CHAPTER 3: THE RELIC BENEATH GLASS

CHAPTER 3: THE RELIC BENEATH GLASS

Scene 7: Discovery from the Deep

Orochi smiled from the wall of water.

“At last,” he said. “My queen.”

I stepped between him and Ayame.

The water distorted my reflection across his black armour. His red eyes followed me, calm and bright, as if centuries had passed without costing him a breath.

“You are dead,” I said.

His smile widened. “You said that before.”

The room grew colder.

Ayame stood behind me, close enough that the warmth of her body reached my back. Her fingers brushed my sleeve, then caught the fabric when Orochi raised one pale hand.

The water mirror trembled.

“Do you remember how he failed you?” Orochi asked her.

Ayame’s grip tightened.

“I do not know you.”

“You will.”

Tsukiko swept her arm across the table.

The three blue candles fell into the seawater. Flame and water struck each other with a sharp hiss.

Orochi’s face twisted.

“Seer.”

Tsukiko pressed her bleeding palm against the black surface.

The carved symbol in her skin burned violet.

“Get out of my house.”

The mirror exploded.

Water struck the walls and ceiling. I turned, shielding Ayame as glass jars crashed from the shelves.

The impact drove us both against the fireplace.

Her face pressed briefly into my chest. My hand closed around the back of her head before I could stop it.

For one heartbeat, everything went silent.

Then Ayame pushed away.

“I am fine.”

“You are shaking.”

“So is the house.”

A crack travelled across the stone floor.

Hayate caught a falling shelf and shoved it back against the wall. “I preferred the dead birds.”

Tsukiko remained beside the table, breathing through clenched teeth. Blood ran from her nose.

I crossed the room.

“What did he do?”

“He did not come to speak.” She wiped the blood with her wrist. “He came to find her.”

Ayame pulled my coat tighter around herself. “How?”

“The prophecy opened a path.”

“Then close it.”

Tsukiko gave a weak laugh. “Of course. I will ask the ancient curse to behave.”

A phone rang.

Hayate checked his. “Not mine.”

The sound came from inside Tsukiko’s cabinet.

She froze.

“You keep a telephone with the bones?” Hayate asked.

“No.”

The ringing continued.

I opened the cabinet before she could stop me.

A small brass bell sat among bundles of dried herbs. It shook without being touched.

Tsukiko seized it.

The ringing stopped.

Her violet eyes lost focus.

“South harbour,” she whispered.

“What is there?” I asked.

“Something the sea returned.”

Her knees buckled.

Hayate caught her.

She gripped his shirt with surprising strength. “Do not let them open the glass.”

My phone vibrated.

The caller was Doctor Ren Sato, head of Stormcrest Marine Research.

I answered.

“Speak.”

His breath came fast through the line. “Mr Stormcrest, the recovery team found an object beneath the exposed ruins.”

“What kind of object?”

“We do not know. It was buried beneath the tower. The casing appears to be glass, but it survived six hundred metres of pressure without damage.”

Tsukiko stared at me.

Ren continued. “There is something inside.”

The line crackled.

A deep knock sounded in the background.

Ren went silent.

“What was that?”

Another knock.

Slower this time.

“Doctor?”

“It came from inside the casing.”

We left five minutes later.

Rain followed us through Silvercrest. The streets near the harbour remained closed, forcing Hayate onto the upper cliff road. Emergency lights flashed between abandoned buildings.

Ayame sat beside me in the rear.

She had refused to stay with Tsukiko.

“I heard the bell too,” she said.

“You should not have come.”

“It called from the sea using my name. I think that makes it my concern.”

“It also makes you a target.”

Her amber eyes met mine. “You cannot order me into hiding.”

“I can provide armed protection.”

“That is hiding with expensive furniture.”

The corner of Hayate’s mouth lifted in the mirror.

I ignored him.

The marine research centre stood on reinforced pillars above the southern harbour. Waves struck the supports below, sending salt spray over the loading platform.

Ren waited inside the laboratory with six security officers.

His white coat was soaked at the hem. “We lost contact with the dive team after they attached the lift cables.”

“Casualties?”

“Three divers are missing.”

Ayame moved towards the observation window.

A rectangular case rested in the centre of the flooded containment chamber beyond it.

It was longer than a coffin and formed from smoky glass. Black seawater streamed from its surface without collecting on the floor.

Inside lay a silver object shaped like part of a crown.

The crescent and three waves had been carved into its centre.

Ayame pressed her palm against the observation window.

The crown fragment turned inside the case.

Every security officer raised his weapon.

“It moved,” Ren whispered.

“No one opens that chamber,” I said.

A crack appeared in the smoky glass.

Ayame flinched.

I caught her wrist and pulled her away from the window.

The moment our skin touched, blue light raced through the crown fragment.

Words burned across the casing.

Ren backed into a console. “What language is that?”

I read them before I could stop myself.

“Blood remembers what death conceals.”

Ayame stared at me.

A second crack formed.

Then a third.

My private phone began to ring.

Only six people had ever known that number.

Five were standing in the building.

The sixth had been dead for twelve years.

My father’s name glowed across the screen.

Scene 8: The Call

The phone continued ringing in my hand.

Elias Stormcrest.

My father’s name had not appeared on any screen since the night his car went through the north cliff barrier.

Hayate saw it.

His face hardened. “Do not answer.”

Ayame watched me. “Who is Elias?”

“My father.”

Her gaze dropped to the phone. “You said he was dead.”

“He is.”

The ringing stopped.

For two seconds, the laboratory remained silent.

Then it started again.

Ren moved towards the containment controls.

“Stay away from the chamber,” I said.

“We need to lower the internal pressure.”

“No.”

“If the casing breaks, whatever is inside could contaminate the building.”

Hayate drew his pistol. “He said no.”

Ren raised both hands.

I answered the call.

No one spoke.

A faint hiss filled the line, followed by the crash of distant waves.

“Father?”

A man inhaled.

My father’s voice came through the speaker.

“Raiken, if you are hearing this, the sea has returned what I buried.”

The words had the exact measured rhythm I remembered. Calm. Precise. Never hurried, even when he was angry.

My chest tightened.

Hayate stepped closer.

The voice continued.

“I hoped you would live your entire life without receiving this call.”

“This is a recording,” Hayate said.

The message paused.

Then my father answered him.

“Hayate, you were always too impatient.”

Hayate’s colour changed.

Ayame looked between us. “It heard him.”

I raised the phone. “Where are you?”

“Not where you can reach me.”

“Are you alive?”

Silence pressed against my ear.

“I made mistakes,” my father said. “The greatest was believing the Tide Realm could remain buried.”

The crown fragment struck the inside of its glass casing.

Once.

Every light in the laboratory flickered.

“What is the relic?” I asked.

“A key.”

“To what?”

“The chamber beneath your tower.”

Hayate glanced towards me. “There is no chamber beneath the tower.”

My father heard him.

“There is now.”

A vibration passed through the laboratory floor.

The smoky case struck the containment platform.

My father’s voice sharpened.

“Take the relic to my office. The western glass panel will recognise the king’s blood.”

“You knew what I was.”

“I knew what you might become.”

Anger burned through the shock.

“You let me think the dreams were an illness.”

“I tried to give you a life that belonged to this world.”

A soft laugh entered the call.

It did not belong to my father.

Cold slid along my spine.

The voice deepened.

“You gave him nothing.”

Orochi.

Red static crossed the laboratory screens.

My father’s breathing became ragged.

“Raiken, listen to me. Do not allow the queen to touch the relic.”

Ayame’s chin lifted. “Why?”

The phone crackled.

“Because the glass is not protecting the relic from you.”

A shadow moved behind the smoky casing.

Not the crown fragment.

Something larger.

“It is protecting you from what sleeps beneath it.”

The call ended.

The laboratory doors locked.

Red warning lights began to pulse.

Ren rushed towards the main console. “Someone has overridden the security system.”

Hayate checked the corridor camera.

Three technicians stood outside the sealed doors.

Their heads hung at unnatural angles.

“Are those your people?” he asked.

Ren approached the screen.

One technician raised her face.

Her eyes burned red.

She struck the camera.

The image died.

“Back away from the doors,” Hayate ordered.

Metal screamed.

The first hinge tore free.

I caught Ayame’s arm and moved her behind the containment console.

“I can stand without your help.”

“Prove it somewhere safer.”

The door burst inwards.

The technicians entered too quickly.

Hayate fired twice. The first attacker twisted aside. The second caught the bullet in his shoulder and continued forwards without slowing.

Not human.

One came for Ayame.

I intercepted him.

His hand closed around my throat. Ice spread from his fingers into my skin.

I drove my elbow into his jaw.

Bone cracked, but his grip tightened.

A growl rose from my chest.

Blue light flashed beneath my hands.

I caught his wrist.

His skin smoked where I touched him.

The attacker screamed.

Hayate put a bullet through his knee and kicked him away.

“Your glowing trick is improving.”

“Open the containment chamber.”

Ren stared at me. “You said not to.”

“I changed my mind.”

“That casing could rupture.”

“So could the building.”

Another attacker lunged at Hayate.

Ayame seized a metal tray and struck the creature across the face. It turned towards her with blood running from its mouth.

Water burst from the emergency pipes above us.

It stopped in the air.

Ayame stood beneath it with one hand raised.

The suspended water twisted into a narrow whip and slammed the attacker through the observation window.

Glass shattered.

Ayame stared at her own hand.

“I did not mean to do that.”

Hayate fired at the remaining creature. “Please mean to do it again.”

Ren released the containment locks.

The inner chamber opened.

Black seawater poured across the floor, circling our feet without draining.

I reached through the cracked smoky casing and seized the crown fragment.

Pain burned into my palm.

A memory flashed.

My father kneeling inside a dark chamber.

Orochi standing over him.

Then the image vanished.

I wrapped the relic in my jacket.

“Move.”

We ran for the service exit as alarms filled the research centre.

Outside, waves struck the platform hard enough to shake the railings.

Ayame stayed beside me.

Her hand brushed mine.

Neither of us moved away.

My phone vibrated once more.

A final message appeared from my father’s number.

He is already inside the tower.

Scene 9: Beneath Glass

Stormcrest Tower stood dark against the silver morning.

Police barriers surrounded the lower streets. Repair crews worked near the ruined lobby, but Hayate redirected them before we arrived.

No one questioned him after seeing the blood on his shirt.

Ayame stepped from the car and stared towards the highest floor.

“What did the message mean?”

“That someone is waiting for us,” Hayate said.

“Or something,” she replied.

I carried the wrapped crown fragment beneath one arm. Its heat pressed through the fabric.

“We go up alone.”

Hayate looked at me. “That is a poor plan.”

“It is a private chamber.”

“You did not know it existed an hour ago.”

“It is still mine.”

Ayame walked past us. “You can argue in the elevator.”

The lobby smelled of damp marble and electrical smoke. Scratches marked the pillars where the scaled creatures had climbed from the flood.

Every elevator remained open.

No water poured from them now.

We used the private lift.

As it rose, Ayame stood beside me, watching the numbers change above the doors.

“What did you see when you touched the relic?”

“My father.”

“Alive?”

“Kneeling.”

She turned towards me.

I kept my gaze on the numbers.

Her fingers touched the cuts around my wrist.

The contact was gentle, almost uncertain.

“You are bleeding again.”

The wounds from the dream had reopened.

I pulled my sleeve down. “It will stop.”

“You say that often.”

“What?”

“Words that are meant to end conversations.”

Hayate stood behind us, pretending to examine his weapon.

I lowered my voice. “Would you prefer a detailed medical report?”

“I would prefer the truth.”

The lift doors opened.

My office occupied the western side of the tower’s highest floor. Dawn shone through the glass walls, turning the city pale beneath us.

Nothing appeared disturbed.

Hayate searched the outer rooms while Ayame followed me towards the window.

My father’s old desk remained where I had placed it after taking control of the company. Black wood. Silver handles. No personal items.

The floor around it was formed from thick glass panels.

“The western panel,” Ayame said.

I looked at her.

She stared down at the floor. “Your father mentioned it.”

Her voice lacked certainty.

“No. I remember this.”

She knelt beside the panel closest to the ocean.

“There should be a mark beneath the corner.”

I crouched opposite her.

A faint crescent had been etched under the glass.

Our eyes met.

“How did you know?”

Her throat moved.

“I do not.”

Hayate returned. “The floor is clear.”

“It is not.”

I unwrapped the relic.

Blue light spread across the room.

The crescent beneath the panel answered.

A small blade rose from the desk.

Hayate stared at it. “Your father had dramatic habits.”

I pressed my palm against the blade.

Blood struck the glass.

The entire panel turned black.

Ayame caught my arm as the floor shifted beneath us.

Glass sections folded downwards, revealing a narrow staircase.

Cold air rose from below.

It smelled of ancient seawater.

Hayate switched on a light and went first.

The stairs descended farther than the tower foundations should have allowed. Concrete gave way to black stone. Water dripped somewhere beyond the beam.

At the bottom waited a circular chamber.

A transparent floor stretched across a pool of dark water. Beneath the glass lay broken statues, rusted weapons and the pale shapes of wolves carved from stone.

At the chamber’s centre stood an altar.

A hollow space in its surface matched the crown fragment.

Tsukiko’s warning returned.

Do not let them open the glass.

Ayame stepped onto the transparent floor.

Gold light appeared beneath her shoes.

The stone wolves below turned their heads towards her.

“Ayame.”

She stopped.

“I heard someone.”

The water beneath the glass rippled.

Hayate raised his pistol. “From where?”

“Below us.”

I placed the crown fragment into the altar.

The chamber sealed.

A pulse of blue light travelled through the glass floor.

Pain entered my skull.

The room disappeared.

Chains held me on the execution platform.

Rain fell beneath the red moon.

Ayame knelt across from me, a blade against her throat.

Orochi stood beside her.

I had seen this before.

Then the memory changed.

A figure approached behind me.

Silver royal armour.

A cloak bearing the crest of the Tide Realm.

Not one of Orochi’s soldiers.

One of mine.

The traitor lifted the black sword.

I tried to turn.

A hand pressed against my shoulder.

A ring gleamed on the traitor’s finger.

A silver wolf wrapped around a dark stone.

The same ring my father had worn every day of his life.

The blade entered my back.

I shouted and tore myself from the memory.

My palms struck the glass floor.

Blood spread beneath them.

Ayame dropped beside me. “Raiken

.”

I could not breathe.

“My father was there.”

“What?”

“He killed me.”

A crack appeared beneath my left hand.

Then another.

The transparent floor split in a circle.

Hayate grabbed my shoulder and dragged me back as the glass collapsed.

Black water surged upwards.

Something rose inside it.

A tall glass coffin broke through the surface and locked into place before the altar.

A man lay inside.

Pale skin. Black clothing. Long dark hair floating around his face.

His eyes opened.

Silver.

The coffin cracked from within.

Ayame stepped closer to me.

The man placed one hand against the glass and looked directly at my bleeding palms.

“My king,” he said.

His voice reached us through the sealed coffin.

“You have remembered the wrong traitor.”