Tiara & Tempest

by Jeremy Dwyer

  “The woman with the power of the waters? No woman could be so strong! I do not believe this!” Jaguar said.

  “Perhaps it is a mighty being of wind, or a water elemental,” Desmond then suggested, not wishing to support such a primitive concept, but playing along to fit Jaguar’s simple understanding of nature and spirits and the elements, and his rejection of the might of a woman.

  “Such things, Havatissa will conquer,” Jaguar said.

  “Or he will let them put us to the test, to see how worthy we are,” Desmond said.

  More waters were rushing in, and trees nearby were being knocked down. The jungle was being destroyed. Many warriors were running around them. Others were falling under the trees.

  Desmond broke into a run, and Jaguar did as well.

  They quickly made their way to the temple where the statue of Havatissa was, because it was in the shelter of a cave.

  Jaguar knelt down before the statue of Havatissa and prayed to the likeness of the serpent-jaguar being that he believed was a deity. “Most powerful Havatissa! The mighty waters tear down the jungle around me. In your power I seek my protection for my tribe. Only in you is there peace and safety,” Jaguar said in his prayer. He held up his hands and leaned forward and placed his hands on the body of the statue, and pressed hard. Something on the statue moved – some part of it was pushed inward and the floor of the cave began to descend like a staircase unfolding.

  Jaguar was frightened and surprised. Desmond was surprised, but remained calm.

  “Havatissa has answered!” Jaguar said, with delight, as he looked down the stairs and saw that it was a way to escape the danger outside.

  “Indeed. This is an answer that will lead somewhere,” Desmond said.

  Desmond and Jaguar walked down the stairs as the surge of storm waters outside tore through the jungle not far away from the cave.

  At the bottom of the stairs they found an underground river, and on it was a boat with a tattered sail.

  “A boat on the hidden river! Havatissa has blessed us!” Jaguar said.

  Desmond looked at the sails, and realized that the hull was what mattered, and it was clearly seaworthy. Yet, without a breeze – and there was no breeze – the sails could be entirely absent and make no difference. There would need to be a river current to go anywhere, or they would need to row the boat. Desmond looked around, hoping to find oars on the boat.

  “A ship is before us, and we are meant to go on a voyage in it, along this river,” Desmond said, thinking that escape from the storm above was essential to survival. He knew that rivers usually led to oceans, and he couldn’t be sure that they wouldn’t be going into the storm at the end of this trip. However, he could be nearly sure that the storm above them was going to bring death if they remained where they were.

  “Then we must travel to the distant place where Havatissa has destined us to go,” Jaguar said.

  They boarded the ship and it suddenly began moving along the river. It traveled down a steep grade into the darkness, and the archeologist and the jungle warrior could only hope that their journey and their destination were survivable, unlike the tempest-ravaged jungle above them.

  CHAPTER 29: Protected by the Love of Fire

  In the northern territories of the continent of Waderav was the castle that previously belonged to Count Perceval and Countess Genevieve. Inside the castle were the young singer, Nerine, and Prince Kirdothet of the yellow suns.

  Prince Kirdothet was powerful with fire, and kept the young woman warm as she stood in his presence in the castle throne room. He had grown stronger by drawing the fires from the yellow suns of the sky above. Their energy went into him. In turn, their own lights dimmed and they could no longer be easily seen by the unaided eye, and gave almost no warmth. The world, as a result, was cooler now.

  Yet, Kirdothet had authority over the yellow suns, and was well within his rights to do this. He had come under assault from the Spirit Sword wielded by the mortal, and by the songs and the prayer that were directed against him. As a result, he needed to take power from those yellow suns which were subject to his authority so as to strengthen himself. He presently had the form of a handsome, princely mortal man, wearing robes of yellow and red. Yet, his body now glowed with a bright yellow haze from the yellow sunfire within him, and he gave off warmth.

  “I am forever grateful to you for how you rescued me. This is a horrible world, and you are a shining light within it. Just being in your presence, I feel warm and safe,” Nerine said.

  “You know that I am no mortal, but the prince of the yellow suns of the sky. I am greater than all the mortals, and it is right that you should give me thanks for my gifts to you,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “I know you are special. I can see the power around you. There is warmth and light. You shine like a jewel in the sun,” Nerine said, still overjoyed at having been rescued by Kirdothet from the bandits in the countryside. She overlooked the arrogance he displayed before her because of her gratitude.

  “I am a sun! The jewel has its shine because of me! Never forget that! You must know where the power comes from – it comes from me!” Prince Kirdothet said.

  Nerine found him intimidating, but the fact that he rescued her made her feel safe, whereas she would have been terrified, or just dead, otherwise.

  “Yes, you are a sun! You radiate my favorite color, which is yellow. Looking at you is a delight,” Nerine said.

  Prince Kirdothet was pleased to hear that. “Gaze upon me, so that you may never stop thinking of my splendor!” he said.

  “I could never stop thinking of your splendor,” Nerine said.

  “I have power and authority to do many things,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “I don’t have either. I grew up poor and my life was difficult at times, very difficult at others. I survived by travel and singing for payment. Sometimes, I was summoned by powerful barons, counts and dukes and they only paid me if they wanted to, and only as much as they wanted to pay. More than once I was paid only with a single meal and sent away without any money – they let me live,” Nerine said.

  “Mortal rulers have little might compared to me,” Prince Kirdothet said. He didn’t mention the power of the Spirit Sword to her, or the prayer or the song by the holy woman or the waves of water brought on by the other song. He wanted her to believe in his absolute power, even if it wasn’t absolutely absolute.

  “Those thieves were going to take all the money that I had, and possibly do far worse to me, before you rescued me,” Nerine said, referring to the bandits who had attacked her.

  “I can fill your life with greater riches, mortal. And your enemies can be destroyed, if you wish,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “I only wish to be safe. I have no anger or desire for revenge,” Nerine said.

  “You are safe with me – that is true enough. Yet, is that all that you want?” Prince Kirdothet asked.

  “I’ve gotten used to having very little in life and making do with it. Aside from being safe, and having enough money to live on, I don’t know what I want,” Nerine said.

  “You don’t know what else you want? How could you go on living without knowing?” Prince Kirdothet asked.

  “I just want tomorrow to come and not be any worse than today. Maybe a little bit better,” Nerine said.

  “Tomorrow will always come! There is no need to want that! You have to want greatness!” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “I can accept that I am not great and will never be great. I can’t be as great as you – you glow as the suns,” Nerine said.

  “It is true that you cannot be as great as me. Yet, you can be greater than you are today,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “The best I can say about myself is that I am a good singer – although, not the best. People like hearing my voice, and pay to hear it,” Nerine said.

  “Your voice is powerful and pleasant, indeed,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “I can’t really take too much credit for that, tho
ugh. The Pirovalen waters are what make it better,” Nerine said.

  “The waters can uplift a mortal voice so that the song reaches the kingdom of the sky,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “My singing made people happy, and I did like seeing that. I want to do more of that,” Nerine said.

  “You want to please others?” Prince Kirdothet asked.

  “That’s what I do. It’s my way of showing love,” Nerine said.

  “Do you not want to please yourself?” Prince Kirdothet asked.

  “I’m not the only person in the world. There are other people who have needs and wants, and I want to be a friend to them and please them with songs. They show me kindness in return. That’s how I know that I am loved. That makes sense to me, when there’s give and take,” Nerine said.

  “You should want to please me. I will take care of you,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “Of course I want to please you,” Nerine said.

  Suddenly, they heard a powerful wind howling outside. They also heard screaming and the rush of water.

  Nerine looked terrified and screamed. “What is that? What is happening?” she asked.

  Prince Kirdothet ignited the glow around his body so that it turned into swirling flames. With these, he elevated himself and flew into the castle courtyard, where he could see that the sky was dark. He raised himself by his flames and looked over the castle walls. He saw that storm waters from the ocean to the north were crashing against the shores and on the lands and that the bodies of mortals were scattered about. He also saw that other mortals were being carried out to sea by the tides. The winds were powerful and caused his own flame to slightly flicker. He then saw something that filled him with fright: a wall of water over five hundred (500) feet high was racing toward the land from the sea. He returned to the throne room of the castle.

  “What is it?” Nerine asked.

  “A tempest is raging. Storm waters and powerful winds have come against the land. Millions (1000000) of mortals are dead. The raging tides carried some out to sea and scattered the bodies of others on the shores,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  Nerine was even more terrified. “What can we do? What is this? Can you protect me?” she asked.

  Prince Kirdothet wanted to say that he could, but he knew that the danger was grave even for him. Water was deadly against sunfire. Of all the elements, water was the undisputed master in this world. Prince Kirdothet said nothing.

  “You saved me! I love you! Can you protect me now? Please? Please say that you can!” Nerine begged him, crying and screaming.

  The waves of water from the tempest raged more ferociously as time passed, and a wall of water over a mile high soon came and struck the nearby shore, flooding the castle. The waters entered under the door and over the courtyard walls. They could see this through the hallway leading to the courtyard.

  “The castle is flooding! This storm is horrible! Is this a storm of the end times? Is the world to be destroyed?” Nerine asked through tears of panic, absolutely terrified.

  Prince Kirdothet, as powerful as he was in fire, was not a match for such an ocean storm. He feared that the mortal woman was right, and that these might be the end times.

  “You love me, you say?” Prince Kirdothet then asked.

  “Yes. I love you! Stay with me! Please don’t ever leave me! You are my protector! Tell me that I will be safe!” Nerine said.

  Prince Kirdothet stirred the flames of his body further, and attempted to boil away the water that had entered the room, and this was partly successful. The water turned to steam and evaporated.

  The only problem was that these were the waters of the Nabavodel Ocean, and they surrounded Nerine, who was a drinker of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean. If two or more of the great waters are mixed in a mortal body, the fatal disease crixalethicis is unavoidable. If the second water merely touches the skin, it is not harmful, but a small amount of inhaled vapor is dangerous, and a large amount brings crixalethicis. What constituted large or small depended on the purity of the waters.

  Nerine’s face turned pale and she held her hands over her mouth. Prince Kirdothet saw this and grabbed her, then ran with her to an upper room of the castle. He realized what was happening, and didn’t want to lose the adoring mortal woman to the death of the crossing of waters.

  “You are away from the vapors now. You may breathe, mortal,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “What was happening? I felt ill,” Nerine said.

  “The vapors of the waters were entering your body. They are one of the waters which you do not drink, and were about to become a deadly poison within you,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “You saved me again!” Nerine said, not even thinking that Prince Kirdothet was the one who nearly killed her as a result of trying to drive away the waters. He realized it, but was more concerned with driving the waters away from himself. He did not drink a water to begin with, so crixalethicis was not his problem: water, in any form, was the problem for him.

  “You love me. I would not let you die,” Prince Kirdothet said, so as to continue to wield influence over the adoring mortal woman.

  “The storm waters are unending. What can we do?” Nerine asked, almost fully focused, now that she had been rescued yet again.

  The waters inside the castle began rising more as wave after wave of the storm waters struck the coast, and the gale force winds drove them further inland. The waters flooded the castle’s ground level floor and lower level basement. They even began rising up the stairs.

  “We’re going to drown in the sea, while we’re on the land! This is the end! This is the final storm!” Nerine said. She believed in no deity – and wished that she could look to one for a hope of an afterlife. Then, she doubted that a loving deity would allow such storms as this. She felt that she was too young to die, but didn’t know what to do.

  A powerful wall of water struck the land again and even entered through the windows into the upstairs room of the castle where they were.

  Prince Kirdothet was drenched and his light flickered and dimmed. The water was too much for him, and he struggled to survive against it.

  Nerine saw this and her fear for herself suddenly abated. She was so used to loving others and worrying about them first that she even extended her compassion to this being of sunfire, who was clearly not a mortal, but who was now vulnerable.

  “No! You cannot die! Your light cannot go out! You are my prince!” Nerine said.

  “The waters are mighty, little mortal! You know that!” Prince Kirdothet said.

  “Not as mighty as you!” Nerine said.

  “This tempest is caused by a great enemy! It is not the nature of this world for there to be a storm so great!” Prince Kirdothet said. He was ancient beyond her imagining, yet he had never seen such a storm. Not even when the tiara had been used in the past did it produce such an effect as powerful as this, so this was entirely outside of his own experience with the waters. He felt dread fear.

  “Someone is causing this storm? Who? How?” Nerine asked.

  “An enemy with unimaginable power. The storm waters are far too great. I must leave now so that my flame continues to burn!” Prince Kirdothet said. Yet, when he attempted to elevate himself by his flames, he found them to be dim and weak. With each step, he grew dimmer and fell to the water-covered floor. There, he flickered and moaned in pain.

  “No! No! Your fire must burn!” Nerine screamed. She was filled with the fear of determination instead of panic. “The waters must not destroy us! They must save us!” she said, and then she drank of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean from the vial she carried. She was energized and words of passion came to her, which she then sang to him:

  May your fire never die.

  May the deluge cease before you.

  My voice is strong by water's power.

  I sing to thee, my prince: I implore you.

  May your fire never die.

  May the tempest flow around you.

  My hope
and life came back to me,

  The very moment that I found you.

  May your fire never die.

  May it rise up to the sky.

  The song within me can lift you,

  Above the seas forever high.

  May your fire never die.

  You rescued me from pain and death.

  You are the burning light for me.

  You are my warmth and living breath.

  May your fire never die.

  You gave me hope for a new day.

  You gave the victory I needed.

  With you my heart will always stay.

  May your fire never die.

  May your flame forever burn.

  The prince of suns you truly are.

  To see your glory I now yearn.

  The power of the song uplifted Prince Kirdothet and his flame grew brighter. He could feel a burning within himself and it was uplifting. He did not have a mortal’s type of spirit, but he did have a life essence that was neither flesh nor fire but something else. His body ignited brightly and he stood up, despite the waters around him. The flames of his body danced around him, and he glowed brighter than before.

  “Your voice is too great for a mortal. You belong in the kingdom of the sky more truly than the voice that called me down to the land. My favor will be upon you forever, mortal,” Prince Kirdothet said.

  Nerine was thrilled that Prince Kirdothet was alive and she reached out her arms to hold him and embrace him. So as not to burn her mortal flesh by the flames around him, he circulated them around at a distance and allowed her to approach. His mortal form was touchable when he wished it to be, as he could orient the fires of his body in such a way as to seem like a cool solid rather than a living flame. This was because of his mastery over fire. He allowed her embrace, briefly.

  “We must leave this place, and travel far away from the tempest,” Prince Kirdothet said.