Smoke spilled out from the forested area and billowed at their feet. The smoke cumulated in front of Brittany and rose until the beastly Leviathan creature manifested itself. Its red eyes were daunting, and is gaping jaws full of flames gave her pause.
He’s angry at me!
“Why didst thou waste this soul?!” he screeched, “I need sustenance!”
"I’m… I’m sorry!" Brittany stammered as she looked down at Brad’s corpse at their feet, "I tried, but he refused!”
The Leviathan opened its mouth wide, and released a stream of fire. The heat was so intense that the sand turned to glass at their feet and the forested area in the distance erupted with flames.
A few moments passed, until finally the Leviathan regained his temper. "What of thy former companion?"
"Blondie?” Brittany asked, “I’ll find her. Mark my words - she will live happily in eternal servitude."
The Leviathan snorted, "We shall see. But first shalt thou go forth to the Northern Lands across the great waters. The Voidspawn shall carry thee to thy destination.”
"Fine!" Brittany growled, "But when I come back, I'll bring you the soul you seek!"
The Leviathan roared in anger, "I will wait for thee!"
The beast reverted to its smoke form and retreated back into the forest now ablaze.
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Brittany commanded the Voidspawn to heel, and each of the remaining Shadow Walkers who had joined their expedition mounted the beasts. There were just shy of a hundred Shadow Walkers left in the expeditionary force.
"Let's hope these creatures lead us to our target." Brittany sounded incredulous, "Otherwise I don't know how else we will get there. We don’t have any boats."
Raul smiled with encouragement, “As long as you guide them, they will follow your every whim.”
Brittany nodded, and with a directed thought the beasts splashed forward into the water in unison. The Voidspawn simply obeyed without question.
They rode on, heading northward upon the ocean. As they traveled, the Shadow Walkers grew increasingly agitated.
"Why are we doing this?" one of them asked.
"Because we're ordered to," another answered.
A third added, "I hate water. We’ll drown! This isn't right!"
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"Shut up, and stop complaining!"
Lily was struggling to maintain focus with all of the complaints. Suddenly, the world around them went black. She instantly lost control of the Voidspawn, plunging them into the icy water.
Being undead they didn’t need to breathe, but it was pitch black underwater. The Voidspawn began thrashing about wildly. Brittany swam and breached the surface of the water just in time to see something large and dark surface in front of them.
"What is that?" Brittany coughed.
"I don't know! But it looks dangerous!" Raul shouted over the din of the squirming Voidspawn.
Suddenly, something struck Brittany in the back and sent her tumbling through the waves. She looked behind, and saw a giant dinosaur-like monster, its gaping jaws crashing down on her.
"Help!" she cried out.
"Over here!" Raul called out, swimming closer.
The Leviathan suddenly emerged from seemingly out of nowhere and struck the creature in the face with a massive stream of fire.
"We're not getting anywhere like this," Brittany gasped.
She focused her mind, quickly regaining control of the Voidspawn which swam back up to the surface, allowing the surviving Shadow Walkers to climb onto their backs.
She watched as the Leviathan forced the sea monster back, until it retreated into the depths of the ocean.
"I think we should turn back." Raul coughed up water as he climbed back onto his Voidspawn, “This is too dangerous.”
"No, we need to press on!" she declared, "The Leviathan wants us to reach the Northern Lands. I can't believe that the Leviathan would send us into danger, if we weren't supposed to make it there!"
"You're right." Raul agreed, "We'll make it, I promise."
After taking inventory, it appeared that they had lost twenty-three Shadow Walkers either to the depths of the ocean or to the belly of the sea monster.
With that many losses, the rest of the expedition started to lose morale. They had been riding the Void spawn for quite some time, and they were starting to grow tired. Not only was fighting against the monsters difficult, but it was also taxing on their bodies, and causing them to expend far more energy than usual. They had to push themselves to the brink of exhaustion just to survive.
"We'll make it!" Brittany said forcefully, "Stop worrying. When we get there, we will discover the truth. It's worth the cost. Trust me."
The Shadow Walkers grumbled and cursed under their breath, but they knew better than to say anything in front of their Leader. They needed to hold together if they wanted to get out of this intact.
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Despite their best efforts, several more of them fell victim to the savage monsters roaming the seas. After losing over fifty percent of their numbers, they finally saw the barren land in the distance.
We made it!
Brittany waited for her remaining forces to catch up. The entire continent was covered in ice. But it didn't matter, because the Leviathan had summoned them to this place.
"Where are we supposed to go?" Raul asked.
“To the northwest corner of the continent.” Brittany explained, “It is there where we will find our destination.”
"Do you have any idea how we're going to get there?" Raul asked.
"Not a clue. I just know that we're supposed to go there."
"Then what happens when we get there?"
"I don't know." Brittany admitted, "That's why I need you and your magic to help me figure that out."
"Alright, then let's go!" Raul said enthusiastically.
A single dragon flew above them as they approached the shoreline of the land mass. It was too far away to determine whether or not it was Lily and her dragon Tiamat, but Brittany had her suspicions.
Had they been followed?
Once they landed on the frozen shores, the Shadow Walkers dismounted the Voidspawn and walked over to the edge of the icy land mass. Their feet crunched loudly as they stepped onto the hard, frosty ground. Fortunately the cold didn’t have any affect on them.
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