Will of a Prince

Chapter 190: Depth Dweller

Leo slowly drifted to sleep on the wet sand. Bear watched over him, fearfully looking into the dark depths of the ocean.

"What the hell have I agreed to? This is crazy!"

He slowly stuffed his ears with some cloth and sat down to rest his legs. Many others around him were following Leo in sleeping.

Three hours had passed before something strange began to happen. One of the Strugglers was standing up and walking towards the edge of the bubble aimlessly. Bear called over to him to try and get his attention.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing? Get away from the barrier!"

The man didn’t listen. His walk turned quickly into a sprint, not allowing Bear a single second to try and stop him.

"Wait-"

The man dove into the barrier, leaving the safety of the bubble to traverse the dark depths alone. However, something strange seemed to happen to the man’s body once he was in the water. His body went limp like he was knocked out, his muscles tingled under his skin like something was trying to escape, and his eyes started to bleed. Bear watched the man die helplessly.

"The pressure... It’s not only monsters we have to worry about, but if we leave, our bodies won’t be able to adapt to this pressure."

Bear looked deeper into the abyss. There was something there, staring at him. Its yellow eyes glowed faintly in the dark. The creature easily had to be larger than any kingdom he had ever seen. The eyes themselves were as tall as castle gates.

Even though the creature was so massive, he couldn’t seem to make out any other part of its body. Bear was lost in a trance, choking on air as he stared into its gaze. A low grumble reverberated the bubble.

Suddenly, three more Strugglers with no cloth covering their ears began walking towards the canary eyes. Bear grabbed hold of a lady and tried pushing her back. It was useless. It was as if the lady herself had been strengthened so she couldn’t be stopped. Bear ran towards Leo in a hurry, shaking him awake.

Leo grumbled and rubbed his eyes.

"What the hell? I’ve hardly been asleep a few hours. What is happening?"

"My people are being sent into the depths by a creature with big yellow eyes. You have to help them!"

Leo was about to pull the cloth out of his ears to listen to Bear better out of instinct but stopped himself.

"So, what? You want me to save the people who didn’t follow what I specifically instructed them to do?"

Bear stared at him dubiously.

"Have you lost your mind?! You are just going to let those people die?!"

"They let themselves die. I tried to save them by telling them what they needed to do. Besides..."

Leo stood up and stared into the dark abyss where the creature was residing.

"There is no way any of us here are surviving an encounter with that thing. Even before I lost my touch, I doubt I could have so much as scratched that thing out there."

Bear stared at Leo helplessly.

"So... we just watch my people die?"

"I would recommend looking away. It’s better for everyone."

Even hearing the hopeless proclamation from Leo, Bear didn’t give up. He grabbed hold of another man who began walking towards the barrier and shoved cloth into his ears. Even with the cloth blocking his hearing, the man continued to walk.

"This can’t be! I blocked their ears."

Leo refused to look their direction, but he spoke loud enough so Bear could hear him.

"That won’t help. Their minds have already been affected by it."

Bear watched again as one of his close followers walked into a watery grave.

"Why...what the hell is that thing?"

"From my guess, it’s a spirit. A powerful one at that. I guess this thing is to blame for all those sailors going missing, assuming there is only one of them."

"A... spirit? Like a ghost?"

Leo chuckled.

"Nothing like that. There are seven classes of creature in this world. Spirit is the third weakest."

"Weakest? What the hell is the strongest?"

"Something that I only pray humanity will never have to face."

Another rumble shook the bubble.

"I think we should start walking. Zalo only knows what that thing is capable of."

Bear looked at him again. Leo rubbed his face.

"He was a deity who lived long ago. He is gone now."

Bear looked at the ground and prepared to walk with Leo.

"I see. I will wake up the others."

Bear walked around the area and woke every Struggler he could. Once everyone was ready to move, Leo continued leading them deeper into the ocean.

The pressure was starting to noticeably have an effect on the bubble the further they travelled. However, Leo didn’t appear to be struggling with holding it back... for now.

Six hours had passed when Leo had finally come upon something strange. It was a stone statue in the shape of a man with animal hides hanging over their shoulders, a larger build, a massive hammer, a thick beard with braids in it, and an outfit that looked suited for cold climates.

Leo placed his right hand on the statue.

"What the hell is this thing?"

There was a plaque resting at the bottom of the base. It was in a language Leo had never seen before. Bear walked up to him and studied the stone.

"For being underwater, this stone is in perfect condition. There isn’t so much as a scratch on this thing. Who the hell could have built this? Why is it at the bottom of the ocean? Why is it preserved so well?"

Leo looked at Bear with a playful expression.

"Well, it’s a good thing I know everything!!"

Bear’s heartbeat fastened.

"You really know what this is?!"

"That was sarcasm. This is my first time seeing it, just like you. How the hell would I know anything about this when I just asked what the hell this was?"

Bear blushed and cleared his throat.

"Sorry. Do you at least recognize the language? I know that you’ve worked with an empire. Do they teach you other languages there?"

Leo furrowed his brow.

"As a matter of fact, they did teach us a different language there, but it was the language of the north. They no longer exist though, so I don’t know why I had to learn it. This language looks similar, but the words are completely different."

Leo rubbed his fingers along the damp stone, his eyes widening slightly.

"Wait a moment, I think I can read this part. It will be a very rough translation though."

"Well, go ahead."

"It reads: Frost Monarch?"

Suddenly, the statue began to move its hammer and point it at Leo. He stood frozen in front of the statues gaze, trying to study how the statue managed to move. Then, a blue beam shot out of the hammer and enveloped Leo. He fell to the ground, screaming in pain. The bubble around them started to waver. Water began leaking in from many places. Bear ran over to Leo as the statue began to crumble into pieces.

"Leo?! Leo! Are you okay?!"

Leo continued to convulse on the ground. His eyes began to turn an arctic blue, his lips quivered slightly, and his breathing became shallow.

"R-Release!"

The holes in the bubble fixed themselves and everyone around him went silent. Leo had finally stopped moving and continued to lay on the ground staring up into the dark abyss in awe. Bear offered him a hand up.

"Are you okay? What the hell was that?"

A faint breath began to whisper into Leo’s mind.

"Your Zalo quivers, your mind shakes, yet you continue to breathe. Frost Monarch Incarnate, the cold winds of the arctic bow to your name. Welcome back."

Leo had goosebumps run up his arms hearing the name be seared into his brain.

"Frost... Monarch?"

Bear leaned in closer to Leo.

"What was that?"

"That was a statue of something called a Frost Monarch. I think it gave me some kind of power."

Bear’s eyes widened.

"Was this the power that you heard about?"

Leo stood up and started pacing in a circle.

"It can’t be. You were all supposed to get a power too. Why? Why was I the only one blessed?"

Bear rubbed his chin.

"Perhaps it is an extension of your ability?"

Suddenly, Leo fell to the ground again, clutching his head.

"Argh! What the-"

The pain was beyond anything he had ever felt before, even worse than being blessed with the new power. It felt like his very soul we being pulled apart in two different directions. His eyes began to glow, and he shot something from his hand.

An ice beam splattered against the surface of the bubble and instantly froze all of it.

"Leo! Calm yourself! You almost hit-"

Suddenly, Leo grabbed Bears face with his palm. It turned a dark blue and broke into thousands of pieces. Bear had been killed instantly. His body that was left behind began to turn a darker shade of azure by the second.

Claw looked at Leo in horror as he slowly fell to the ground clutching his head. All of the Strugglers backed as far away from Leo as they could, afraid they would be the next to fall.

"Leo... what have you done?"

Leo finally appeared to come back to his senses. He looked at his hands, then at Bears cold body, then at the people around him. Small tears welled in his eyes.

"I think... something is wrong with me."

Suddenly, the headless corpse of Bear stood back up and faced Leo. Without making a sound, the torso got on one knee and bowed their torso. As it stood still like an ice sculpture, ice started to grow out of the missing stump.

Soon, Bear had a completely new head, completely made of ice. He continued bowing his head at Leo.

"Monarch, I offer you my services as your first frost thrall. Call me whatever you wish."