12

Emperor POV

A old man sat on a beach watching the waters ebb and flow.The sky was dark even with the bright moon shining above the horizon. Vast broken and twisted coral like arches stuck out from the water like some kind of giant dead decaying reef. The beach around him littered with dark rocks, some looking melted or unnaturally deformed. Occasionally a glint of gold could be seen before disappearing like a trick of the light.

He sat on a simple wooden chair at the edge of the water in silent contemplation wearing nothing more than a simple white wool spun robe and woven sandals. His head was covered by a hood but dark locks of hair could be seen coming out of it framing his shadowed face. His eyes glittered in the dark with the moonlight reflecting off the water.

In the water several rocks of various colors could be seen. All across the underwater sands were various yellow glowing stones each of varying intensity, stuck fast in the sands unmoved by the tide. Surrounding them were stones of other types being pushed by the endless waves. Sharp stones of red coloring the waters around it the same tint. Green deformed stones with a sickly hue trailing seaweed that latched onto and grew on other stones. Blue stones that seemed to shift through the colors of the rainbow like oyster shells sharing its color with those around it. Pink stones that made loud sharp noises as it hit other stones heard even through the water. Then, there the various other colored stones mixed among all of those, most of them being dull green stones that were light but moved constantly like tiny earthen waves under the waves smashing everything. He could also make out some tiny smooth stones that weaved in between all the various other stones hitting them into other stones. Deeper into the waters an all encompassing shadow creep closer to the shore as the moon slowly dropped closer to the horizon little by little.

Currently the old man was paying attention to one particular stone of a color he had never seen before. It constantly shifted colors as if it could not decide what it was and constantly surrounding it was a dark cloud that made it hard to notice. In fact he didn't even notice it and most likely would not have had it not turned a golden yellow when he was looking in its general direction. He had become intrigued and decided to watch it and then decided to plan and then take a gamble.

The old man reached into his robe and pulled out a handful of golden stones. He did not have a lot of them left, but he felt that it was worth the risk to use one now. Picking out a single golden stone the old man put away the rest and stood. With a flick of his wrist the golden stone flew into the waters causing nary a ripple and struck the ever shifting stone head on as it had just started becoming a mix of red and green that glowed like lightning. The two stones caused a loud smack and a flash forcing the man to squint. As the light died down the stone was gone and the man slowly sat down with a sigh as he resumed looking at the rest of the glowing stones beneath the waves.

Under his breath the man whispered empty reassurances to himself that he did the right thing. If someone was to see the old man now they would notice a tiny golden crack on his face shining through the darkness of the hood.

Looking to his right he sadly frowned at a now present empty chair just like his own before muttering one last thing before resuming his vigil once more.

"What would you have done old friend?"