Thief

"No. I ain't dealing with this," I said to the leviathan.

Anomaly

"Yeah, I know. Too bad you won't get to learn why,” I said.

The darkness around me changes. I am standing in the water now. I can see lights in the distance. Ships sailing on the water approaching me.

"No, I don't want your power. I don't need it either. If you have been watching me you know I have something better already," I said. He was offering me control over water. I was now back underwater. Everything was getting hot.

Punish

"You can try. I can also harass your followers. I can inform the cobalt soul of what your plan is. Or maybe the Cloaked Serpent should know," I said. The water around me began to boil like a volcano had opened up beneath me. "Intimidation is for those that are afraid of you. I am not. I know you have your limits right now. As much as I love this chat I have things to do,” I said.

The water continued to boil. I could feel my skin begin to burn and blister, but this could also just be an illusion. He will either leave when he feels like it or get tired. I had to endure this for a little while longer. The eye turned into several more.

Return

An image of Captain Avantika appears. He wants me to take Avantika to the temple. Or help her free him. Not happening. “Let me go and find some other sap to pact,” I said. The eyes stared at me and then the water cooled. I could feel a massive amount of water rush around me as the darkness changed to the darkness of the chasm.

Regret

Consequences

The water was cold now. Really cold. I turned around and saw the crew fighting the sea serpent. Ice chunks formed and rushed to the surface. Concrell was riding the serpent stabbing it with his sword. Trux was hooked to the chasm wall and shooting harpoons. Onko was next to him throwing rays of light and creating bursts of lightning. The captain was in the damn things mouth stabbing it.

I wasted no time and turned into the giant octopus. I propelled myself forward and smashed into the serpent's side. I can deal with the headache so I create my maximum of eight hydra heads. Each begins to tear at the serpent's scales and the flesh beneath. I continue this assault as I move up the serpent to his head. I don’t get the chance because the serpent lets go of the captain and bites me. God damn are his teeth sharp. He rips into my flesh and pulls me off of his back.

The others take the opportunity to regroup and begin to slash and sling spells. The serpent is fighting them back with his tail and continues to chew on me. I use my free heads to tear into him. I send heads back into his empty eye sockets and tear at his innards. Other than the pain I felt like I was winning. Until everything got cold. The serpent unleashed his cold breath attack point blank into my body. I lost feeling in everything. The only things that remained were numbness and the cold. The serpent then crushed my body and all of my tentacles and hydra heads shattered. My blob of an octopus body and head floated in the water.

I heard screams from the others. They unleashed attacks upon the serpent but I stopped paying attention. My frozen body floated through the chasm. I was limbless and I could barely breathe this way. I could feel my heart beating slowly trying to regenerate my body. I was barely conscious. I found the will to undo my transformation. All previous damage was now gone but the cold and pain remained. I shook my head. I was dealing with incredible suffering but I had control of my limbs again. I can’t recreate the octopus limbs and most of the hydra heads for a few minutes. They might be gone but the damage remains and they need to be healed manually. I shift instead into an alligator. I combine it with the nine other alligators I killed in the swamp and create a form nearly half the size of the serpent. I use the massive tail I have created and speed towards the serpent.

I bite into him as hard as I can feeling a few of his scales crack under my jaw. He responded by wrapping around me and constricting my body. I bit and bit again. He responded with bites of his own. I spun and slammed us both into a wall. His attacks stopped for a second as he seemed to be dazed. Not stopping I began the patented alligator death roll and spun shaking his body. His blood poured out into the water and his body became split in two. The rest of his body loosened its hold on mine. I undid the transformation and looked at the battlefield. The serpent had stopped moving completely. The others were on the side of the chasm avoiding the two Kaijus fighting. I swam over.

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“What the fuck,” Alyson said.

“Yeah sorry about the beginning there I had some kind of vision with some weird sea creature claiming I was going to be punished. I ignored it,” I said.

“What about all the other ssshit?” Onko asked.

“I told you about my ability to transform. I have a lot of different animals,” I said.

“What about the fucking alligator!” Concrell asked.

“Well, that was really several different alligators at once. I just layered them in such a way that it increased the size of one,” I said.

Alyson seemed done with this conversation and pointed up. We nodded and swam back up towards the ship. Once on the deck, we realized how cold that water had been. Most of our clothes were frozen. Alyson's hair had been filled with ice and was sticking up everywhere. I started to laugh. We looked ridiculous. The others began to laugh and soon the whole crew was in tears. The dragon was dead and its body sunk to the ocean floor. Tomorrow its power will be mine to us. I finally had a breath weapon. Immunity to all cold attacks and cold environments. I am looking forward to it.

We change out of old clothes and make a fire we can warm ourselves by. Trux spins the tale of our battle with the serpent. He embellishes the story a bit but it's fine. The crew was singing shanties of battles one and everyone gets shitfaced. No work is done the rest of the day as the captain tells everyone to relax.

………..

I enter the soul dream. Rubert and Theseus are there to greet me.

"Was he a rough entry?" I asked Theseus.

"Yes to put it lightly sir. He didn't need memory orbs to gain sapiance. He was raging and yelling the moment he woke up. Took a while to explain where he was and what happened to him," Theseus spoke.

"How did that go?" I asked.

"He said he wants to speak with you," Rubert said.

Oh boy. This is going to be interesting. "Take me to him," I said.

I was led to a beach that had been created on the southern plains. Last week Gatsby had asked me to increase his duties. As such I increased his powers to cover the entire sky. Except for a day and night cycle or the night sky he controlled almost everything else. I could see the serpent lying on the beach.

"Hello. I am Edsom nice to meet you," I yelled out.

The serpent spun in a circle and slowly his head rose above his coiled body. I told Uk’otoa to fuck off but this serpent I was afraid of meeting. If I could sweat here I would be dripping buckets. I did not fear what he could do but what he would say. “I’d like to say I am sorry about how we met. I do want to say that you were incredibly tough and I enjoyed our fight. You were a worthy opponent,” I said.

He moves his head towards me and blows in my face. “You have killed me and prevented me from entering the Dragon Eyrie. I am cut off from the realms of Bahumat and Tiamat. I am now beholden to you instead of them or my ancestors. I was a young dragon but you are still a child compared to me. The realm of my afterlife is even younger measured not in years but weeks. I am Temprus, dragon of the deep. I survived my sibling's attempts on my life at birth and bested many who have tried since. And now here I am before this young demigod to say this,” he said. His every word let out a cold breeze. He kept his anger back but it danced on his tongue waiting to be unleashed. To tear me out for all that could have been his.

He breathed in and said,” This an opportunity. You lack many things, power included. I will allow you to link with my soul but I want something in return. These oceans that were created are empty. They do not beat with life and the waves are empty creations. I will fill them. You have appointed those you wish to rule and guide this world. I will be one of them,” he said.

“I thought you would be a lot more angry,” I said.

“I am but I am also not a fool. You killed me. All that I have are yours by right of conquest. I am just taking back my pride,” he said.

I could respect that. “I just told Uk’otoa to go fuck himself. If you are to be the guardian and caretaker of my oceans I do not need another of him in these lands. Be honest. Be kind. Be harsh when you need to. Suffer no fools and reward those who strive for a better afterlife. Just as Gatsby does you will control the storms and skys of the ocean. And lastly, I need you to work with your fellow guardians.” I said.

“Of course Conquerer. Your will be done,” He said.

Oh, brother. I peered into his body to see his soul. I reach out and make the connection. Shining white light, grand power, etc. I now had my first connection to a dragon. Tomorrow I will get to experiment and see what I can do with that.

“One last thing Temrpus. You said I had gained the right to all you had. How much and where exactly is everything you have?

The sea serpent got a little scared and then sad. I grilled him for every single coin he had and any lairs he knew about. This dragon is going to make me rich. I turned to Rubert before I got too involved.

“Was there anything else Rubert?” I asked.

“No boss. You got the evening for yourself,” He said.

…………

I woke up and went to find Alyson. She was on the main deck leaning over a railing. I reached the top of the stairs and I heard her barfing. “Rough hangover Captain? “I asked.

“You drank more than me. How the fuck are you standing and smiling like nothing happened?” she asked.

“I can grow several organs at once. I filtered out all alcohol and replaced the oxygen in my blood before I went to bed. Also, I have forms with resistance to poisons. I won’t be hung over unless I let myself be,” I said smiling and enjoying the morning air.

“Fuck you,” she said.

“Guess I won’t help you find the dragon's lair then,” I said.

“What?” she said.

“That serpent was a dragon and we chased it to its lair. Somewhere down in that chasm is a mountain of gold and treasure. Buuut if you don’t want it,” I said.

She grabbed me by my shirt collar and said,” Do not fuck with me. I may be hungover but I want cut of that booty.”

“Kinky,” I replied.

She shoved me away. “You know what I fucking mean. We will search for it in a couple of hours. I am not losing out on treasure I have already earned,” she said.

Hehe. I can understand that. If I have a few hours I am going to get in touch with my new draconic powers. I wonder how far I can take these abilities. I mean dragons are natural spellcasters. Temprus didn’t demonstrate or mention any magical abilities but I wonder if I could develop some.