Luca stood at the edge of the galleon's deck, the wind whipping through his hair as he stared intently at the distant silhouette of an island. The rain had stopped and the sky was pale gray. Aiko sensed Luca's focus and approached silently to stand beside him, her eyes following his gaze.
"What's wrong?" Aiko asked, her voice soft but inquisitive.
Luca pointed to the far-off landmass. "You see that there? That's an island."
Aiko squinted, then her eyes went wide as realization dawned on her. "An island? Wait…," she broke off, a growing hint of unease in her tone, "we're not getting any closer to it."
Luca frowned as he took a harder look. "What do you mean?" he replied. Aiko was right: the island still hovered in the same distance, yet the galleon was going at a stable pace. They were pursuing a mirage.
"I'll go take a look," Luca said with a firm edge in his voice. "I'll be back."
In the blink of an eye, Luca launched into the air and shot towards the island at the breaking of the sound barrier. As he closed in, there was something strange-the island was mobile. The closer he came, the more unnerving the view was: waves propagated from its base, so it was not standing still.
"What is this?" Luca mumbled, flying lower, closer to the water surface. Looking into its depths, he saw something huge—a pair of enormous legs swinging under the waves. Luca's heart jumped. "I didn't know islands could move…"
Realizing the enormity of the situation, Luca dove beneath the water. The cold shock of the ocean hit him, but he pushed forward, eyes adjusting to the murky darkness. Then, he saw it-huge legs each as wide as a mountain rhythmically propelled the landmass through the water. Luca gasped, bubbles escaping his mouth as his mind processed what he was seeing.
He quickly broke the surface again, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. "What the-?" Luca muttered. The next instant, he was off, flying to the head of the island and launching himself into the water once more. This time, he was faced with the enormous head of a turtle. Its eyes, once shut and serene, snapped open with a vengeance. Luca's blood ran cold as he shot out of the water back toward the ship with all possible haste.
Luca hit the deck, whipping his head back and forth, sending water flying from the tangled wet mass of his hair. Aiko watched him like she was in a daze, her face a picture of confusion and concern. "What's going on?" she asked, plainly rattled by Luca's frantic return.
"That's not an island," Luca said, his voice shaking with the gravity of his discovery.
"What do you mean?" Aiko asked, her eyes wide.
"It's a beast-a huge turtle carrying an island on its back," Luca explained, still panting.
"A huge monster?" Aiko repeated, her voice high with alarm. "Oh God, we should decelerate."
"No need," Luca replied, attempting to soothe her. "It saw me but has no interest in us… I think. But where is it going?
Before they could ponder further, a huge shadow darkened the sky. They turned and watched in horror as their eyes grew wide when a giant tentacle leapt from the ocean, huge as a skyscraper. It wrapped around the island, clenching with its grip until the very land began to crack and crumble.
"Is that…," Aiko whispered almost inaudibly.
It came down upon the island with terrible force, grinding it into rubble before dragging it beneath the waves. The shockwaves of its destruction shot towering waves crashing toward the galleon. Luca and Aiko watched, dumbfounded, as the water roared toward them.
The Battle
Leon, Lefn, and the others all rushed up onto the deck, faces alarmed by the sudden chaos. "What is going on?" Leon shouted over the roaring wind and water.
With Luca's heart racing, he ran to the deck. "We have to go faster-now! Anything heavy overboard!" he ordered, his voice firm with urgency.
Lefn immediately felt the weight of what was happening and took to lessening the weight of everything on the ship. The galleon picked up speed, but it wasn't enough for Luca as could be told by looking at him. "There is a huge creature below us," Luca said, his voice strained.
Aiko asked, terror seeping into her voice. "What are we going to do? We're going to die here!"
"No, we're not," Luca replied firmly. "I promised to keep you safe, and that's just what I'll do. I'll fight this thing, even if it kills me."
"Oh, great, because here's your chance," Aiko said, shaking. "Something's coming, and it's fast!"
In an instant, huge tentacles burst out in every direction from the water and wrapped around the ship. "NOOOO!" Luca shrieked, his hands up in the air in a shielding gesture. The tentacles slammed into the shield, and with each strike, the shield cracked and weakened.
"This won't hold," Lefn warned, the sound of panic in his voice.
Luca's mind was racing, and he knew they had only moments before the barrier would shatter completely. "Lefn!" Luca yelled, "I need for you to make this boat so heavy it sinks! I want you all to hold on to the ship!"
"We're going to die," Lefn protested, fear clutching him.
"No, we're not! Just trust me!" on my command Lefn, Luca shouted.
As the barriers were breaking, Luca was watching the barrier closely, he was waiting for the perfect moment. The barrier was cracking by the second and Luca Shouted. NOWW!.
Lefn nodded. In that minute, he was down to work, multiplying the ship's weight manyfold. The galleon dived into the depths at a very alarming pace. When the ship reached its lowest point, which finally stopped falling, Luca launched himself from the boat, holding a large javelin, well over the length of the ship. Gathering all his strength, he plunged it into the ocean's depths with incredible force. The spear-like stick cut through the water like a missile.
Luca swam back to the sinking boat quickly and, with his telekinesis, heaved Lefn, Aiko, Leon, and the others out of the water. He made a new barrier in the air and set them down safely upon it. They looked around, disoriented but dry.
"What happened?" Lefn asked, his voice trembling.
"I put a barrier around you guys," Luca replied, still breathing hard.
"Is the creature dead?" Leon asked, warily eyeing the water.
"From a spear that strong and with that speed? Yes, it's dead," Luca said without hesitation. Leon said, the ship is gone too. was that necessary. Luca said yes. "If I had only gone down, the creature would have had time to react. Given its size, I would have lost. But when the boat sank it probably thought it had caught us, so I used that moment to strike."
Aiko was still shaking in her boots but turned to Luca and scolded him, "Next time, warn us before you do something stupid, dammit!"
"There was no time," Luca replied lightly, but his voice betrayed fatigue.
"What now?" Lefn asked as he looked at the sky and ocean that were empty of anything.
"We're not stranded," Luca said, already a plan forming in his head. "I'll build us a new ship." He turned to Leon. "Leon, give me your loudest roar.
Knowing what Luca would do, Leon filled his lungs with air and hollered loud across the sea, and with that scream, Luca created a new boat with the energy from it this time, rather cruder than the galleon he had created. He felt utterly exhausted from the effort. He staggered a little. "If there is anything missing, forgive me-it's the best I could do."
Aiko ran to his side. "Are you okay? You must be so tired."
"I am," Luca said, his voice barely above a whisper. He carried them all onto the new boat and then fell onto the deck. "You guys do whatever-I'm exhausted. I'm going to tap out."
Everyone looked at each other, confused, but eventually they all nodded. "Okay…," they said in unison, still trying to wrap their heads around everything that had just happened.
"We should probably rest up too," Lefn said wearily.
"Yeah," Leon said as they entered the new galleon. "We're all stressed after what just happened." As they sat down, Leon added, "I didn't know anything that big existed…"
The body of the huge creature floated on the water, far out on the horizon. In a short time, however, something much larger rose from below the waves and in one gigantic bite, it swallowed the fallen monster. The ocean was still once more, eerily calm, as the galleon sailed into the mystery.