OoO( 12 )OoO
The warrior stood in the crows nest of the ship, watching for the horizon. He was getting a bit cramped on the ship and wanted to stretch his legs out on dry land. He watched until he heard someone approaching on the ladder behind him. He didn't turn as the mage pulled himself into the crows nest, merely staring at the thick fog they had wandered into. Standing next to the hero, the mage crossed his arms.
"How long do you think this fog will last? We have slowed our speed so as not to run into anything too quickly, but at this rate we will never find Snowspire..." he said.
Lyle shook his head and sighed. "I don't know. I have never seen fog this thick. And as well it tells us we are near the island, but if we can't see it then we may miss it, or run into it and get most of us killed." he said to his friend.
The dark hero nodded and turned his head towards their east. Squinting his eyes, he noticed something strange. "What is that?" he asked curiously as he jumped on the ladder again. He slid down, leaving Lyle to stare over the edge at what he had noticed. There was a large shadow following alongside the ship in the distance. Though barely visible, it could be seen and was fairly large. Van walked to the edge and stared at the large shadow, unable to make anything of it. He turned around to Lyle and shrugged. The hero shrugged back, when the door to the cabin slammed open and Michael with one of the bandits from the ships prison came out fighting for their lives.
The boy, now holding his spear instead of a wooden makeshift, struck out at the bandit. But, the man was quick on his feet and dodged the spear thrusts left and right before attacking with his own weapon. Michael blocked the attack with his spear handle, then grabbed the mans hand and threw himself to the ground with a foot in the mans stomach. The attack launched the man through the air, making him land hard on his back. The boy warrior jumped to his feet and ran forward, throwing himself into the air and stabbing out with the spear.
The bandit saw the attack and closed his eyes tight, when he heard a loud thud. Opening one eye, he saw Michael standing over him with the spear head buried an inch from his head. The boy smirked, the helped the man to his feet. "Almost had me that time." he said.
The man shook his head, laughing to himself. "Boy, I didn't even come close. You are a twister with that weapon I tell ya." he said back to the warrior. Suddenly they were both silenced by the two standing at the eastern side of the ship.
"Quiet the both of you!" said Van in a whispered tone. They both walked over to the side and stared at the monstrosity as well, which had grown in size since it was first noticed.
"What is that thing?" asked Michael, awestruck by its massive frame.
"We don't know, but it hasn't noticed us, so lets not push our luck by talking." he whispered. The boy nodded and they were silent, watching the figure swim alongside them as if it was a mirror image. Suddenly, the shadow vanished underwater, to the surprise of all four of them. "What the hell?" asked Lyle as he bent over the rail and searched the waters, but it was too foggy to see anything down there.
Suddenly, the entire ship rocked as two serpent like creatures sprang out of the water and roared loudly. Lyle and Van both yelled in horror before diving to the side as one of the creatures snapped at them. Michael froze. Dropping his spear, he fell to his knees and grabbed his head, memories flashing through his head. He remembered a ship, the sea, a large dark skinned man over him with a dark skinned woman holding him. He remembered the loud roar of a beast, then all he could remember is crying and darkness. Tears rolled down the boys face as he recalled that loud roar. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever heard.
Lyle fired lighting with both hands at one of the creatures, causing it to shriek loudly, then sink underwater. Turning, he saw Michael, then turned to the bandit who was also frozen. "Hey!" he shouted, getting the mans attention. "Get him out of here!" he yelled, then the monsters tentacles sprung up from the water and slammed him into the cabin. The man grabbed Michael and ran for the cabin, kicking the already loose door open and running down the stairs with the boy over his shoulder.
Van held of the other beast using his own shadow magic, creating giant birds that clawed and dove at the creature. It sunk underwater as well, bringing its tentacles up and swinging at the mage. He dove over the tentacle and turned around just as three more headed towards him. He raised his arms in defense, then gasped as the white haired warrior flew in front of him and sliced clean through all of them with his giant sword.
The mage turned towards the door and saw his angel of protection, Alex standing in the doorway. The beast over the edge roared loudly and rose out of the water, its mouth glowing bright with energy. Elizabeth, who had run to help her husband, stood in front of him as the monster unleashed a massive blast of energy. It smashed against an invisible force, nearly knocking the woman backwards. Van placed his hands on her shoulders, causing her energy to flourish. The invisible shield expanded and smashed the creature backwards.
Lyle had taken care of the remaining tentacles and the creature had jumped out of the water, preparing to fire its energy. Lyle backed up and turned to the mage. "Elizabeth! A little help!" he shouted as the dragon drew back to fire. She was breathing heavily on the ground.
"She can't! She's out of energy!" shouted Van.
Lyle turned and held up his hands to try and block the attack. The dragon thrust forward ready to fire when a silver streak struck it with enough force to hurl it sideways, completely out of the water. The energy fired off into the sky and the beasts middle discentigrated from the force of the attack. It splashed into the water dead, torn in half from the fierce strike.
Lyle turned and saw Alex holding her bow again. He smiled and sighed, relieved at being alive. He would have to thank her later. Suddenly, the ship rocked roughly, sending Alex stumbling to the ground and her weapon skidding across the deck. It changed back into the ancient weapon handle as it was stopped by the wooden rail at the front of the ship. "No!" shouted Alex as she rose to her feet and ran after the weapon. The ship rocked again, sending Lyle flying backwards as Van sheltered his exhausted wife with his arms. The second serpent rose from the water again and snapped at Alex as she ran across the deck.
It turned and focused on the closer solitary target. It drew back and launched itself at the two, Van and Elizabeth. Van didn't notice until he heard Lyle shout out to him. "Van! Look out!" shouted the warrior, and the mage looked up in time to see the dragon thrust at him. He gasped as Lyle jumped in front and grabbed the beast by its jaws. He held it using all of his strength. Summoning his will, he yelled as lightning started to shoot across his body. It entered the serpents body through his grip and the beast shrieked loudly at the attack. Both Van and Elizabeth grabbed one of his shoulders, despite the shock they got and added their power to his. Lyle yelled aloud, his eyes turning white from the electricity flowing through him and into the sea monster.
The creature cried out helplessly as its body convulsed, shaking the ship. Finally, its fierce golden eyes rolled into the back of its skull as the power from the three fried its brain, killing it. Lyle let go of the serpent, and immediately it hit the deck, and slid over the edge. He breathed heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead as he knelt down. "Well...that was...incredible..." said Elizabeth as she patted Lyle on the back.
"Yeah...did you actually stop that thing in its path?" asked Van, still questioning what he saw.
"I was kinda in a rush, so I'm not sure what happened myself." he said chuckling from the ground.
Van smiled, then his expression went blank as he began to feel the same feeling he had before. He felt as if he had someone spying on him, giving him chills down his spine. He heard Scythe's voice in the back of his head. "Van, the Fireheart, use it now." said the old mage. Van reached down into his pouch and pulled out the apple sized stone, which was now flashing with red light. Holding it up, the light shined brightly in all directions, causing the fog to scatter like birds fleeing from pray.
They all looked at him, then at the area around them. The path began to part in front of them, the fog splitting like a sword was slicing through it. "I see land!" shouted Alex as she looked ahead of them.
Lyle smirked at the mage. "Finally...I was getting a little sea sick." he said, making the mage chuckle. Turning to the cabin, he yelled inside and kicked open the obstacles that had blocked the others from coming out, sending them tumbling down the stairs. "Land ho!" he yelled merrily.