The Siren of the Titanic

Chapter 16: The Temple of the High King

The hole was the shape of a bottle, the 'neck' was the hole itself, but the cavern underneath was much wider. With a click of my tongue, I had a clear image of the cavern and the openings of the tunnels that Alto had mentioned. I swam around the main space, clicking my tongue as I went, getting a better picture of the tunnels. Stalagmites and stalactites grew like teeth, giving the feeling of mystery. Neither Alto or Talon had moved from their spots, and I swam back to them.

"Are you guys alright?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I literally can't see. Hold me, Frost!" Alto hugged my arm playfully, I simply rolled my eyes before touching Talon's arm. He was always warm to the touch, but he felt like a hot iron. I ripped my hand away wincing at the pain.

"Sorry, bro. Just give me a second, I'm going to try something." He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. It started like a soft glow only barely noticeable, but slowly Talon's tail and tattoos began glowing brighter and brighter. Soon enough he was glowing bright enough to illuminate the area around us in a candle-like light.

"That's effing cool!" Alto's jaw dropped, and I was simply awestruck.

"Hey, what do you expect from the Prince of the Atlantic? Alto, do you remember what tunnels led to the castle?" Talon wrapped his arms around Alto's shoulders.

"No sadly, I was just a kid back then." Alto shrugged Talon's arms off of him.

"Frost." The whisper came from out of nowhere. Cold, slow, and intimidating the whisper made me shiver. I looked around us, trying to find the source of the voice, but found nothing. "Frost!" It came again, this time I could pinpoint where it came from, which looked like nothing more than a cave wall. But this is where it came from, I was sure about it. The voices of the other two seemed far away, but I could still hear them.

"Frost? You ok, bro?" The prince's voice muted against the insistent whisper. "Come Frost." I closed my eyes and clicked my tongue, what came back was surprising. This 'wall' wasn't a wall, it was an illusion, a large tunnel cleared of all of the teeth-like fixtures.

"I found it! This is it right here!" I looked behind me yelling, expecting them to be where they were, however, they were only a foot behind me. They looked at each other before looking back at me.

"Well let's go shall we?" Alto said.

The three of us tentatively swam through the 'wall' which was a thin barrier, hiding the entrance from humans. The tunnel itself was a simple cave tunnel, equal size all the way through the fifteen feet of it. It emptied into a large chamber, much larger than the main cavern of the hole. In the center of the chamber was a large temple made of stone.

The temple displayed a large octagonal tower, it looked as if a child stacked octagon-shaped blocks on top of the other, each layer had its own roof and balcony. At the base of the tower was the main temple. It was styled like a roman home, the entryway was covered by a triangular piece of stone held up by four pillars. The front of the building was a single large room, but the back sectioned off and shaped like a horseshoe, the center was open to the waters. It was fantastic, beautiful, magnificent! I nearly squealed at the beauty of the temple.

We swam up to the doorway, which had no door, only seaweed draped like a curtain. A woman greeted us, her smile warmed me to my core. Both her skin and tail were white, not pale, but true white. Her white tail faded into a mauve color, which also settled on her shoulders and back. Her skin was not true human skin but more like Alto's, covered in tiny scales that couldn't really be seen. Her white hair had streaks of the same mauve but covered one of her lavender colored eyes. A pair of mauve horns peeked out above her tri-pointed ears, and a smaller pure white horn jutted out from her forehead.

An orchid colored corset covered her top, while strings of shells and pearls draped over her shoulders and around her waist. Her white and mauve fins screamed elegance. Her caudal fin looked like a crescent moon with a bump in the center, and the other fins curled at the end, like a betta fish. Her features were beautiful, she was the essence of beauty.

"Welcome to the Temple of the High King, Frost, we have been waiting for you and your party. I am Leora Vaarin, Daughter of King Gareth Vaarin. This," Leora motioned to the door where a man swam through. "is my brother Kylin Vaarin.

If Leora was light and elegance, Kylin was darkness and intimidation. His skin was a deep olive color, almost black. His tail was jet black with similar tail markings as his sister which blended into his skin. He tied his long black hair into a loose braid which hung over his broad shoulder. A necklace of bones draped at his throat which matched the bone bracelets that he wore on both wrists. His eyes were the most intimidating thing about him, the 'whites' of his eyes were a deep grey, not quite black, and his irises were pure white, and his pupils were non-existent. His smile scared me the most, while Alto's teeth were like any other shark, Kylin's looked like broken pieces of glass. They were thin and more needle-like then anything else. However his eyes were kind and he reached his hand out for a handshake, which I took out of habit.

"It's a pleasure tuh meet ya lads." His voice dripped with the accent of a Scotsman. Contrary to his appearance his voice was calming to listen to. I could hear Tal and Alto swallow behind me.

"It's nice to meet the two of you, I am Frost. These two are Alto and Prince Talon of the Atlantic, and my partners in crime." The two bowed as I introduced them and Leora giggled at the last part.

"Will, coom inside, our Father would like tuh meet ya." Kylin mentioned us inside. I had to swallow my nerves before I pass into the doorway.