Ecco felt like his heart had leapt into his mouth. The monster in front of him which was singing in some alien tongue, completely foreign and unfamiliar, was at least the size of an adult blue whale. The beast's head was long and slender, with tusk-like teeth jutting out even when it had its mouth closed. It was so long in size that it blocked off the way it had swam from and Ecco could judge from the size of its flippers that it was far from being a slow swimmer. Escape seemed like a very unlikely option in these circumstances, he inwardly steeled himself to become the next victim of the silent death. Delphineus wanted to spare me the trials of calfhood so that I could meet him courtesy of the jaws of something a thousand times worse. This would not pain me so if not for Sarastro, she will have no choice but to……Suddenly hit with an idea, Ecco was brought out of his negative and desolate thoughts. Quickly, he scanned around the area to the left of him and the right with his sonar. The beach was only a short swim away if he could make it to the left, while Sarastro was floating in terror to his right. A sense of hope crept through him, there was a chance of escape from this horrible situation if he acted quickly before the leviathan in front of him did.
"Sarastro, come here!" he called out loudly but calmly. Sarastro swam over to Ecco's side, never taking her eyes off the monster.
"Can you possibly distract whatever that thing is for a few seconds?" Ecco asked calmly, "I may have a way for us to get away with our lives and our bodies intact." Sarastro turned her head so fast from the monster to look at Ecco that the bottlenose was amazed that she did not strain a muscle or two in her neck.
"Distract? You want me to distract that?" she exclaimed in disbelief, "How do you suggest I do that, exactly?" Ecco surfaced for a quick breath. It had not gone unnoticed to him how the monster was taking a long time to strike. It seemed to be toying with both he and Sarastro, as an orca might chase a bottlenose and take small nibbles out of it for a time before finally tearing it to shreds.
"You seem to understand whatever tongue that thing sings in," he hummed lowly in a whispering manner, "ask it for its name, beg for your life. Do something for me to get ready to save our lives!" Swallowing deeply, Sarastro swam closer to the long-headed monster. The steely aqua eyes shone with merriment as the beast surveyed the Irrawady with amusement.
"Mighty hunter, supreme killer of the seas," her song was slightly shaky, but was in the same unknown dialect which Ecco was unfamiliar to, "I beseech you, please do not slay myself or my smaller friend. May I also have the great honour of knowing the name of my killer?" The monster roared in a cold laugh before responding to Sarastro's song.
"You are truly foolish to ask such a thing, marked one," she sang back, "once I have finished with you and the thin one, no creature shall be able to find a trace of your bodies. As for my name, I am known as Ligalotean." She began to swim slowly in a circle, her cold eyes never leaving Sarastro but her attention had waned entirely from Ecco. The male was busy feasting himself upon the small school of fish which was swimming closer to the beach. Once he had eaten his fill and felt his muscles surge with energy, Ecco turned and rammed the mysterious monster on its side where he saw it had a very large set of gill slits. Unprepared for this attack and the pain which came from the hard hitting dolphin, Ligalotean threw her head back and roared loudly in anger before rounding on Ecco. The dolphin sped off as soon as he saw the beast charge. He once more slid himself straight up onto the sandy beach, beaching on purpose. Ligalotean followed in her rage and found herself unintentionally stranded on a shallow sandbank which Ecco had overcome with the greatest of ease. Unable to support her enormous bulk, she was unable to wriggle herself back into the deeper water where she had come from. Ecco frantically wriggled and writhed a little over to a portion of beach where he could get back into the sea. Before he was able to get into the water enough to swim away to safety, Ecco was caught on the side by one of Ligalotean's tusk-like teeth. Gasping with pain, he found himself being dragged into the water by Sarastro, who had one of his pectoral fins in her mouth.
"Come on….." he crooned with pain, "that thing won't……stay beached forever……let's get to safety." With pained motions, Ecco began swimming off alongside Sarastro as the monster thrashed and roared with rage on the beach behind them. The singers travelled for a number of days, not really paying attention to how many times the sun and the moon passed over their heads. They were not really swimming anywhere in particular, just trying to make sense of the thing which had pursued them so relentlessly and was killing any creature which took its fancy in the sea. For three turns of the sun and moon alternating, neither Ecco nor Sarastro discussed what they had faced back in their beautiful sun-warmed sea where the spotted dolphins played and frolicked. As they swam, the deep wound on Ecco's side stopped bleeding and it was a sign of how every creature in the ocean was terrified with this new threat that they were not tailed by a single shark interested in Ecco's blood trail. They let their minds get rest as they swam, not pausing even for a meal until they reached a part of sea where it curved inwards to between two stretches of land. The trees here, Ecco noticed, where of a very different variety to those which had lined the beach where he had swam from. The land was also different, being covered in a strange green substance as opposed to golden scratchy sand. In this inlet, the dolphins finally stopped their relentless journey as their bodies were crying out desperately for food and rest. The fish here were much larger than those in the sea around the golden beach, and also much more challenging to catch. Ecco was having a difficult time in the hunt, Sarastro only faired a little better as she showed Ecco how fast she could move with her large flexible flippers to aid her. Soon, though, they were eating fish happily and rejoicing as their stomachs happily absorbed the sustenance being put into them.
"Now, can you tell me about that thing we escaped?" Ecco sang happily as his stomach bulged slightly, "What was its name and how do you know what song it sings in?" Sarastro took a shaky breath before returning to Ecco's side.
"The monster said it is called Ligalotean," she lulled in her beautiful song, "it told me its name easily enough after saying it would see that no trace of our bodies would drift down to the seabed. The voice suggested to me that the beast is a female. I knew her song only because I was taught the ancient song she sings in by my pod during calfhood. There are many legends among our kind about that song, some claim it is the song of Delphineus himself, others say it is that which the legendary Atlanteans sang alongside the first whales to swim the seas. I do know that not every singer of the sea knows the ancient song, not every singer is capable of singing in that dialect. I do not know the truth behind the song or why Ligalotean only knows to communicate in that tongue alone. I am glad you are with me, though, I doubt I could have faced that thing alone." Ecco gently rubbed his pectoral fin against Sarastro's, flattered by her trust in him. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a large black shape swam from the back of the inlet where the dolphins were resting. As it loomed closer, the shape revealed itself to be an orca. The relative small size coupled with the placid look in its eyes immediately relaxed both dolphins; this was a resident which fed exclusively upon fish. The small curved dorsal fin showed the orca to be female and she released a low peaceful song.
"Bottlenose and swollen-melon," she sang gently, "what brings such an unusual couple of podmates to these waters?" Ecco swam slowly to the orca. Her abdomen was rounded and swollen, giving the indication she was with calf and far into her pregnancy. She was a very young orca from what Ecco could tell, due to her lack of scars and her general excellent body condition.
"We are fleeing a terrible silent killer known as Ligalotean," he replied politely, "we are seeking help, for this horrible beast is destroying the harmony all singers and indeed all swimmers of the sea have enjoyed for so long. Do you, the mighty orcas, know anything about the chasm-mouthed hunter that lurks?" The female orca surfaced for a breath, hindered by her large bulk, before responding to the enquiring dolphin.
"I do not know of this killer, other than what songs have reached me and my pod here," her song was firm and never lost its polite tone, "in Johnstone Straight, we lead a happily secluded life away from the rest of the sea. My only suggestion to you and your swollen-melon friend would be to seek out the Big Blue. He is the wisest of the blue whales and is said to be the oldest singer in the sea. If any singer knows of this silent killer, he surely will." Ecco squeaked and clicked with joy at having something to go on other than the rumours which different singers were sending everywhere.
"I thank you, mistress of the straight," he replied respectfully, dipping his head as far as he could, "may I know your name before my friend and I resume our journey? Could you also tell us where we could go to find the Big Blue?" The orca swam with Ecco and Sarastro to the open mouth of the inlet. She stopped there with them, regarding them both with her beautifully deep brown eyes.
"Swim north to find the Big Blue, he goes there to rest beneath the pack ice," she sang gently, "I am called Trankrena and feel free to stop in the straight to rest and feed if you both ever feel the need again." With these happy songs, Ecco and Sarastro bid farewell to the pregnant orca and set off again on their journey. For the far north where it grew so cold the water itself froze over on its surface.