The vertical road of water deposited their vessel onto a modest dock that jutted out from the floating city. A small gathering of people had already assembled, their thin frames a stark contrast to what Talia was used to seeing in the archipelago. Even in the poorest islands she'd visited, people were usually well-fed thanks to the abundance of fish and Mana-enriched vegetation.

"The city requires most of our Mana," Keanu explained quietly as they approached the dock, noticing her studying the gathered crowd. "The enchantments that keep us airborne and hidden from the world below consume almost everything we can generate. What little remains must be carefully rationed between basic needs and maintaining what's left of the old buildings."

Talia nodded, taking in the ancient structures around them. Grand architecture from a forgotten era stood half-consumed by creeping vines and weather-worn stone. Only a handful of modest dwellings showed signs of current habitation, cleared of vegetation and carefully maintained despite their obvious age.

A tall man with Keanu's sharp features broke from the crowd, embracing his son with visible relief.

"Welcome home," he said, his voice thick with emotion. When he pulled back, his eyes fell on Talia. "I am Ka'imi, Keeper of the Western Quarter. My son spoke of you in his messages." He gave a slight bow. "The daughter of Yalena is welcome among the Kaimoro."

"Thank you," Talia said, acutely aware of the invisible presence still hiding on their vessel. She could feel the weight of the gathered people's stares, their gaunt faces a reminder of the hardships they endured to maintain their independence from the Great Families.

"The Ko'a wishes to speak with you," Ka'imi said, gesturing toward one of the larger structures that stood proudly against the endless sky. "She is the one who taught Keanu the secrets of luminescent water, and she has been anticipating your arrival."

"The Ko'a?" Talia asked, glancing at Keanu.

"Our shaman," Keanu explained. "Mo'ira. She's... well, you'll see."

They made their way through what must have once been a magnificent city. Now, most of the grand buildings lay in various states of decay, with only the areas immediately surrounding the inhabited sections maintained enough for safe passage. Small gardens were scattered wherever space allowed, but the plants looked stunted, struggling to grow in the Mana-depleted soil.

The temple where Mo'ira waited was perhaps the best-kept piece of evidence of this city’s former glory. This one building had been restored with as much care as the inhabitants of Aneanui had been capable of. When Talia briefly activated [Eyes of the Abyss], she saw it shining like the sun, the center of all the Mana that flowed into the city.

I think that’s where they control the various enchantments and spells from, she realized.

"She's waiting inside," Ka'imi said, stopping at the temple steps. "Go on. The Ko'a doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Talia stepped into the temple, the temperature noticeably cooler than outside. Patches of luminescent water cast a soft blue glow across the stone walls, creating strange shadows that danced as she walked deeper inside.

At the far end of the chamber, a woman sat cross-legged on a simple mat. Her silver hair seemed to capture and reflect the blue light around them, making it difficult for Talia to guess her age.

"Closer," the woman said, her voice clear and sharp. When Talia approached, she could see that Mo'ira's eyes were the same intense blue as Keanu's - the true color of the Kaimoro people. "I am Mo'ira, Ko'a of what remains of our people. And you," she tilted her head slightly, "carry more than just your mother's looks."

Talia stopped a few paces from the mat. "You knew my mother?"

"I knew of her. Just as I know of you..." Mo'ira's eyes seemed to pierce through her. "Vo'ra's blood runs strong in your veins, though perhaps not in the way the old ones intended."

What is she talking about? Vo'ra, who is that? Talia wondered. She had never heard that name—not from Keanu, not from Professor Tukupa, not from Professor Iakopo. But if there was a place to find answers, this was it.

"Vo'ra?" Talia asked. She had been herded into the temple without any time to get acclimated to this new place. But if she had to guess, these people must be in a hurry to solve their problems. And from what Keanu said, they saw Talia as the key to their future.

"How much do you know about what your people called the Kraken?"

Talia frowned.

"I know that the Kraken was created by people. It wasn't a beast that just spawned out of nowhere."

"The Ho'olakanaka," the woman shifted slightly on her mat as she pronounced the name. "The Bringer of Life," she said. "What the Honua half of your blood calls the Scourge of the Deep."

Talia just stared at the woman.

"Are you implying that the Kraken is not a monster?”

“I am.”

'Bringer of Life' doesn't sound like an ominous name, in fact, she thought, confused.

Could it be? Could the monster that terrified the Great Archipelago have been created for good?

"A thousand years ago," Mo'ira spoke, "the Kaimoro, the Honua, and the Ao joined in the Sundered Seas Covenant after the Honua and the Ao almost destroyed the world with their greed. Their machines and their technology—the very filthy spells that we now must use to live in hiding in this city—they altered the balance of the world.

"We knew," the woman continued, "that a catastrophe was coming. Terrifying monsters started emerging—more terrifying than the Ho’olakanaka. The kind of nightmare that the Honua must have forgotten about. The kind that would be able to destroy the entire Great Archipelago."

Talia felt a shiver down her spine.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Stronger than the Kraken?

"So the Kraken was created to battle these monsters?"

Mo'ira shook her head.

"The Ho'olakanaka was created to keep the balance in the world. It was meant to rebuild it by means of destroying the monsters. The greatest sorcerer in the world’s history and greatest wielder of Dark Water, Vo'ra, crafted the ritual that gave life to the Ho'olakanaka."

"The Honua and the Ao infused their greatest knowledge for the creature to slay the monsters that started ravaging the Great Archipelago. The ancestors of the Great Families infused the greatest techniques of Blood Water that they knew through the ritual they evolved, giving the Kraken the great power to absorb and redistribute life. The Ao, in their vast knowledge about Mana, gave the Ho'olakanaka a form that, paired with the Honua's Blood Water, would make it indestructible. And they sealed it together with Star Water."

Talia's eyes went wide.

"Star Water?"

Mo'ira nodded.

"Your mother had both Honua and Ao blood running in her veins. It's very rare. Many don't know that the only way to master certain affinities is to have the natural predisposition of it that is born from one's blood."

"So my mother wielded Star Water because she was an Ao?"

Mo'ira shook her head, her silvery hair swaying around her neck.

"Your mother did wield Star Water, but she had also mastered Blood Water by the time she faced the Kraken."

Talia was stunned hearing that. She had never heard that her mother had mastered Blood Water. She had always thought that her having the Blood Water affinity was because she was somehow related to the Kraken, perhaps because of the inheritance phenomenon that Professor Iakopo had described to her—that her mother, by killing the Kraken, had managed to pass the affinity onto her. But she also knew that it wasn't uncommon for children of someone with multiple affinities to inherit only one to start with, which would explain why she had inherited Blood Water.

"The Kaimoro gave the Kraken the power to destroy so they could slay the monsters. We wielded the most dangerous magic, the one that now has been lost to time. And currently, only two people wield it in the entire Great Archipelago." Mo'ira's eyes bore into Talia. "You and your father."

“I have a technical question,” Talia said.

“Please,” the woman gestured for her to say what she was thinking.

“How can the Kraken absorb things if it’s using Dark Water? When I used Dark Water, I can’t absorb anything. Dark Water destroys the vitality that would have to be absorbed through my other Skills.”

“That is because your power is incomplete. Unlike the Ho’olakanaka, it hasn’t been merged together fully.”

So I could potentially wiled the Cursed Form and use my Skills?

"Mo'ira," Talia backtracked. "Wait. Why didn't Mom tell anyone about Blood Water? How come no one told me? How come no one knew?"

"No one knew what your mother was really trying to do. But the same people that were after her knew what she needed in order to complete her goal."

Talia frowned. "What?"

"Your mother," the woman said, "knew that if she revealed that she had mastered Blood Water, she might have gotten killed before completing her self-imposed mission."

"What was her mission?" Talia asked.

For the first time, the serene countenance of the woman cracked, and a regretful twinkle traveled through her eyes.

"I do not know. Your mother was secretive beyond even our people's ways. She refused to tell me. She assured me that she was working for a world where the Kaimoro would be able to live in peace. And she killed some of the rich nobles that had been on our tracks, proving without a shadow of a doubt her pure intentions toward my people."

"My mother killed a lot of people," Talia said, knowing what had really happened in Placid City.

"I know the event you're referencing, young Talia. And I know you think you probably know better than your mother. While I cannot tell you whether you're right or wrong, as the leader of my people, I've learned that we need to doubt our strongest-held beliefs the most. Yalena was vicious, but she was no fool, and she was no tyrant."

"Do you know how she died?" Talia suddenly asked.

Once again, Mo'ira shook her head.

"No. I only know that she visited the Forbidden Vessel, found what she was looking for, and left."

"The Forbidden Vessel?"

Mo'ira nodded.

"Before I tell you about it, know that it was my people who infused Dark Water inside the Kraken, but one of the three races betrayed the others, and the Sundered Sea Covenant came apart. The Kraken, as the Honua call it now, went mad and started slaughtering indiscriminately. At first, we were the ones who had to kill the Kraken because we were the only ones capable of wielding Dark Water—the only type of magic the Kraken couldn't adapt to. We planned on slowly containing the Kraken so that the true purpose of the Ho'olakanaka could be restored.

"But a great war erupted. As more Abyssal Creatures rose from the abyss, the Honua started slaughtering the Kaimoro. The Ao went mad with corruption. Now that the Kraken was in the Deep, the richest region in Mana, they had managed to siphon even more energy from the waters below. The Kraken liberated energy from monsters that the Honua and the Ao managed to employ for their own uses. And so civilization came apart."

"The Great War destroyed everything, everyone because of the power that the Ho’olakanaka liberated onto the world—more Mana than anyone else had ever seen. So, in the aftermath of the war, most knowledge was lost. My people split and tried to find refuge, but only we survived the onslaught and the persecutions that came even in the wake of all that death. The Honua were the only ones who managed to stay strong even though they lost a lot of what made them great back then. But they were the ones who managed to slay the Kraken and restore this precarious peace."

"However," Mo'ira continued, "all the signs pointed to increased corruption in the Deep, to a new catastrophe approaching. Your mother knew about it, and she claimed to have found a way to put an end to it all. But she refused to share what she had found out. She refused to even share who her enemies were and what their plans had been."

"She took my son’s mind," Mo'ira said with a heavy tone and put a hand through her hair, revealing a few red strands in between the silver mane. "She found one of the ancient rituals, a method born of desperation from my people, a safeguard in case we ever lost our great magic. And so she gave him the great powers that she needed in order to complete her mission."

Talia felt as if lightning had struck and looked at the woman in disbelief.

"You're my father's mother. You are—"

"I am your grandmother, Talia. I cast my son away in hope that he would find a better life outside Aneanui. A lone Kaimoro is not a threat big enough for our persecutors to act. But without the rest of our ancient techniques, Dark Water consumed my son and warped his mind." She saw pain contorting the face of the woman. "How ironic that the descendants of Vo'ra, the great sorcerer, couldn't grasp Dark Water, and it took a half-breed, half-Honua, half-Ao, to somehow grant you control over the power."

Talia looked stunned.

"And now the last piece that brings all together, a relic from times forgotten where people had mastered Dark Water's incredible aspects before. A crew of half-Honua, half-Kaimoro crafted one of the most devastating spells in existence, the same spell that the Kraken used to be able to wield both Dark Water and absorb the powers of its enemies, something that surpassed even the base ritual that created the Kraken when it comes to refinement. And we still have their vessel, which turned, ironically, into a dimensional dungeon where their secrets are held."

"And now, you, my granddaughter, are the only one who can wield such a technique in the entire world. Only you. My son doesn't have Blood Water, and he can never wield another affinity again. Whatever inheritance your mother passed upon you, it made you the only one capable of wielding the heritage of the first slayers of the Ho’olakanaka—the only ones of my people that ever equalled the beast in pure strength. The Cursed Crew. The alliance that kept peace for almost a century before war destroyed civilization."