The Great Altar of Suiseiryu was a sight that usually commanded silence. Built over a
natural vortex where the mountain's freshwater met the rising tide of the sea, the air
was thick with mist and the scent of ancient power. Thousands of
spectators—Lizardmen in polished jade armor, Mermaids in floating water-spheres,
and the remaining terrified Dukes—filled the tiered balconies.
Jasmine marched down the aisle, her hand death-gripped onto Jee-shahn's arm. She
was a vision of royal elegance, her white-and-indigo train flowing behind her, but her
eyes were darting around like a cornered animal. Beside her, Jee-shahn walked with a
slow, deliberate pace that the audience mistook for "regal grace." In reality, he was
just trying to keep the heavy silver crown from falling over his nose while mentally
listing the foods he wanted to eat first.As they reached the altar, the High Priest stood waiting, his ceremonial staff held
high. He looked at Jee-shahn, who was now dressed in enough silk and jewels to buy
a small city.
"People of the South!" the High Priest's voice boomed, amplified by the water-walls.
"Today, we witness the union of my daughter, Jasmine, and this... honored traveler
from the distant reaches. Let the silence of the deep witness their vows!"
The crowd remained eerily quiet. The "noise" of the earlier murder had been hushed
up, but the atmosphere was brittle, like thin glass.
Suddenly, a voice pierced the silence from the front row of the nobility. "A union? Or a
surrender?"
A tall, slender man stood up. He wasn't a Duke; he was a priest from the secondary
temple of the Gilded Coast. His eyes were milky white, and his skin had a strange,
greyish tint. He didn't look angry—he looked hungry.
"We are told this boy is a prince," the grey priest hissed, his voice sounding like two
dry stones rubbing together. "But my heart feels only... Envy. Why should this
nameless brat take the treasure of our Empire? Why should we bow to a child who
smells of northern dirt?"
Jasmine stifened. "Father, he's one of yours! Make him stop!"
The High Priest frowned, raising his staf. "Priest Kael, sit down! This is a sacred
ceremony!"
But Kael didn't sit. He began to laugh, a hollow, vibrating sound that didn't come from
his throat, but from the air around him. The shadows at his feet began to crawl up his
legs, twisting like ink in water.
Jee-shahn stopped his mental food-list. He looked at Kael, his azure eyes focusing on
the dark aura radiating from the man. "There it is," Jee-shahn whispered, his voice
dangerously calm. "The noise I felt in the dressing room. It's not a man speaking
anymore."
"I am the hunger of the deep," Kael—or whatever was inside him—roared, his jaw
unhinging to an impossible degree. "I am the Sin that Suiseiryu couldn't drown!"
The crowd erupted into screams. The High Priest stepped back, his face pale. "The
corruption... it's the Sins of Spirits!"
Jee-shahn let out a long, heavy sigh that made the mist around the altar vanish. He let
go of Jasmine's hand and stepped forward, the silver crown finally slipping down and
resting comically on his eyebrows.
"I was told there would be a feast," Jee-shahn said, looking at the possessed priest
with a look of pure, murderous boredom. "Instead, I get a philosophy lecture from a
shadow. You picked the wrong wedding to crash, spirit. I'm very, very hungry."