It was a peaceful night on the Aegean sea, with a cool breeze blowing across the waters signalling the transition from summer to autumn. The sun had already set in the horizon a while ago, and the reflection of the full moon could be seen in the glassy waters. In the distance, the sprinkling of lights coming from the white and blue houses on the Santorini coast made for a rather magical view.
Out at sea, a lone white yacht was bobbing up and down on the waves, cutting a lonely figure in the night. The name of the yacht was "Byul", sprayed in cursive lettering along the starboard side of the boat, and her owner was now lounging on a deck chair out on the main deck.
Dressed in only a white linen shirt and a pair of blue bermudas, he seemed unperturbed by the increasingly chilly wind, humming a tune as he lay there with his eyes lightly shut. The melody he was humming came from a famous love song--he hated it, but she had loved it--whose lyrics spoke of a pair of lovers who made a promise to each other to always walk hand in hand till the end of time. The song was meant to be romantic and uplifting, yet when he hummed it there seemed to be nothing but melancholy in every note.
There was a splash of water, accompanied by the audible sound of footsteps against the wooden deck. Seconds later, the footsteps ceased.
The owner of the boat continued humming his tune, treating the untimely disturbance as if it had never happened. Only when the melody came to an end did he finally open his mouth to say, "How did you find me here?"
Two figures were standing quietly behind his deck chair, one male, one female, exchanging glances with each other when they heard his question. The man had a tall and slender build, with a floppy fringe obscuring his eyes; the girl beside him was petite and demure, her doe-like gaze constantly flickering towards the man on the chair.
"Your Highness, of all places to go, how did you end up here on the Aegean? It took us a good six months to find you here!" Seyoon grumbled, wishing he could strangle the man lying on the deck chair for all the trouble he had caused him--but of course he didn't dare.
"With your skills, it's already a wonder you only took six months to find me."
"But why did you come here? The Aegean is halfway across the globe and the dragon king of the west guards his turf extremely tightly. It was almost impossible for us to find a way to get in," the girl piped up.
"Isn't that the point?" the owner of the yacht replied calmly. "If I'm halfway round the globe then my brother will feel more secure instead of having to worry about me trying to usurp his position all the time. Besides, out of all my uncles the dragon king of the west is the only one who has remained neutral all this while. He doesn't give a hoot about whether or not I'm here and he doesn't come bother me, so I can just relax and enjoy the scenery. Isn't that a good thing?"
"No it isn't!" the duo blurted out in unison.
Once the words left their lips, they both realised that they had spoken too abruptly and they immediately zipped up their mouths, staring down at their feet instead.
After a moment's silence, the owner spoke again. "Seyoon, Yuri, do you know what day it is?" he asked.
"The eight of August, Your Highness," Seyoon replied hesitantly.
They all knew about the eighth of August and the significance of this date, yet no one dared speak of it.
Today marked the fiftieth year since the battle that had since been recorded in the historical records as the "Battle of the Four Seas". This very day all those years ago, the seas had been dyed red with the blood of many a soldier, led to their deaths because of the lofty ambitions of a young dragon prince.
Born to the dragon queen of the eastern seas, the second prince was brought up to be proud and arrogant, believing himself to be the only one worthy of the throne because of his noble bloodline. Thanks to his misguided beliefs, he eventually led a rebellion against his older brother, the crown prince, whom he believed to be a lesser being because he was merely the son of a consort.
The fighting lasted a full thirty days and thirty nights and as it dragged on, it seemed as if the second prince was gaining the upper hand. Just when the crown prince thought that the battle was lost, an unexpected tornado tore through the waters and in the blink of an eye the tables were suddenly turned. The tornado wiped out almost all of the second prince's army and came close to claiming the life of the prince himself, had it not been for the sacrifice of a little starfish spirit named Hanbyul who had pushed him to safety in the nick of time.
As for her--she was never seen again.
"It's been fifty years, Your Highness," Yuri said quietly. "Have you still not let her go?" It broke her heart to see him like this, a mere shadow of his once fiery self.
The reason why this very yacht was named "Byul" was because he still hadn't let go. After he had been released from his icy prison, he had spent the past twenty years on board this boat, sailing across the seas to keep a promise to her that he hadn't managed to in her lifetime. For an ordinary human, twenty years was a long time, but for someone who had lived for hundreds of years, twenty was hardly anything at all.
"There's just one more place I need to go. After that, I'll go back with you," he said, answering the question that he knew the duo had come to ask.
As he said that, he stood up from his seat and walked over to the side of the boat, running his fingers against the cold, metal rail. Reaching up, he slowly removed the pair of aviators that he had been wearing, revealing a pair of blue-grey eyes that glinted with an iciness, holding no emotion whatsoever within.
This was the owner of the yacht named "Byul"--once young, exuberant and confident in all that he did, but now a mere empty shell that had long lost the fire within him. This was Kai, second dragon prince of the eastern seas.
Comments (0)
See all