THE LOST TIDE KING

CHAPTER 1: THE MAN WHO OWNS THE CITY

Scene 1: King of the Modern World

Silvercrest City glittered beneath my office windows like a machine designed to obey me.

Traffic flowed between towers in streams of white and red. Cargo drones crossed the harbour. Far below Stormcrest Tower, people moved through streets lined with companies carrying my name.

Beyond the city lights, the ocean struck the cliffs without rhythm or restraint.

Marcus Vane shifted across the conference table.

“You cannot expect me to sign this tonight.”

I turned from the window.

Sweat darkened the collar of his expensive shirt. His lawyer sat beside him with both hands folded over a leather case. The six members of Marcus’s board avoided his eyes.

“The deadline passed at noon,” I said.

“We are discussing four thousand employees.”

“No. We are discussing the money you stole from them.”

I touched the control beside my chair.

The wall screen changed. Shipping records appeared beside a list of hidden accounts. Red figures filled the bottom of the display.

Marcus stared at them.

His lawyer leaned forwards. “Those files are confidential.”

“They were stored on Stormcrest servers.”

“That does not grant you permission to access them.”

“They were purchased with my money.”

Marcus’s mouth tightened. “You planned this.”

“I warned you.”

“You wanted my company.”

“I wanted the technology you promised to deliver.”

The conference room doors opened.

Hayate entered in a black suit that did nothing to hide the width of his shoulders. A pale scar cut through his right eyebrow and continued towards his temple. Two security officers followed him, but they looked less dangerous than he did.

He placed a tablet in front of me.

“The harbour systems are secured.”

Marcus pushed himself upright. “You seized them already?”

Hayate glanced at him. “You sound surprised.”

“You have no legal right.”

“That is why Raiken keeps lawyers.”

Marcus’s lawyer rose. “This meeting is over.”

I slid the acquisition contract across the polished table.

“It ends when he signs.”

Marcus looked towards his directors. No one moved to support him.

His voice dropped. “What happens if I refuse?”

“The fraud report reaches the authorities tonight. Your creditors receive copies before sunrise. By tomorrow afternoon, your company becomes evidence.”

“You would destroy everything I built.”

“You already did.”

The pen lay beside his hand.

For several seconds, only the low hum of the ventilation system disturbed the room.

Marcus picked it up.

His signature trembled across the final page.

I closed the contract.

“You will remain chief executive for ninety days. Every decision requires approval.”

His face twisted. “You enjoy this.”

“No.”

Hayate’s mouth moved as if he were suppressing a smile.

Marcus left without another word. His lawyer hurried after him. The board members followed more slowly, each offering me a careful nod before the doors sealed shut.

Hayate loosened his tie.

“You could have let him keep some dignity.”

“He traded it for thirty million dollars.”

“He is going to hate you.”

“He can join the waiting list.”

Hayate crossed to the drinks cabinet. “The mayor called twice.”

“He calls whenever he wants money.”

“This time he sounded afraid.”

I looked towards the ocean.

A pulse of blue light moved beneath the water.

It vanished so quickly that I almost blamed the reflection on the glass.

“What is it?” Hayate asked.

“Nothing.”

“Your face disagrees.”

The floor shifted beneath my shoes.

The water in Hayate’s glass rippled.

A deep sound rose through the building. It was too slow for an explosion and too heavy for thunder.

The lights flickered.

My reflection appeared in the dark window.

For one breath, it was not mine.

A silver crown rested against my forehead. Blood ran down my throat. Behind me stood a woman with long black hair and amber eyes.

Her lips formed my name.

The lights returned.

I stepped away from the glass.

Hayate lowered his drink. “Raiken?”

The tower shook again.

This time, alarms erupted throughout the building.

Every screen in the conference room went black. Red emergency lights appeared along the floor. Outside, the city’s towers lost power one after another, darkness spreading inland from the coast.

Hayate pressed a hand to his earpiece.

“Report.”

Static answered him.

I approached the window.

Cars had stopped along the coastal highway. People ran from restaurants near the harbour. Others stood in the road with their phones raised.

The ocean was retreating.

Water tore away from the shore, dragging boats across exposed mud. Fish thrashed between black rocks. The smell of salt and decay pushed through the building’s ventilation system.

“Evacuate the waterfront,” Hayate ordered. “Move everyone above the cliffs.”

I barely heard him.

Something rose from the exposed seabed.

A narrow stone tower appeared first. Broken walls followed it. Then an avenue lined with statues emerged from centuries of darkness.

My palm met the cold glass.

I knew that avenue.

The certainty entered my bones before reason could stop it.

At the end of the road, beyond the tower, there should have been a courtyard. Silver trees should have surrounded a palace with a crystal dome.

Pain struck behind my eyes.

The office vanished.

A red moon hung above collapsing walls. Waves flooded a white courtyard. A woman in gold reached towards me while soldiers dragged her away.

“Raiken.”

My knees weakened.

Hayate caught my arm. “What did you see?”

Before I could answer, the tower on the seabed split open.

Blue light shot into the sky.

Every screen in the room came alive.

A crescent moon appeared above three rising waves. Strange words burned beneath the image.

I had never seen the language.

I understood it.

“The king has returned.”

Hayate released my arm.

The blue light vanished.

Far below us, the ocean turned and raced back towards Silvercrest.

Scene 2: The Dream Returns

Rain covered the glass walls of my cliffside mansion.

The storm had swallowed the ocean, leaving only the crash of waves beneath the cliffs. Each impact sent a faint tremor through the floor of my study.

The city called the event a seismic disturbance.

The news stations repeated it every ten minutes.

Hayate stood beside the fireplace, watching the footage on my laptop for the fourth time. The recording showed the sea withdrawing, the ruins rising and the blue beam cutting through the night.

He paused the image on the symbol.

“You read this.”

I removed my cuff links and placed them beside the computer.

“I said the words.”

“In a language no one recognises.”

“The translation teams have had three hours.”

“And you had three seconds.”

I closed the laptop.

Hayate remained still.

His jacket lay over a chair, exposing the pistol beneath his arm. He had positioned six men around the property without asking me. I had allowed it because arguing would have taken longer.

“You recognised the ruins,” he said.

“I recognised nothing.”

“You touched the window like you were trying to reach them.”

The wind pressed rain against the glass.

I walked to the drinks cabinet. My hand shook when I lifted the bottle, so I set it down without pouring.

Hayate noticed.

He always noticed.

“I have seen the palace before,” I said.

His face lost its usual amusement. “Where?”

“In dreams.”

“How long?”

“Years.”

“And you said nothing?”

“They were nightmares.”

“A drowned city rose from the ocean tonight.”

“That does not make dreams evidence.”

“It makes them relevant.”

The house lights dimmed.

My security system spoke from the ceiling.

“Perimeter secured. No unauthorised movement detected.”

Hayate looked upwards. “Even the house sounds nervous.”

“It sounds expensive.”

“That too.”

He stepped closer to the desk.

“What happens in these dreams?”

“People die.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.”

His gaze held mine. “There is a woman.”

The amber eyes from the window flashed through my mind.

“Go home, Hayate.”

“That means yes.”

“It means leave.”

He picked up his jacket but did not put it on.

“If the dream returns, call me.”

“I will be asleep.”

“That is normally when dreams happen.”

I opened the study door.

He stopped beside me.

“You do not have to understand this alone.”

“I understand enough.”

“No. You control enough. That is different.”

He left before I could answer.

The mansion fell silent.

I remained in the study until after two, responding to officials and deleting the original footage from every connected Stormcrest server. One encrypted copy remained on a drive locked inside the desk.

At three, I went upstairs.

The bedroom faced the ocean. Lightning revealed white waves breaking against the cliffs, then darkness swallowed them again.

I placed my phone on the bedside table.

Sleep took me before the storm ended.

Cold iron crushed my wrists.

I opened my eyes on my knees.

Water covered the floor of a vast courtyard. Bodies in silver armour lay between broken pillars. A blood-red moon hung above the palace walls.

A crowd filled the steps below me.

Men, women and children stood waist-deep in dark water. Some cried. Others watched in silence.

Chains held my hands behind my back.

A blade scraped across stone.

Boots approached.

The man who stepped onto the execution platform wore black armour. Rain slid over his pale face. Dark veins surrounded eyes that glowed crimson.

He smiled.

“Your people expected a miracle.”

My hands closed around the chains. “You opened the gates.”

“They opened them for me.”

The words entered my mouth without thought.

“You poisoned the council.”

“I showed them the cost of loyalty.”

Chains rattled behind him.

Two guards dragged a woman onto the platform.

Her torn gold gown trailed through the water. Blood marked her lip. Long black hair covered her face until one guard forced her head upwards.

Amber eyes met mine.

My body strained against the restraints.

“Ayame.”

Her name broke from me like a wound.

“Raiken.”

The pale man watched us.

“So the ruined king still remembers his queen.”

One guard pressed a black blade to her throat.

I pulled until the shackles cut through my skin.

“Release her.”

“Give me the Tide Heart.”

“I destroyed it.”

“Liar.”

He crouched in front of me and closed a cold hand around my throat.

“Your throne is beneath the sea. Your wolves kneel to me. Soon, your queen will join them.”

Ayame stared past him.

A warning moved across her face.

Behind me, a soldier lifted his sword.

“Do not give him anything,” she said.

The pale man struck her.

Blue light exploded beneath my skin.

The chains shattered.

Water rose around me in twisting columns. The man in black flew across the platform. One guard reached for his sword.

I crossed the distance before he drew it.

Bones cracked beneath my hand.

The second guard charged.

My body changed.

Silver fur swept over my arms. My fingers struck the stone as claws. The courtyard filled with the thunder of heartbeats and the sharp scent of fear.

I saw myself reflected in the floodwater.

A massive silver wolf stared back at me, blue markings burning across its shoulders.

Ayame reached towards me.

“Behind you.”

A black blade drove through my back.

The wolf vanished.

I fell against her in human form, blood pouring from my chest. She caught me before my face struck the stone.

The pale man stood behind us.

His name returned.

Orochi.

The palace walls cracked.

Water burst through the gates.

Ayame pressed her forehead against mine.

“Find me again.”

The platform collapsed beneath us.

Her fingers slipped through mine as darkness swallowed the world.

I woke on the bedroom floor.

Blood covered my palms.

Four fresh cuts circled each wrist.

A sound came from downstairs.

Glass sliding over glass.

I reached beneath the bedside table and took my pistol.

The security system remained silent.

Wet footprints crossed the marble corridor outside my room.

They led down the stairs towards the relic room.

Scene 3: The Impossible Symbol

The relic-room door stood open.

Cold air drifted through the gap, carrying salt and the smell of wet stone. No window connected the room to the outside. No one could enter without passing three security systems.

I raised my pistol.

“Step into the light.”

Something moved behind the display cases.

I pushed the door wider with my foot.

Blue light spread across the marble floor. The central glass case had opened without breaking.

The relic inside it was gone.

A figure emerged from the shadows.

Hayate raised both hands.

Rainwater ran from his dark hair, following the scar beside his eye. In his gloved right hand, he held the missing relic.

I lowered the pistol slightly.

“How did you get inside?”

“The front door.”

“The system did not announce you.”

“The system is dead.”

“You left.”

“I came back.”

“Why?”

He glanced at the object in his hand.

“Because this started whispering my name.”

The relic was a broken piece of dark blue stone my father had recovered from the caves beneath the cliffs. Archaeologists had argued about its age until I stopped paying them.

Blue lines now pulsed through it like veins.

“Give it to me.”

Hayate held it away. “Your wrists are bleeding.”

“Give me the stone.”

“It may have caused the dream.”

“It was locked in a glass case.”

“So was Marcus Vane’s confidence. You destroyed that.”

A low sound moved through the room.

The cabinets vibrated.

Coins rattled against glass.

Raiken.

The voice came from the relic.

Hayate stopped smiling.

“You heard that.”

“Yes.”

“That is unfortunate.”

I extended my hand.

He placed the stone in my palm.

Cold shot up my arm.

The room vanished.

I stood inside a circular chamber beneath the ocean. Black water pressed against transparent walls. Silver fish moved through the ruins of towers outside.

A crystal throne rose at the centre.

A crown rested on it, curved like waves beneath a blue jewel.

Wolves filled the chamber. Grey, black, silver and white. Every head bowed as I approached.

A woman stood beside the throne.

Long black hair fell over a white gown. Her amber eyes brightened when she saw me.

“You came back.”

My foot moved towards her.

Her smile disappeared.

Darkness spread through the water behind the chamber.

Something enormous struck the outer wall.

The vision shattered.

I crashed into a display case.

Hayate caught my shoulder. “What did you see?”

I pushed myself upright.

“A throne.”

“And?”

“A woman.”

“The woman from your dream?”

Before I answered, the relic split open.

Blue light poured across my palm and flowed onto the central table. Lines moved over the marble, connecting until they formed a map of Silvercrest.

The harbour appeared first. Then the cliff road, the financial district and Stormcrest Tower.

A point of light moved across the map.

It stopped beneath the tower.

The crescent and three waves appeared around it.

Hayate leaned closer. “Whatever this is, it is happening now.”

Power returned with a sharp click.

The screens along the wall came alive. News footage filled one. Harbour cameras appeared on another.

The third screen showed the lobby of Stormcrest Tower.

A woman stood inside the locked entrance.

Rain had soaked her long black hair and pale coat. One hand pressed against the glass doors as if she needed them to remain standing.

A guard approached her.

“Miss, the building is closed.”

She raised her head.

Amber eyes looked directly into the camera.

The relic burned in my hand.

Every sound sharpened. I heard the guard’s heartbeat through the speakers. The scent of rain and white flowers filled the sealed room.

Hayate looked at me. “You know her.”

“No.”

The answer left too quickly.

On the screen, the woman turned towards the elevators.

“I need to see Raiken Stormcrest.”

Her voice struck something beneath my ribs.

The guard touched

her arm.

A growl tore from my throat.

Hayate stepped back.

My fingers lengthened against the table. Blue light moved beneath my skin.

The woman pulled away from the guard.

Her palm struck the lobby floor.

The symbol blazed beneath her hand.

The tower shook.

Every elevator opened at once.

Black seawater burst from them, slamming across the lobby. Guards scattered as the flood lifted furniture and shattered glass.

The woman remained on her knees, staring at the water rushing towards her.

I was already moving.

Hayate followed me into the corridor.

“Raiken, who is she?”

I reached the stairs as the relic spoke behind us.

The queen has awakened.