Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: MEMORY OF DEATH

Scene 10: The Touch

The relic pulsed beneath the glass.

Once.

Twice.

A third time.

Each flash spilled blue light across the dark exhibition room and vanished before the security cameras could adjust. The display case stood in the centre of the private gallery, surrounded by polished black stone, silent alarms, and enough security technology to protect a national treasury.

None of it made me feel safe.

Hayate stopped beside the door.

“You saw that.”

“I saw a reflection.”

“There is no water in this room.”

I kept my eyes on the object.

The relic was no larger than my palm. A piece of pale stone carved into the shape of a broken crown, its surface threaded with lines that resembled waves. It had been recovered from ruins discovered beyond the Silvercrest cliffs, thirty metres beneath the sea.

The divers who found it had refused to return to the site.

One had disappeared before the recovery team reached shore.

The other still had not spoken.

I crossed the room.

Hayate’s boots struck the floor behind me. “Raiken.”

“The case is pressure-sealed.”

“That isn’t what worries me.”

I entered the security code. The glass cover released with a soft hiss.

Cold air rolled over my hands.

The temperature in the gallery dropped so quickly that my breath became visible.

Hayate moved closer. A scar cut through his right eyebrow and disappeared into his hairline. Under the blue light, it looked almost silver.

“Tell me you feel that,” he said.

“Cold air from the preservation system.”

“The system is off.”

The relic pulsed again.

Pain flashed behind my eyes.

A throne room appeared for less than a second. Black pillars. Water pouring down stone steps. A woman screaming my name.

Then the gallery returned.

My fingers tightened around the edge of the display.

Hayate caught my arm. “What happened?”

“Nothing.”

“You stopped breathing.”

I pulled free. “Get the recovery report.”

“You have read it six times.”

“Then bring it a seventh.”

His jaw shifted. He glanced at the relic, then at me.

“Tsukiko warned us not to touch it.”

“Tsukiko also said the sea spoke to her in a dream.”

“She has been right before.”

“She makes predictions broad enough to survive being wrong.”

The light inside the relic brightened.

A low sound moved through the room.

Not machinery.

Not wind.

A voice.

Come back.

Hayate turned toward the walls. “Who said that?”

My pulse struck hard against my throat.

“You heard it?”

His hand moved beneath his jacket, reaching for the blade he carried even inside my building. “Step away from the case.”

The relic called again.

Not through the room this time.

Inside my skull.

My king.

The words opened something behind my ribs.

Salt filled my mouth.

I saw dark hair floating through blue water. Golden eyes. White fabric twisting around a woman’s body as she reached for me.

My hand lifted.

Hayate seized my wrist.

“No.”

I looked at him.

For a moment, he was not wearing a black suit. Iron armour covered his shoulders. Blood ran from his mouth. Behind him, soldiers fought beneath banners marked with a silver wolf rising from waves.

His lips moved.

Your Majesty, the eastern gate is lost.

I blinked.

The suit returned.

Hayate’s fingers dug into my wrist. “Raiken, look at me.”

“You called me that before.”

“Called you what?”

The answer stayed trapped behind my teeth.

Your Majesty.

The gallery lights flickered. Every screen along the wall filled with static. The security system issued a warning tone, then died.

The room became dark except for the relic.

Its blue markings spread beyond the stone, glowing across the display platform like living veins.

Hayate drew his knife.

“Whoever is doing this has breached the network.”

“No one breached it.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I designed the network.”

A crack formed in the floor beneath the display.

Water seeped through it.

Hayate stared down. “We’re thirty floors above the ground.”

The thin stream crawled across the black stone toward my shoes.

It moved against the slope.

Against gravity.

When it reached me, it circled my feet.

The voice whispered again.

Touch the crown.

My body leaned forward before I chose to move.

Hayate stepped between me and the relic. “You are not thinking clearly.”

“I have been seeing this object for weeks.”

“In dreams?”

The question stopped me.

His face hardened at my silence.

“You should have told me.”

“I didn’t know it existed until yesterday.”

“That makes it worse.”

He reached for the emergency seal.

The relic released a sharp burst of light.

Hayate flew backwards.

His shoulder struck the wall. The knife spun from his hand.

I lunged toward him, but the water around my shoes climbed my legs, cold bands wrapping around my body. My muscles locked.

Hayate pushed himself upright.

“Raiken, don’t touch it.”

The broken crown rose from the platform.

It hovered between us, dripping seawater that had not been there before.

The markings on my palm began to burn.

Lines appeared beneath my skin, blue and bright, matching the carvings on the stone.

The relic shot into my hand.

Cold tore through my arm.

The gallery disappeared.

For one suspended heartbeat, I stood in a vast chamber beneath the sea.

Then someone forced me to my knees.

Scene 11: The Execution

My knees struck wet stone.

Chains dragged my arms behind me.

The impact jarred through my bones, but no sound left my mouth. Blood coated my tongue. One eye had swollen nearly shut.

A crowd filled the drowned throne room.

Wolves in torn armour stood beneath the pillars, their weapons broken, their heads bowed. Men, women, and children crowded behind them. Water covered the floor to their ankles, rushing in through cracks spreading across the walls.

The ceiling trembled with every distant explosion.

Someone grabbed my hair and forced my head back.

A blade rested against my throat.

“Look at them.”

The voice came from the throne.

Orochi sat where I should have been.

He wore black armour shaped like overlapping scales. Dark hair brushed his shoulders. His face held no sign of age, but his eyes carried centuries of hunger. Red light burned around his pupils.

A thin trail of blood marked the corner of his mouth.

At his feet lay my crown.

Whole.

Silver points curved like waves around a central blue stone.

Orochi rested one boot on it.

“Your people deserve to see how kings die,” he said.

My chest tightened.

Not fear.

Rage.

I pulled against the chains.

The guard behind me drove a knee into my spine.

Several people cried out.

Orochi smiled. “Even now, they think you can save them.”

My voice came rough. “Take your army and leave this realm.”

A laugh passed through his soldiers.

Orochi leaned forward. “You have no army.”

A body hung from the nearest pillar.

General Kaido.

His armour had been split open. His head rested against his chest. The royal wolf symbol had been carved away from his breastplate.

Another body lay beneath the eastern arch.

Another beside the shattered council table.

Every face struck me with recognition.

Every name arrived with pain.

Orochi rose.

He descended the throne steps slowly, letting the silence grow around him. Vampires lined the walls, their weapons clean compared to the blood-covered swords of my fallen soldiers.

“You could have prevented this,” he said.

I stared at him.

“All I asked for was the Heart of the Tide.”

“You asked for the power to enslave every living creature touched by the sea.”

“Power is wasted when it is divided.”

He stopped in front of me.

The air around him smelled of iron and burnt cedar.

“Where is the queen?”

My fingers curled.

The chains cut deeper into my wrists.

Orochi watched the movement and smiled.

“She escaped.”

“She is still inside the palace.”

“You searched it.”

“I did.”

“Then perhaps your soldiers are as useless as they smell.”

His hand closed around my jaw.

Cold spread through my skin.

The room blurred.

Something pulled at the centre of me, drawing heat, strength, and breath toward his fingers. My heartbeat slowed.

Orochi’s expression changed.

Not satisfaction.

Surprise.

Blue light flashed beneath his hand.

He released me.

A burn marked his palm.

The wolves in the crowd raised their heads.

A murmur travelled through them.

Orochi looked at the wound. “Interesting.”

“You cannot take what the sea gave willingly.”

His gaze snapped back to mine.

He struck me.

My head turned with the blow. Blood sprayed across the flooded floor.

“Where is she?”

I smiled through the pain.

A muscle moved in his cheek.

He turned toward the crowd.

“Bring the child.”

Two vampires dragged a boy from behind the pillars.

The boy could not have been more than ten. His silver hair was soaked. One arm hung uselessly at his side.

I knew him.

Prince Ren.

My sister’s only son.

He saw me and stopped struggling.

“Uncle.”

The word broke through the room.

Orochi drew a dagger.

My chains rattled as I surged forward.

“Leave him out of this.”

“There he is,” Orochi said softly. “The man beneath the crown.”

He placed the dagger against the boy’s throat.

“Tell me where your queen is.”

Ren stared at me.

Tears clung to his lashes, but his chin remained raised.

I could hear my sister laughing in the palace garden. I could see Ren racing along the shore with a wooden sword, demanding that I fight him properly.

The memory cut deeper than the chains.

“Let him go,” I said.

“Where is she?”

The throne room shook.

Stone fell from the ceiling.

The water around us rose past my ankles.

Orochi pressed the blade closer.

“Where is Ayame?”

Her name struck through me.

Ayame.

Not a title.

Not a dream.

Her name.

A woman screamed somewhere beyond the throne room doors.

My head turned.

Orochi’s smile widened.

The doors burst open.

A white wolf charged through the soldiers.

Golden eyes burned beneath blood-streaked fur. She tore through the first vampire, struck the second, then shifted as she ran.

A woman emerged from the silver light.

Long black hair clung to her face. A torn white gown wrapped around her body. Blood ran down one arm, but she did not slow.

Ayame.

Alive.

Terrified.

Magnificent.

She lifted both hands.

Water exploded from the floor.

Vampires flew into the pillars. The dagger left Orochi’s grip. Ren dropped and crawled toward the crowd.

Ayame’s eyes found mine.

Everything else vanished.

She took one step toward me.

An arrow pierced her shoulder.

Her body twisted.

I roared.

The sound shook the pillars.

My chains snapped.

Scene 12: The Drowned Queen

I rose with broken iron hanging from my wrists.

The guard behind me reached for his sword.

I turned and drove my elbow into his throat. Bone gave beneath the strike. I seized his weapon before he hit the water and cut through the vampire advancing on Ayame.

She tore the arrow from her shoulder.

“Raiken.”

Her voice carried through the chaos.

I crossed the flooded floor, striking anyone who moved between us. Blue markings burned across my arms. Each swing came faster than thought, guided by instincts my body remembered even as my mind struggled to follow.

A vampire lunged from the left.

Ayame flicked her hand.

A wall of water slammed him into the ceiling.

I reached her.

My fingers closed around her waist.

Warm.

Real.

She touched my face as though checking that I was not another illusion.

“They took the western towers,” she said.

“We leave through the sea gate.”

“The gate is sealed.”

“I will open it.”

Her gaze dropped to the broken chains. “You used the king’s blood.”

“I used what was left of it.”

A crash sounded behind us.

Orochi threw aside the bodies pinning him to the throne steps. His armour was cracked. Blood darkened his mouth.

The room fell quiet around him.

Not completely.

Stone groaned.

Water rushed.

People wept.

But every surviving soldier turned toward the vampire ruler.

Orochi wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “You chose sentiment again.”

Ayame moved in front of me.

I caught her wrist. “No.”

“He wants the Heart.”

“He wants you.”

Her eyes lifted to mine.

Something passed between us.

A memory inside the memory.

Moonlight across a balcony. Her head on my shoulder. Her laughter beneath music. A promise spoken against her hair.

Find me again.

Ayame’s fingers tightened around mine.

“We cannot let him reach the chamber,” she said.

“I know.”

“The seals are already failing.”

“I know.”

“If the Heart breaks, the realm falls.”

“I know.”

Her voice dropped. “Then stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you have already decided to die.”

The throne room shook harder.

A pillar cracked from ceiling to floor.

Orochi stepped into the water. “Touching.”

I placed Ayame behind me.

She immediately stepped back to my side.

Even then, even with death closing in, the corner of my mouth almost moved.

“You never obeyed a command in your life,” I said.

“I obeyed several.”

“Name one.”

“I married you.”

“That was your idea.”

“Details.”

Orochi’s expression darkened.

He lifted one hand.

The vampires attacked.

We moved together.

I blocked the first blade. Ayame drove water through the attacker’s chest and spun toward the next. Her power filled the chamber, turning every rising wave into a weapon.

The surviving wolves joined us.

For several breaths, hope returned.

Then the blue stone in the fallen crown cracked.

A deep sound rolled up from beneath the palace.

The Heart of the Tide screamed.

The sound did not enter through my ears. It travelled through my bones.

The floor split open.

Black water erupted from below.

It swallowed soldiers on both sides. Pillars collapsed. The throne tipped backwards into the widening fracture.

Orochi leapt toward the crown.

Ayame saw him.

She broke from my side.

“Ayame.”

She reached the crown first.

Her hand closed around it.

Golden light flooded the chamber.

Orochi struck her across the face.

She fell.

I shifted before my body hit the ground.

Bones cracked.

Silver fur tore across my skin.

The wolf burst free.

I hit Orochi with enough force to carry us through the remains of the throne. His claws sank into my side. My jaws closed around his shoulder.

He shouted and drove me away.

I landed in the rising water.

The chamber had become a storm.

Ayame stood in the centre of it, crown pressed against her chest. Golden markings spread across her face and down her arms.

She looked at the shattered floor.

Then at me.

No.

I knew before she moved.

I shifted back, stumbling through waist-deep water.

“Ayame, don’t.”

“The Heart can still be sealed.”

“Not by you.”

“Only royal blood can close it.”

“We find another way.”

“There is no time.”

Orochi rose behind her.

I reached for her.

She raised a wall of water between us.

My palms struck the surface.

“Ayame.”

Her face crumpled for one heartbeat.

Then she smiled.

Not like a queen.

Like the woman who had stolen fruit from the palace kitchen and blamed me when we were caught.

“Find me again,” she whispered.

Orochi lunged.

Ayame drove the broken crown into the fracture.

Light exploded beneath her feet.

The water wall collapsed.

I caught her hand.

For one second, our fingers locked.

The floor gave way.

The sea dragged her downward.

I went after her.

Cold darkness closed over us. Stone, bodies, and broken weapons spun through the current. Ayame’s white gown streamed below me.

I grabbed her wrist.

Something wrapped around my ankle.

A chain.

I kicked, but it pulled me deeper.

Ayame reached toward me with her free hand.

Her golden eyes began to fade.

I dragged her closer.

Our foreheads touched beneath the water.

Her lips moved.

I love you.

The palace collapsed between us.

Her fingers slipped from mine.

I roared her name into the sea.

Water filled my lungs.

Darkness crushed the light.

Then I opened my eyes on the gallery floor.

Hayate knelt over me, shouting.

The relic remained locked in my hand.

Water poured from my mouth as I rolled onto my side, coughing until pain tore through my chest.

“R

aiken. Look at me.”

I pushed him away and forced myself onto my knees.

The gallery was flooded.

Water covered the floor from wall to wall.

Alarms screamed throughout the building.

Hayate stared at the broken crown in my fist.

“What did you see?”

I could still feel Ayame’s fingers leaving mine.

I looked toward the dark windows.

Far below, waves hammered the cliffs.

Her name left my mouth before I could stop it.

“Ayame.”

Hayate went still.

The water around us began to glow.

Across the room, the dead security screens turned on together.

A woman appeared on every display.

Long black hair.

Soft amber eyes.

Standing alone beside the Silvercrest shore.

She turned toward the hidden camera as though she could see me through it.

Then the ocean rose behind her.