Page 2 of Taken By the Alien Kraken King

An explosion came without warning.

A deafening blast erupted from somewhere. Sand splashed up, blinding me. Water surged around me as the platform collapsed, throwing me backward off the landing. Unable to see from the sand, my vision blurred further as cold water enveloped my body.

I fought the disorientation and struggled toward the surface. Something tangled around my ankle, followed by a pulling sensation.

I kicked off my boots to help my buoyancy, but whatever wrapped around me wouldn’t let go.

Bubbles escaped my throat, and something solid dragged me deeper, down into the blue gloom. Whatever it was, it wasn’t cold steel. Not wreckage. Not current.

I sank lower into the sea. Light faded. The pressure tightened. Then I felt it.

A presence.

I no longer saw large air bubbles, and my lungs burned. Just before the darkness claimed me completely, in a sliver of light, I saw them.

Strong tentacles wrapped around my body, cradling me against something firm, yet soft. I forced my eyes to open and found myself staring into the most beautiful pair of eyes I’dever seen. Glowing, intelligent, inhuman eyes watched me with interest.

One human hand cupped my head toward a humanoid head and mouth. His mouth opened, and he pressed his lips against mine, breathing into my lungs.

Then everything went black.

“Sire?”Mybodyguard’svoicepierced my solitude.

“Enter,” I commanded.

“Bourne, a messenger from the other Royals arrived.” Ahtu entered the meeting hall chamber first, his motions swift. Behind him, the small messenger, a tiny, young shrimp-like creature mixed with delicate tentacles, followed in Ahtu’s wake.

Two bulbous, telescoping eyes peeked from behind Ahtu’s robe.

“Speak, messenger,” I demanded.

A young brineling of indeterminate gender emerged once Ahtu’s wake calmed. “My sincerest apologies.” It pulled an object I couldn’t identify from the ragged edges of its simple seaweed tunic and raised it up toward its mouth with a spindly tentacle. The creature’s eyes, large and round for its body, bore into me with a mixture of fear and uncertainty. I’d seen that look on many creatures before, my own subjects included.

From the microscopic box around its neck, the brineling’s tinny voice filled the hall. “Bourne, ruler of the Nonmore Chasm, your presence is required, not requested, at a meeting on the surface with a group of potential settlers on our planet. I repeat, you are required to attend.”

“Absolute madness!” I bellowed. “How dare they assume they have the authority to order me around? Off to the trenches with this!” My words echoed in the meeting hall. I threw the shell with such force against the cavernous wall it shattered into countless pieces.

The brineling’s skin, a mottled grey which matched the dark stones of the sea floor, blanched at my outburst. It scurried against the wall of the ancient meeting hall, blending in with the bioluminescent ink which coated the walls. The ink narrated the countless decisions made over the eons of our people’s history.

“Sire, please understand the gravity of the situation!” the messenger’s voice squeaked into the amplifier. Its thin tentacles quivered with anxiety, no doubt from my reputation. The motion sent clouds of sediment from the bottom, shrouding the tiny ambassador in foggy dust. It clamped its mouth shut, but the corners of its lips twitched, as if it had more to say, yet was afraid to speak.

“Apologies.” My skin flashed bright blue for a few heartbeats, outwardly displaying shame at my behavior. Still agitated, my tentacles swirled and churned.

How bold of the others to assume I would arrive for the meeting with land-walkers and assume my place with the others. A second surge of rage rose under my skin, and I fought to control my hidden shame, bulky legs, which I kept tucked away in my tentacles. Of their own accord, my tentacles, each thick as giant kelp, slapped the ground in a rhythmic show of displeasure.

The messenger brineling took a tentative step forward, extended a quivering limb to retrieve the message which had fallen in its haste to escape my outburst. It collected the pieces of the scattered shell from the rocky bottom.

I took a deep, calming inhale of the nutrients in the water, and allowed my anger to dissipate as the surrounding current settled. “I understand, messenger,” I said, my tone softer now. “I will attend this meeting with the land-walkers and the other royals of Sanos. We must present a united front against whatever threatens our waters. Fetch my ceremonial armor,” I ordered Ahtu.

“Sire, we do not know for certain that the land-walkers wish us harm,” Ahtu said.

“I know enough. They walk the land.” I dismissed Ahtu’s huff of disbelief with a wave of my hand. “Bourne, you know the prophecy as well as I,” Ahtu said.

“Prophecy?” the shrill voice of the messenger asked. “It is of no consequence. Return to the others and let them know I will join them for the meeting.”

The brineling’s skin returned to its original color, a sigh of relief escaping its pursed lips. It tucked the amplifier into a pouch, bowed once, and darted out of the chamber into the murky depths, moving swiftly through the water.

Ahtu joined me as I headed toward my chamber, his brow furrowed in thought. “Bourne, what if this is the catalyst?” he asked.

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