Wali poured mana into Gale and released the bindings holding the elemental to the crystalline spearhead. The contract was all that constrained the elemental now.
A lance of lightning shot from the spear into the sky above. The black cloud that formed was already spinning to match the whirlpool that was forming in the center of the bay. The cloud spread and grew as the winds began to gather. Lightning danced through the cloud as Gale spun faster and faster.
Yacob and Vinny examined what they had to work with on the seawall. The volcanic caldera had initially formed the seawall as it exploded. When erosion had broken the barrier between the sea and land, it had done so laterally along the wall. The walls of the bay formed a shape similar to a G when seen from above. Yacob and Vinny now stood on the inner side of that barrier, looking out across the span of the inlet to the bay. They looked over the channel at the other wall as it reached into the sea. Yacob took a knee and sent his senses down into the rock.
Yacob could not ever hope to call the volcanic vent back to life. It was long dead and had moved on to form islands that they could see in the far distance. He could try to reduce the size of the inlet and possibly clog it. If the mass of sea life arrived and combined with the herald awakening below, there was little hope for their survival. Yacob’s job was to close the inlet.
Vinny was there to assist. He summoned and opened the magical chest the elven king had gifted him. Inside were racks and racks of alchemical concoctions. Most of them would be more than useless, but a few might do some good here. He passed one to Yacob, who took it gratefully. Yacob drank the draught and shuddered. He stifled a retch as the bitter aftertaste hit him. Vinny drank one himself, then started examining bottles and looking for specific ones.
At the bottom of the bay, the stone cracked. A wave of pressure burst forth from it as the being known as Jemna, Terror of the Depths, was released from its prison. The blood in the water swirling around the stone stopped and began to pull inward toward the ancient herald as it formed its body anew.
The spiraling shell of a nautilus was the first formed. Green and pink and black striping along the shell as it was spun from the very bones of the dead around it. It grew in size to be three meters across and one thick. The blood in the water congealed into a body that was dark red and pulsing with strength. Four long squid tentacles pushed their way out of the shell first, ten meters long, and each had a bulbous end filled with the mouth of a lamprey. The stalks of these tentacles were followed out of the shell by shorter but much more numerous sea anemone tentacles that flowed with the water. Behind those, close to the shell, was a ring of faceted eyes that encircled the opening to the exterior. The center of all these tentacles and eyes was a massive set of jaws with serrated shark teeth. Once the body was formed, the shell grew larger, and ports were seen along the side.
Jemna jetted through the water, and a wave of hunger flooded out from it. Those few fish and other creatures that hadn’t been sucked into the feeding frenzy were drawn toward the herald. The tentacles grabbed those that came near and were bodily glued to the sides of the shell. All of the fish faced the same way as the shell’s opening. Each began to swim in tandem with the jetting water, pushing Jemna faster through the sea. Jemna rose in a spreading spiral toward the surface.
When the stone cracked, Captain Reiki shuddered. She said to Wali, “It is free. We will have to make a stand here.” Wali did not respond. His whole being was nothing more than a conduit for the gathering storm above. Gale was building strength, pulling a torrent of mana from Wali and the sea. Gale gathered in speed and ferocity. It could feel the presence of the herald. This was a new mountain, and Gale was free of the accursed crystal to do battle with the creature.
Sas’cha knelt on the back of Neferu, who swam alongside the ship. Her time to bring the fight may not come, but she would be ready.
Yacob‘s mind was not with his body. He was a part of the seawall. Mana cycled through the stone into Yacob and back out with intent. There was no way for Yacob to pull the two walls closed or fill the space with stone. He created spikes that faced the sea along the face of the rock, long thin blades, and spikes of stone that extended out in a tangled nest. Fish moved like water along the path of least resistance, and Yacob meant to clog that path with as much resistance as possible. He could not block the inlet trench with stone, but he could create a deadly net and clog it with bodies. The fewer beasts, especially Spirit Beasts, that reached Jemna, the better. Already the smaller, faster creatures were flooding past Yacob. Already the spears of rock were being struck by the crowded bodies of fish and sea life. He pushed spike after spike, drawing from deep within himself and pushing harder than he ever had.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Vinny added to the death of fish being caught up in the net of stone Yacob was trying to make. He had gloves and a curious-looking mask on his face. He poured three different small vials together and waited as the concoction turned black and began to steam. Vinny carefully tossed the death into the waves, where the blackness spread and the fish died.
He took out three potions that shimmered a pale blue. He took the cap off them one by one and tossed them into the water. As they sank and the potion mixed with the water, ice formed. Three columns of frozen fish sticks and ice in the forest of stone spears. Anything that would cause death, confusion, or weaken the tide of sea life as it flooded through the inlet was thrown into the channel. Vinny was not there so much to do damage but to support Yacob. To protect Yacob as he worked on clogging the inlet. He was not idle.
Sea creatures poured into the bay despite Yacob and Vinny’s efforts. They had all known it was a stop-gap measure. There was no way to stop Jemna from regaining its suit of sea life. Maybe they could reduce its volume or capability to rebuild it when damaged. Reiki had told them that only living sealife could be a part of Jemna’s abomination.
When Jemna breached the surface, it was no longer a horrific nautiloid. A layer of fish coated the shell, each attached to the sides and swimming in concert. The ring of tentacles floated above the surface, the circle of eyes in the waterline, to see above and below. The shell hung below the waterline.
Gale was the first to strike. A pillar of lightning struck down from the clouds above. It struck Jemna in one of the four writhing squid tentacles. Its screech of pain echoed across the waves and felt like a hammer blow to the temples to anyone that heard it. The psychic scream was terrifying and painful. Lightning poured down in a hundred blinding flashes as Gale threw all of its might into destroying the herald.
Jemna shrieked again and again. Thankfully not the psychic scream again. People in the floating city were in full retreat from the storm, and now with bleeding ears, it was total panic. They took to small boats to paddle along the seawall away from the monster. They fled to the cliffside. The few ships that had been in the bay were now in the open sea, having fought their way through the tide of fish.
The lightning was having a powerful effect on Jemna, each strike killing many of the fish bonded to its shell. It was a losing race, though, more clustered around the herald each moment. Wali and Gale could only do their part. Vinny and Yacob held the line at the seawall as best they could, but that was a slow race also. The channel was smaller, tighter, and already beginning to clog with bodies. Fish were trying to leap over the seawall, and crabs and other crawling things were doing just that. Vinny was busy keeping the critters away from Yacob as he worked.
Blood ran down Yacob’s lip from his nose, and sweat poured down his back and brow. His mana batteries were empty, and his internal reserves were empty. He was channeling raw mana from the environment around him, which wasn’t enough. He had clogged about seventy percent of the channel now. A wall of sea creatures pushed against the blades and spikes, tangling within the forest of stone.
When Yacob slumped, Vinny was there to catch him. He whistled long and loud, and Wali heard the sound. Wali’s attention broke away from feeding Gale, and the lightning slowed significantly. Wali saw Vinny holding Yacob’s limp form and knew what needed to happen. “Reiki, it’s time,” Wali said.
The Lumin Captain looked down at Wali and shook her head, “I was hoping it didn’t need to come to this. She turned and began directing the crew. The ship turned toward the channel, full sails rigged, and long boats readied to launch. Her ship shuddered as creatures beat themselves against the hull. Reiki had her elemental push the ship again. The hull creaked and strained as it maneuvered into position.
When it was well past where Yacob’s web of spikes lay, the long boats launched each with an end of an anchor cable. One toward each side of the seawall. There the crew members set about securing the cable to rocks and stays. Only Wali and Reiki remained aboard. Neferu moved toward Yacob and Vinny.
Reiki told Wali, “You go. I’ll sink her all by myself.” Wali cast one of his earliest spells and took a running jump off the ship’s side. He ran across the waves toward his friends.
Reiki watched him go and muttered, “I hope this works.” She then cast a spell. By the rules the Lumin lived by, they could not directly attack the heralds or caretakers. They could only act in support of the mortals. In this, she did not attack the herald but attacked her ship. Storm Dancer had been her home and vehicle for more than a century. She knew every knot, nail, and imperfection in the hull. As she concentrated and spoke in a long dead language, the hull planks began to twist along the bow. Water began to pour into the hull, and the bow began to lower.
She was already at the aft as she twisted her ship into a plug that would close the last of the channel, stopping the flood of sea creatures as they desperately sought out Jemna.
The front of the ship slipped under the waves and the process accelerated. The bow sank, and everything inside the ship slammed forward and down. Reiki stood now on the aft rail and continued her work. She wove together the stones of Yacob’s work, the magically infused wood and rope of the ship into a broad and strong dam. Her work was skilled far beyond the tangled mess of Yacob. She picked up where he left off, weaving the stone and wood together to be self-supporting, turning a bird’s nest into a dam. She stood on the ship’s rail as it sank into the waves.