X stumbled backwards, his hands raising as a ring of silver light surrounding his palm.
"You! How did you get all the way out here!" X exclaimed as The Butterfly stood from his desk. His form had changed. He no longer wearing a suit, nor did he have messy, unkempt, brown hair. His signature scar had seemed to be gone and his jawline had shrunk. He had renewed, evidently.
"It's a long story, but that's not why I've brought you here. I have a challenge for you." He stated.
"What's the challenge then? Why did you have to almost flood an aquarium full of children to get me here?" X queried as he took a seat, watching as The Butterfly did the same. There was something in his eyes, and it concerned X deeply. He was enjoying this, a sick, grotesque smile spread wide across his face.
"Well you see, brother-" The Butterfly began, swiftly being cut off by X.
"We are NOT brothers. Genetically, maybe. But socially, I refuse to even acknowledge your existence." X snarled, realising his interruption and allowing him to continue.
"-There is a reason scientists on Earth have explored more of space than their own oceans." The Butterfly went on, looking to X as a puzzled look spread from ear to ear.
"I never noticed that...?" X trailed off, thinking.
"For millions of years, there has been a creature, living in the deepest, darkest corners of The Atlantic Ocean." The Butterfly continued. "I would know, I put it there. Starving at the bottom of the ocean, all alone for several hundreds of thousands of years would give one quite the appetite." The Butterfly finished, his smile twisting into more of a frown.
"So, now for the challenge. You must, on your own, defeat The Beast of The Atlantic. If you do not, it will eat you and everyone else on this planet. You have two hours. Go." He smirked, his butterfly mark glowing as he vanished.
X bolted from his chair and checked his watch. It had a timer of two hours.
"Damn, I don't have much time. Alright, think!" he exclaimed, slapping his hands against the sides of his head, looking around, eyes wide.
He took a look out the window, the streets below lined with creatures. They were not human, yet there weren't aliens either. Something in between. Did they know about The Beast? Only The Butterfly could do something so diabolical.
X phased through the wall and window to the air outside, floating mid-air as if swimming in non-existent water. He rockets through the air, transforming his arms into wings of skin, he bursts back through the hole in the dome and out to the open sea. His wings act almost as propellers, sending him speeding through a jet stream of water.
He kept speeding through for around about an hour with nothing but artificial coral reefs, underwater naval bases and sunken cruise liners to be seen. Until eventually, he heard it. The roaring sound, amplified only by another, and another.
"Perfect! Of course, it has three heads, why wouldn't it?" X complained to himself, speeding off towards the noise.
He hadn't been zooming around this ocean for too long, he passed old Atlantic City, the new Atlantic City. Both of which had been sunk during 'World War Seven Point Two' as it was affectionately known.
He passed the third 'Titanic', sailed in 2691, sunk in 2692. It surprised him how many famous landmarks lie underneath these oceans. But what was up ahead of him was the scare he needed to continue.
Forward, he could see red, and only red. As if someone had turned the ocean to blood. He continued through the blood, not daring to look left or right to find the source of the hundreds of gallons of blood, just speeding forward, through it all as if it were nothing. Until he saw it.
A hideous beast of three heads, with an elongated body covered in rough scales. Its eyes were glossed over with white like the Iris had been scooped clean out of the eye. Each head had its own set of ferocious teeth, each the size of skyscrapers, coated in the same thick blood that surrounded them.
It roared again, all of the three heads letting out a deafening blast of sound, all at once. The very water seemed to tip and shake under its voice.
X floated there, in the middle of the deep red, almost frozen with fear. It raced forward, the middle of the three heads locking its eyes on to X. It hinged its jaw, prepared to bite into him.
X dodged downwards, kicking the beasts centre head up and off its body, a burst of slimy green blood exploded out into the sea, covering X.
He rocketed forward to attack another head, when two more bursts out, attacking him and sending him flying back, a smaller tooth the size of an icicle flies right through the centre of his stomach.
He coughed a wad of golden blood into the sea. It floated off into the ocean, glowing and light its path. X looked down at his stomach and pulled out the tooth. The lining of the newly created orifice began glowing white and slowly beginning to clear itself up, but not fast enough. X would surely die if he didn't do something quick and get home.
X recalled something he had written an essay on during his monster training course at The Temple.
'The Hydra, killed by Heracles and Lolaus. Heracles would slice a head off, Lolalus would then rush in and seal the wound with flame, preventing another head from growing. After Heracles removed the final head, they buried it under a large rock.'
This creature almost definitely matched the description of The Hydra. Slightly larger, maybe. But definitely a Hydra.
X rushed at the beast, dodging a head by swimming under its giant body. He kicked the beast upwards and out of the water.
It writhed and roared above the water, unable to breathe, it wriggled pathetically. X had to act fast if he wanted to get out of this alive.
A large black broadsword appeared in his hand, he sliced a head off, quickly using the other hand to explode flame towards the wound. It became a burnt charcoal colour. It squirmed as he dodged another head, slicing it off and burning the wound.
One head after another he sliced and burnt until finally, the last head, the immortal head, was gone. He dropped the body and all the heads back into the ocean, creating a large boulder and hiding it underneath.
He dived back into the water and sped back to the aquarium to find Z and Lilly. But when he got there, there was no one. Every single person who was in the aquarium had all disappeared, and there was no sign of Z or Lilly anywhere.
His vision began to blur, drifting from left to right.
"Oh damn." He mumbled, before the hole in his chest won, and he collapsed to the floor.
His vision went black, he could hear no one, and he slipped from consciousness.
YOU ARE READING
Tales of the Oracli - (almost) COMPLETE EDITION
Fiksi IlmiahI was writing this book for many years and have since decided to turn the series and all my plans for it into a comic series. As such, I have decided to publish all the work I had done on this story for the world to see. I hope everyone enjoys!
