Prologue

348 10 2
                                    

Swish

The sound of metal being swung is heard, easily finding entrance into abominations of both human and inhuman appearance. Despite being in the depths of an ocean, the combatants are fighting with ease, their bodies seemingly built to handle the immense underwater pressure.

Crash

Metal crashes against the seafloor, the body of a man follows soon after. Dressed in black he rolls across the floor until his momentum dies, losing his tricorn hat along the way. He struggles to stand up, barely making it back to his feet before limping his way over to his weapon. A ship's anchor.

Crunch

The sound of a scream is heard as two figures similarly dressed in black quickly turn to see a large mass of white and blue creatures surrounding someone on the floor. They rush back to help their downed comrade, only to be pushed back by the horde of monsters. Try as they might, they are unable to free their ally from their fate and are forced to join the main group of fellow warriors, all sporting red eyes and white hair with slightly differing tricorn hats.

Shriek

Multiple people dressed in various shades of black and blue stare ahead at a towering serpent who screeches at them, its speed is too fast for a creature of its size yet the men and women fighting are somehow barely able to keep up with it.

Clash

A woman in white and blue swings her spear at a breakneck pace, creating ripples in the ocean and managing to create pockets of air for a brief second. She swims at incomprehensible speeds, managing to keep up with the leviathan and trading blows with it. Many creatures of the sea try to swarm her but fail to understand how powerful she is, readily sacrificing their lives to allow their god even a second more to counter attack. She does not slow down every time she kills those creatures, swiftly ending them with a single stab to the chest.

But this distraction gives just enough time for the leviathan to slam the woman to the ground, reeling its body back and opening its massive jaw filled with numerous sharp teeth. But just before it can pounce on its next victim the man with the anchor flies through the water and smacks it away, sending it flying hundreds of feet, crashing into a reef. The man swims over to the downed woman and lends out a hand to her who readily accepts.

"You left your squad behind, Gladiia. A few of your members might get eaten by the Seaborn." The man deadpans, stoically scolding the woman before swinging his anchor at an approaching Seaborn, crushing them under the anchor's tremendous weight.

"If I had been any slower the rest of your forces would've been overwhelmed, Ulpianus." Gladiia stoically responds, her spear cleaving through many Seaborn like butter. "The First and Fifth Company have already been wiped out. The Fourth and Sixth Company are barely keeping back the Seaborn from entering the city and you're already down to half your members while mine are supporting the remaining few Abyssal Hunters we have left." The two begin to bicker back and forth while culling the monstrous herd, waiting for their squads to regroup with them. Their fight against the Seaborn looks more like a masterful dance than a fight for survival.

———————————————————————————

"Laurentina, wait up!" a young female voice calls out, struggling to match her squadmate's pace through the reef they were swimming across.

"Oh little Guitarfish, you spend too much time playing by the city shores than you do actually swimming. Perhaps if you swam with us more you'd be able to keep up with my leisurely pace." Laurentina teases, spinning around to look at her fellow Abyssal Hunter who's the youngest out of all the others.

From the Ocean to New LandWhere stories live. Discover now