298 AC, The Shivering Sea…
A lone ship was sailing amidst the roaring waves. The sky was clear and no cloud was in sight. The water was blue but it was not the colour of a sea as it did have a black taint on its colour.
The ship was sailing to the northern waters and for them, no land was in sight anymore. There were only two men on the ship. One of them was Gerold and the other was Trios. Of course, Kobo was also amongst them.
Two days had passed since the meeting between Gerold and the high priest. After the meeting, Gerold asked Trios many questions about this god of the seas and the answers he received were not what he was expecting as this god was of nature and not one of violence. However, from the recent rumours, its actions showed otherwise.
Nevertheless, Gerold was a bit nervous as this god did not reside on the land but inside a fish. If the god had been on the land, Gerold would have gone there by only himself but it was not the case so he had to bring Trios with him.
As Trios was a god, him being there was bringing a possibility of easy access to this particular fish. And of course, this particular fish was the being that was written as a legend in the books, a leviathan.
According to what Trios said, the leviathans hunted by Ibbenese were just large whales and the real ones were living in the cold depths of the Shivering Sea. Under these circumstances, Trios offered to call the one that this god resided in as this god was his old friend before he was sealed in the statue so he had his own ways to call him.
It did not take long for the ship to reach the cold waters of the northern side of the sea. The seawater here was much more black in colour than blue. The discrepancy of the colour was obvious for the naked eye and the water was not wavy as in the south. Though the wind was strong, the sea was rising like a pebble was thrown into it.
Gerold looked onto the sea and then went to the hull, beside Trios. "Here we are, when are you planning to do your trick?"
Trios raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Trick? You sadden me, my friend. I thought my powers were enough to awe you." He shook his head, dramatically.
Gerold was losing his cool after two days of sailing. "Your powers are of minor importance in this realm. Now, show this trick of yours."
"Hmm, only if you say 'please'," Trios said.
Gerold gritted his teeth but still did what he said. "Please, kindly show your damn trick!"
Trios giggled like a little girl and went inside the ship to his cabin. After a while, he came out with a fishing rod and a stool in his hand. Gerold was dumbstruck as he was expecting him to do something flashy but Trios was bringing a damn fishing rod. What was he going to do, fish a leviathan?
"I'm beginning to think that it was a mistake to trust you…" Gerold murmured under his breath as Kobo groaned beside him.
Trios snorted upon hearing his words. "Huh, a mortal won't understand the complicity of godly matters." He pointed to the road on his hand. "With this road, you can even catch a bird in the sea. You only believe what your limited imagination can create, being a god requires much more than imagination."
Gerold did not say anything and waited for Trios to do his trick. Trios put the stool on the hull and took out a little box from his pocket and opened it. He quickly picked a little orb from the box and baited it to the hook. He cast the rod as soon as he baited it.
Trios rested the rod on the ship's rails and sat onto his stool. He magically took out a book inside his clothes and began to read it.
Gerold was stunned again and there were many questions he wanted to ask such as what was that little orb and why was he using it as a bait. Nevertheless, Gerold did not pry upon it as there were some secrets it was better not known.
However, Trios was not in the same opinion as he was expecting for Gerold to bombard him with questions so, in the end, he couldn't resist himself and asked, "Are you not going to ask about the orb?!"
Gerold widened his eyes hearing him yelling out but still, his curiosity came better so he relented to his question. "Okay then tell me what was it?"
"Ah, you see, Dagon or as you know the god of seas is a dear friend of mine so he gifted me some sweets that could make gods reach climax and I thought what is the better way to draw out a god than using this as bait. I mean orb is so rare that even one of them could grant you a wish from any god." Trios's reply was actually logical in a sense as it was giving an immediate solution for their problem.
However, there was one more question on Gerold's mind. "If it is so valuable then why are you using it for something like this?"
Trios smirked. "Do you really think that I will give it to him just like that? Of course, I will pull it out at the last moment, such a precious thing couldn't be spent on such unimportant matters. Anyway, it will take at least an hour so you should rest a little bit before the meeting."
Gerold nodded his head. "Alright, then I will be in the cabin with Kobo. Call on us when God comes." He went to the cabin with Kobo as their long wait began.
A day has passed but there was still no movement in the sea. Trios pulled out the bait twice to look if it had been taken while he was reading his book but it was still there. On the second day, a whale swam right beside them and Gerold thought it to be a leviathan but Trios assured him it was not.
By the morning of the third day, both Trios and Gerold were asleep while the waters stirred. The sky was covered with grey clouds and the wind was stronger than ever. At first, it was a little nudge right below the sea but then a sound of a wave crashing to the side of the ship was heard.
Both Gerold and Trios stirred from the sleep with the crashing of waves. Trios immediately pulled out the orb and pocketed it to his little box while Gerold went out with his staff on his hand. However, what he saw was sure to be engraved on his mind.
A giant leviathan was flying in the sky but half of his body was still in the water. It was at least sixty meters long and it was grey-skinned.
"Ahahaha, here he comes!" Trios bellowed out looking at the giant fish. However, his laughter was cut short as more leviathans jumped out of the water but these ones had no wings and their size was not as big as the one with wings.
"Trios is this a normal thing?" Gerold asked with a little fear in his voice. Though he was known as the Prophet, he was still a mortal man and getting drowned or getting eaten by a fish was a cause of death for him.
"Well, it never happened to me but…" Trios was not able to finish his words as one of the leviathans fell upon the ship and cleaved it right from the middle.
All three of them slid down to the broken part of the ship and fell to the water. Gerold tried to hold onto something but whatever he held was sliding down with him. As soon as he fell into the water, he opened his eyes and tried to go towards an opening so he would not get pulled down with the ship.
Meanwhile, right beside Gerold was Trios and Kobo. Trios was trying to stay on the surface while Kobo was holding onto him as he did not know how to swim. The waves were crashing into each other as the leviathans were jumping out of the water.
Gerold looked around but did not see the biggest one. However, a few seconds later he felt a suction force and all three of them were sucked into the water. Darkness enveloped them from both sides as the light shining onto the water became their only lifeline.
Soon, they lost their only light source and darkness took hold of them. Gerold was rapidly losing the air in his lungs. He saw a red light far in the distance and the light was growing each second. It was pulsing like a heart and when they closed on it, it spread like a wildfire.
Gerold felt hitting a solid ground and with the impact, all the air in his lungs siphoned out. He clawed to his neck for air but it was no avail.
Suddenly, the water emptied to the sides and Gerold spat out some water. He took deep breaths with all his strength. He looked around and saw Kobo and Trios in the same situation as him.
He raised himself from the sticky ground and turned to the pulsating walls. They were on an opening but when he looked to the front, he saw a sea of fishes flopping around and some weird fishmen picking them one by one. The fishmen had legs of a human but instead of toes, they had flippers. Their head was of a fish with big eyes and they had spears made of bones on their hands.
Gerold was stupefied by the scene in front of him. Though he knew the legendary merfolk did exist, he was still not prepared to see them. However, what caught him off was not the merfolk but the fishmen behind them.
A giant fishman was sitting on a throne of flesh behind them. His eyes were moving from one place to another in seconds and a row of sharp teeth was visible on his mouth. He was not wearing anything but a tiara with a black gem on it was adorning his head.
Trios raised himself from the ground. "Damn, wasn't expecting such an entrance…"
As his voice faded, the attention of the merfolk came upon them. They shrieked and lunged onto them.