Chapter 1
Dark colors painted the evening sky during the late afternoon hours. The clouds converging to a blackened grey with the rise of ozone in the air, a promise of tempestuous weather. Thomas Knight stood atop his balcony overlooking the ocean with a glass of champagne in hand, watching the waves crashing against the rocks with a puzzled frown.
“Master Knight, shall I inform all the guests on the beach to move the party indoors? I fear the weather is becoming too unstable to continue the celebrations outside..”
He scoffed at “celebrations.” Is that what this was? All these people here to supposedly welcome him back, though they must have forgotten to do the actual welcoming in the midst of indulging themselves with his food and alcohol. Thomas turned to his assistant with a blank stare, “Ah yes… it’s getting quite nasty, isn’t it? Just have them escorted off the property, I no longer feel inclined to be a benevolent host.” He answered before downing the remaining champagne.
Facing the ocean once more he stared at the now obsidian sky shrouded in turbulent clouds as a large roll of thunder crackled through the air, shaking the windows and sending vibrations down his spine. Deeming it too dangerous to remain on the balcony he made to return to his room when he saw something out the corner of his eye.
A large wave headed towards the shoreline at a remarkable speed, but what was most…peculiar was what looked like two shadows swirling around the center. The wave came up high before crashing down onto the rocks below with a resounding boom. He squinted his eyes to try and clear his vision and have a closer look when lightning struck down twenty feet from where he stood, stopping any further movements.
Harold came bustling back to the balcony in a panic, “Master Knight! Reports have come in of a category five hurricane coming in from the sea sir! I must insist you come inside whilst we barricade the windows!” He tried to speak over the howling winds.
“Did you see that Harold? I saw something out there..” Thomas said eyes still transfixed where the waves had smashed into the rocks for any signs of movement.
“May have been an animal sir, it’s not unusual for dolphins or even whales to get caught up in the currents during a storm of this magnitude.”
“No, no it wasn’t… it looked like a..” His voice trailed off as he thought of what he was about to say.
What was he going to say, the shadow looked almost..-no- he stopped his thought in its tracks. He’d had too much champagne is all and was starting to hallucinate...He looked over to Harold staring at him pleadingly. “Fine, have all the staff board up the windows and take shelter in the bunker, I’ll be there shortly,” he conceded as he gestured with his hand towards the hallways.
Relief flooded in his eyes, “yes sir right away sir!” Harold replied before bounding back down the corridor.
Thomas looked towards the now swirling ocean as it violently folded in on itself and once more to the rocks. Cursing his foolish behavior he finally turned from the balcony and shut the large double doors with a bang.
