章節 380: Wrath and Devistation harsh content

A sick feeling settled in the pit of Triton's stomach as he followed the nervous youth through the shallows of the French waters. The waters were eerily quiet, with no signs of man nor beast. He paused, his eyes moving around the sky. "Are you sure this is the place?" He whispered.

"Yes, of course. W-why? Wh-what is it, Sire?" Sabastian stammered.

Triton turned slowly in the water. "Listen… what do you hear?"

Sabastian held his breath for several seconds before puffing out a breath. "No-nothing, Sire."

Triton nodded. "Exactly… we have not seen a single boat… nor heard the song of gulls." He nodded toward Yuri. "If you are sure this is where they are, then the two of you should head back."

Yuri shook her head as she clasped Triton's arm. "You cannot expect me to leave after coming all this way. I will not leave without knowing what has become of our daughter and my sister."

Triton sighed heavily. "I can and I will. It may not be safe." His eyes moved around the quiet desolate skies. "It could very well be a trap even…" He curled his wife's fingers around the conch. "If I do not return in an hour or if you hear sounds of distress use this. Father will be here immediately."

Yuri held his troubled eyes as she nodded silently.

He forced a smile as he bent and placed a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Very good." His gaze lifted and moved to Sabastian who seemed to be trembling worse now than he had been before. "Take care of her, Sabastian. I'm counting on you… the kingdom is counting on you."

Sabastian's entire body shook as he forced out his reply. "Y…y…yess, Sire."

Yuri watched anxiously as her husband emerged from the waters and made his way across the cold white sands of the beach. The rapid beating of her heart increased as he vanished from view. Yuri chewed her fingernails down to the quick as she swam back and forth in the shallow waters. Her anxiety continued growing as the seconds ticked by painfully slow. Her nervous gaze moved to the path Triton had disappeared down. "What is taking so long? Do you think something unexpected has happened?" Her anxious gaze moved to the conch shell. "Do you think we should call for Poseidon?" Her frown deepened. "How long would it really take him to get here, anyways… What's to say it wouldn't be too late by then… What if he didn't come at all, and we only sat idly by while something horrible was happening?"

Sebastian swallowed hard, not liking the course her thoughts had begun to take. The desperation was evident in Yuri's crazed eyes. "I… I believe we should do as directed… and wait…" He lowered his gaze. "W-with all due respect…"

Yuri bit her lower lip, her eyes burning holes into the shell in her hand, but whatever reply she'd been about to utter was lost among the loud, ground-shaking blast coming from just past the path Triton had taken. The shell fell from her hands and sank slowly to the sea floor, completely forgotten as Yuri hurried toward the shore. "Something has happened!"

"Mrs. Yuri, please wait!" Sabastian called out his gaze darting between Yuri's departing form and the conch shell. His cheeks heated and he automatically looked away as she shifted forms. "Mrs. Yuri! I wait! We should do as we were told!" He moved to get the shell but she was rapidly making her way toward the path. He swam quickly toward the coast. "At least wait on me!"

Yuri turned quickly and waved her hand. "Then hurry, will you!"

Sabastian cried out as his body was painfully shifted into a crab form from before. He quickly scurried after Yuri but continued falling behind. By the time he'd finally caught up to her, she was standing in front of an elegant, beautifully designed palace save the massive, blasted hole where a rear door had once been. "This isn't good…" He murmured as he followed her through the rubble. He snagged an overhanging cloth from one of the decorative tables as they passed and scrambled to Yuri.

She glanced down at the small red crab carrying the oversized tablecloth and almost laughed. She gave him a nod as she grabbed the material and wrapped it around herself. "You were here with her… where should we go?"

The eerie silence of the palace sent a shiver down Sabastian's spine. He pushed down his fear and scampered down the hallway. Yuri's light footsteps tapped against the cold marble flooring in rhythm with his pounding heart. When the patter of her feet went silent, he paused and turned. She was frozen in front of a slightly cracked door. He hurried back to her side. "W-what is it?"

"Smell that? Its blood…" Yuri clasped her hands to her chest as she carefully pushed open the door. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the flickering lights of the room as she tried to figure out where the smell was coming from. She gasped and took a step back nearly stepping on Sabastian as her eyes landed on a man laying on the floor beside an odd table. The flickering from the broken light over the table cast shadows across the man's crimson-stained white lab coat. "What in the world???" Her attention moved toward the table and the covered form there. Her eyes bugged, tears involuntarily filling them when she recognized the lifeless face staring up from the covered body. "Ursula???" Her hand trembled as she reached for the sheet. A tug from the base of the cloth she was wearing brought her attention to the floor.

Sabastian's whole, tiny body trembled. "W-we should leave… and… get help."

Yuri shook her head sadly. "I have to know, Sabastian." She turned her attention back to the sheet and her sister. Her hand shook with near-debilitating intensity as she tugged down the sheet. She quickly pulled her hand away as if being burned, her hand flying to cover her mouth instead. She stumbled backward away from the table and what was left of her sister's body. She squeezed her eyes shut, but the images of her sister's mutilated and dissected corpse was forever burned into her memory. She began coughing uncontrollably as she collapsed to the blood-soaked floor. She couldn't stop the retching as bile rose in her throat. "Ursula…" She cried out between sobs.

Another blast echoed from overhead drawing Yuri and Sebastian's gazes upwards. "Ariel." Yuri murmured her poor daughter's name as she forced herself onto her trembling feet. She scooped Sabastian into her hands and forced her body into motion. "Tell me where to go!"

Sabastian did his best to guide her through the twists and turns of the large palace. Damaged walls and dead or injured guards littered the way like breadcrumbs leading them directly to the source of all the blasts. Yuri's mouth fell open as she stepped through the busted doorway. Triton was standing furiously in the center of the room, trident pointed toward a large group of armed men. More injured and possibly dead men littered the floor of the room, while another man stood quaking behind the many still-standing men. She forced her eyes from the bulging muscled arm welding the trident across thick scarred shoulders to the other extended hand. A massive influx of water surged from it creating a watery cage. She squinted to see past the watery barrier, her eyes widening as she recognized the blurry figure crouched behind it. "Ariel!" She cried out.

The sound of Yuri's strained, panicked voice broke Triton's focus. His gaze darted over his shoulder toward the door to see his wife standing naked save for a blood-soaked sheet. The shock of seeing her like that caused him to involuntarily lower his trident. "Yuri?! What are doing here? Are you hurt?"

The second the trident was lowered, and Triton's attention moved to the beautiful woman standing in the doorway, a wicked smile curved Eric's lips. "Get him!" He called to the guards standing between him and the king of the ocean. {What a treasure that has found its way into my palace!} He thought as he watched this guards advance.

Triton quickly turned his attention back on the advancing men. He released the watery shield he'd put up around his beloved daughter, forcing the water to shift into a powerful wave and sending it toward the men. He fought effortlessly against the men who were able to stand against the influx of water, taking them down quickly as he advanced on the cowardly prince. He sent a worried glance toward his daughter and wife who were huddled in each other's arms in a corner of the room. With a sigh of relief, he increased his assault against the armed men making quick work of the lot of them. In a few seconds, he was taking aim at the cowardly prince and preparing to blast a hole directly into the center of the young man's cold heart. All the horrors he'd seen upon entering the palace, the image of what was left of his sister-in-law, and how he'd found his dearest daughter, all fueled the rage that fed the power of the trident. With an animalistic growl, he released his full rage and power against the prince.

"Ariel! NO!"

Yuri's loud cry gave him pause, but it was too late. The trident clattered to the floor as Triton's large body followed it down. "NO!" His mouth hung agape, the scene playing out as if in slow motion. Ariel had broken away from Yuri and flung herself between the trident's powerful blast and the maggot of a prince she'd sworn to love.

"What have I done…" Tears burned Triton's eyes, burning a painful trail down his sharp cheeks and into his thick beard. He scooted his body across the wood floor not paying mind to the thick blood that had begun to coat its polished surface. His massive hands trembled as he reached out for his daughter's crumpled body, her arms still locked around the prince. "Ariel…" His words trembled with raw emotion.

Sabastian backed slowly from the room, his thin crab legs trembling and giving out with nearly every step. He fought against his own fear and overwhelming sadness as he made his way through the palace of horrors to the beach. His tiny legs fought against the pull of the tide as he searched the sea floor for the conch shell. His voice cracked and shook with each cry for help until the waters began to churn and the god of the sea was standing before him.

Poseidon arched his brow as he rubbed his chin. "Sabastian… you seem… different… New look?" When the terrified crab didn't respond his brows furrowed. He scooped up the tiny crab. "What is it kid?"

"Ariel… she's… and Ursula… they… they… dead… and Mrs. Yuri and King Triton… they…" He hadn't finished his ramblings when he was dropped from the sea god's large palms back into the waters. "Wait!" He cried out, but it was too late. The sea god had already vanished. He fought against the waves and loose sand as he made his way back to the palace. When he'd finally made it back, the furious, boobing voices were enough to cause his whole body to quake.

"The monsters deserved it!" Triton protested in blind rage.

Poseidon pushed aside his own heavy heart as he tried to talk some logic into his trauma-shocked son. "I understand how you feel, son… I do… but still yet, you should have contacted me. We could have handled this properly." He rubbed his temples as his eyes moved across the destruction and death littering the once-elegant room. A heavy lump settled deep in his throat threatening to choke him as his eye fell on a devastated Yuri clinging to her daughter's lifeless body as she rocked back and forth in the blood-drenched floor. His hand slid through his damp hair. "We have no choice… this must be turned in…"

"You're the fucking god Poseidon. You can make a few measly humans and one piece of shit prince vanish!"

Poseidon shook his head sadly. "No son… there isn't… there's too much involved… The treaties are too new… too fragile still yet."

"Fuck your treaties! This is my daughter! Your granddaughter! Your family for fuck's sake!"

Poseidon blew out a heavy sigh. "You and your brothers are not so different after all it would seem…" His sad eyes searched Triton's. "What has been done is done… there is no reversing death, no bringing back what has been lost to us…" He blew out a heavy breath as he turned and began walking slowly toward Yuri. He placed a light hand on the trembling woman's shoulder. "Let's return home and get the both of you cleaned up." He forced a smile when her blank, watery eyes met his. "We shall see that your sister is also brought home. How does that sound, dear?" She nodded, tears still flowing heavily from her eyes. He vanished with Yuri and Ariel and returned within a few minutes. "You should be with your wife right now. She needs you."

Triton crossed his arms. "If that is truly how you feel then why involve that damn council?"

Poseidon blew out a sigh. "Because it is what is right. It is time we gods answer for our crimes as well… It is the only way to move forward… you agreed with this before… even helped build the policies yourself…" He placed a hand on his son's shoulder and teleported them back to his palace before Triton could shove his hand away. He watched as Triton pushed away from him. "I will speak to them and personally see to the cleanup of this matter." His head fell and his voice lowered. "I will see if they will hold off on a trial until after Ariel and Ursula have been laid to rest."

"How generous." Triton bit out as he stormed off.

Poseidon breathed in a long breath, then slowly blew it out. "Children… There is no winning with them…"

A week later, the pyres were still aflame when the council guards arrived to take Triton into custody. Yuri crumpled to the ground, only able to sob as she watched him be taken away. Poseidon couldn't ignore the deterioration of her health as the trial dragged on over several months, the newly established council unsure of how to go about holding a god accountable for an act of wrath. Upon the day of sentencing, a sick feeling settled in the pit of Poseidon's stomach. Regardless of how much he wanted to keep his daughter-in-law by his side, there was no excuse to keep her present and engaged. With a resigned sigh, he finally excused her from the dining table. Triton had been sentenced to 50 years, a low sentence to be sure… but for a grieving wife, it would be an eternity.

Though it saddened him, Poseidon had not pushed for Yuri to leave her room, understanding her grieving… but when a maid had burst into his chamber early one morning, the sickness that had settled in the pit of his stomach began to overflow.

"Sire! It's Mrs. Yuri!" The maid's hands trembled as they covered her mouth. "She… she has taken her own life…"