Stygians: Cove Legendary Quest Line Part 1

The usually still waters are churning, and at first, Cove thinks he's simply come to himself during that one day a month when the winds kick up and his kingdom is turned on end. The thrum that goes through him is familiar and wild; he lives for this day, for the thrill of danger, for being tossed around on the waves like a rag doll. He gets his board and dives into the wilds, unafraid of water closing over his head or the way the edges of things turn into froth.

It's only as he is dragged out, away from shore, hauled in toward the eye of the storm, that he realizes there is something unfamiliar at the heart of this Maelstrom. The seas are not only churning but they're plunging, swelling. Something huge, something out of place, something new is erupting, showering water behind it, great, gnarled branches of coral thrusting down into the depths below him, rooting in the ocean of a dream that is not, in fact, his kingdom.

But it's also not NOT his kingdom.

It's too late for him to turn around, but he wouldn't anyway. Instead he hunkers down onto his board and his breath is stolen as he gets close enough to see the shape of the tree, that has taken root, reaching a limb out to him even as it churns the waters wildly, even as it drives everything more into chaos with a fury that he has only felt a handful of times in his existence.

It touches him --