side until further notice. It was good for them if he was the best Harudan's guard could offer. Anyone else following them would be nowhere near as strong. Rina and Emrick would be able to deal with them easily.
Isiah sighed and ran a hand through his copper hair. "Nerin," he said. The pale, quiet boy glanced up at him with tired red eyes. "Do you know where exactly we need to go?"
He shook his head and pulled the little book from his bag. "It um- It's still being vague," he whispered and Isiah's eyebrows lifted in surprise. It had been a while since he had heard Nerin say more than a couple of words. Seeing Harudan in Reed had been a shock for all of them, but most of all for Nerin.
It was obvious that Harudan or Jonin had killed the former Lord of Reed. None of them had said as much, but they all knew it was the truth. The reason why didn't matter, it was the fact that he had done it that worried Isiah. Their king was more than willing to kill his own people to get what he wanted, including the people of a peaceful religion.
"That's alright," he said in an attempt to distract himself from the anger flooding his veins. "You said there were pillars we had to keep an eye out for, yes? We can just walk west and see what we can find."
Rina looked perturbed by his words. "The pillars were only visible during low tide, according to a book that is centuries old," she said, her voice turning high towards the end.
"Do you think we're at low tide now?" he asked as the waves crashed against the cliffs again. He doubted it if the storm was anything to go by. If the pillars were right in front of them, they wouldn't be able to see them over the insanity of the waves. Travelling in winter was becoming more of a struggle than it already was.
Even so, Emrick shook his head. "We'll have to wait until the storm dies down," he replied and let out a loud sigh. "The book said it was far from Minisia, right, Nerin?"
The boy nodded and flipped to the right page. "Yes. I believe it's in the cliff face as well," he said.
"Even better," Emrick muttered to himself with a roll of his eyes. "Well, if it's far from Minisia, then I guess it's safe to assume it's further west than we are currently. We're still pretty close to the border, all things considered."
It was the truth. The town of Reed was only a day or two from the border, while the mountains in the west were at least a week and a half away if they were fast. The Sanctum of Askarune was somewhere between there, but they still didn't have an exact location. They could walk the entirety of the length of Brenmar's northern coast and never find it.
What would happen if they never found Askarune's stone? Could he get the rest of them and become the Beast that was Promised without it? He doubted it, but he doubted there was a specific order he needed to find the stones in unless the book said otherwise. So far, it hadn't, but Nerin hadn't translated everything.
If there was an order to it, then they needed to get to the Sanctum of Askarune as soon as possible. He sighed and shivered at a strong gust of wind. "We had best be off then," he said and took the first tentative steps west. The cliffs stretched on for miles, almost as never-ending as the sea they bordered.
Nerin hurried to walk in step with him. "I can try and find a more accurate location again if you want," he said and gestured with the book. It was good to hear him speak again after days of silence. The young Prince had obviously needed the time to think over everything. Isiah could understand it, he'd spent a lot of his time after Ishmar and the Sanctum of Ishin in silence. It was the easiest way to deal with everything.
"No, it's alright, we'll find it," he said with a shake of his head. "Could you find something else for me, though? I want to know what exactly this stone's power is."
"Wouldn't it be illusionary?" Nerin asked, frowning at him.
"Going by what this stone gave me, yes," Isiah answered and kicked at the snow at his feet. "But it didn't just give me heat, it gave me flames. I'm assuming Askarune's stone will give me something more powerful than just illusions."
Nerin flipped open the book and ignored the wind as it whipped at the pages. "I'll see what I can find, but whoever wrote this was never allowed to go near the stones. Whichever Gods were there would speak to them and then ask them to go on their way. You are the only person allowed near them."
"Whichever Gods were there? Some of them weren't?" he asked as Emrick and Rina caught up to them. Neither said a word and instead listened intently to the conversation between him and Nerin.
"It says that Ishin wasn't. They were gone when this person arrived," Nerin said and pointed at a page Isiah couldn't read. "They were confused about it too, but moved on when they couldn't get to the stone."
Something about Nerin's words didn't sit well in Isiah's stomach. "Was Askarune there?" he asked.
"Yes, according to this," Nerin answered, eyes darting to each of them in turn. "The book calls them a 'he' though. It says he-"
"But my Gods don't have genders," Isiah said, the ill feeling in his stomach only growing worse. There was a chance that Askarune could be waiting for him at the Sanctum, his God. In all his life, he had never expected to truly see the beings he worshipped, only the world they had created. He wasn't supposed to see them until he died, when they would welcome him with open arms or push him away to atone for his sins.
A soft hand touched his wrist. "I don't think it matters all that much, Isiah," Rina said. Her voice wasn't judgemental or angry as he would have expected, but calm and understanding. She was right, there were more important things than the genders of his Gods.
"Apologies. Continue, Nerin," he said.
The boy smiled at him, shy and shaky. "It says he wouldn't let the writer go near the stones because he wasn't the Beast. The door would not open for them unless they were, I guess like the one at Ishin's Sanctum," he explained. The door in Ishin's Sanctum had been built into the rock and hadn't opened until he'd gone near it. The Father had translated the murals for him using written transcripts and copies of the mural. If only he'd taken him outside to look at it, maybe then he wouldn't have died when Jonin appeared.
Emrick hummed next to him and rubbed at his non-existent beard. "Do you think if Askarune is there, you could ask him how to deal with this peacefully?" he asked and Isiah's brow furrowed in thought.
It was possible if the God was there. Maybe he could finally get some answers on what he was supposed to do. Saving Vishera was the obvious answer, but he was going to do it as peacefully as possible. He just wasn't sure how to go about it. Everything he'd seen screamed at him to use his magic for violence, but he wouldn't. Askarune could help him, could give him a place to start.
"I- I think so," he replied, hope blooming in his chest. If only Ishin had been there when he got the first stone, then he wouldn't have needed to worry. He could have had the answers straight away instead of walking all over Brenmar for them.
Rina made a noise in the back of her throat. "You're still hoping to do this peacefully?" she asked, almost sounding offended. "What are you going to do when you face Harudan? There's only one way to keep him off the throne."
Kill him, she wanted him to kill the King of Brenmar. She had seen how he reacted to the other deaths he'd cause and she still wanted him to do it again. That was why she wanted to help him so that he could go with her to Minisia and eventually kill Harudan for her. He wouldn't do it. Someone else could.
"Then you kill him, Rina!" he snapped and glared at her. "I will not."
"But... You're the Beast, Isiah, this is what you were meant to do," she argued and crossed her arms over her chest.
Emrick cleared his throat. "It's his decision how he deals with the realm, Princess, you knew this when you decided to follow him," he said, his voice calm in comparison to Isiah's. The apprentice monk held back a smile, his gratefulness for Emrick's defence fighting with his anger at Rina.
"And if you were the Beast, Emrick? What would you do?" she asked and stopped. Behind her, the ocean continued to rage, the crash of waves against the rocks interrupting her words.
Emrick's jaw was clenched, his hands in his pockets. "I'd kill them all, the royal families, the armies, anyone who posed a threat to Vishera, on both sides of the border," he said, his voice low and menacing. He bared his teeth at Rina and Isiah took a step away from them, bumping into Nerin. "But I am not the Beast and I will not force him to do something he doesn't want to do."
"Um... Surely there's a way we can do this without killing Harudan," Nerin said, face contorted with worry. "He's my brother, I don't want... I don't want him to die."
"He may be your brother, but he is also a maniac," Rina replied, barely sparing the boy a glance.
Emrick scoffed. "And if it was your brother? What then? Would you let one of us kill him?" he asked. Both Isiah and Nerin gave him identical frowns. He was defending Nerin. From what Isiah had heard from both of them, they had never gotten along, never liked each other, so why defend him?
"My brother isn't-"
"But what if he was? Would you let him be killed?"
Rina said nothing, but her answer was obvious. Her cheeks darkened and she looked down at the snow, her hair falling in front of her eyes. It wasn't the same colour, a shade darker, but still a bright white. The same bright white of every Askari threatened by Harudan. Of course, she wanted to kill him, but she didn't understand the viewpoints of others.
Nerin pulled on his sleeve and stared up at him with wide eyes filled with tears. He looked every bit the child he was. "Don't kill him if you don't need to. There has to be another way to fix this," he said and his voice broke on the final word. Isiah pulled him close and wrapped his arms around his skinny shoulders. He was a child, how could any of them have expected him to be able to deal with what was going on?
"I won't, Nerin. I'm not going to kill another soul," he replied, meeting Emrick's eyes. There was a darkness in them and his earlier words rang through his mind. If he had the power Isiah did, thousands would be dead at his hands. And for what?
Finally, it made sense why he was the Beast that was Promised, anyone else was far too violent and power-hungry to deal with it. He, at least, had been taught peace and to never hurt another living soul. He may have already broken his vows, but he would never do it again, not even to save Vishera. In the hands of anyone else, the realm would be destroyed.
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