Up looked Trent into the sky as jaws that held teeth sharper than axes grew closer.
"Everybody come closer!", said Stephen as he spread out his hands. Just as the jaws were about to consume the five heroes of Sylvanora, Stephen closed his eyes and yelled, "Dleihs!", and a yellow transparent sphere enclosed the five.
The fish's jaws caught hold of the sphere, the fish was out of water and trying to bite Stephen's shield away as it wagged its tail attempting to uproot it.
"Oh thank God! My shield isn't even close to as strong as Emma's it won't hold long! The fish has a combined lung of thousands, it's not going to dehydrate! Trent, whatever you have to do, do it now!", said Stephen as he struggled to resist those evil jaws.
Trent was dazed at the sight, lost in a world somewhere else where all he saw was death and dismay. His mom left him, then his father, everything and everyone he loved would eventually turn to dust. His friends too would one day get sick of him, bothered by the terrors in his brain they too would leave and he'd be left alone with no-one to love and nothing to lose. Yet he had something to lose at the moment, consciousness hit him as Stephen's voice cried for the tenth time.
"Trent! You fucking moron, do something! I swear to god if I die because you, you'll never hear the end of it! Rack that head of yours, do something or we're all fish meal!!", he said while the fish grew ever closer.
"What? Ah yes, the fish!", Trent said bringing his mind back to current affairs. He examined the premise, as he often did when stressed, and located a small rock right outside Stephen's shield.
"Hey, Steve, can you create a small opening at the left end of your shield? Right there!", he said pointing at the rock.
"I can try! Unhhhhhhh!", he said as he struggled to rearrange the shield.
Finally the opening was made, not big, but just enough for Trent to do his thing. He pulled out Emma's sword that she had borrowed from the castle, aiming it towards the rock he threw it with all force he could summon. The sword hit the inclined rock and tossed itself into the air, spinning uncontrollably. The sword was mighty shiny for it was made by metals of the royal castle, it reflected all that was around mimicking a mirror. Trent waited for the sword to reflect the fish's eye. He drew his pistol and aimed it at the sword, the second he saw the eye of the fish he shot a pellet from his pistol, being small and agile it tore through Stephen's shield, ricocheted off the sword and caught the fish right in the eye. The blast wasn't all powerful, having lost a lot of force overcoming the shield, but catching the fish right in the eyeball, it did enough damage to anger the thing. The fish squealed a horrible sound and let go of the shield in agony as it leapt into the air screeching ever more. Stephen let go of the shield and collapsed.
"Gavin now, do your thing!", said Trent as he retreated to the camps.
"IT'S RAGE TIME!!", said Gavin as he pulled out the mace he had borrowed from the kingdom, he leaped high in the air, mightier than any Troll he was as he smashed the fish with all his strength on its belly. The blow was strong enough to deflect the fish back into the water. Gavin landed on his feet and made haste for the camps himself as he carried the injured on his shoulders. The fish landed in the water with a big splash, the five were safe, for now.
Gavin laid everyone down on the ground as he covered them in blankets.
"That was sick, dude!", said Ann.
"We need to come up with a different plan. Clearly this thing isn't a regular creature. Something about it is different.", Trent said as he reloaded the pistol. As soon as those words escaped his mouth, Stephen was knocked back to consciousness.
"Another plan?! We barely managed to cheat death this time! I don't know about you all but I'm not getting my bones crushed! Screw money, we're drastically outmatched here! Fuck this shit, I'm out!", he said angrily.
"Stephen, you're in dire need of rest. Sleep through your pain first, this will be opened for discussion tomorrow.", said Trent.
"No! You're not telling me what to do anymore, hear me?! I'm done with this nonsense! I'm not dying for you!", he said standing up to him.
"Calm down!", Trent said pointing his pistol at him.
"You did this! You've nearly gotten all of us killed! Just look at Emma, she can't even regain strength! This is your craze and your fault!", Stephen said as mist surrounded him.
"Is that right?! Who was the first to jump into that crate of riches, eh?! Was it me who wanted to sleep with girls in exchange for money?! It was you, you stupid half-foot, it was you who wanted luxury!", Trent said as he cocked the pistol.
"Don't pretend you didn't want the riches for yourself, oh all mighty Trent! You're just as selfish as the rest of us, if not more! You too wanted goods for yourself, but now you blame it on us because you're too afraid to face the truth for yourself!", Stephen said getting angrier.
"Stop it!", in jumped Ann, "both of you, just shut up! We're all under a lot of stress, none of us want to go back into the waters and fight that thing, but we have to. We made our people a deal and we're not straying from our promises.", she continued (elves are very loyal once they've devoted something) "love holds us together, and you're letting it tear us apart! Another word from you two and I'll shove those enchanted arrows where the sun don't shine! So both of you, shush!", she ended as her face reddened.
"Fine, but tell this imp to keep to himself.", said Trent as he withdrew his pistol and walked away to his tent.
"This imp?! Trent I swear to go-", Stephen was once again interrupted,
"Shh! Enough! Not another word, go to bed!", Ann yelled.
"You always side with him!", Stephen pouted.
"Side?! I'm not your mom, blockhead! Now get back in bed before I use you for an arrow and launch you into that fish's hole!", she said as she pulled out her bow.
"Okay! Okay! Someone's awfully bitchy.", he said as he laid back in bed.
Night came and the five slept, all were horrified and got nothing but terrors for dreams, they had never seen anything like this creature. Dawn cracked and thankfully the first to rise was Emma.
"What happened?! Did we defeat that thing?!", she said as she woke up shaking. Her scream awakened Stephen who had fallen asleep with his hand in her's, by her side the whole night.
"nnnn.. No, Emma. We had to retreat.", said Stephen half asleep.
"Retreat? Crap! So we lost the element of surprise, again?", she said groaning.
"Shut up and let me sleep, goddamnit!", he said throwing his pillow at her. Emma got out of the tent and marched towards Trent's base.
"Anybody home?", she said at the door of the tent.
"Hey. Slept well?", and out came Trent holding the same map he had made.
"Well, had a couple of nightmares where that creature ate us all, but yeah sure", she said giggling.
"Great. We need you on your strength, Emma. You're the one person capable of handling that thing. I know I don't say this enough, but we'd be nothing without you.", he said as his eyes moistened.
"I know, Trent. Don't worry, I'm here now", she said hugging him.
"How're they hanging, Emms?", came Ann's voice from her tent to the west.
"Jolly good, thanks for asking.", she said smiling at her. They all held hands and consoled each other as Trent explained last afternoon's events.
"The real credit goes to Stephen though, the imp really held that bubble for long", said Trent, "perhaps I was a little too harsh last night."
"Possibly. I mean he did fall asleep by my bedside the whole night. He didn't move once, I'm sure.", she said gripping Trent's arm.
"I think I'll go over to his tent and apologize, until then you guys catch up. We need the team on high alert if we're going to get this thing down. Atleast now it's missing a fucking eye.", he said walking towards Stephen's tent. Apologies were made and mistakes were forgiven, old friendships renewed and bonds strengthened, but catching up was over and it was go time. The five once again came into Trent's base and examined the map alongside him, for once even Stephen coordinated, somehow their fights made them stronger for all they knew.
"Alright, we thought we had an advantage last time but we were wrong. This time however, I've got it's eye. I don't know how it's body will react if it shapeshifts given it's eye is now missing, we may have just immobilised this thing into its giant state.", said Trent as he pointed at the hideout of the fish.
"We can't know for sure though", he continued, "so our plan must encompass dealing with this fish as a whole and in its minor form."
"Precisely, we need bulk to smash it in its 'whale' form, and that'll come from Gavin, he's easily the strongest of us all physically.", said Emma, "the fishes individually have to be dealt with smartly, mere bulk won't do anything. We need to find a way to imprison all these fish, it losing an eye may not stop it from dissociating but it sure as hell will make it less efficient."
"The last two times we've gone into those waters we've fought individually, fought for riches, fought for ourselves. That stops now. We're a team, we don't do anything for one person. Starting now we behave as a coordinated until, everyone should be as strong as Gavin, as skilled a Emma, as fast as Ann, as sly as Stephen and as brilliant as myself.", Trent said bravely.
"Way to be humble, dude.", said Stephen slurping on some lemonade.
"So, let's not all go into this one by one, rather ambush the crap out of this thing as a unit, as a team.", Trent said.
"I'm with him on this one!", said Ann hopping on her toes.
"The fish knows these waters, it's lived here for its whole life, defeating it inside will not be easy, we can't expect to win a brawl with it underwater given its mobility and the added drag of water that only our enchanted arrows can resist. We need a way to get that sucker out.", Trent said.
"I could try and go inside, whack it with my Crush and we'll have a fish out of water!", said Gavin as he pulled out his trusty sledge.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple, my dear Gavin. The drag of the water will be much too high for you to get a clean swing, but if anyone has a shot at it, it's you, my strong man!", he said cheering Gavin.
"That's actually a good plan, perhaps there's something we can do to overcome the drag?", asked Stephen.
"Trent, you're good at building things, can you make Gavin a bracelet or something?", asked Ann.
"A bracelet? Blimey, that's it! That, I can do! Great idea Ann, you may have given me something legit here!", he said excitedly.
"Okay, so through a world of trouble we get it out of the water. Then what?", asked Emma.
"The fish would not dare to break up into smaller units outside the water, for its much too risky on its oxygen demand, we need to get it killed in its giant form. For that we need the greatest archer we have, Ann.", said Trent smiling towards the short elf.
"What do I do? Shoot it in the eye?", asked Ann.
"Not quite, that might anger it and risk collateral, we never use the same trick twice, Ann. Emma will help you with her magic, give a mystical boost to the already magical enchanted arrows which will allow you to impale any part of that creature, I shall send you a chart of its anatomy marking the sensitive spots, the shot is your's, my love.", Trent said patting Ann on her shoulder.
"And where exactly is this chart, Trent?", asked Emma raising her eyebrow.
"In this!", said Trent as he slammed a book onto the table. The book was a purple diary with a dusted up cover and folded pages. The title, written in bright yellow, read "The Chronicles Of Sylvanora".
"The Chronicles Of Sylvanora? What's that?", asked Ann.
"It's a book I found in my mother's house back when I was 13, shortly after she left the world. She used to scribble in this book all creatures she had once seen.", replied Trent.
"Why didn't you show this to us before?", asked Stephen.
"Frankly I had no idea this book was in any way related to the creature. It has portraits of Dragons, Fairies, Griffins and what not. I myself have never gone through this book, it's about a thousand pages long and has a lot of information about Sylvanora, where my mother was a knight. When I went throught it yesterday I found a picture of a said monster named Aquillith. When I flipped through the pages, I kid you not the description was identical. So now the fish knows little about us, yet we know all about it.", he said as he cocked his pistol beneath his trenchcoat. Ann was so excited she jumped onto him, latched, and wouldn't let go.
"Off me at once!", he said wagging her off.
"Not for life!", she said hugging him.
"Alright everybody, tonight in my tent at dusk, we practice our task for tomorrow and show this fish what's what. Everybody get a good night's sleep, tomorrow we go to war.", Emma said cheering the group.
Dusk came, every member made their way into Emma's tent. Spells were cast, arrows shot, swords thrown and pellets shot, all in practice for the pending task they had to accomplish. A long time passed and a concrete plan was ready, the team slept as the light faded. A plan you too shall know about shortly. Morning once again cracked, the heroes bravely marched to the waters in which they were defeated twice. To reclaim their lost honor and enjoy the riches that came along, they descended the path, hopefully for the last time.
"Here Gavin, take these.", said Trent as he threw two cuffs in Gavin's direction. Catching them Gavin said, "Ooh bracelets! How nice of you, Trent.", he said.
"You're welcome. Wear them while you fight that thing, click the switch on the top while you're in its company and I can guarantee a clean hit.", he said removing his pistol again.
The team made it to the bank, it was time to hear the sounds for one last time.
"Everyone ready?", asked Emma.
"Heck yeah!", a communal reply emerged from the crowd.
"Then let's show this Aquillith what we're made of.", she said as her eyes turned purple.
Doom! Doom! Doom! The horrible voices came again. A minutes' wait and the fish was right there, ugly and monstrous as it was, staring at them from beneath the water as it poked it's head out to smell them. It had made the mistake of leaping in twice, but this time it had a different strategy, it turned around and wagged its tail splashing water in the team's direction. The water made the incline of the bank slippery, making the team slip and forced in.
"It's trying to pull us in!", said Ann.
"Well that's no problem for me!", said Gavin as he pulled out Crush. "Come here fishy fishy! Let's play some smash! TIME TO RAGE!", he said as he dived into the waters of the awful fish.
"Alright, Gavin is in, everybody on your A-game, this thing needs to suffer the wrath of our combined powers!", yelled Emma.
Underwater was dark, seeing things was a challenge for a Troll like Gavin, but as he told the team on multiple occasions, when he can't see he is pissed, and when he is pissed he hits harder!
In came the fish charging at Gavin with its jaws wide open. Gavin felt the jerk of the water and knew exactly where this Aquillith was coming from. He faced his sledge in the direction of the waves and closed his eyes. Gripping his sledge with both hands he got ready to strike.
"Alright Trent, this better work!", he yelled as he flipped the switch on top of the bracelet.
"Come here, fishy fishy fishy!", he said thrusting again, aiming the sledge right at that thing's horrible face. The bracelets kicked in, a small gust of gunpowder let loose which caught ignition from an inbuilt flint, the ignition died out in the water and generated a pressure wave that amplified the signal by a membrane inside the bracelet, allowing Gavin to tear through drag like butter, such genius was the mind of Trent. The fish and Gavin went head on, Gavin's Crush made strong contact with the fish's chin before it could swallow him whole. A loud burst was heard under water and the fish was sent flying out!
"Now, Stephen, hit it!", said Trent.
"Epor Lacitsym!", yelled Stephen and a thread made of pure yellow energy aimed at the fish and pulled it towards the team.
"A little help, someone?!", said Stephen tugging it.
"The ropes of Arionis, strengthened by my forefathers, I summon you to aid me in my task, hiyahh!", said Emma as another thread, this time purple, intertwined with Stephen's thread. They both pulled the fish hard midair and had locked it in place. The fish however, was adamant, it wasn't termed a mythic for no good reason, it wagged and moved to resist the pull, if it managed to break the rope it would fall back into the waters and that would be the end of the five.
"Pull harder!", said Trent yelling at the top of his voice.
"I'm trying, Trent! Help us for god's sake!", said Stephen.
Trent too joined in on pulling the ropes, but given his human nature not much force was added. The fish begun to resist more and the ropes begun to loosen. It started to get lower and lower and ever closer the the water surface. If it had made contact, resisting the ropes would be easier. The fish nearly touched the water surface, but it had forgotten about something.
"No-one hurts my friends!!", in came a voice from underneath The Great River. Out jumped Gavin, dual wielding the mace.
"Take this, you ugly Aquillith!", he said striking its belly again with his mace. The blow was strong enough to push the Aquillith closer to the surface, enough for the team to pull this fish out! The fish landed on the basin with a thud, and was finally out of water. From here it could either try and bite off the limbs of the team with the limited mobility it had, or try and make it's way back into the River. The fish landed on its belly, it soon flopped and flopped trying to find a comfortable spot.
"Eat my arrows, aqua-bitch!", said Ann as she released three enchanted arrows onto the fish's scales, Emma whispered under her breath a spell that covered these arrows in purple flame, the arrows penetrated the fish and caused gruesome damage to it's insides. The fish squealed horrible noises and tried to flop it's way back to the River, for it has no counter to ranged attacks on land. Ann shot more arrows, Emma laid a spell on them, they made contact and exploded, but the fish didn't stop treading, it kept on its path and was determined ever more to taste the River water, for if it, did healing wouldn't be a problem. Ann, frustrated, shot an array of ten arrows in a flurry, all which hit it in weak spots like it's gills and belly, causing it to squirm, but not once did it astray from reaching the river. It was at the bank and only inches away from the waters of The Great River.
"Epor Lacitsym!", said Stephen again as a yellow rope bound it's tail. This was a mistake as the fish flopped it's tail and sent Stephen flying meters away, his head hit a rock and he was knocked out.
"We're one man down! Nobody go close to that thing, it'll crush you!", said Trent. He cocked his pistol and sent a flurry of pellets at the fish's gills, it slowed it down but didn't stop it. Emma didn't have enough to wrap it in a bubble, and she knew the rope wouldn't work, her main focus switched back to helping Ann with her tipped arrows. More flurries of arrows and pellets were sent, all critical hits but not a single could reduce its pace. Finally, in jumped Gavin just as the fish was about to dive into the water. He didn't have enough room to fight the fish, so he did what he knew best, to go insane. He latched onto the fish's teeth with his bare hands, pushing against the ground with his strong Troll legs. The fish begun to slow down but Gavin's hands were strongly impaled, he could only go on for so long.
"Alright, didn't think it would come to this but here we are!", Trent said as he pulled out a long and sleek looking barrel gun with a meter long nose. In it he stuffed a three inch thick pellet and loaded it with some gunpowder.
"What's that?!", asked Emma weakly.
"It's just a prototype! It either works or I get caught up in flames!", he said.
He aimed the gun at the fish's gill and shot the pellet, the force was so vast the jerk knocked him on the ground. The pellet made contact, it was so strong it came out the other end of the fish cleanly. The fish squealed and wide opened its mouth. Gavin decided it was his time and did something only he was stupid enough to do. He jumped inside the fish's mouth and pulled out his Crush.
"What the fuck is he doing?!", screamed a weakened Emma.
"Eat this you fishy bitch!", Gavin said as he struck the hammer down hard in its throat. The fish was driven mad by pain and broke down, it stopped inches away from the river. Another arrow and pellet swarm was sent and the fish was down for good. It closed its mouth which held Gavin inside. The team rushed to the corpse and forced it's mouth open, in it lied Gavin with lacerations all over his body. They pulled him out and took him offshore for Emma was much too weakened to heal him. The fish's corpse begun to rumble and expand.
"Uhhh guys? The hell is that?", said Ann pointing at the corpse. The fish's body broke into a million pieces, everyone was scared out of their minds.
"Fuck!", said Trent as he pulled out his pistol again. Much to their amazement, however, the individual fishes were dead. They had damaged the fish too much to let it dissociate, just as Trent had predicted.
"Oh thank God! Somebody burn that thing before it changes its mind!", said Ann mockingly.
It was all over. The Aquillith finally melted into a puddle of meat and it's bones stuck out from its corpse. Everything went almost just as planned, however Gavin's plans to wear the thing had been ruined. The team took the wounded to the tents and laid down Emma, who once recovered would easily revive the two. Trent then walked to the corpse to examine it, he saw the rotting thing melt. He could see the individual fishes that made this Aquillith partly from the skin of the monster. He had his mother's book in his hand, opening it to the page of the Aquillith he whispered, "Thank you mom, couldn't have done this without you.", he said as his eyes moistened and a tear drop fell on the page of the book.
"Huh?", said a confused Trent, "what's this?". The place where the drop had fallen had a symbol on it, he marched around the fish and looked at the eye he had shot, a symbol very similar appeared in the pattern of its iris.
"Well, this is a strange matter of affairs.", he said, "I suppose it could be a coincidence, but it's pin on point. This doesn't make any sense. What does any of it even mean?".
He flipped through the pages of all mythics and examined them, every page repeated the same symbol at the bottom. The symbol was a triangle with a line running transverse it's sides, all enclosed in a circle.
"What could this mean? Mom what are you trying to tell me?", he thought to himself.
He went back into his tent and pulled out a map of the entire Arionis. He put the book on the side and examined the entire map for clues of said symbol. He ran his hands through the map until..
"Blimey! That's it!", he said as his eyes widened bigger than ever. He knew that something large awaited him, something bigger than Arionis itself. Another tale was in the course to be written, and in it was the destiny of Trent and his team, a tale that would be preserved in the deepest hearts of the people of Arionis. The five were too humble to know they were a part of something ultimate.
