It was getting dark, in the distance, the sun was setting, the distant horizon a light pink colour.

“Mattius… buddy… I understand you’re cautious about the safety of your town… I really do…” the witch began feeling the raft they stood on being pummelled by the waves.

The sound of the sea was pretty soothing for Thal, Darius, however, didn’t find it as pleasant.

He placed a hand to his mouth, stopping himself from throwing up the soup he ate yesterday.

Far in the distance stood the thin line which was, in reality, Arlepia’s coast.

Thal stood on the raft, seemingly satisfied with the view.

“I mean, I don’t dislike the water… but how exactly are we supposed to move around here?” Darius asked hoping nobody noticed his sea-sick demeanour.

“I actually thought of that…” Mattius replied.

Mattius reached into his pocket and pulled out three vials of liquid.

“Water-walking potions, the demon can swim for all I care…” he remarked.

Thal smiled.

“I don’t mind,” he shrugged.

Darius grabbed one vial, so did the witch, he eyed the blue liquid.

The witch drank it through her mask as expected, leaving a blue stain on her face-bandages.

Mattius drank the vial and tossed the glass away into the sea.

Darius took a deep breath and downed the potion, it tasted terrible, like chalk and fish oil.

The wolfman did his best to keep the contents of his stomach still as the witch burst into laughter.

“You’re still traumatized?” the witch asked jokingly.

He nodded.

“What did you do to make him afraid of potions?” asked Mattius.

Darius shook his head.

“I don’t want to talk about it…”

“He drank an entire healing potion,” the witch explained.

Darius once more fought off the urge to vomit.

“…” Mattius looked at Darius with a look of pity.

“You poor fool…”

Darius jumped off the raft and onto the unsteady footing that was the sea, it felt as if a dozen people crawled under the carpet you stood on.

“How’s the water?” asked the witch.

“Wet,” Darius replied.

“Height of comedy…” the witch remarked sarcastically.

The witch joined Darius on the water.

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Thal turned to the mortals.

“Are you ready? In order to get him down here, I’ll have to call him, the others will get suspicious, this could be your only choice to back out,” he explained.

Darius and the witch nodded.

Mattius remained silent and Thal looked up into the sky.

“Oi, Sicillus, come down here for a second!” Thal called out, his voice travelling further than it normally should.

Moments later, a world-wide sigh could be heard as from space dropped the god, he landed on the raft, the impact undetectable.

He was tall and skinny, his long spiky hair and sleep-deprived fish-eyes made for a threatening display.

“What do you want?!” he hissed.

From behind, Sicillus heard the sound of wet footsteps, he looked back and saw the wolfman charging at him, a shining blade of crimson metal in hand.

“This weapon, it feels amazing, like it was made for me!” Darius thought, slicing at the god as he faded away into black tar, re-forming inches away.

He pointed a finger at Darius.

“The fuck do you think you’re doing, dog?” the god hissed, at the tip of his index finger appeared a bolt of lightning.

At first, it coiled around his finger, no more than a second later it shot out.

Instantly, it was re-directed into the water by Thal.

The white bolt of lighting caused an explosion of steam to fly up from the water causing the raft to wobble.

Sicillus turned to face Thal, not considering the wolfman enough of a threat to stay focused on him as he blocked his attacks blindly.

“What the hell are you doing, Thal!?” he demanded seeing Mattius casting the spell.

Seconds before being trapped, Sicillus turned into black tar once more, appearing beside Thal.

“QUIT FUCKING WITH ME!”

He pulled his hand back, its tip becoming long, black claws as he slashed at the god.

Thal fell back into the water, is body torn into bits as blood gushed from his wounds.

Seconds later his body disappeared leaving behind only black smoke.

“You and your illusions…” Sicillus said with a frown and clenched teeth.

The enraged god turned to Mattius, he extended his hand towards him, firing another bolt of lightning only for it to once more arc away from his target.

In reality, Thal couldn’t re-direct Sicillus’ strike, he simply altered his vision, so Sicillus thought he was aiming for Mattius, but in reality, aimed for the water.

“He must be using his invisibility…” Sicillus thought looking around for Thal before turning to the mage once more.

He extended a hand towards the human, the tips of his fingers glowing brightly, lighting coiled around each finger, arcs of electricity jumping from finger to finger.

Seeing this Mattius jumped from the raft and ran across the water away from the five bolts of lightning that were about to be fired at him.

His run was far quicker than you’d expect of a mage.

“IF I CAN’T GET YOU WITH ONE, I’LL TRY OUT THE SHOTGUN METHOD!” Sicillus cheered, his frown turned into a shark-toothed grin.

His hand erupted into lights as five swirling projectiles flew out, five hit the water and one struck Mattius, tearing him in half before he fell onto the water.

“One down…” Sicillus turning to search for the wolfman.

Darius was nowhere to be seen.

“HERE I GO!” the witch exclaimed as the water around them turned back.

“What did she-” Sicillus’ thoughts were interrupted by the dozen fish-skeletons leaping out of the water and slapping him across the face.

“What the fuck was that?!” he demanded, he extended his hand towards the witch, he was planning to fire another five bolts of lightning at her as the water below him began to get dark.

Sicillus looked down seeing the massive jaws of a whale.

More accurately, an undead whale.

It swallowed Sicillus whole before returning to the depths.

Sicillus looked around the walls of putrid flesh and noxious gas.

He fired one bolt of lightning, this one didn’t miss, it illuminated the whale for just a second allowing Sicillus to see the rotten tongue of the whale barrelling towards him, it slapped him around its mouth like a ricocheting bullet.

Sicillus fired another lighting bolt, it tore through the tongue as more sounds came from deeper within the whale.

Moans of undead sailors swallowed by this whale came from within its stomach, the partly digested corpses crawled from within its throat and towards the god.

“Tch… quit wasting my time…” he commanded as he extended both hands forward, he formed them into one, large finger-pistol as he unleased a constant, automatic fire of lighting bolts, tearing the undead sailors and the whale into bits.

Above the surface, the witch and Darius could see chunks of the rotting whale rising to the surface as the same raft rose to the surface, carrying the ever-so-smug Sicillus.

“I’m back!” he grinned.

Before they could react, Sicillus fired lighting in every direction, his two finger-guns became two lightning submachine guns.

The lighting boiled the water flooding the scene with mist as the waves grew ever taller and Darius grew ever sicker.

Sensing magic, Sicillus turned to tar and reformed himself out of the spell’s area of effect.

The partially invisible Mattius once again failed to cast his spell, his expression grew panicked.

“Shit…” he exclaimed.

“So, the one I killed was just an illusion, eh?” Sicillus sighed, he pointed his hand at the mage.

Suddenly he felt the sharp, piercing pain from below.

Sicillus looked down and saw his foot was being skewered from below.

“WHAT THE HELL!?”

He redirected the lighting towards the raft, exploding it into bits, the splintered wood raining down on everyone as from the water emerged Darius.

“How the hell did you get under the water?! I thought you were using water-walking!” Sicillus asked.

Darius grinned as he gestured to the pile of blue vomit floating away in the distance.

“I guess all the waves made me seasick!” he exclaimed.

He was trying to play it off cool but the water really did make him sick.

Sicillus lifted his foot, kicking Darius down to the depths and probably knocking him unconscious.

“I need to focus on the mage… he’s planning something for certain” Sicillus thought seeing the Mattius grinning widely, a wide, toothy, smug smile.

In an instant Sicillus recognised the smile, it wasn’t the smile of a desperate mage but that of the sly god of despair, Thal.

He spun around in search of the actual mage; however, it was too late.

“YOU FU-” his body disappeared as his soul was transferred into the dagger Mattius brought just for this purpose.

He breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the dagger only for it to begin leaking black slime that burned his hand, instinctive he let go of the weapon as it sank into the depths of the sea.

Mattius breathed a sigh of relief.

The witch sat on what must have been a chunk of the whale’s liver.

Thal stood atop the water, that was just an illusion too, he was actually trying his best to stay afloat since he couldn’t swim well.

The passed-out, but still living body of Darius floated up to the surface.