The Hero held the large shield in his hands as Arkanos manipulated the waves towards their destination. The young man studied the symbol on the face, tracing over the uneven surface that was the symbol. He had never seen something this complex or exotic before. The most advanced thing he could think of was their advanced stone fishing hooks; the best in all the islands. Holding the shield with both hands, the Hero flipped the shield to look at the reverse side, closely looking at the leather straps. He could see that the area where the straps attached appeared odd; the metal seemed to have cracked. What was odd about these cracks was that they were unnaturally straight. The Hero, having never seen a material like this, assumed that it was supposed to appear as such.
Kulana was looking through their supplies on the canoe, making sure they had enough food for their journey. They were going to have to stop somewhere to hunt. Her worries immediately shifted once she felt the canoe vibrate. It wasn't the shaking of the sea that caused the disturbance, something below was coming up. She looked up, seeing Arkanos setting the oar aside and reaching for the great sword sheathed on his back. The Hero was looking wary as well, gently setting the shield down and going for his axe. She slowly crept to the side of the boat looking down into the water.
She saw nothing, which in itself was a concern. She should have seen some shapes in the water: some fish, coral, anything. All she saw was darkness.
Then the darkness moved.
It shifted, showing the ocean blue as it swam upwards. As the shape came closer, Kulana could begin to make out its features: Teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. A large amount of teeth that it seemed unnatural that this creature would be able to use those teeth.
She turned to see Arkanos jumping off of the canoe and into the air, pulling out his great sword. The large blade bounce the sun's light, focusing a concentrated ray down towards the ocean, illuminating the water. The beast was revealed, the creature causing the Hero and Kulana to gasp. Those teeth were not a part of its mouth, rather a long thin tentacle with a bulbous end which was wide open, prepared to consume the canoe. Having the sun's light focused on the creature's limb however caused it to retract, allowing Kulana to see the rest of the monster's form: a large squid-like creature with features of a snake. Four long tentacles began to move, propelling the beast forward.
Looking up, Kulana saw Arkanos fall towards the water, pointing his blade forward and twirling in the air, cleanly diving into the water. Kulana quickly moved to the side of the canoe to look back into the water, seeing how Arkanos' sword glowed in the water. The fallen god moved unnaturally in the water, like a fishing spear in flight. He connected with the beast, causing the sea monster to write as the blade cut it. Kulana turned to look at the Hero; who seemed impatient and eager to jump into the water. Just as he began to move to dive into the water, Kulana stopped him, threatening to turn over the canoe.
"Let me go! This is what I'm supposed to do!" The Hero shouted, struggling against Kulana's grasp, his voice cracking as he rubbed his scars against her arms.
"No! You're job is to survive and make it back to my sister!" She shouted, trying to keep them from falling into the water. "That is a King Serpent Squid! You thought the ink we put on you burned? That monster's simple touch would melt your skin!" Hearing that, the Hero seemed to not struggle as hard, but was still trying to get out of her grasp. She then saw the Hero look forward, his eyes showing the setting sun.
Wait, that wasn't good. She turned to see that on the horizon the sun was indeed setting, meaning that it would be night soon, and the monster could surface and consume them. She released the Hero and looked over the canoe once more.
Arkanos was dashing around the beast, the sword causing the monster to jerk violently. But she could see that the battle was coming closer to the surface, threatening to smash into the canoe. The next thing she saw startled her though.
The flash of light sinking into the deep, and the squid swinging at Arkanos. A shape was approaching the surface quickly, causing Kulana to fall back on the canoe as Arkanos broke the surface of the water and flying into the sky. Kulana watched as the fallen god flew up into the air, then fell back down, hitting the water hard. She focused on the god, who was floating to the surface of the water, strange black marks spreading across his body.
"That ain't no normal Serpent Squid..." Arkanos muttered, regaining consciousness. "That's one of Rotiak's hellspawn..." He swam towards the canoe, very well aware of the monster that lurked below. He grabbed onto the edge of the canoe and looked towards the Hero. "Boy..." He winced, trying to hang on to the canoe fighting the pain surging through him. "...the shield. Bring it here."
The Hero complied, dragging the large shield across the canoe and to Arkanos. Neither Kulana or the Hero understood how it would help. He then looked towards Kulana. "Priestess, I need a sharp object. His axe is too blunt." Hearing his words, she moved quickly, opening the hatch to the canoe and pulling out a small stone knife. He grabs the knife and jabs at the strange crease the Hero was studying earlier.
Arkanos pushed the knife into the crease, trying to pop the metal off the shield. Both Kulana and the Hero were confused as to why he was trying to break this perfectly good cutting knife in this strange metal. Both were equally as surprised when the knife did not break, but rather the shield metal flew off revealing an odd metal circle.
Similar to the metal cavity that was on Arkanos' arm.
Arkanos slammed his right arm against the canoe, the metal cap protecting the circuitry flying off and falling into the ocean. He pressed the limb against the shield, the wires coming to life and melding with the ones connected to Arkanos. The Hero and Kulana watched as the shield began to break apart, losing its circular shape and shrinking into a more longer shape. Just as the parts of the shield began to take it's new shape, Arkanos was dragged back into the water, causing Kulana and the Hero to rush over to the side and look down into the depths
The monster was closer to the surface now that the sun had fallen, and it appeared that it was about to eat the fallen god with one of its tentacles. One of the mouths consuming the god that was supposed to help save the world. Kulana gasped, worried that they had just lost their hope.
Then, it happened.
The tentacle's mouth began to glow gold, beams of light shining through the skin. Kulana could see the tentacle begin to melt away. The mouth exploded and she could see Arkanos, or rather Arkanos' new arm, glowing under the surface with the light of the sun. The monster, now in full light, tried to swim away from the sun's light, but Arkanos quickly grabbed the remaining tentacle and held the monster near, allowing the light of the sun to do it's work.
Kulana and the Hero both watched as the massive king serpent squid melted away, fading into the current and becoming nothing more than water.
Arkanos released what was left of the beast and swam back up to the surface, climbing onto the canoe with his new golden arm. Kulana and the Hero could do nothing but stare. The fallen god held his left hand out, and moments later, the massive blade flew out from the ocean and laded in his hand, allowing him to properly secure the blade against his back.
Finally after a moment, Kulana spoke. "So did you know your shield could be a new arm?"
"Forget if he knew, why the hell did you make me carry your arm if you were strong enough to do so?" The Hero spouted out, moving forward towards Arkanos.
The god held the Hero by the neck, holding him with his new metal arm. The Hero grabbed the golden limb, trying fruitlessly to pry the limb off of him. Arkanos then turned to look at Kulana. "To answer your question first, I didn't. After I was incapacitated, I woke up on that island. It was only Phrea who told me what had happened. She was the one who left me the shield." He looked towards his new arm, seeing strange markings on the underside of the forearm. Reading it to himself, he smiled. Then flipping his arm, he saw the symbol on the back of the hand, an Omega. "I just had a feeling that there was something up with that panel. Glad my hunch proved fortuitous." The god then looked up to the now vibrant night sky, seemingly towards the Hand of the All Mother. Kulana looked towards the constellation and swore she saw a face looking back through the stars.
He then turned his head towards the Hero who stopped struggling and was watching the god. "And the reason I asked you to carry it was so I could see how strong you were. I must say you are lacking. Even the weakest hero I know could lift a shield that size." The god's expression was harsh and cruel, piercing the Hero's already questioned purpose. He knew he was only here because of his lineage. He knew it should have bee someone else. Arkanos released the Hero, dropping him to the canoe. "We need to train you, and fast. Luckily, we are heading to a rather large island." Both Kulana and the Hero looked forward as Arkanos began row, seeing the island in the distance. "Once we set up camp, you and I are going hunting, boy."