GODS OF ASEROTH: The Prodigal Son: A monster is born

by Asher, Yarid

  “Well, you already told us to go to the mermaid waters, which is a gift for me. I usually avoid going there and hunt stray mermaids instead because I am scared they might outnumber and kill me, but with you at my side, no one can even touch us.”

  Leosher smiled and walked into the bed chamber that Barian had provided for his king. He sat there on the hard and somewhat wet bed, tired. He was so tired that soon he fell asleep. After a few hours, he suddenly woke up with a shudder and when he got up, there was yelling on the deck of the ship. It was rocking violently and there were thrashing and crashing noises outside. He quickly got out of his bed chamber and saw that a violent creature had wrapped its tentacles around one of the ship and was crushing it. All the other ships were harpooning it but then he saw that there was something holding the beast from crushing the ship he himself was on. It was Virgil and Azar. They were using magic to hold the creatures off while Urey was continuously shooting arrows in the water to kill it.

  For some reason, the beast was not showing its face. Leosher could see Usere fighting on one of the other ships, using his sword to cut the tentacles but the tentacles were too big, bigger than the ships, therefore he only managed to make small, pointless cuts on them which did not affect the beast whatsoever. Leosher was in a haze but then suddenly there was a wave of mermaids coming towards them. A wave of spears shot over them, over the ships and hit the beast’s tentacles very accurately. The mermaids had come to rescue the ships from the beast and they were successful. The beast backed away and swam towards the dark and murky waters and soon he was out of sight.

  Just as Barian saw that the beast had wandered away and the mermaids had arrived, he quickly took his focus off of the beast and pointed his harpoons towards the mermaids. He began harpooning them viciously but Urey ran and grabbed his hands to save them “They were only helping us!”

  Barian did not listen to him and accidentally hit Urey in the face with the back of a harpoon but Urey did not consider it an accident. He grabbed his bow and smacked Barian in the face so hard that he broke his bow in half. Barian was knocked out by that attack, because the bow was thick yet stretchy wood. He fell off of the ship and into the waters but the mermaids caught him and kept him afloat.

  All was calm and still now but then suddenly, the calm, placid waters began to ripple and the king of the mermaids rose out of them. When he got out of water, his tail and fins became legs and some of the water became a loincloth around his waist. He had a crown and two golden spears in his hands. The water became steps and he boarded the ships. He looked at Leosher and began talking “Are you the Empirion king, everyone has been talking about?”

  “Yes,” replied Leosher “I am the Empirion king. What do you want?”

  “I am Lampus, the king of the mermaids and the sea, the only place which is not ruled by the evil lords of the land, and I would like your help.”

  “What is in it for me? What do I gain by helping you?” asked Leosher demandingly.

  “You will be rewarded heavily.” But then he stopped for a moment and looked around and then fixed his eyes on Leosher again “Would you consider going beneath the waters with me?”

  “Yes, but my friends will join me.”

  Leosher called Virgil, Urey, Azar, and Neiham and he also called Usere from the other ship. When he was done calling his friends, Lampus gave Leosher a Talisman “I only have one, because this is the Talisman of Remases, the god of sea. It will help you breath underwater.”

  “What of my companions?”

  “Ah yes, your companions,” He looked at a beautiful mermaid and she brought red rose-like flowers out of the sea and handed it to Lampus who in turn told them to eat the flowers. The flowers were bitter and juicy but they had to eat them and just as they did, they were given the ability to breath underwater. When all were ready, they jumped in water, alongside their king, and swam into the city of the mermaids and towards the inner city. The city was lavish and beautiful. They used a lot of glass and gold. The dry land creatures, Leosher and the others were quite astonished by the sight of this city but they were not here for a vacation.

  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,

  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,

  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 the beast will rise again,

  to bring forth the eternal pain.

  The sun of hope has risen,

  and the battle has begun.

  But we remember one thing,

  we 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 Leviathan. 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,

  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 the beast will rise again,

  to bring forth the eternal pain.

  The sun of hope has risen,

  and the battle has begun.

  But we remember one thing,

  we 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 des
tiny.”

  That put hope in his mind and he opened his eyes. They had turned red with anger and he swam towards the beast angrily. He held his breath and his tied hair had opened now and flowed around in the water freely. When he finally went close to the beast, he saw nothing but a scaly beast but then the beast opened its eye and Leosher was right in front of it. Leviathan’s eye was bigger than Leosher himself. He acted quickly and took his Scythe to cut the eye. He drove it in the eyes and cut it in half. After that, something struck Leosher and he went unconscious again. It was not a physical thing that knocked Leosher out but it was a spiritual being, it was his mother talking to him and yet again, he ended up in the white void.

  “Leosher, you are brave and courageous. It takes courage to go against the Leviathan but your arrogance made you face the Leviathan. I do not wish to help you but I cannot stay without helping either. Just remember, this is the last time I will help you, for you have disappointed me with your evil desires and your hunger for power. If you desire more help from the gods, change your ways and only then, you shall receive the things you want.”

  Leosher quickly opened his eyes and saw that his brother had jumped into the water to pull him out. He grabbed Leosher’s hand and swam up to the ship where they all regrouped again, with the original warriors, Usere, Urey, Neiham and Azar.

  “This is hard and beyond our power” said Urey “We cannot defeat it. We have not even seen it; all we have been doing is battle its tentacles.”

  “Trust me,” said Leosher “We can defeat it, for you all have me on your side and nothing can defeat a god that was created to be stronger than all.”

  Just as he said that, a huge wave rose up and knocked all of them off of the ship and then the beast rose out of the waters.

  It was gigantic, bigger than the entire village that Leosher was from. Its scales were shut tight, and did not let any air or metal pass through. His eyes were numerous, like those of a spider. His face was like a turtle, long and sharp. His tentacles were like those of an octopus’s, big and thick. Its arms were long and strong like a bear’s. Its claws were like a lions, long and strong and his legs were scaly and short but he was big enough to stand in the deep sea without having to float. His stomach was not pierceable and it was buried under a thick layer of rock like scales. Its teeth were sharp and countless. If one broke, another grew in its place; its mouth was a void, whatever went inside, never came out; its tail was like long trees, tied together. It swept oceans clean of its creature. Its roar was jaw dropping and heart stopping; even the mightiest ran from its roar. It was black in color and its numerous eyes were yellow with red pupils. Its teeth were yellow and its claws were yellow as well. Its tail had a claw-like end to it, which was capable enough to sweep the entire Empirion army out of the sea without any effort.