Vol1Edi1 - Behaevial's Temple

It was a quiet night as the rich car moved along the old dirt road, through the woods and by the shores of the Kakirk Sea. The drive had been a long one and a tiring one for the driver and his boss; Behaevial Jones. Behaevial was in the warm and plush back seat; scanning over the recent sea charts that was sent to him from the Mayor of Frammonks Harbor. “How long till we arrive?” Behaevial asked. “20 minutes sir.” Responded his driver, not taking his eyes off of the road for a second. Behaevial continued to look over his charts. “Excellent. When we arrive, park next to the local inn. I shall rest there for the night. You may head back to the manor after I depart.” The driver gave a small nod to the rear view mirror. “As you wish Master Jones.”

It was not long afterwards before the fancy car quietly pulled up to the local town’s inn; “The Bold Phoenix Alehouse”. Behaevial patiently waited for his driver to open his door. He stepped out and did a quick check of his burly coat, brushing off any tiny deformities from the coats gold buttons or its rich fur hood. He realigned his spectacles and looked about the old Tudor buildings before him. He remembers how the mayor of Frammonks Harbor had recently paid the citizens to clean off the mold and the worn marks from the buildings. Topped with the towns newly made fountain square, it make the town look alive again under the bright night sky. While only a few of the buildings were lit, none was more lit up than the Alehouse before them. The occasional loud roar of a laugh, or the shatter of glass could not be ignored through the inns walls and windows. While its sign by the door swung lazily in the wind; almost symbolically contrasting the activity and energy within the old inn.

Behaevial took a small sigh. “Driver. I should not expect to be back for at least two weeks while I preform the job at hand. You may relax once you arrive at the manor. All I ask is that the manor be in good condition when I return.” The driver gave a small but professional smile. “Thank you sir.” He began to head back to the car, but Behaevial stopped him with his comment. “Oh and driver. Please no wild parties while I am away. It was embarrassing the first time around, we need not to repeat that.” The driver stammered. “Y-yes sir.” He then got into the car, started the engine, and drove away. Leaving Behaevial alone outside of the inn.

Behaevial composed himself outside of the inn’s door, and with one final reassuring breath, opened the old wooden door. The noises from earlier left nothing to the imagination. Men, most likely older sailors of the town, joked and made themselves merry. The waitress of the inn was rushing back and forth; from the full tables to the kitchen and back again. The bartender had just finished passing out six large glasses of the Alehouse’s finest, when he noticed his new customer. “Please! Have a seat! I’ll get to you in a second.” Behaevial nodded with a smile, and sat at the bar with the others. The bartender served out some more drinks, and then took a quick refreshing sigh as he came over to Behaevial. “So, what’ll it be?” Behaevial made himself look polite, folding his hands in together like a school boy at his desk. “A room. Do you have any available for two weeks?” The bartender gave a relieved smile. “Yea, I have one cleared for a Mr. Jones, from what the mayor says. Reserved just for you.” Unaware to Behaevial, some sailors laid some quizzical eyes on his back and the back of his head as he politely responded. “Thank you. Oh, and can I also have a shot? Anything will do at this point. I am too tired for the details.” The bartender smiled. “Sure! I’ll hand you a local favorite.” Behaevial smiled with a nod as the bartender left real quick to fill his order.

Behaevial barely had time to take another sigh before he got a light tap on the shoulder. “Sc’use me. You that mayors hired man right?” Behaevial turned around to see a burly man, just as much so as his coat. Behaevial’s analytical mind kicked in as he quickly examined him. Broad shoulders, a cut below the chin. A large and bulky figure, but no hint of fat or laziness. Lastly, a few stains on his large plain T-shirt; coffee and beer, from Behaevial’s guess. Finally, Behaevial spoke. “Yes. I am the Mayor’s oceanographer, not ‘his man’.” The man gave a quick leer. “I don’t care what fancy title you have, I just want to say here and now that when you find the treasure; its mine. Not yours. Mine. Got it?” Behaevial gave a confused look, borderline on chucking. “Treasure? Whatever are you talking about sir?” The man seemed to be getting more fired up with each passing second. “It’s Aedus to you wise guy. Aedus Burk. Now don’t play dumb with me. We both know about the treasure of the underwater temple.” Now by this point Behaevial had lost the fight to keep in a laugh. “Forgive me Aedus, but I have never heard of such a pointless children’s story.” Likewise, Aedus had lost the fight to retain his distrust for this posh man. “O? Then how come you’re here then? To enjoy the fine beer?” Behaevial’s smile faded. “I already told you. I am here to serve under the Mayor of Frammonks Harbor to study the ocean wildlife and to help the government of this town plan its expansion of its port.” Aedus scoffed. “A lot a nice fluff there from you. ‘To build a harbor.’ Ya right. I bet he’s sent you out to look around ‘Fog Bluff’.” Behaevial’s curiosity grew as much as his skepticism. “Yes. But I doubt it is to-“Aedus smiled like he had won a hand of poker. “To make a port right? Mayors just looking to stuff his fat pockets, as usual. That… or you are.”

Behaevial stood up from his stool, and looked Aedus right in the eyes and began to shout. “For the final time there is NO underwater temple!” He began to walk into Aedus, forcing Aedus to walk backwards and away from Behaevial. “Look, my brother is a studied man of theology! Never once has he found anything about ‘underwater temples’! In fact, I don’t believe any such thing would even exist!” Aedus was now backed against the wall, and Behaevial was still there, still looking right at him. “AND I will wager my whole reputation as an oceanographer on it!”

There was a short pause in the inn, as everyone was now watching this unfold; even the waitress has paused midway from the kitchen with six customers worth of food on her hands. Finally Aedus broke the silence. “And the treasure?” Behaevial shouted. “AND THE DAMNED TREASURE!” Aedus only smiled a little. “Good. We leave tomorrow.” He turned to one of the men at the table he was sitting at earlier. “Hey Jim! Is the ‘Ruff-N-It’ ready to go?” The man he asked nodded with a smile. Aedus turned back to Behaevial, who was still trying to figure out what he meant by tomorrow. “Then it’s settled. Tomorrow we sail for Fog Bluff. And, you got yourself a crew ‘Captain’.” Behaevial snorted back. “That would be Captain Jones to you. Behaevial Jones.” Aedus smirked. “Humph, whatever you say.” He began to walk for the tavern door. “So long as that treasures mine.” And with that, Aedus left the tavern.

Shortly afterward the inn returned to its usual noise and merry-making, while Behaevial only stood still, looking with fire at the inn’s door. The bartender came out with a large drink. “Here you go Behaevial!” Behaevial shook his head a little, walked over to the counter, and sat down at where he was before. The bartender pushed the glass to him. “Don’t mind him too much. The lads always been a fiery person with a foot in his mouth half the time. He’s been talking about the treasure many times before. So yea, don’t worry about it.” Behaevial took a good chunk out of the filled glass. “Is the room ready?” The bartender handed Behaevial the keys to the second story guest room. “Here it is. Try not to cause too much of a mess if you can help it. Oh and don’t worry about the drink. It’s on me.” Behaevial gave a weary smile. “Thank you.” And with that; Behaevial finished his drink, headed up to the room, and settled in for the night. His mind still buzzed around the ludicrous things that Aedus had said, and he could not stop thinking about it until he fell asleep half an hour later.

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The following day greeted the town with a shy sun. It seemed to hide behind the clouds that has gathered over the night as Behaevial packed up his instruments and maps for his job. To him this was just a job from the mayor and nothing more. He left the tavern in a small huff, and walked towards the towns harbor. Along the harbor was an array of different kinds of boats. Old sailboats mixed in with some small motor boats. Some larger ships rested at the farther end of the docks; the tall masts of the old ships couldn’t be hidden by the big metal bulks of ships that dotted the area. Behaevial walked along the pier and found Aedus and some men loading up an old and small sailboat. The name, “Ruff-N-It”, was so worn out on the back of the ship that were it not for his prior knowledge of the boat, Behaevial would never had known the boats name. “This is our ‘ship’?” Behaevial asked quizzically. Aedus turned around with a smug grin. “Her name is ‘Ruff-N-It’, and she’s a fine ship.” Behaevial could barely keep back his distaste. “’Fine ship?’ She looks like she will take on water as soon as we climb aboard!” The grin on Aedus only grew. “Look, she’s a fine vessel. A fine cutter with a well-rigged square topmast. Her sails are still fine and she can make good time. You just wait and see.” Behaevial loaded up his gear onto the ship. “Emphasis on ‘wait’, I’m sure.” The crew then finished loading up their stuff, and soon afterward shoved off from the docks at full sail.

It would be hours before they would reach Fog Bluff, a fact that Behaevial kept hammering in to Aedus along the way. Almost as frequently as Aedus had been making fun of ‘captain’ Behaevial and his instruments for collecting ocean data. It was late at night when the crew reached Fog Bluff, and thankfully the sky had cleared and the sea had calmed down by the time they arrived. Behaevial checked his instruments. “Yes, just as I thought. Nothing out of the ordinary here.” He showed his collected data to Aedus. “See that line there? Should look like a heartbeat if there was something there, but it’s as flat as a board. Like I said. Nothing here.” Aedus grumbled. “Ah it’s probably busted. Besides we haven’t seen the deeper parts of Fog Bluff yet.” Behaevial responded dryly. “Indeed.”

An hour more passed and still only silence could be heard from the machines. Aedus was looking into the waters with a baited breath, while Behaevial was feeling smug in his victory. “Aedus. I don’t think there is anything here.” Aedus didn’t let his eyes leave the water for a second. “I know it’s here. I swear it has to be here!” Behaevial only sighed. “Look, the only things we’ve proven here is that we should not trust in folk lore and that this area is no good for a harbor. The water is too deep for anything to be supported. Let’s just turn around and head-“. Aedus shouted. “Over there! What’s that?” Some of the crew, including Behaevial, looked over the port side of the ship. A random wreath of daisies floated in the waters. The crew began to mumble to themselves as Behaevial only shook his head. “We’ve worked ourselves to hard. We’re losing our heads. Let’s head back and rest.” Aedus was getting excited. “No, we could be onto something! There, to the bow!” Everyone looked towards the bow in awe. Now there was a circle of them. A perfect circle of wreathed daisies.

Aedus could not take it anymore. “At last! COME TO ME TREASURE!” Behaevial shouted. “Aedus no!” But it was too late, Aedus has already jumped overboard and began to swim towards the circle. Behaevial turned back to the crew. “Raise the sails and lower the anchor!” The crew began to follow his orders as Behaevial looked back out towards Aedus. “Aedus you idiot! Get back over here!” Aedus could be seen smiling all the way from the boat, as he entered the circle. “AT LAST!” Behaevial was now starting to lose his temper. “DAMN IT AEDUS! GET BACK—“He snapped back to his senses and heard a buzzing from one of his machines. The machine that read the ocean depths was going haywire. The line used to mark the paper was all over the place, like 20 heart beats were happening all at once on the paper. Behaevial’s eyes widened, and he rushed to the very edge of the bow. “Aedus get back here! It’s not safe! There’s something in the wa—! “He was cut off mid-sentence by the sight of Aedus disappearing below the waters, feet first. “…ter.” Behaevial finished his sentence.

Behaevial turned to the crew in a hurry, quickly striping himself of his bulky coat and instrument headset. “Wait here! If I do not return in half an hour then leave without me and tell the people of Frammonks what happened.” One of the crew worried. “But sir! What if you don’t come back?” Behaevial only brushed off the worry like it was dust. “I will make it back, just follow my orders.” The crew nodded as Behaevial dived into the water. He swam towards the circle and dived underwater.

It was strangely clear underwater as Behaevial swam around the water. He could not see Aedus anywhere within the clear waters around him. In fact, he could not see anything at all except for the endless blue expanse. Then a shape appeared before him, a bright light. Behaevial only had enough time to see it before something had knocked him on the head. He slowly turned around to see a large shadow of a being come down onto him. And then he blacked out, and the world went black.