Drink the Sea

The fog comes
on little cat feet

It sits looking 
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on
 
- Carl Sandburg

Kshatriya, a golden city nestled on a dark waterlily lake, shrouded in a strange fog. Lei was told to think of it like a fishbowl, a universe within a universe. Everything inside the glass had its own rules. If one entered the fishbowl, they would find themselves in their own personal Lilliput, shrunk down to the size of an ant. Certain things wouldn't shrink, like birds and peaches. It was a safe haven for the crane wives. A prudent witch would empty her pockets before entering Kshatriyan domains, lest she meet an undignified fate crushed beneath a stonefruit snack. 

The city itself was ruled by the Frog King, a man cursed with a crown, immortality, and an unpleasant amphibious shape. Only the witch who created Kshatriya possessed the power to lift his curse. Over the years, Kshatriya became a centre of commerce, a neutral crossroads between Elera-Velon and St. Lun Xing. Dragonfire was dampened by the ever present fog and bey demons avoided its borders. 

A witch had etched the circuits that maintained the little fishbowl universe. Some said it was originally a prison meant for the Frog King, who must have been a lover who spurned the witch. Still others thought it was a playground or a test of the witch's abilities. Powerful magic is like a fine madeira; the spell fortifies with age. The spell of a weak witch will wash away like sea foam in a few days or weeks. There were still a few fishbowl universes left scattered in the mists between the two cities, but they were becoming harder to find. Faunian legends spoke of a ship with flinderglass engines and sails woven of moonlight and cat's breath that had sailed into such a lost world where the first faun came from.  

The most popular theory of Kshatriya's origin was that it was meant to be a haven for the cranes. The cranes could never stay in one place; the instinct to migrate is carved into their bones. But Kshatriya, with its entirely arbitrary rules, was a place where the cranes could breed and raise their young with no fear of their nests being set ablaze by dragons. 

The Frog King was clever. He built Kshatriya into a dazzling economic gem, a safe harbour and city of vice. He befriended the cranes, who could carry goods and herald news to faraway lands. He welcomed every witch, dragon, faun, nymph, Turned or lion knight into his borders. For the Frog King believed that one day the one with the power to break his curse would come to his domain. He would need a thirteenth-ranked witch, an echelon that existed in legend only. Even Caro Lynn, the most powerful witch in St. Lun Xing, was ranked eleventh. Lei was on the cusp of completing her apprenticeship at the third rank. Those that had attained such a level had long disappeared into legend: Hakkone, Godaestrot, Thelsis, the deities of flame, night and ice. Demetrius, Calanrius, Cleofont, the deities of the people- the soldier, the smith and the thief. Then the unnamed pantheon, the powers left to wither in inglorious anonymity. 

Nevertheless, the apprentice of Caro Lynn commanded some interest. The Frog King would invite her to his palace. If Lei was too weak or stupid, the Frog King would devour her and send the mangled remains back to her teacher. For no matter how many centuries had passed, the Frog King never forgot who cursed him and trapped him in a neverending nightmare prison.

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0.3 mechanical pencil, Photoshop CS5.

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