So...its been a while. I am so sorry for how long it took to publish this chapter, it just did not want to come together. This chapter was just so difficult and then I was just distracted by a trip that I went on to celebrate the New Year, where I met some family members that I have not seen since I was about 6 years old and that I have a baby niece now. Then there is the whole Trump thing that is just, unbelievable and just...ugh.
So I now have finally been able to put this chapter together though the last half is not that good, I actually really dislike it but I cant think of a way to fix it, so hope y'all enjoy it.
On with the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything in relation to Dreamworks Rise of The Guardians or Disney's Atlantis franchise.
P.S. Warning of a night terror.
Aster awoke with a gasp and a pounding heart. He quickly looked to his side and saw that Jack was still fast asleep and curled up on his side. Aster quietly got out of bed and once he was dressed he headed downstairs to see what time it was and whether anyone else was awake. As Aster opened the door, something swooped into the room making him duck in shock. He quickly turned to look at the figure and saw that it was Baby Tooth settling down next to Jack on the dresser. She gave out a soft caw and tucked her head into her wing, falling fast asleep. Aster guessed that she was waiting for the door to open so that she could get in. He chuckled and quietly closed the door, but what he didn't notice was a small shadowy figure slither under the door crack and slither up to Jack on the bed.
Aster quickly went downstairs stiffing a yawn with his hand. Once we was downstairs he looked to the side of the fireplace to see what time it was and saw that it was 7:00 in the morning. He looked around and saw that no one else was up yet, so he sat down at one of the table still trying to wake up fully. Just as he was stretching, he heard a noise from the kitchen. With a grunt, he got up and moved behind the bar to see what the noise was. He opened the door and saw that the kitchen was lit up by large window and a few gas lamps. At the stove was Inger rocking a bundle within her arms. When she heard the door open she turned in surprise, dropping a pot that she was washing. Aster rushed over and picked it up.
"Sorry if I startled you Ma'am. I was just investigating a noise I heard and didn't think anyone else was up." Aster said as he placed the pot back in the sink.
"Its alright, I was just washing the dishes and my little one was fussy this morning." She told him with a thin smile and rasp, though her eyes were red and there were a few wet streaks on her cheeks, it was apparent that she had been crying.
"I realize that it may be none of my business, but I can tell that you have been crying and I just wanted to know if there was anything that I could do?" He asked starting to help wash some of the remaining dishes. Inger looked at him in surprise before a few teardrops fell down her cheeks.
"I don't believe that you could help a broken heart Sir. I told you that I lost my husband the night that Volgud became well, and after his death was when I discovered that I was with child. My husband never met his child or even knew that he had a child. We had been trying for years to have a child and when we succeeded, he wasn't around because of that man. I have had to raise this child alone, my child will never know their father, and every time I see their face all I see is my husband staring back at me. How can I raise them without a father?" She told him clutching her child to her as more tears escaped her eyes. Aster gave her a sympathetic look and helped her onto a stool.
"I know that nothing I say can ever console you about the lost of your husband but there are many children that are raised without either of their parents and they turn out fine. I was raised by my grandfather, and he was gone a lot of the time. Jack was raised primarily by other people like Tooth because his father was busy with his work but he spent time with him when he could. Your child will be fine because they have you to care for them. And if you really want to help them then you need to help us, please Inger. Help us. Help your child have a better life." Aster implored her holding one of her hands. She hesitated looking at her child and then back at Aster before she gave out a soft sigh and stroked her child's hair.
"Last night your friends asked me many questions and I did not answer. But I was wrong to do that to you, I will give you whatever information I have." Inger replied.
Aster gave out a relieved sigh, " Thank you Inger. I promise that we will do, everything we can to help you and your town." Aster told her.
"The Kraken destroys any boat that comes near the village and as you may have seen our fishing business is gone, so no supplies ever reach us but Volgud somehow is always able to bring in supplies. I've seen him and a few of the men on the beach a lot of times, perhaps that's how he's bring in supplies somehow. That's really all I know, Sir." She told him. Aster smiled and thanked her.
"We will investigate how Volgud is getting the supplies, and we may even learn where his base of operations and perhaps, a way to stop the Kraken, which should release some of Volgud's hold on the village." He told her squeezing her hand.
"Thank you, I hope that you and your friends will be successful." She thanked him.
"Your welcome and I hope we succeed as well. Why don't you take care of the little ankle-biter and I get the tea ready for the others." Aster told her helping her up. She tried to protest but her baby began to cry causing her to consent and so she left to her bedroom leaving Aster alone.
Once she was gone, he began to get the tea for the others ready as well as setting out some pastries he found in the bread box. Once that was done, he moved to set everything up in the main room. As he passed into the main room, he saw that most of the group was awake or trying to wake up.
"Morning mates. Have a good rest?" Aster chuckled as he set out the teas, which instantly got grabbed.
"Yeah, but we didn't get anywhere with Inger." Tiana murmured taking a large sip of tea.
"That's alright. I was able to talk to her earlier and she told me everything that she knew. So she's apples." Aster told her with a smirk as they looked at him with shock.
"We spent over an hour questioning her. And in 5 minutes she told your what you wanted to know?" Porc grumbled grabbing a pastry.
"Yeah. Guess I was more charming." Aster smirked.
"Where are Tooth and Jack?" Abdima asked after Aster and Porc traded a few insults.
"Jack was still asleep after I woke up, so he's probably still in bed." Aster answered finishing his tea.
"Tooth was meditating so she should be down soon." Tiana told them through a mouthful of pastry.
"Very ladylike Tiana." Abdima told her with a chuckle. They all laughed as Tiana stuck her tongue out at Abdima. As their laughs died down they heard footsteps on the stairs. They looked up and saw that Tooth was walking down but as she reached the last step they suddenly heard a scream. Aster was on his feet with seconds, and racing up the stairs. He knew that scream anywhere, it was Jack's. Tooth and Aster rushed to the room but found that they couldn't get the door opened.
"Jack! Jack! Please answer me!" Aster cried out banging on the door as Tooth cursed in several languages. Aster told Tooth to move back as he began to slam his shoulder against the door until it was opened.
"Jack!"
After Aster had left Jack had began to squirm, he always moved around when Aster wasn't sleeping next to him, but he soon settled down and laid on his back. As he slept, the dark slithering shadow that had slipped into the room, crawled up onto the bed and slid over Jack's face causing him to give out a gasp and cough. Allowing the shadow to slip into Jack's mouth. Jack coughed once more before he moved to his side to breathe easier and slip into unconsciousness deeper.
The shadow that had slid into Jack's mouth began to move through his bloodstream and reach his brain where it began to wreck havoc. Jack began to breathe a harder and faster and his heart began to beat faster to adjust to the invading creature. It even began to affect his dream as the creature invaded his subconscious.
Jack was standing in some dark cavern and somewhere in the back of his mind, he recognized the area, though he couldn't quite place where. He walked around for a bit, confused to why he would dream about this. He wondered if perhaps the Gods were trying to give him a message but before he could give it more thought, he heard a noise. He spun around to where he thought he heard the noise but he couldn't see anything. He heard the noise again but this time it was to the side. Yet he couldn't see anything and the noise sounded almost like Sandy's sand but instead of invoking good feelings, all he felt was dread. Jack tried to move back but all there was was darkness and a single light source.
"Whose there?!" Jack commanded trying to hide how disturbed he was. At first there was no reply until the sound of the sand appeared next to his ear.
"I'm disappointed you've forgotten me your highness. So disappointed." They whispered and as Jack spun to see who was speaking they vanished with a cruel laugh.
"What are you taking about? I don't know who you are!" Jack stated getting into a fighting stance.
"Oh, but you will." They stated before everything went dark and something slammed into Jack, knocking him onto his back and slamming his head against the ground. He gave out a groan and tried to get up but suddenly he felt a great stinging pain hit one of his hands. He cried out and reached his other hand to see what caused the pain and what he felt was a thick spike through his palm. Before he could process what he felt, something else slammed into his other palm. He cried out once more and with his fingertips, he felt another spike embedded into his palm. Jack tried to pull his hand free but all that did was drive the spike deeper as well as cause more pain. Jack started to tear up from the pain and he began to breathe heavily but then two more objects slammed into his ankles making him scream out in pain. He figured that two more spikes where just driven into him.
"Stop! Let me go!" He screamed the pain starting to make his head dizzy and tears stream down his face.
"I don't believe I will. See, I finally have you. I will not let you go. After all you surfaced, just to come to me." The being told him, he suddenly felt a weight on his waist, then a horrible pain pierce his chest. Jack coughed and felt something liquid leak out of his mouth. He wondered what it was until he tasted the copper. 'Its blood.' He thought.
"You will not escape." They whispered. All Jack could feel was fear and despair. He couldn't move and he was bleeding out. He already felt like passing out, so with the last of his strength, he screamed.
"ASTER!"
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Aster rushed to the bed where he saw Jack was struggling, as if he was being held down. Then he started to choke which prompted Aster to move and try to wake him.
"Come on love. Wake up, please." Aster begged cradling Jacks face. Jack woke up with a gasp and moved in a panic still coughing and choking. Aster moved him to his side and patted his back, hoping it would help him breathe. After a few more seconds, his coughing and choking stopped and he gave up one last gag where something black fell out of his mouth, though no one saw it. Aster cradled Jack in his arms helping him to calm down and get his breathing under control.
"Aster?" Jack rasped opening his eyes to squint at him. Then his eyes widened and he jumped on Aster, almost making him fall off the bed.
"Ah Jackie!" Aster cried out once he was stable. That's when he noticed that Jack was crying and whispering something against his skin in Atlantean. Aster looked over his head to look at Tooth who was coming out of the bathroom with a bowl of water and a towel. She looked shocked at Jack's behavior and quickly placed the bowl and towel down before rushing to rub Jack's back and whispering some soothing words. After a few words of comfort, Jack finally pulled back from Aster's neck and looked him in the eye, showing the tears that had stained his face and his terrified eyes.
"Jackie, your okay. Your safe." Aster assured him disturbed by how terrified Jack was.
"Aster..." He started before more tears flowed out of his eyes. Aster and Tooth exchanged looks, they had never seen Jack this upset before.
"Sweet Tooth. Please talk to us. Maybe we can help." Tooth said still rubbing Jack's back.
"Please Jackie. It may help if you talk about it." Aster told him. Jack looked at them both before he took a deep breathe and told them about the dream and how real it felt and how much pain he was in. Aster and Tooth were shocked by what they were told. They had never heard of a dream like that and they didn't know how to interpret it.
"Jack I cant say anything to make you feel better but it wasn't real, you weren't hurt. Your safe and I will never let that happen to you." Aster told him stroking his cheek with his thumb. Jack shuddered and took a deep breathe.
"It felt so real, Aster. I have never felt that much pain or felt that afraid. Maybe that Gods were warning me." Jack told him gripping his other hand.
"Sweet Tooth. The Gods would never be that cruel. It may have been something else, something that was against the gods, and so we will be prepared. For whatever the dream could mean." Tooth told him rubbing his shoulder.
"Okay Tooth, your right. The Gods wouldn't do this." Jack agreed calming down some more.
"Come on love, how about you lie down and rest-" He started before Jack suddenly became agitated and grabbed him.
"No! I cant go back to sleep. I cant Aster! Please don't make me!" He cried out shaking with fear. The dream had obviously disturbed him more than they thought.
"Okay, okay Jackie. I wont make you go to sleep. How about we go downstairs for some tea and breakfast? Would that be better?" He asked shocked by how Jack reacted. Jack nodded and agreed.
"I'll meet you downstairs, I just need to wash my face." Jack told them giving a small smile but his clenched fist said he wasn't completely fine.
"Sure Sweet Tooth we'll go get a cup for you ready." Tooth told him placing a kiss on his forehead before signaling Aster to follow her with a nod toward the door.
"Yeah, I'll see if we have any fruit or berries, I know they're your favorite." Aster agreed placing a kiss on his cheek. "I love you." He whispered before he stood up.
"Love you too, roo." Jack softly told him. Once they left the room Jack stood up and walked to the bathroom with a wince. He looked into the mirror hanging above the sink and could just faintly see where the stake had been driven into his chest, it was a light purple and it was getting darker as Jack stared at it. He looked down at his palms and saw that there was deep purple bruising in the center of them, the same place the spikes were. He sat down and looked at his ankles, the same markings.
"What is happening?" He whispered into the room. He didn't want Aster or Tooth to worry, so he shakily grabbed his crystal and pulled it over his head. He blew out onto the crystal and he was surprised by how weak the light was. So he concentrated harder and brought the image of Aster into his head, once the image was in the forefront of his mind, the crystal grew brighter and all feeling of exhaustion suddenly vanished. He placed the crystal against his ankles and let the tendrils of frost thickly follow them, he then did the same to his chest and palms. As the ice cold frost glowed and slowly healed the bruises, he felt better, happier than he did a few minutes ago.
"How odd." Jack muttered but chose not to dwell on it in case those feelings came back. Once he had placed his shirt back on and washed his face to get rid of the tear stains, he walked out of the room and walked down the stairs hearing talking.
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Aster and Tooth left the room and met up at the landing, still trying to process what had happened.
"That couldn't have been a regular nightmare Tooth. It was like it was trying to kill him." Aster told her going down the stairs.
"I agree. If the Gods were sending a message it would be told through one of their symbols, not through some black creature that would harm him. Even some of the crueler Gods wouldn't do that. They're more subtle This is something else and I don't like it." Tooth concurred with a deep sigh as she followed him downstairs with Baby Tooth on her shoulder, whose feathers were ruffled from her thrashing in Jack's room from anxiety. As soon as Aster and Tooth rejoined the others, they were bombarded by questions.
"Hows Snowflake?"
"Why did he scream?"
"Is there anything we can do?"
"Alright, calm down. We'll tell ya what happened." Aster told them gesturing for them all to have a seat. He then began to retell what Jack had told them and by the end everyone was shocked.
"It sounds like it was a night terror. A very serious one." Abdima commented.
"Night terror? What is that exactly? I've never heard of it." Aster asked curious.
"A Night terror is where during your sleep cycle, you suddenly feel great terror or dread. This sounds similar to what Jack experienced but I cant be sure." Abdima explained.
"It does sound like what Jack had, but how did you know about it?" Aster asked.
"North told me about them because I suffered from something similar and he thought it was night terrors." Abdima stated shortly, obviously not wanting to say anymore on the subject. Aster nodded and said no more. That's when Jack came downstairs and Tooth moved to lead him into a seat next to Aster.
"How you feeling Jack?" Tiana asked once he was seated.
"Better thank you. So do we know what we're going to do about Volgud and the creature?" Jack answered picking up the cup of tea Tooth placed in front of him.
"You sure your up for it snowflake? I don't want your to stress yourself out and get another nightmare." Aster asked in Atlantean so that Jack wouldn't be embarrassed.
"I'm fine Aster. I actually feel a lot better. I just want to help this village." Jack answered with a smile. Aster took a moment to look into Jack's eyes and saw that he was telling the truth but he also saw that he still looked betrayed and he knew that they still had to talk about Aster keeping his new found abilities to himself. He promised himself that he would talk everything out with Jack once they had finished the mission.
"Okay love," Aster replied before continuing, "Inger told me that the Kraken destroys any boats that come near the village and so they no longer get supplies from the boats or are able to continue their fishing business because of the Kraken as we saw earlier. So it would seem that Volgud brings in supplies somehow and that's probably how he is able control the townspeople. They cant fight back if he controls their food supplies."
"So all we need is to figure out how Volgud is bringing supplies in?" Porc asked crossing his arms.
"Exactly. And Inger said that on the days of delivery he and a few of the towns men gather on the beach. So I say, after breakfast that we head down to the beach and see if maybe we can find something that can show how Volgud is bringing in supplies without the use of a boat or where the other villagers cant see like a cave or something." Aster answered with a smile.
"Alright, well if we are going to face a Kraken, a man that made a deal with the devil, and some possible brainwashed villagers, we should eat and get our strengths up." Tiana exclaimed getting up to help Inger who was bringing in some oatmeal for the group. Everyone agreed and dug into their breakfast ready to get started.
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Once they had finished breakfast and Jack and Tooth had gotten their weapons strapped on, they headed off to the beach to try and find Volgud's possible lair. Everyone spread out to search the area but after half an hour of searching they all regrouped, except for one.
"Anyone find anything?" Aster asked.
"No, I didn't find any evidence of a ship arriving on the shore." Tiana answered sitting down on a nearby boulder.
"I volunteered to use some explosives to search for some hidden cave, but was shut down." Abdima added patting one of his pockets.
"I strongly advised against that as it would bring too much attention and possibly bring about harm to himself. How is it that you have explosives with you anyway?" Tooth stated turning to stare at Abdima with a raised eyebrow.
"I always have an explosive on me. Never know when I would need one." He replied patting his pocket.
"Don't you worry that it could go off?" Jack asked moving further away from Abdima.
"They're mostly stable." Abdima answered moving away to see what Porc was doing. Tiana gave them a shrug and followed, already use to Abdima having explosives with him at all times.
"Mostly?" Aster commented.
"Suppose the unstable ones are what resulted in his scars." Tooth stated moving to follow Abdima and Tiana, leaving Aster and Jack alone.
"Jackie, can we talk for a moment?" Aster asked moving Jack to sit down on one of the boulders near them.
"Aster, I really don't feel like talking about this. Can we talk later?" Jack replied running a hand through his hair, not looking at Aster.
"No Jackie, I'm sorry but we cant keep pushing this off. It'll just keep festering until we explode and start screaming at each other. And I don't want that to happen. Now I know that I should have told you the second I had discovered these abilities, and I was telling the truth when I said that I was scared of my ability but I wasn't truthful about what it was that scared me about the ability." Aster stated kneeling down in front of him so that they were eye to eye.
"What do you mean Aster?" Jack asked confused.
"When I noticed that I could make tunnels and grow things I realized that I could create things and that meant that I could make life. I felt powerful, I had to ability to make life, something no one else could do. I was able to feel the life in everything, as if the Earth was talking to me. That is what scared me because if I had the ability to sense and create life then whats to say that I couldn't cut life short or even take it. I even tried it. I made a small meadow of wildflowers wither and turn to dust when I took that life that I sensed in them and drew it into my own life.
As I felt that life enter me, I felt invincible and I wanted more of that feeling. I could sense that life surrounding me and I wanted to take it, then as I was about to take all of it, one of Tooth's birds came to the meadow and I felt how much life they had and I wanted to take it. And I almost did it, until I remembered that that was exactly what Pitch had done. When you were taken by him, your people lost the glow to their crystals which would have meant that they would have most likely died if we had not rescued you. Once I realized that I saw how much of a fool I had been. I almost took a living creatures life because I liked how it felt. What did that say about me? So I took the life that I had stolen and tried to put it back. I created new flowers that were as beautiful as the ones I had killed but they weren't the same. Once you take life, you cant just put it back. I learned my lesson and vowed to never take life again unless I had to and had no other choice." Aster explained giving out a large sigh, not daring to look into Jack's eyes for fear of seeing how terrified he was of him.
"I never wanted to feel that again Jackie. So I didn't tell anyone and devoted most of my free time to mastering my abilities and making sure I never lose control. I didn't want to lose control near you Jackie because if I lost control and ended up taking your life. I would not be able to live with myself and I would make sure that I would be with you. That's why I didn't tell you Jack, not because I didn't trust you or that I was scared of what I could do, but because I was scared of what I felt when I did it. Of how much I liked it. I understand if you feel differently about me now that you know the truth." Aster finished, continuing to stare down at the sand not daring to look into Jack's eyes. Ashamed of what he had told him and afraid of what his reaction would be.
He was sure that Jack would never want to talk to him again or even touch him, so he was surprise when he felt Jack's hands cup his face to lift it up. Before he could question it, he felt Jack's lips touch his and like every time they kiss, it felt like magic. Once they parted, Aster looked into Jack's face and saw that he was giving him a small reassuring smile. He searched his eyes for fear but he didn't see any of that. All he saw was love.
"What was that love?" Aster whispered.
"That was to show you that I will always love you and that you can trust me with anything because I will always be there for you. You also have no reason to be ashamed about what you felt about your powers Aster. I felt the same when I got my abilities." Jack told him with a sad smile.
"What? Really love?" Aster replied astonished.
"When I discovered that I could do Ice and Snow, I wasn't surprised because that's the elemental power that my family had always done. But I was told that I was the most powerful Winter user in generations. My power was equal to that of Winter. And since I was kind of alone a lot I experimented with it. I wanted to see what I could do with my powers, so I found a small cave and dug deep into my core to feel the power within myself. And I let it loose.
The result was the Ice chamber, and it would have spread more if my father hadn't sensed what I was doing. He stopped me from using all of my power. What I thought was my whole power was only half of it, and I was almost unstoppable. I was only a kid then Aster. Can you imagine how I felt when I saw the fear in my fathers face and his guards as they looked around the chamber and saw what I had done. I have never felt so dangerous Aster, I didn't even use my powers for years. When I used them again, I used them to kill." Jack told him. Aster opened his mouth to interrupt but Jack raised his hand to stop.
"Please let me just get through this. As you know, I was part of the guard that made sure no outsiders ever saw the city. Usually they never got close but this group got very close, and we had to make sure that they did not see the city. So a battle began and I used my staff and dagger to cause damage but one member of the group got me from behind, knocking me down. He stood over me with a sword and I saw within his eyes that he was going to kill me and so when that blade came down I panicked. Once everything came back into focus, the man that was bringing a blade down had a large stalagmite through his chest and so did the other men in his group. I hadn't just killed one man, I had killed 6 men and I had the eyes of my squad stare at me with fear.
No one ever spoke of what had happened. We just said that the men were taken care of and kept what happened a secret. Even Tooth doesn't know what happened. I kept it a secret. I trained until I was in full control. So I understand what you felt Aster, and why you kept it a secret. I just wish you had shared it with me and maybe I should have shared what I experienced but I was scared that you would fear me like so many others had before." Jack finished with a sad chuckle looking away from Aster. Aster stared at Jack, seeing the small hint of tears in his eyes and the shame that filled them. Aster's heart broke at the sight and he knew that they were both at fault for not communicating with each other better.
"Jackie, I will never fear you. I will always stand by you, for better or worse. We are both at fault for what happened. Your right, we need to communicate better. So why don't we make a promise right now, that we will not keep secrets from each other. No matter how ashamed or afraid we are, do you agree love?" Aster told him holding his hands and making sure that Jack looked him in his eyes and that all he saw was love. Jack gave out a wet laugh and threw his arms around Aster.
"Yes, I agree. Kangaroo." He added with a cheeky grin.
"Cheeky bastard. Love you Jack." Aster stated stroking Jack's back.
"Love you too Aster." They kissed once more before they were interrupted by Tiana yelling at them.
"Hey Lovebirds! Porc says he found the lair!" The pair gave out a laugh before they stood to join the rest of the group holding hands the whole way.
"So what do you have for us Porc?" Aster asked once they were close enough.
"What do you see in front of you?" Porc asked with a grin. Everyone shared a look and stared at the cliff wall in front of them questioningly.
"A Cliff?"
"A bunch of rocks, mate?"
"A smelly little man?"
"A smug looking man with a bird perched on his shoulder?"
"A bunch of clueless people?" Porc gave them all unamused looks and gave out a large sigh before he stroked Baby Tooth's neck and turned to gesture at the large gray boulder in front of them.
"Look how an Igneous boulder has been futilely disguised as Sedimentary rock. They might as well paint a road sign to their lair." He told them as he moved to a smaller boulder next to it and reached behind the stone squeezing out a lever that had been previously been hidden. A large groan and clanking noise could be heard as the boulder that Porc had drawn their attention to began to slide to the side revealing a tunnel. Porc gave them a triumphant grin before he started to head in.
"The boulder looks the exact same as the rocks surrounding it." Tooth commented, confused by how Porc was able to tell it was a different type of rock from the others surrounding it.
"Yeah, but your not an expert on rocks." Tiana stated moving to follow Porc and Baby Tooth. Jack shrugged as he passed Tooth, pulling her to follow him.
They walked through the long tunnel for a few minutes before they arrived in a large cavern that was filled with boxes and had a large body of water on the other side of it which meant that there was an opening to the ocean. They quickly regrouped and silently moved to hide behind some of the boxes. Abdima took a closer look at the boxes and saw that they were all labeled. After reading a few of the labels he realized they were from the crashed freighters. All of them.
"These boxes are from the crashed freighters. I remember them from the newspapers and files De Luna gave us. He must be supplying the village with the supplies that were on the freighters. They were all supply ships and cargo holders." Abdima whispered. They all shared a look but before they could discuss this new found evidence they started to hear footsteps and metallic noises. They quickly pressed closer to the shadows caused by the boxes and carefully look around. They saw that there were a few villagers carrying boxes but when they looked into their eyes they couldn't see any life within them. It was as if they were possessed and the only expressions on their face was one of poorly hidden horror, as if they were caught at a moment of great fear.
"Whats wrong with them?" Tiana whispered in shock at what had happened to these people. But before anyone can comment, Jack suddenly spoke up with venom in his voice.
"There's Volgud!" They all looked at where Jack was looking and saw that Volgud was indeed there. He was standing on the shore of the large body of water, just staring into the water. It was a bit unnerving to see.
"What is he doing?" Tiana asked confused. No one answered and just continue to watch, as they did, they suddenly saw that Volgud's eyes had changed color and seemed to glow like how Aster's eyes glowed when he used his crystal.
"Look!" Porc pointed toward the body of water where they saw that bubbles were starting to appear on the surface of the lake.
"The hell?" Aster asked just as three large black tentacles suddenly broke through the water surface. One of the tentacles curled forward toward the shore and deposited two boxes. Then the tentacle, caressed Volgud's cheek, as if caressing a love one. Everyone gasped as they saw this happened and they all came to one conclusion.
"That bastard is controlling the Kraken!" Tooth exclaimed before she was shushed by the group.
"But how? With a huge newspaper and treats?" Tiana asked with a snort as she stared at the tentacles still swarming around Volgud as two of the villagers, who were the men that were with Volgud earlier, grabbed the boxes and moved them.
"I believe that its some type of mental power. Look at the villagers. They look as of they're possessed." Tooth replied studying the villagers. Aster agreed with her and pulled the team back to further explain what could possibly be going on.
"So Tooth, it seems that you may be right about the mental powers. If he is able to control the villagers then I think that he is using that power to enslave the Kraken, telling them what ships to attack. The Kraken could be completely innocent in its crimes. Just another victim of Volgud. So if his mental powers are similar to what we could do with our crystals, then all we need to do is see if we can make him lose his concentration, maybe that will release the Kraken and the villagers." Aster stated.
"We could tickle him. No one can concentrate when they're being tickled. Or we could use my bomb. Bombs are a very good distraction." Abdima suggested with a wicked grin. The others stared at him as of he was crazy but before any of them could reply, Baby Tooth started to squawk making them panic and try to get her to be quiet. But then, that's when they noticed that Tiana was not with them.
"Where's Tiana?" Tooth asked looking around in shock, since she was right next to her a few seconds ago. Baby Tooth gave out a squawk and flew toward the body of water to draw their attention. Porc looked toward the water and what he saw made him gasp in shock.
"Sacre Bleu! What is she doing?!" He gasped. They saw as Tiana waded into the water until it was up to her knees and she suddenly stopped. More of the Kraken's tentacles suddenly appeared, and one of them slithered over to Tiana and loosely wrapped around her body which prompted them to throw off their shocked paralysis and move.
"Go get Tiana! I'll distract Volgud!" Aster ordered leaping out from behind the boxes to get to Volgud. The others nodded and rushed to get to Tiana. Aster ran toward Volgud and tackled him causing his head to smack against the ground, knocking him unconscious. Aster got back up and looked to see if the Kraken had vanished, but what he saw made no sense. The Kraken had tighten its hold on Tiana despite the others efforts to get it to let go of Tiana. The tentacle was now lifting her into the air, out of the reach of the others.
"This doesn't make any sense! He's unconscious! The Kraken should go away!" Aster cried out unable to comprehend why the Kraken would stay. He watched as Abdima and Porc tried to grabbed Tiana but where slammed into a wall by one of it's tentacles. Before he could go to help, he was suddenly tackled from behind.
"Ugh!" Aster cried out twisting to see who had tackled him. It was one of the villagers from before, he was holding him down by the shoulders and usually he would be able to throw the man off him but it seemed as if he had the strength of an elephant. He could practically hear his bones creak from the pressure the man was holding him down with. As he struggled with the man, Baby Tooth suddenly appeared and began to circle the man while pecking him. This distracted the man enough that Aster was able to get enough leverage to use his legs to launch the man off him completely. He then took the time to see how the others were doing, Abdima and Porc seemed unable to get any closer due to one of the tentacles lashing out at them whenever they moved. Tooth seemed to be doing better but kept having to dodge the tentacles, which did not allow her to get much closer. Jack seemed to be doing the best.
He was actually only a few feet from Tiana and was jumping from tentacle to tentacle trying to avoid their grasp. He twisted around trying to get as close to Tiana as he could and once he grabbed a hold of one of the tentacles, he was able to stretch an arm out and grab a hold of one of Tiana's arms. He pulled as hard as he could but couldn't get her loose. Since he was distracted one of the tentacles actually wrapped around him and flung him into one of the cavern walls.
"Jack!" Aster exclaimed running to see if he was okay. Jack slowly got up with a dazed expression, but otherwise seemed fine if only a bit bruised.
"Okay this is getting us no where. Time for plan B- Plan bomb." Abdima stated pulling out the bomb that he had in his pocket, Aster took a look and saw that it was a stick of dynamite, and before he could stop him, lit it. He raised his arm back and got ready to throw it at the creature, but Porc suddenly stopped him.
"No! Don't throw it at the creature! Throw it at the ceiling!" Porc told him, pointing out the large crack that was already in the ceiling above the creature. Abdima looked up and then looked down at Porc with a glare.
"How about picking the target before I light the dynamite, huh?" He said with a raised brow, but before anyone could reply and tell him that it was his idea to light an explosive without consulting them, he threw the dynamite hitting the ceiling perfectly.
As soon as the dynamite hit the ceiling, it exploded and chunks of broken ceiling began to fall down onto the creature. Luckily, on of the falling rocks hit the tentacle that was holding Tiana, making it let her go and dropping her into the water. Aster and Jack were there within seconds and able to pull her out of the water and away from the flailing tentacles. Tiana was unconscious but beginning to come around since she was able to walk with Aster and Jack's help.
"We have to get to the subs! Its distracted and we can try to stop it here and now!" Aster ordered moving toward the entrance that they had noticed the villagers were entering from. Yet as they got closer, they saw that it was blocked by a couple of the hypnotized villagers. They came to a stop and began to plan what they should do when they suddenly heard a battle cry from Porc. They watched as Porc yelled something out in french and rushed toward the group of people and jumped on them causing all of them to fall down.
"That's one way to clear a doorway." Tooth remarked rushing over to make sure the villagers stayed down.
"I just cant believe that worked." Abdima murmured as they exited the door and watched as the villagers looked around in confusion.
Once they got got out of the cave, they saw that the doorway lead to the beach right by where they had tied the subs down. Everyone separated and entered the three subs. Abdima and Porc were in the first one, Tooth and Tiana were in the second, and Baby, Jack, and Aster were in the last one. Soon enough they were underwater and heading to where they believed the Kraken was still at. But as they went further down, they were unable to find the opening the Kraken had entered from and they hoped that it had not left.
"C'mon Porc! Find the damn cave. Our best chance of trapping the thing is to seal him within the cave. Then maybe he'll starve or something." Aster ordered watching the surrounding area to make sure the creature didn't escape.
"That seems kind of cruel Aster." Jack commented, he felt bad that the Kraken would die a slow painful death rather than a quick one.
"That thing had killed a lot of people, sunk ships, and almost killed us. Fuck being cruel, it deserves it." Aster replied in disbelief.
"But if Volgud had been controlling it, then it wasn't responsible for its actions. It could be innocent." Jack argued.
"Or its just working with Volgud, I mean I knocked out Volgud and the Kraken didn't leave, so it wasn't under his control, it was working with him. Its not innocent Jack." Aster argued back sending a glare to Jack but before they could argue anymore, they were interrupted.
"Alright, so we should see the cave exit near here, we weren't that far away from it but its very dark down here, so it'll be hard to see the exit." Porc told Aster, unaware that him and Jack were arguing.
"Alright, thanks Porc. Everyone keep an eye out." Aster ordered. "How 're ye doing Tiana?" Aster added, seeing her and Tooth in the sub next to them.
"Yeah, I am now. Ooh!" Tiana told them, shuddering. "It was creepy- all cold and slimy, and everything faded away like I was drowning. But not in water, in fear. I never want to feel that again." She described still unsettled what she had experienced. Unknown to everyone, while she was describing her experience, a small sliver of dark shadow slipped into the cabin of Porc's and Abdima's sub. The shadow slithered across the ground and slid up the back of Abdima's chair until it reached his head and slipped into one of Abdima's nostrils. A barely noticeable dark shadow could be seen crawling under his skin heading toward his eyes and to his temple.
Abdima slowly stiffened as his eyes changed into a glowing yellow and the sub began to tilt toward a wall, making Porc grab the wheel and force them to move away.
"Hey! Pay attention! We don't want to crash." Porc told him. Abdima shook his head, and the yellow glow vanished. "The more we enter this enclosed area, the darker it gets. Fire the Magnesium flares, they should provide some light." Porc commented still looking around. Abdima nodded and fired the flares surprising the two subs ahead of them.
"Oi! What the hell are ya doing! We want ta sneak up on-" Aster started before the flares suddenly came to a stop. In front of them by a few feet was the Kraken. "Bloody Hell! It's already out!"
They were going too fast to stop so they began to maneuver through the Kraken's tentacles, each narrowly avoiding getting hit by the tentacles. Tiana and Tooth narrowly avoided getting eaten.
"Okay so plan B. Make sure to avoid the tentacles." Aster ordered moving around to get back to the creature.
"No kidding rabbit." Tiana murmured causing Tooth to give out a laugh. Tiana grinned at her maneuvered the sub to face the creature. "I'm taking a shot!" She began to maneuver the sub to face the Kraken's open mouth but as she got closer, the tentacles began to try and capture her. She kept having to spin and move around to avoid the tentacles and when she finally fired, she missed and hit the wall next to it.
"Dammit! I cant get a good shot." She told the team while Tooth was still a bit dizzy from the twirling around.
"We're on it." Jack told them as they moved in to fire into the creatures mouth, they fired but as they did a tentacle slammed into them causing them to spin and twirl. Porc watched from a distance and turned to Abdima, frustrated.
"What are you waiting for?! Fire the-" He cried before Abdima suddenly turned to him revealing his yellow glowing eyes and sinister smile. He turned the sub toward Tiana and Tooth, and fired a torpedo. Porc tried to stop him but he was to late and can only watch. Luckily Tiana looked toward them and saw the torpedo coming, so she was able to maneuver out of the way. The rest of the team was able to hear her and Tooth cried out curses in their own native language.
"You need to tell them to watch they're aim! They almost hit Tiana and Tooth!" Jack exclaimed moving toward the radio and Aster tried to reach them.
"They turned off their radio, I can't-" Aster started before he suddenly heard Jack gasp and looked up to see that they had just fired a torpedo toward them. Aster quickly reacted and fired a torpedo at it. Once the two torpedo's hit they exploded making the sub rock with the shock-wave.
"Shoot at the Octopus, not us, Dima!" Tiana shouted, though they were still unable to reach Porc or Abdima. Finally they were able to reach them, at first all they heard was static and sounds of fighting, until Porc's voice finally came through.
"Abdima's gone mad! His eyes are glowing yellow and he's not registering anything!" Porc told them as he tried to wrestle the controls away from Abdima. Aster watched as their sub spun in circles and moved through the water out of control.
"But Volgud isn't here, he cant be controlling him!" Aster exclaimed confused. He turned toward Jack and saw that he was staring at the Kraken with realization.
"It's not Volgud. It's the Kraken!" Jack stated pointing toward the Kraken. Aster looked and saw that The Kraken's eyes were glowing a bright gold. Like Abdima, and like Volgud. Tooth came to the same conclusion.
"Of course! The Kraken is the one with the powers! He's the one that's been controlling Volgud and the villagers!" Tooth exclaimed.
"And now he's controlling Dima. We have to help break the hold the creature has on him." Tiana said. Just as she was starting to spit out some suggestions, when they suddenly heard a large thud through the radio.
"Uh what was that noise?" Jack asked with concern.
"Its fine. I was just distracting him." Porc replied.
"How exactly did you distract him Porc?" Tooth asked as they moved further away from the Kraken.
"A simple punch to the head." He stated as he took control of the sub. The others gasped and were about to yell at Porc for hurting their teammate when Aster suddenly yelled out.
"The Kraken's heading for us!" They turned there subs around to get out of the little cavern area that they had entered as the Kraken followed them. As they got further out into the open ocean, Abdima began to wake up. He sat up from the metal floor with a groan as he rubbed the back of his head. As he slowly came back to consciousness, the small shadow from before slipped out of his mouth and dissolved into the floor like dust.
"Whoa. That was strange, and my head is killing me. What happened?" Abdima asked, taking his seat once more.
"The Kraken was controlling you, and you almost killed the others. Now shut up and let me drive us out of here." Porc told him as he swerved around a stone column. The others tried to lose the Kraken by swerving dangerously close to the other stone columns and cliffs, hoping it would cause the Kraken to crash. But it was no use, the Kraken stayed with them through it all.
"We only have one shot left!" Tiana told the group as she dodged a tentacle.
"Us too!" Porc added also dodging a tentacle.
"We have to get to the beach and dry land, it has too much of an advantage underwater." Aster ordered. The others agreed and moved to head toward the beach. As Abdima and Porc followed the others, Abdima noticed the sub that Aster and Jack used as right below them, and it had all its weapons still.
"No, wait." Abdima said grabbing the wheel from Porc and turning then around.
"Are you crazy!? Your heading right at it!" Tooth remarked watching as Abdima and Porc headed toward the Kraken.
"Damn. He must be under it's control again. I'll distract him once more!" Porc stated raising a fist to hit him again, only for Abdima to punch him in the face and dislodge the glasses on his face as well as distracting him.
"Agh! You son of a bi-" Porc started before Abdima cut him off.
"Its Aster's sub. Its got a full load of torpedoes. Which means we can blow them all at once." Abdima told them getting into position to shoot the sub as the Kraken headed toward them.
"That's a great plan!" Jack exclaimed.
"Alright, lets do it!" Aster ordered as Baby gave out a caw of enjoyment. The other two subs turned around and readied their last torpedoes.
"Here he comes. Get ready." Abdima told them. Then as soon as the Kraken swam over the sub, Abdima yelled out, "Now!" They all fired, hitting the abandoned sub head on. Once the torpedoes hit the sub, the result was a large explosion sending the team far back and completely decimating the Kraken and turning it into black sand and dissolving. Unknown to the team, Volgud, who was still in the cave, gave out a large scream as his skin began to slowly turn black and become a sand like quality. Soon enough all that was left of Volgud was his clothes and some black dust.
The team watched as the black sand that was once the Kraken disappeared and they couldn't help but cheer.
"You know, maybe Mr. squid was a little Hocus Pocus himself. Since you know, it turned into black sand." Abdima commented once they had all stopped cheering.
"I am still not understanding what 'Hocus Pocus' is." Jack told him with a grin as Aster hugged him.
"I must also concur, that I do not understand what that is." Tooth added giving Tiana a hug.
"Forget it, at least the Kraken is gone and hopefully this means that the village will be okay. Lets get to the beach and tell Inger the good news." Aster replied already heading for where he thought the beach would be.
"I doubt that killing the creature had any big impact. It'll still be gloomy and smell like mildew." Porc stated driving the sub to follow Aster.
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Once the team surfaced, they were shocked by what they saw. The first time that they had surfaced, the town was covered with fog, and it was gray and cloudy. And the town smelled like mildew and rot. Yet now, there is not a single cloud in the sky. Everything is bright and sunny, there were seagulls flying overhead as if they were always there. There was also a crowd of people on the beach, including Inger holding her child.
"I see you were wrong Porc. It would appear that killing the Kraken made a large impact on the community." Tooth commented stepping out of the sub and helping Tiana out.
"Yeah, I didn't think it would make this big of an impact." Tiana grunted out as she dropped down onto the beach almost falling down since her legs were shaky from the adrenaline of the battle leaving her body.
"I cannot believe that that over sized squid affected this town so much or that just killing basically reversed everything." Abdima added as he helped Porc down, who was in a state of shock as he looked around.
"This should not be possible." Porc stated still looking around as if he was waiting for the town to go back to its gloomy atmosphere.
"I'm going to go talk to Inger and see why she and the rest of the village are down here." Aster told them once him, Jack, and Baby were out of the sub. Once Aster was sure that everyone was okay, he headed over to Inger who was actually smiling.
"Hello Inger. May I ask what y'all are doing down here?" Aster asked with a small smile at how happy and hopeful everyone looked. He even saw some kids running around and some of them were chasing Baby.
"Hello sir. You fulfilled your promised. Thank you so much. I will admit that I believed that you would fail and we would be stuck in this dreary, gloomy life. But you proved me wrong. Because of you, Volgud is gone, the Kraken is gone, and the light has returned to our home. I can take my little one outside, I can see the children running around and playing, I can hear laughter fill the air once more, and all because of you and your friends. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Me and the rest of the town will always be grateful for what you have done and we can never repay you." Inger replied with tearful eyes and a wide grin.
"It was nothing Inger, we're just glad that we were able to help, and honestly we never thought that this much change would happen just because we defeated the Kraken. Though we don't know what happened to Volgud. How do you know he disappeared?" Aster responded as some of the villagers went to thank the others and he saw that Jack was actually playing with the children. Bloody show-pony, Aster thought with a smile and shake of his head.
"One of the men that was working for Volgud, though unwilling he says, was in the cavern with him after you and your friends left. He says that he began to turn black and as he screamed one last time, he disappeared into black sand leaving only his clothing behind. The men didn't bother to touch the sand, though one of the women that was down there scooped some of the sand in a jar. She wanted you to have it, she believed that you may know what it is and that you and your team would be interested in it." Inger told him reaching into her apron pocket and pulling out a small jar that was half way filled with some strange black sand. Aster took it from her and studied it for a minute. It looked like beach sand but it was completely black with some purple highlights, a bit like how oil looks in the sun.
"Thank you Inger. I'm sure my colleague would be very interested in this, please thank her for me. And I wish all of you the best of luck in fully rebuilding you town. And I wish you and your child a wonderful life." Aster thanked her giving her a smile. She nodded and moved away to go talk to some of the villagers. Aster turned the jar once more, before he placed it in his pocket and went looking for the others. He saw that Jack was sitting on a rock looking out at the villagers as they celebrated and played with their children.
"Hey Jackie. How you doing?" Aster asked as he walked toward him, narrowly avoiding getting run over by some kids that were chasing Baby.
"I'm alright Aster. I'm happy we were able to help these people and I really hope that they can rebuild and that they can flourish. And I'm glad that my people weren't the reason for the Kraken almost destroying this town." Jack answered moving to making room for Aster on the rock.
"I hope so too Jack and who knows, maybe the fish will come back soon. Once they're back, the town will really flourish." Aster stated watching Baby fly around the kids heads.
"The fish are actually back already." Jack stated. Aster turned to him in shock, he really wasn't expecting the fish to return right away.
"No way. That's not possible." Aster said turning to look at the water and sure enough he could see some fish in the water.
"That's what I thought but I saw them after I sat down, it was almost like they weren't coming to the area because they were scared and now that that threat was gone they aren't afraid. It seems that the Kraken curse has really been lifted." Jack replied.
"That's amazing." Aster exclaimed in disbelief.
"That's not the only amazing thing here Aster." Jack told him jumping down from the rock.
"What do you mean?" Aster asked.
"For thousands of years, I have lived with the same faces. And its strange to meet new people and each new person has new thoughts, new ideas, and new beliefs. Your world has so much to offer. And I hope that one day my people can offer as much and maybe even get the opportunity to experience these new things." Jack answered as he looked out at the people, watching as they began to look over the rotten boats. Aster walked toward him and pulled him into a hug.
"There's no reason that they cant Snowflake. Your people can make a difference to the world, like we did here." Aster told him turning him to look at Inger talking to a few of the villagers. "Now that there's no Kraken , its left to people like Inger to raise the next generation of new thinkers and new leaders. And who knows perhaps your people may raise the next generation outside the city and live up here in the world." Aster finished with a smile.
"I hope that you are right Aster, but I feel like that's a dream, a beautiful dream. But like all dreams, reality interferes and you wake up. And I know my reality, my people may be happier but they are still trapped, even more than before and I cant change that. C'mon, Tiana told me that one of the villagers would give us a ride to the boat in Tronheim. They got word that they are almost done with repairs." Jack replied giving Aster a squeeze.
"What about the subs?" He asked concerned with just leaving them here.
"Abdima said that they have an autopilot feature that allows them to return to the programmed boat. I do not understand what that means but apparently it means that they will go home on their own, which is very strange." Jack answered still confused by what he was told. Aster just laughed and began to lead Jack back to the rest of the group, who were waiting for them next to a large truck and one of the fishermen.
Once they had all reconvened and said their good byes as well as gotten everything they had brought with them from the inn, they headed off to Tronheim to regroup with the boat and head off to one of De Luna's homes in Greenland. Once they boarded the boat and were setting off, the reality of what happened hit them. They had faced a creature that had the ability to control people and may have been magical or something else that they just couldn't explain. It wasn't Atlantean made and it couldn't be something biological that nature created. They had no explanation, except for a jar of sand that they were told was all that remains of Volgud. So as everyone went to their own rooms, once the on-board doctor had checked them out, both mentally and physically, Aster stayed up a bit to study the sand.
As Jack slept behind him, Aster used a small lamp to look at the sand in the jar. He twirled it around and though it moved a bit slower than regular sand he couldn't really see anything unique about it. Though, as he looked closer he saw that the grains looked more sharp, and spike like, than regular grains of sand. Aster couldn't explain it and without a microscope he couldn't accurately examine it. So after making sure that it was secure in the chest that they had, he went to sleep and thought no more of the strange sand.
Yet as he fell asleep, within the chest, the small jar of sand did not just settle down. It shifts, restlessly within the jar, trying to find a way out. But the jar is too secure and it cant get free, and so it settles and waits for its next opportunity.
So I hope that y'all enjoyed this chapter and the extra long chapter.I will try to write the next chapter soon, but I'm having trouble trying to come up with the rest of the plot so if y'all have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to comment them. And if you have any questions dont be afraid to message me.
Now onto reviews!
Reviews:
Ngel Angel: Thank you so much or your review and I hope you like this chapter!
So till next time! Bye!