The Lost Kingdom (The Fifth Element Chronicles)

Chapter 6 [part 2]

I never thought the sea could be so merciless.

In just a second, I lost track of time and space, a prisoner of the waves, of the attack of the aquatic monster.

The water was freezing cold, soaking me all over in an instant, but, I don't know how, my hand remained attached to the rope.

I looked for him with my sight, fearing that he had fallen into the sea. I feared losing him solely because I knew I couldn't go this way alone.

Luckily, or cursedly, I wasn't sure, Caelus was holding on tightly to the rudder. His leather clothes seemed intact after suffering the same fate as mine.

'Caelus, it's not working,' I managed to tell him, spitting out some water.

'Really? I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the...'

Another wave hit us sideways.

The neighing of our horses was all I could hear.

My heart filled with fear and uncertainty. I didn't know how to fight this monster.

When we both recovered, I knew the worst was yet to come.

I didn't need Caelus to warn me, I saw it in a flash.

A wave bigger than any other I had seen up to that moment began to approach us straight ahead.

If it hit us, we wouldn't make it out alive.

'Please tell me you have a plan,' I begged, holding on to the rope.

His silence heightened my fears.

'Caelus! Didn't you already know the way? What do we do?'

He seemed to have no intention of stopping, no intention of answering my questions, he just kept going straight towards our destruction.

There had to be a solution, something we could do.

The Circle was attacking us because it wanted to protect what was on the Island, I understood that. But if many before us had been able to cross, then so could we.

I tried to concentrate on my magic.

Shield, shield, shield.

A shield began to emerge from me, small at first, but then spreading wider and wider.

'What do you think you're doing?' I heard Caelus' criticisms from my side, but I couldn't lose my focus. I was determined to keep the shield strong. It grew so much that it covered the entire ship.

Something was wrong.

I had never felt like this before when using my magic. The breeze I felt under my skin became an endless stream of tiny needles torturing me from the inside.

My eyes clouded over and I could only see one thing.

The dome that kept the beasts enclosed was weakening.

I could see them endlessly pounding on its walls, tearing it with their nails, howling as they couldn't penetrate it.

And then, there he was.

Jonah was behind the monsters, commanding them to keep fighting my dome, and next to him, a huge beast with black fur and dangerously light blue eyes.

Marco.

I didn't want to be there but I couldn't help it. I couldn't leave.

Jonah seemed focused on his mission, until he recognized something that wasn't there before.