Part 93: Week 37

In the grand hall, your father is waiting for you.



Our fears have been realised. A kraken has risen.

A kraken?

An enormous tentacled sea monster which can dive and surface at will. It is fast, voracious, and apparently unkillable. Any ship that ventures into its range is at risk. This could destroy Nova's shipping.



(And ocean shipping is really important to our economy!) What can we do? Do we just wait and hope it goes away?

No.

Quite unexpectedly, the priestess strides into the room.

What are you doing here?

I came to bring the records of the circle, so that you would know what you face. Left alone, the beast will feed until the seas run red, and only then will it sleep. It would cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

!

There are only two ways to end its threat. Lumen spellweaving can freeze a kraken in its tracks, holding it motionless - but only for a short time. If the spell is renewed every moon giving the beast no time between castings to move freely ... it should eventually sleep.

How long would that take?

Approximately seven years.

(Years!)

But if at any point the spell cast is too weak, or is not renewed in time, it would break loose.

And the treasury would be drained keeping up such a routine. What is the other way?

Joslyn, by treasury, do you mean that big empty room?

It is well-known that eldritch beasts can be driven out by... sacrifice. The life-force of a Lumen or potential Lumen on the cusp of adulthood, would be the ideal choice.

No! You will not take my daughter! You see, Elodie! This is why I told you to reject them! They are all witches!

Even without her mother's crystal, she would still have been a potential Lumen. Keeping her ignorant would not have kept her safe.

(A potential Lumen... because I'm my mother's daughter ... which means Charlotte too.)

(But I could never hurt my favorite cousin.)

I will not allow this!

The choice belongs to the Queen.

(Me.)