Once a God drowned here

Part 13

Again I am submerged by water. This time the water is much deeper than a knee-high canal. My clothes and equipment soak up water and add to the weight dragging me down. I am thrown into the shark tank. Inside the streets or even in the canals I am always able to stand up and fight while on my feet. Out on the open sea I am easy prey. A hand touches my back. The first fish has arrived to drag me down. But instead of pulling me deeper the hand is pushing me up to the surface. Instantly I start to swim back to the shore. This proves difficult because I still hold my sabre. Next to me emerges a figure. The fish have left no chance unanswered to attack me. The head that moves through the surface is covered in the seaweed coloured hair I have seen before. Is is Marissa who has also left the town. She was the one helping me. She reaches me my rifle. I must have lost it while being thrown in the water.

"You need to dry it out. With that much water on its body it will never stop coming back at you!"

"It is fucking raining. How do you think we could do that?"

"Your friend is a man made of fire. He can create a big flame. Tell him to get close."

The mermaid dives underwater and reappears right before me.

"Hold my hands. I will get you to the beach!"

The young mermaid got some strength. Just a little bit underwater she swims with me dragging behind her. The rushing water forces me to close my eyes. Without slowing down she lets off of my hands and I break through the water surface and roll on the beach. Whipping the sand of my face I stand on my feet to aid James. But James has stopped from fighting. James is lying on the sand with his wounds closing by the fire cleansing his wounds. I run over to him while the pale one approaches us in a slow walk.

"James! I need you to create the biggest flame you have ever dared. Get a hold of the fish and just blast it!"

"Got it, sir" The young man is visually exhausted from fighting. I am not sure if he can out up much of a fight.

"Just one good attack and I will strike it down. Give it all you have!"

James goes on the offence again. I support him by giving of a couple of shots. Bursts of fire propel him forwards. As he enters the vicinity of the pale one he tries to grab onto him but the king just slaps him away. Both of us are supported by the bullets from the lighthouse but the metal objects do no harm to the sea king. James bundles another fire fist. The fish blocks his fist with his open palm, swallowing the flames before they could prosper. The fish is thinking he had stopped James but this is exactly what James intended. He pulls himself even closer to the fish and goes ballistic. James goes all out on it. The flames create such a bright light so I can not longer hold the eye contact. The increasing heat dries the clothes I am wearing. For a few seconds the unstandable heat and brightness hold on. All of a sudden the flames go out. James has given it all he has. Exhausted he falls over and to the ground. Now it is my turn to finish the fish of. The pale king has indeed dried out. Now slim and wounded by the flames it is stunned. Even the rain has stopped. James flames were so strong that the uprising heat has pushed away the clouds above us ending the rain. I can not imagine what James could be capable of in a few years. The ground is scorched leaving the sand burned to glass. For the last time I gather all my strength to land a spirit attack. The extended blade cuts through the Cliffside several yards away, into the pale kings torso and through the sand. The injury is heavy enough for it to fall on its back without another breath. Just as its live ended the rain kicks back in. We have taken down the threat. Just after a couple minutes the short life of the pale king from the ocean finds its end. With the pale newborn king and his loyal servant slain the remaining fish flee into the ocean. Some of them even commit suicide on the sight of their dead king. After all that is the only thing it has taken for the fish people to give up. No mass killings, no destruction of land. Only the death of their newborn monarch.

The aftermath revealed the eminent threat that the fish people pose to human civilisation. As planned the whole town is burned down to eliminate every influence the fish could have had. Our company was decimated to near extinction. Only twenty-seven people survived the entire incident. We have paid a heavy price and still every single person living in the town was killed or is missing.