Aqua- the Unforgiving Sea

by J. C. Ritchie

“Now the fun can begin.” Lust said smiling as the water began to bubble and rise behind her.

  “What’s happening?” Cyrus asked as the ground began to shake and the ocean bubbled.

  “Everyone, get back now!” Vaahn commanded.

  The four of them jumped back a few feet unsure of what was about to happen.

  Suddenly a large creature rose from the sea. It had the head and body of a woman, and the tail of a fish. It had dark colored skin, the color of the clouds in a thunderstorm. The creature had long black hair and glowing red eyes.

  It was Aquarus.

  “Is that?” Emelia asked.

  “Yes, the sea goddess Aquarus.” Vaahn said.

  “She must be tainted by Lust’s dark magic.” Cyrus said.

  Creo’s body froze with fear, the beast was even more terrifying than the three-headed dragon from before and about ten times larger.

  The evil Aquarus counterpart roared and swiped its large claw across the docks, ripping the structure apart.

  “We can’t stay here, we will all be killed.” Vaahn said.

  Cyrus removed his summon tome from his bag and opened it. “Lord of the skies, I summon you!” he shouted as Valefore appeared above them. The winged beast swooped down, and Cyrus hopped on its back.

  “Emelia grab my hand.” Her brother said holding his hand out, reaching for her.

  Emelia grabbed her brothers hand and jumped on the back of the beast behind him and together they took off into the sky.

  “How are we supposed to get out of here master?” Creo asked.

  “Don’t worry Creo, mages have something just as impressive.” He said as he rushed off the wreckage and jumped down towards the water.

  “Were going to swim?” Creo thought.

  He looked down but couldn’t find his master anywhere. “Master!” he shouted.

  “Creo jump!” Vaahn shouted back.

  “What?” Creo said. “But why?”

  “Just do it!” Vaahn shouted over the roar of the waters.

  Creo closed his eyes and jumped off what was left of the docks. He wasn’t a very good swimmer, but he had trusted his master. Suddenly he opened his eyes, he was standing.

  He looked down and could clearly see the water beneath his feet.

  He was standing on water.

  “How is this for impressive.” Vaahn said from behind him.

  “We are standing on top of the water!?” Creo asked nearly jumping out of his own skin.

  “That’s right, mages can use their magic to do extraordinary things.” Vaahn said. “Including walking on water.”

  “Amazing.” Creo said.

  “No time to think about that, best we not get killed today.” His master said.

  Creo nodded as they began to run around Aquarus.

  “Ignis!” Vaahn shouted casting his fireball spells and throwing them at Aquarus, who seemed to be unphased by his magic.

  Cyrus and Emelia flew around trying to locate Lust. “There.” Emelia said pointing to Aquarus’ right shoulder.

  “Excellent, good work sister.” Cyrus said. “Valefore move in on Aquarus’ right.”

  The beast shrieked and lowered its body, maintaining it's speed.

  “Damn, they found me.” Lust said, conjuring a black energy ball in her hands and hurling it at them.

  Valefore moved to the left and quickly dodged the attack. “Attack!” Cyrus commanded the beast.

  The winged Numina moved in and grabbed Lust with its large talons picking her up off Aquarus’ shoulder.

  Lust struggled to get free from Valefore’s talons but couldn’t manage to break away.

  Valefore flew high into the air above the sea and quickly changed direction. The beast began to take a nosedive down towards the water. It increased it’s speed almost ten fold and just before they flew into the ocean, the beast threw Lust in with great force and turned upward.

  “Yes, that’s the way Valefore.” Cyrus said celebrating the successful attack.

  Valefore shrieked in appreciation for it’s praise.

  Lust slowly rose out of the water and stood on it’s surface glaring at them from below. Her mouth opened wide revealing razor-sharp teeth. She had gotten down on all fours and began to gather energy on the outside of her mouth.

  “Cyrus, what is that?” Emelia asked looking on in horror.

  “I’ve seen this attack before, hang on.” He said preparing for her attack.

  Lust fired the large energy ball from her jaws, carefully aiming and Valefore hoping to knock it out of the sky.

  Valefore maneuvered out of the way of Lust’s attack and flew in towards her.

  The energy ball expanded in mid-air producing many smaller beams of energy that fell from the sky upon them.

  Valefore managed to escape a few of the beams of energy but ultimately could not out run them all. Several of the attacks struck Valefore’s right wing knocking him off balance mid-air.

  Emelia fell from the beasts back, and quickly grabbed hold of its body trying to pull herself back up onto it’s back.

  “Cyrus, I can’t hold on!” Emelia shouted.

  “Grab my hand!” Cyrus screamed extending his hand to her.

  Emelia struggled to grab hold of her brother’s hand. She tried not once but twice more until she finally grasped it.

  Cyrus used all his strength to pull his sister back up onto the Numina. However, they weren’t safe for very long for the beast hit the ground hard causing the Numina shadow to disappear.

  Luckily for Emelia and Cyrus they landed on the beach and rolled across the sand. The ground below them had lessen the danger from the fall but they were still injured badly. Cyrus cried out in pain. Emelia crawled her way over to her brother who was lying on the ground a few feet from her.

  “Are you alright?” Emelia asked worried for her brother.

  “I…I can’t move my left arm.” Cyrus said weakly.

  “It may be broken.” His sister said trying to examine it.

  She placed her hands on her brothers injured arm as a green aura began to envelope it. She tried as hard as she could to heal his arm with magic, only time would tell whether she was successful or not.

  Lust walked across the water and onto the beach. Cyrus and Emelia were helpless against her. She had no prior knowledge of fighting skills, and her brother nearly blacked out from extreme pain. There was nothing that either one of them could do.

  Lust transformed her arm into a blade just as she had before in her last fight with Cyrus. “This time I’ll make sure that I finish you.” She said licking her daemon lips.

  ***

  Finn Reigns knocked on the chancellor’s office door, nervous about his meeting with the most powerful man in all Lytos.

  “You may come in.” a voice said. He assumed that the voice belonged to Chancellor Lars.

  Finn pushed the door open slowly and walked inside the large white office.

  “Ah, Mr. Reigns do come in.” Lars said. “Please have a seat.”

  The Chancellor pointed to the chair in front of his desk and Finn walked over and sat down just as he was told. He looked over to his right to find another man in the room looking out one of the large windows at the side of the office. He was older with white hair and white beard. He wore elegant white and gold robes and seemed to be of a higher social class than most Finn had ever met.

  “Finn, have you met High Priest Reganus XIII?” Lars asked.

  Finn could almost choke on the lump in his throat, The High Priest here? Now?

  “Your grace.” Finn said rising from his seat and kneeling before the elegantly clothed man.

  High Priest Reganus turned and smiled at him with a warm, compassionate smile that Finn wasn’t expecting. Especially not from someone as powerful as Reganus.

  “Stand my child, there is no need for all of that.” the High Priest said. “Do you know why we have called you here today, Finn Reigns?”

  Finn shook his head, “No your grace, I’m afraid I do not
.”

  “Well my boy, it’s been said that you went to see the Seer just yesterday correct?” Reganus asked.

  “Yes, your Grace.” Finn replied.

  “And your social standing?” Reganus continued.

  Finn cleared his throat quickly, “I am to be a Knight of Mercy your grace.” He said. “I can finally fulfill my dream.”

  The High Priest smiled once more, “Good, good. Then I guess we will just have to hurry this process along wont we?” he asked.

  “Process your grace?” Finn asked curiously.

  Reganus looked to his right at Lars and nodded, “You will train here for a month, you will train hard and then you will join the search with a carefully put together group of powerful knights.” Lars explained.

  Finn was puzzled, “Search sir?” he asked. “I’m sorry, I’m just a bit confused.”

  “A search for Creo Naviae.” The High Priest spoke up. “You are his friend are you not?”

  Finn shook his head, “He was my friend, but all that is left of that friendship now are lies and hatred.” Finn said confidently.

  “You see your grace?” Lars said. “What better person to carry out the order?”

  “Order?” Finn asked.

  “To kill Creo Naviae.” High Priest Reganus said smiling once again.

  ***

  “Ignis!” Vaahn shouted repeatedly. “Ignis!”

  His fire spells were still not working, they were a joke compared to Aquarus’ power. The Numina used her claws to splash the water around her creating great waves which Creo and his master were very careful to avoid.

  “Master, what do we do?” Creo asked.

  Vaahn didn’t have any clue what they were going to do, there was no escaping such a large opponent. His spells already drained him of a lot of his mana. They needed to think of a plan and fast.

  Aquarus drove her fist into the water in front of them causing a massive tidal wave to rise over them. It came down at an alarming rate, Vaahn removed his sword and held it out. “Praesidio!” he shouted casting a barrier spell around them shielding them from the immense power of the waves.

  Suddenly out of nowhere they could here the sound of cannons and gunfire. They looked behind them to find Gato’s fleet. There were many ships all armed with soldiers and cannons. They fired on Aquarus wave after wave. Their attack seemed to slow the Numina down but not for long. The more they attacked, the more Aquarus became irritated.

  “Gunfire isn’t going to be enough to take down a Numina.” Vaahn said.

  “Your right Vaahn.” A voice said.

  Suddenly the other masters of the Magusellum appeared. Vaahn and Creo instantly felt safer than they had before.

  “What took you so long old man?” Vaahn asked.

  “We were moving an entire colony of mages, what did you expect Vaahn?” Master Ruello said smiling at him. “We have this, now stand back and protect the boy.”

  Vaahn stepped back making sure that Creo was behind him and watched.

  “Masters of the Magusellum, let us quell this beast’s fury!” Ruello shouted.

  Each of the masters each launched their own elemental spell and aimed it at Aquarus. “Ignis!” Vaahn shouted also joining in on the attack.

  The spells collided with one another as they struck the Numina causing an explosion. The beast shrieked in pain and great anger.

  “Begone shadow.” Master Ruello said as his eyes began to glow a bright yellow, as bright as the sun. “Fulgur!”

  A thunderstorm quickly formed overhead, and they watched as a great bolt of lightning came down from the sky above and struck Aquarus. The beast was defeated, wriggling and writhing in agony in the middle of the sea.

  “Amazing.” Creo said.

  “That is only a fraction of Master Ruello’s power.” His master said.

  As the beast fell into the water, it’s body was so large that it caused a tidal wave even bigger than the one from before. “Hold strong everyone!” Ruello shouted as they braced themselves. All except Creo who was so mortified by its sheer size he was frozen with fear.

  The wave swept him under and he gasped for air, everything happened so fast that he blacked out for a moment.

  “Creo.” A voice said. The voice was full of panic and worry. He knew that it had to be his master’s.

  “Creo, grab my hand.” The voice said.

  He was blacked out and unconscious he knew but how was he able to hear his master?

  “Master Vaahn?” Creo said weakly.

  “Creo, you have to grab my hand.” Vaahn said urgently.

  “How can I hear you?” Creo asked. “How can I speak to you?”

  “I’m speaking to you through your mind, mage’s can tap into that kind of power.” He said. “Grab my damned hand now!”

  “I can’t.” Creo said.

  “Creo if you don’t grab my hand, you will drown, and all of this would have been for nothing.” His master said.

  “I’m not special, I’m not powerful Vaahn.” Creo said. “I lost my family, maybe it’s time that I joined them.”

  “No dammit!” his master said. “Creo you must live, you have to live.”

  “But why? What is the point in living when I have lost everything?” Creo asked.

  “Creo, your parents are alive.” Vaahn said.

  “What?” the boy asked.

  “Creo…your mother and father are alive and waiting for you.” Vaahn said.

  Creo felt a surge of power and a strong sense of purpose flowing through him, rejuvenating him instantly. Creo opened his eyes, clinging to hope.

  End of Book One