Terror in the Deep: a Tale of PulchraGea

One Fine Day in the Land of PulchraGea

  "Stop right there!" I shouted after the grunt as he took off running. of course he ran, they always run. It can never be easy for me, can it? I thought. Of course not, and you know it.

  The Skull Syndicate, although officially disbanded after causing a minor civil war, still have some outlying cells. They cause some problems, but mostly civil disobedience with the goal of making me step down as Chosen King of PulchraGea. I totally would, believe me when I say I hate this job sometimes, except it's kind of an ancient covenant with God dating back thousands of years. Don't they know what happens to people who break ancient covenants? Not pretty. So as much as it sometimes irks me, I gots to keep this here job. What's a king to do, you know?

  Glad you asked, because I am currently hunting down a particularly violent cell. Don't get me wrong, I'm down to hear the plight of the little guy and enact positive social change, just maybe try not to murder people in cold blood when you don't get your way, you know? So I started in Oasis, where they executed four civilians in broad daylight at the top of the world-famous Thousand Steps of the PulchraGean National Library, then rolled all four all the way down to the ground, leaving four smears of blood all the way down. Not a good press day for me, but in my defense I don't usually nogotiate the release of hostages and the Syndicate had no intent to give them up.

  I nosed around hoping for clues, but noone knew anything... or rather they were too afraid of the Skulls and too disappointed in me to say anything. The King is first to take the blame when something goes wrong like this. It's literally in my figurative contract. As part of the Covenant of Gershom, the King guides and protects the people, takes their sins onto himself. The fear in this city is palpable, almost physical. I can make out the path the bad guys made by how much people either avoid my eyes or beg pleadingly with their own. This trail of fear leads to the Town Launch. They could be literally anywhere.

  At times like this I've learned to take a knee. See, prayer works, if for no other reason than that it helps you gather your thoughts and center your soul. You always get an answer if you look hard enough, but sometimes you get an immediate one you can understand. I got a whiff of the sea.

***Don't forget to like. It takes literally two seconds, and hella helps me out. Don't skip it. I both do and accept in-depth book reviews for non-romantic sci-fi and/or fantasy. Leave me a comment with your title so I can look it up. And most importantly, add this to you Reading List. I wanna be the very best, like no Watty ever was! #Wattys2016 ***