The Ocean Siege | Vol.2, The Eldenarian Artifacts ✓

prologue.

A storm was brewing.

The night sky above the hidden city of Thania was dismal.

Rain poured from the charcoal clouds, the large droplets beating upon the marble roof of Sirus Lombardi's palace. The white structures appeared black in the darkness. The burning torches on the walls wavered in the angry wind. 

The city was asleep. Thania's temperamental tempests weren't new to them. But something about this one wasn't right. This particular storm hadn't crept up on them from afar like all the others. This one...this one was different.

Sirus, the esteemed head of House Aegeon and its hydromancers, stood on the balcony connected to his bedroom. The freezing, salty winds tugged at his night clothes. Years of swimming in freezing waters as a form of magical training meant his body was used to the temperatures.

The cold wasn't what he was worried about.

It was the suddenness of the storm. The rolling clouds, crackling with lightning and deafening thunder, had seemingly manifested out of nowhere, miraculously appearing over the ocean surrounding the concealed island his people lived on.

Waves crashed upon the craggy rocks of the cliff his pristine palace sat upon, the seawater gently spraying Sirus' tanned face. His cloudy eyes—the blue-grey irises almost imitating the actual storm above—were intense and calculating as they gazed upon the never-ending sea ahead of him.

Something was wrong.

He just wasn't sure what.

"Father?"

He half-turned to look at his youngest daughter, Siren.

The young woman was clad in her silver nightgown, her bare feet gliding along the stone floor as she walked up to him. Her blonde hair, usually tied in a fishtail braid, rolled down her shoulders like a sheet of gold. She held a curious look in her sea-colored eyes, an equally intrigued expression resting against her soft, elegant features.

"What are you doing out here so late?" she asked.

"I couldn't sleep." Sirus kept his attention on the sky. "Something's coming."

"I think you're right." His daughter took a spot next to him on the balcony. "I've been having strange dreams and I don't know what they mean."

Sirus didn't respond, for he knew what they meant. He had been hoping this day wouldn't have come; that the prophecy wouldn't happen in his lifetime.

Deep down, he knew it was coming. Ever since the Order of the Black Lotus purged the Lumaian magicians and began their quest for the Eldenarian Artifacts, he knew everything was going to change.

A frown tugged at his lips at the thought of the Lumaians. Their headquarters had been attacked ten years ago. Within the next ten, they had all been executed. Most people had no idea what happened or why it happened

But Sirus knew.

"Something terrible is going to happen soon," Siren whispered, her voice trembling as she gripped the stone barrier that kept the waves at bay.

"I know, dear," Sirus said.

More lightning streaked across the sky, stabbing the clouds and bathing the island in blinding light. Thunder shook the land, echoing for what seemed like an eternity.

"I know."