GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born (10 page)

    
Lampus took them into a castle made of crystals and pearls. Every portion of the castle was so extravagant and lavish that it looked almost like Aseroth during the dining of the gods. The gates were solid gold and silver and platinum. The entire castle was built with precious metals and this was the home of the king. Lampus took them in the court hall which was lined with beautiful columns and had a statue of the sea god, Remases and alongside it, was the statue of the sea king, Lampus.

     He swam
and sat on his throne and began the tale:

    
“We mermaids had a peace treaty with Samael, after he had taken over the throne of his father, Shamaun. This treaty was signed while Samael was still a good man. The treaty stated that none will harm us and we shall harm none but there were some creatures that were out of his control such as the Leviathan. This beast was so powerful that it was out of Samael’s control but Samael, being a man of his word, drove it far away from the mermaid waters. But now, the Leviathan has come back again in the recent years, and is wreaking havoc in our came homeland.”

    
“Well, that is awful” said Urey “Is there anything we can do?”

    
Leosher sat quietly but then looked at Urey angrily “I think that decision is mine to make” Then he turned to Lampus “What do I gain by helping you?”

    
“You aid us in defeating the beast and I give you the Talisman of Remases as a permanent gift.”

    
“I do not care for this,” said Leosher while holding the Talisman “this mundane, Talisman. I care for your kingdom, I want your throne.”

    
“My people’s safety is much more important than the throne” said Lampus proudly, “I shall give you my throne if you kill the beast, but beware, for no mermaid or any water creature will help you.”

    
Leosher looked at Azar for help and he did help him by whispering in his ear “Son, no matter what you go through or what decision you make, just remember that you are our king, our lord and we shall stay with you, no matter what.”

     Leosher smiled and
looked at Virgil who nodded in support too, however he did not like the notion of helping someone for a reward. Urey and Usere told him that they were with him and then finally, Leosher said to Lampus who sat anxiously on his throne, “Evacuate this region and go as far away as possible, for today, we shall hunt and kill the Leviathan!” 

  
Lampus nodded and got up and went outside. He went to his armory and brought back the finest weapons the mermaids had. He came back in the court hall with dozens of mermaids holding different kinds of weapons. He had Spears, Javelins, Shields, Swords and Bows.

    
Leosher smirked, because he liked the offering “Give my men these weapons and I promise you, you will have to give up the throne and if you do not, I will make you.”

     Lampus
nodded and left the hall. There was silence but Urey broke it by swimming over to the weapons. He picked the finest bow in the arsenal and tested it. It was a full brass bow with bronze tipped arrows. They were strong arrows and could be used to penetrate the thick skin of the Leviathan. Leosher took all of the weapons up to the ships and stood on the deck to address to his men:

    
“Today, we stand under this clear sky, waiting, waiting to fight the biggest battle of our lives. We will go against the biggest creature known to the residents of Thraenus, and the worst threat we have faced yet. Though this beast is known to be untouchable but remember that you have me, the prince of gods on your side. We will fight this battle and we will write our own fate. Tonight!—let us battle with destiny!”

    
With that, there was cheering everywhere and happiness and courage bloomed. The mermaids gave their regards to Leosher and left, like fish, in a swarm, towards the far away mountains and soon went out of sight. When Leosher saw that they were out of sight now, he called Neiham and said to her “Wake up Barian and tell him what had killed his son.”

    
She did and told Barian the entire story. Barian was shocked and fell on his knees with grief, for he had spilled innocent blood all his life and now, he might die without purging. Now all were getting to ready to fight and Urey felt that he had to apologize to Barian, therefore he did. He walked over to where Barian was, and spoke to him,

    
“I am sorry,” said Urey “but you had left me no choice.”

    
“It is okay because I was the one who was wrong.”

    
Barian smiled and patted Urey on his shoulder and went out on the deck of the galleon. He put all of his men on the battle stations and the harpoon stations and got ready to battle. Leosher put his men in places too and grabbed his spears and his Scythe to battle.

   
Now the atmosphere was grim and a storm was rising. Even the small creatures such as birds and fish could feel that a stormy battle was rising and were flying and swimming as far as they could. The birds were crying and flying in large groups. The fish swam away in large hordes and soon, there was not living creature except the Empirions, in sight. Though the sky was clear, they could see a storm coming. The clear waters had gone murky. The warm waters had gone cold and red. The clear blue sky was getting covered up by dark thick clouds and soon it began to rain and succeeding the rain were thunder and lightning. It was now dark and nothing could be heard except the thunder and the rain falling in the ocean. Many men were scared and wanted to back out of this battle but they had no choice anymore, for it was too late. The Leviathan was about to show up and the battle was about to begin.

     All was quiet but then suddenly
Leosher, who was standing on the bowsprit, yelled out in his loud, thick voice “Prepare to battle! The beast approaches!”

    
It was a dark beast, submerged fully in the water. It was like a mountain but only its tentacles and hands were outside water. It was ripping through the water towards the 7 Galleons. All the men held tightly to the ships and their weapons, and braced themselves for impact. Virgil joined his brother on the bowsprit and said to him:

                                                                
“We are not ordinary,

f
or we battle with destiny.

We have great power,

the power to write our own fate.

There is a beast rising within us,

and our revolt is weakening.

The beast is at the edge of our souls,

and its might is strengthening.

The beast is raw and pure,

its power is like lightning.

We cannot begin to describe,

the storm that is inside.

But t
he beast will rise again,

to bring forth the eternal
pain.

The sun of hope has risen,

and the battle has begun.

But w
e remember one thing,

w
e will always be one.

We let the beast within us, rise,

to bring forth our enemy’s demise.

We move forward with one creed,

for it is our need,

Clearly, we are not ordinary,

                                      
                        for we battle with destiny.”

    
Leosher smiled at his brother and hugged him “Brother, I know I have been cruel and will always be cruel, for I am the king of The Empire, but remember one thing, I will always be with you, no matter what.”

     Just as the brothers talked,
Barian shouted from the far end of the deck “Brace for impact!” and a long arm came and destroyed one of the Galleons. Then, a tentacle came to destroy the ship that Leosher was on but his brother, who was now a wizard’s apprentice and knew a bit of magic, held it in midair. He used the spell “Pondeo Supervelous” which was a spell used to levitate objects. This was one of the few spells that had been taught to him by Azar and they were proving to be quite useful. He used it to hover the tentacle of the beast above the galleon, holdind it off from breaking the ship in half.

    
Leosher saw it as a window and jumped on the tentacle but it was oozy and slimy. His hands slipped but his friend, Urey saw it with his keen eyes and shot three arrows at the tentacle. They shot through the air and pierced the tentacle just enough to give Leosher a strong hold. Leosher hung unto the arrows and looked at Urey and smiled and quickly got on top of the tentacle. It was big and thick enough to have 20 grown men stand side by side on it. It was incredibly scaly as well.

    
Leosher took his spear and stabbed the tentacle but it was too thick so the spear could not go through all the way. Leosher acted quickly and kicked the spear inside with all is might. Then he took his other spear and shot it underwater, trying to get the beast’s face but because the waters were murky and dark, he could not see where the Leviathan’s head was but the spear actually hit it and did some carnage. It had hit the Leviathan in the eye and made one of his eyes, a hollow.

     The Leviathan became
angry and flung Leosher onto one of the ships. The impact was so great that Leosher went through it and broke the ship in half. He was slightly dazed and out of the battle for a while but the rest were still in it. Usere, joining the battle, jumped on the Leviathan and actually made numerous cuts on it. The cuts made the beast unable to use that tentacle. Urey, stood on the highest point of the ship and shot his bronze-tipped arrows in the water to make the beast cry. His arrows worked quite a lot because the beast was cringing a bit. Virgil was trying to keep the Leviathan’s tentacles away from the ships and he actually reduced the speed at which the ships were being destroyed, greatly.

    
Azar and Neiham were partnered up. Azar was throwing energy balls from his staff. They were green in color but also were slightly transparent or translucent rather and Neiham had summoned a giant fire phoenix from her cards and was using it to carry the energy balls to the beast. These energy balls were like bombs which blew up in the beast’s face, keeping him from using all of his might.

     The Empirion soldiers
and Barian’s men were doing well too. They all used the giant harpoons to hurt the beast. Those who were not at the harpoon stations used whatever they had to, to hurt the beast. They used their swords, spears, shields, javelins, arrows, everything and did all they could because all were trying as hard as they could to kill the beast.

     Even through all of this mist and rain and water, there was still a thick scent of sweat and blood and rum, whose kegs were being destroyed by the Leviathan. When Barian saw his precious rum being flown away in the water, he thought of a scheme to increase the damage being done to the Leviath
an. He burnt a match and threw all the kegs in the water, close to the beast, and set them on fire. There was a great explosion which destroyed a ship but it also did damage to the beast. He cried out in his dragon-like roar. It was very loud, so loud that Leosher came out of his daze and when he did, he swam onto one of the smaller ships and came to his senses.

    
Just as he got ready get back into the fight, another tentacle hit him right above his head and broke the ship and sent Leosher unconscious. He fell in the water and fell deep, deep inside. He was motionless, broken and battered but he still had his spear in his hand. His head was bleeding and the tentacle’s thorns had pierced the armor and stabbed Leosher multiple times but as he fell, he remembered what his brother had said:

“We are not ordinary,

for we battle with destiny.

We have great power,

the power to write our own fate.

There is a beast rising within us,

and our revolt is weakening.

The beast is at the edge of our souls,