The Siren of the Titanic

Chapter 17: The High King

The three of us followed the siblings into the main room of the temple. It was decorated with all sorts of odds-and-ends. Low display cases made of stone, lined the walls. One side of the room displayed things from the sea, seashells, pieces of coral, colorful sea glass, shark teeth and even a few bones from ancient creatures, displayed in elegance. The other side of the room showed things from the human side of the waters, plane propellers, jewelry, eating utensils, coins, and even weapons.

The room was illuminated by sconces which contained blue flames that defied the laws of fire, which made the jewels and coins glitter. Paintings untouched by the water hung on the walls, some of peoplet, some of sceneries, but one caught my attention. It was a painting of a large ship at the docks. People lined the docks with bags, hugging, or boarding the giant ship. However it was a single detail made my eyes water, the name of the ship. On the side of the large vessel, written in bright yellow paint, was TITANIC.

I almost started crying, remembering my lovely Emma and the things that happened, but the soft voice of Leora pulled my attention away. "Please wait here. I shall inform my father that you are here."

I pulled my gaze away from the painting to look at the beautiful maiden. "Thank you." She swam through the doorway leaving the three of us with her brother.

"I'm sorry if I frightend ya lads. Sis tells me that I'm a wee bit intimidaten. Trust me, I don't mean to be." He smiled as sweet as he could.

"That's alright, Prince Kylin. I don't mean to pry, but why do you and your sister have horns? I have not seen them on any other mer?" I asked, hoping that I wouldn't anger the dark-haired man.

"Ouh, that's alright lad, I understand. Well, we aren't exactly mer so to speak, we are a great many things, but not a true mer. I believe once you meet my father you'll understand a wee bit more. If ya still have questions just ask. Ooh and don't call me or Leora, prince or princess, we just don't like it. " Kylin smiled. Talon and Alto let out combined breaths.

A few minutes passed before Leora came back and motioned for us to follow, so we did. The siblings led us out into the courtyard, that we had seen earlier, which was decorated with corals instead of bushes, and colorful fish instead of birds. A gravel walkway divided the square courtyard into four, but in the center was a large circle in which sat a large dragon. The dragon raised it's large head to look down its nose at us. The siblings motioned for us to wait as they took their places at either side of the dragon.

The dragon was mostly a cobalt blue, but cyan colored tiger stripes lined from his neck, back, and tail, while his belly looked as if he had swum in cyan paint. Cyan also created stripes over his golden eyes. Sky blue spikes followed the line from the center of his nose, down his spine and down his tail, and more sky blue spikes created a 'C' shape around his eyes. HIs fin-like head crests and wings were webbed with the same sky blue color. Three cobalt, catfish-like whiskers sprouted from either side of his sky blue plated nose, while cyan antlers sprouted from the sides of his head. At the end of his long tail was split like the tail of a dolphin.

"Beautiful!" I could only stare in awe, before bowing as low as I could.

"Welcome, Frost, I have been waiting for you." The dragon's voice was the same as the whisper that I had heard in the cavern. "Please raise your heads little ones." The three of us obeyed, but instead of a great dragon, we saw a man instead.

His skin was the same sky blue color, striped with the same cyan tiger stripes on his arms, back and tail. His Prussian blue hair was long and wild with streaks of cyan and cobalt. A long beard and mustache, looked to be one of the same, was decorated with braids and silver Norse beard rings. His horns had not changed, and neither did his eyes. His cobalt tail was separated from his torso by fins, like a crown around his waist. His sky blue fins were like the spikes of his dragon form, but with webbing between them, and were decorated with the same cyan markings. Feather-like fins jutted from his wrists, and he had spiked ears like his children. He wore no clothing, only a necklace of several sand dollars decorated his neck covering the neck gills.

"My name is Gareth Vaarin, I am who you call the High King, however, I am no king, I am simply respected by the others. I have several other names, humans and mer have called me a great many things over the years. Lir, Poseidon, Kanaloa, Mizuchi, Njord, and Czar Morskoy, just to name a few, but I prefer Gareth." He smiled gently, and once again I could only stare in awe. I studied most of those, learned their stories, hell, Poseidon was one of my favorites, so standing in front of someone that I learned about, was amazing.

My excitement must have been obvious since Gareth began to chuckle. "Calm down little one. I have summoned you here for a reason." His gentle smile was replaced by seriousness. "I have seen a great trial ahead of you, Frost. You have already met one of your trials, a man by the name of James Barton, the captain of the ship that killed your friend. However he is only one aspect of your journey, it is the other facet that frightens me, mainly because I do not know how it will appear, and what it means for my people."

So what do you guys think so far? I hope you're enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it! Remember, if you have any questions or concerns let me know!