All Chapters of THE LOST TIDE KING : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

CHAPTER 1: THE MAN WHO OWNS THE CITYScene 1: King of the Modern WorldSilvercrest City glittered beneath my office windows like a machine designed to obey me.Traffic flowed between towers in streams of white and red. Cargo drones crossed the harbour. Far below Stormcrest Tower, people moved through streets lined with companies carrying my name.Beyond the city lights, the ocean struck the cliffs without rhythm or restraint.Marcus Vane shifted across the conference table.“You cannot expect me to sign this tonight.”I turned from the window.Sweat darkened the collar of his expensive shirt. His lawyer sat beside him with both hands folded over a leather case. The six members of Marcus’s board avoided his eyes.“The deadline passed at noon,” I said.“We are discussing four thousand employees.”“No. We are discussing the money you stole from them.”I touched the control beside my chair.The wall screen changed. Shipping records appeared beside a list of hidden accounts. Red figures fi

CHAPTER 3: THE RELIC BENEATH GLASSScene 7: Discovery from the DeepOrochi smiled from the wall of water.“At last,” he said. “My queen.”I stepped between him and Ayame.The water distorted my reflection across his black armour. His red eyes followed me, calm and bright, as if centuries had passed without costing him a breath.“You are dead,” I said.His smile widened. “You said that before.”The room grew colder.Ayame stood behind me, close enough that the warmth of her body reached my back. Her fingers brushed my sleeve, then caught the fabric when Orochi raised one pale hand.The water mirror trembled.“Do you remember how he failed you?” Orochi asked her.Ayame’s grip tightened.“I do not know you.”“You will.”Tsukiko swept her arm across the table.The three blue candles fell into the seawater. Flame and water struck each other with a sharp hiss.Orochi’s face twisted.“Seer.”Tsukiko pressed her bleeding palm against the black surface.The carved symbol in her skin burned vio

CHAPTER 5: THE WOMAN BY THE SHOREScene 13: Ayame RiversThe gull hit the classroom window during the spelling test.Thirty heads snapped toward the glass.The bird slid down the pane, flapped once, and vanished below the frame.A pencil rolled off someone’s desk.“Miss Rivers,” Daniel whispered, “is it dead?”I set my red pen down.“No one moves.”That guaranteed everyone moved.Chairs scraped. Shoes thudded. Children crowded the windows before I reached the front row.“Back to your seats.”“But it crashed.”“It could be injured.”“It might have bird flu.”“Daniel, you said it was dead.”“I changed my mind.”I pressed two fingers to my temple.The headache had begun before sunrise, a quiet pressure behind my eyes. Now it pulsed in time with the waves beyond the school grounds.The sea was half a kilometre away, hidden behind low houses and a line of wind-bent trees. I should not have heard it from inside the classroom.But I did.One heavy crash.A pause.Another.The windows tremble

CHAPTER 7: THE MATE BOND AWAKENSScene 19: Sleepless NightSleep refused to come.I lay on my back beneath my grandmother’s quilt, listening to the cottage breathe around me.The pipes clicked inside the walls. Wind pressed damp fingers against the windows. Beyond the garden, waves struck the cliffs with a slow rhythm that matched the pulse beneath my skin.The silver ring rested on the bedside table.I had taken it off twice.Both times, it had reappeared around my neck.The first time, I blamed exhaustion.The second time, I stopped trying.A blue glow moved across the ceiling.I sat up.The light came from my palm.Golden lines curved over my skin, but blue light pulsed beneath them, answering something far beyond the cottage.Raiken.The thought arrived without warning.Heat spread through my chest.Then pain struck my ribs.Sharp.Sudden.I gasped and folded forward.The pain vanished.A second later, it returned lower, across my side, exactly where the attacker’s knife had cut R

CHAPTER 9: SHADOWS IN SILVERCRESTScene 25: Missing PeopleThe first missing poster had been taped to the school gate.By noon, there were seven.Faces stared from white sheets dampened by sea mist. A dockworker. Two university students. A nurse. An elderly man from Mariner’s Row. A teenage delivery rider. A woman I recognised from the bakery near the cottage.All gone within five nights.All last seen near water.I stood beneath the gate awning while rain tapped against the metal roof.Daniel stopped beside me, backpack hanging from one shoulder.“That man fixes boats,” he said, pointing to the dockworker. “My father knows him.”“Your mother is waiting by the crossing.”“He would not just leave.”I looked down at him.His mouth had tightened in the stubborn way children used when adults gave them answers they did not believe.“No,” I said. “He probably would not.”Daniel glanced toward the coast. “Did the sea take them?”A cold pulse moved through the mark on my palm.“Go to your mot