What the eyes behold will forewarn the seer. Yet what may cover one's sight can be clouded, blurred, smeared with mud.

CHRONICLE II; Along The Coast

The woman began to move, she swayed around the fire, closing the distance between Cora and her. She seemed to almost never shake, wobble, nothing. She was straight, stiff, almost as if she was floating in the air.

As Cora stared at the woman's immortal movements, the space between them grew smaller and smaller with each blink Cora took. She gulped, taking a step back only to be stopped. Her body stiffened, a cold breeze brushed over her. Her arm began to shake, her legs felt weak, her eyes stung, she was immobilized. The woman's presence got closer and closer until she finally stood barely inches away from Cora's frozen form.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, your High Tide." Her voice crackled, it stung a thorn in Cora's ears. It felt like a knife had been thrust through her head. Cora's body loosened and she fell onto the sand unable to keep her balance.

"How do you-"

"How rude of I. I am Azolda." Her arm extended, reaching out for Cora. Cora's eyes shook at Azolda's hand. Her veins protruded under her skin, her skin was as pale as the sand, her nails were like daggers.

"Let me help you up." She took Cora's hand and lifted her from the sand with ease. Cora's throat strained as he looked the woman in her eyes, the light of the fire no longer bringing warmth to her face, only the moon's hue made her face soft and faded, ghost-like.

"It-It's a pleasure to meet you." Cora hesitated, her stomach churning with fear.

"Please, don't be afraid. I am kindhearted." She smiled, "I am sure Theyo told you I am a witch." Cora nodded unable to speak with the lump growing in her throat.

"I am no witch. Let me make it clear, I am a simple visit to the Coast. My father loved her as a young boy, but due to..." She paused and turned her head.

"Unsettling conditions, he ran." She went on to explain her life, growing up out of the Coast, how she grew up a mere commoner but married into nobility. Cora and Azolda walked along the beach. Cora so invested in this woman's life story, her childhood, everything that made her.

"I come here every night to see the people and to start their celebration of the Wet Flame."

"You started this? What're they doing?" Cora asked in shock, her voice and facing lighting up.

"Praying." Azolda smiled brightly.

"To what?" Cora grew in curiosity, hoping to hear what she so desperately wanted to hear. She wanted to know if she was or was not alone...

"To the Lady of the Sea," Azolda whispered to the princess making her lips twitch, holding back a smile. The old woman filled with joy from the princess's young yet wonderful feelings, her happiness was infectious.

"Follow me." Azolda led Cora further along the Coast. Hills grew from the ground the further they went, hills then turned into rocks, rocks then turned into cliffs.

"Along these cliffs is a cave, the Cave of Desta." The walked close to the rocks, their hands against the rigid bodies of mass. Azolda scanned the sand, its white color under their feet began to blend with black until the sand was bordered by pebbles and stones.

"Desta?"

"Desta. An Aecorian queen who used to run away from her duties," Azolda's face filled with excitement. Hearing about this Aecorian queen made Cora's stomach bubble and her heart beat faster, it resonated with her, resembled her in some way.

"Here." Azolda halted in front a large opening in the cliffs. A cave that sunk deep into the cliffside with hums of wind flowing out of it. Their hair danced in the gale.

“Shall we?" Azolda turned to Cora and held out her hand, Cora held her hand as they entered.

They hiked through the cavern. Darkness was all they could see, endless darkness, only a small amount of light glowed inside, light a path towards it. The two women continued further and further until the sounds of the sea faded into silence. Echoes of rocks falling, water dripping, and their shoes against the cave floor traveled against the wall.

A large glow was revealed the deeper they went.. Azolda's face contorted in confusion, her steps quickened as she neared the light. Cora failed to keep over, tripping over rocks and stones. Azolda raced through the cave until she faded around a corner.

"Azolda?" Cora called, the darkness overwhelming her, the light continued to grow with every step she took until she came around the same corner.

"Azol-" she stopped, her tongue unable to form any words with such a sight.

Walls of blue and white crystals irradiated around her. The crystals grew in size the further up the wall they went, they hung from the ceiling, some met the floor, a center crystal hung from the center of the ceiling.

Azolda danced her fingers across the glinting rocks with every touch their color faded.

"I've never seen this before." A muddled expression masked her face as she waltzed around the room.

Cora was in awe, a smile grew across her face as she stood in the center of the room and looked at every single inch, every curve, every angle, every size of the crystals. The crystals began to flare with color: blue, white, green, yellow. They flicker and began to shake. The cave began to shake. Azolda began to shake, Cora began to shake. Crystals fell from the walls, rolling across the floor towards the center, towards Cora.

The crystal above her head lowered, the quaking sunk the large, luminescence rock lower to Cora. Each rock of the earth sent it descending.

"Cora! The crystal!" Azolda cried out to the young woman as a large crystal began to descend slowly above her.

Cora placed her hands upon it to hold it up, not wanting to be compressed by the giant rock. Her palms flattened on the crystal, a bright light flashed through the cave, blinding the women.

Cora laid on the floor, her eyes opening slowly, her palms singed with burns. She groaned in pain, barely able to lift her self up. She looked around. The cave was different, no crystals extend from the walls, the walls were now a porcelain white mixed with blue and green.

Cora stood up and gazed at the caves appearance.

"In all my years, within the decades I have lived in, not once in my life have I seen such a dominion of power." Azolda let out in short breaths, her chest heaved as she laid on the floor, gasping for breath. Cora rushed to the woman's side, panic running through her.

"Cora," Azolda let out a hoarse breath.

"You are a gifted child." She placed her hand on Cora's cheek. Cora's eyes scanned the woman's paling face, her wrinkles, her cold eyes.

"I know you, Cora. And the sea is calling for you." Azolda's body fell limp but with the few breaths she was able to draw out, "find that sailor man-" she paused struggling to pull air into her chest, "and find the beauty of it."