Deep down he knew that he had just unleashed something upon the bad guys that by most objective analysis would be considered an even greater threat to the world. It was a gambit, but it was the only move he had left. Besides, he was angry at the wanton death and destruction wrought by the things the Order had been creating in secret for years, decades even. Angry enough that he’d rather everyone lose than let the Order prevail. If he was making a mistake, so be it.
Feeling that the message had been fully delivered, Reece let the connection drop. Awareness of his surroundings returned to him and he opened his eyes and looked around to chaos. Amazingly, the defenders of the carrier were still holding the seemingly countless gargoyles at bay. Three of the greyish monstrosities closed on him, leading with their vice-like talons which Reece remembered far too well.
His shoulders throbbed at the memory just as the closest creature reached out for him. It never knew what hit it, but Reece did once the girl stopped spinning. She looked at Reece, black blood covering her lithe form, and planted her long spear, impaling the second gargoyle upon it. Without even acknowledging the kill, Karina smiled and winked at Reece.
A branch-like appendage jutted out from somewhere behind Reece and struck the third gargoyle in the chest, finishing it off when dozens of smaller branches sprouted from the already dead creature. Reece watched the branch quickly retract, following it to its source, Aspen. The tree-woman was full of surprises. Reece made a mental note not to piss her off.
Reece saw that the attackers from the first whale were all deceased, hacked apart by his formidable guardians. Looking back, Aika, Bjorn, Angel, and several others that Reece didn’t recognize were busy defending the remaining guns as they continued to unload steely death upon the flock of unnatural creatures attacking them from the sky.
The Phoenix had taken off at some point and was strafing the gargoyles, dropping them quickly. From the precision of the Phoenix’s guns, Reece figured that Ciera was lending her assistance.
The massive flock was finally running out of members as the gargoyles dropped into the ocean by the dozens. Reece wanted to shout in victory, but he knew it was a hollow one if the impending zombie whale assault wasn’t stopped by his incredibly dangerous gambit. Looking around, he saw that they had started their final charge.
They were just close enough that Reece could make out the hoots and hollers and angry fist pumps from the numerous “riders” of the whale things as they believed they were finally about to get some payback and end this rebellion. Looking back to the faces of each of his companions, he saw they all returned his look in kind. Some looked to accept their fate, some searched his face for any hope of victory. Others looked at him stoically and merely nodded.
“Come on. It’s now or never,” Reece whispered under his breath. He noticed Karina cock her head at him questioningly.
It started as a hum, almost too low to hear. It wasn’t long before an ominous growl emanated from the ocean’s depths, so loud that everyone and everything paused in the fighting to see what could have possibly made such a frightening noise. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once and then it just went silent.
“W-T-F,” mouthed Karina as she stared at him, tilting her head as her eyes narrowed.
Reece just smiled. The smile was extremely short-lived. Faster than anyone could even register, a tentacle came out of the water and wrapped itself around him. Reece was lifted high into the air and far from his companions still aboard the carrier.
Looking down to see where the incredibly long tentacle had come from, he saw the ocean part below him, a face unlike any he had seen before crested the bloody waters. The carcasses of the dead and millions of liters of water flowed off the massive visage as it rose to meet him. Dozens of golden eyes looked at him, boring into his being and stripping him of all his secrets.
This was the ancient and nightmarish Kraken, the word that the weakened spirit of Chippo had managed to croak out to him from the nightcore. There were countless stories about what the Kraken truly was or wasn’t. In Reece’s mind, none of them did justice to what he was witnessing. Below its numerous eyes was a great maw of tentacles, some massive, some spindly, but all long and wicked.
Reece’s body was brought down to hover before one of the thing’s impressive commanding eyes. The black pupil within the golden orb looked at him for a moment before turning its attention to the undead whales. Reece followed its gaze and saw that they had ceased their charge and were turning to escape the massive creature’s wrath.
As quickly as it had grabbed Reece, it returned him to the carrier’s deck unharmed, its attention fully turned upon the retreating whales and their many riders. The creature’s “head” slowly submerged, leaving the carrier rocking precariously in its immense wake. Luckily, the great steel machine didn’t capsize. It had been built to withstand war and didn’t disappoint. Everyone stood still, not knowing what to do while waiting for the colossus to make its next move. That’s when the screaming started.
The horrible sounds of agony and death came from all around, starting far away. The defenders watched, awestruck as innumerable tentacles shot from the blood-red waters around them, and instead of attacking the whales, they wrapped themselves around each of the whale’s numerous passengers, like it was savoring the slaughter. Then they’d squeeze the unfortunate individuals until their bodies split in two and dropped to add more carnage to the bloody waters far below. Other tentacles must have had mouths on their ends from the way they quickly took chunks out of the bodies of the folks that had been riding the whales only moments before.
The remaining gargoyles and other flying creatures didn’t escape either. When several of their numbers were snatched up by tentacles rising hundreds of meters into the air, the rest began to climb higher out of fear. Tentacles continually shot up from the depths, seemingly endless in their length.
Several gargoyles were snatched in mid-flight as they tried desperately to escape. Their screams followed them down as the wicked tentacles dug into their skin and dragged them down to the frothy waves, colored red with blood. The monsters all clawed at the air fruitlessly before being tugged down into the inky depths below the roiling surface.
“Even the monsters can know fear,” Reece thought, a wicked little smile forming on his face as many of his tormentors were being tormented themselves.
He tucked that little tidbit into the back of his mind as he watched the Kraken pull the creatures they had dubbed ‘gargoyles’ out of the sky, a half dozen at a time. When it was finally over, none of them made it. The last gargoyle, one of the biggest, had been hovering far above its brethren. It didn’t matter. Up came the tentacles again, stretching farther than Reece thought possible.
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The stunned beast got hit by several tentacles all at once, not even registering what was about to happen to it. By the time the tentacles were done with the great gargoyle, the only thing left was a thick and bloody rain. Much larger tentacles came up two at a time and skewered the whales and ripped them grotesquely in half.
Reece somehow understood that the Kraken could have started with them and finished this fight much sooner. The colossal being relished in the pain and suffering of its prey as it tore their bodies apart, playing with them to prolong the agony. Luckily, it was all happening far enough away that he couldn’t make out the details.
Looking back at Karina to let her know that he thought things were going to be okay, he saw that she could see every unspeakable horror from that distance just fine. It was the look on her face that gave her away, one he had never seen before. It bespoke of pure dread at what she was witnessing, not entirely accepting that it was real.
Reece’s flesh crawled in revulsion at the thought of what she must be witnessing, a sight so awful that it stopped a three-thousand-year-old being in her tracks. He stepped in front of her to keep the poor lilitu from witnessing any more of the appalling spectacle.
They could all still hear bones snapping and flesh tearing as the zombie whales were torn apart. No one moved until it was over. It felt like the horrible screams went on for hours, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes at most. Finally, the last scream faded and after a great crash of ocean water, merciful silence settled across the scene.
Everyone left just stood still, awaiting their turn. After a few more minutes passed, those left alive on the carrier’s deck tentatively started to relax just a bit. Karina looked at Reece, her face seeking answers.
Reece nodded before closing his eyes and again searching for the intelligence. He found it in the same place he had found it before. The mighty Kraken had already returned to its lair. He kept his touch light and began withdrawing the connection as soon as he verified the Kraken had left them alone.
However, before he could withdraw his mind, he felt a great tug on the connection, holding him in place.
A powerful voice echoed throughout his head, “Trouble me no more, lest you know despair.” A feeling of immense dread accompanied the words, worse than any nightmare that Reece had ever known.
Once he had registered the words, he noticed the pull was no longer present and his mind was free-floating. Concentrating again, he pulled his consciousness back into his body once again. There was silence then, as his awareness settled back into his body. He opened his eyes and looked across the carrier at the carnage strewn about.
Shaking from the powerfully dark connection and horrible sight that greeted him, Reece looked to his companions. Every one of them was covered in blood and gore and was staring right back at him. Their faces all told him the same thing. They were truly terrified and were looking for answers.
Were they safe? Were they about to die? What was that thing? Reece desperately wanted to soothe their troubled minds as quickly as he could. It took a moment for the shock of the intense connection to wear off, but Reece spoke as soon as he was able.
“It has gone back to its lair and won’t leave there again,” he told them breathlessly, raising his voice as best he could above the sounds of the waves and the wind. “I won’t be disturbing it again.”
An uncomfortable silence followed as they all processed what he had said. Shoulders slumped and various sighs were let out as relief flooded the comrades that remained. It was quickly replaced with a great cheer that erupted from his closest companions and quickly spread across the carrier’s deck when they all realized that they had won the battle and weren’t about to die.
The Order had been defeated in a mighty battle. The Phoenix, which had been hovering high up in the sky, hesitantly drifted back down to land back upon the carrier’s deck. A moment later, the rear ramp opened, and a handful of folks stepped out. Reece noticed Ciera and Pasha and waved.
They saw the movement and walked over to him. Their looks of shocked confusion would have made Reece laugh if he had not just experienced something so horrific that he wondered if he’d ever get another good night’s sleep.
“What... in... Hades... was... that?” demanded Ciera, her voice shaking despite her angry tone.
“Yeah, what the pretty lady said...” added Pasha, his face several shades paler than normal.
“Apologies, but it looked like we were doomed. I... ahh... asked nicely for some help,” offered Reece sheepishly.
“Help,” asked Ciera, dumbfounded. “Help from who...or what?”
“Well,” began Reece, pausing briefly. “The Kraken.”
“The Kraken,” laughed Pasha. “Like, the Kraken?”
Reece merely nodded slowly.
“So, you and it are good friends then,” reasoned Pasha as he worked himself up into hysterics. “Then, why didn’t you ask your friend to help out before? Are you on a first-name basis with this new friend? How can I make friends with a Kraken? Sorry, the Kraken....”
“Okay, okay, okay...” cut in Reece. “I get it. You’re in shock. Listen, I didn’t even know the Kraken existed until a few minutes ago. And we aren’t exactly friends. I think I was extremely lucky that he didn’t kill all of us too. Plus, he mentioned that I shouldn’t disturb him again... like... ever.”
Ciera and Pasha looked like they were finally calming down a little. Reece understood what they were feeling and didn’t blame them one bit. What they had all just witnessed was nothing short of terrifying and they’d all have to deal with it in their own way. Karina and Naeva walked over to lend their support and Reece noticed many folks from the communities coming above decks now that the fighting was hopefully over with. Luckily for them, they were safely below and hadn’t witnessed the horror.
Reece’s adrenaline had finally run its course and he wobbled a bit as his vision dimmed. He wasn’t well-rested from the previous battle and he had just discovered how taxing it was to mentally communicate with and control other minds. He felt his body weaken, and his knees started to buckle. Karina was beside him in a flash, helping to hold him up. A moment later, Naeva grabbed him for his other side. Together, they hauled him over to the edge of the carrier and sat him down, leaning him against the steel railing.
“I think I need a vacation,” Reece mumbled as he swiftly drifted into unconsciousness.
“Let’s get him below-deck and into a bunk,” he heard someone say as sweet darkness took him.
A new dream came to him, unlike the ones that had come before. It had a similar look but felt like a different architect had constructed it for him. It was nighttime, but the stars and moon were very bright, easily illuminating the great sandy wasteland that spread out in every direction. He found himself in a shallow pit, a massive reddish pyramid set above him, resting in the steadily blowing sands.
Besides the red-tinged pyramid, only one thing marred the perfectly windswept sand. It was an idol or sculpture of a man’s face adorned with long mane-like hair bound into tight braids that matched its braided foo-man-choo, and it stood directly in front of him, far below the ominous red pyramid. The odd statue appeared to be constructed from the very sand that surrounded them all.
Reece was flanked by a young man and woman, and he was sure they hadn’t been there before. The two looked like they could be related, with fine features and dark golden skin. They both opened their mouths to speak, but no sound came out. Instead, they simply stood there staring at him with mouths closed before each of them raised an arm, in unison with the other, to lay them upon two obsidian cubes that rested atop a pedestal for each of them.
The moment they placed their hands on the cubes, they began to transform. Their heads sprouted hairy ears, their eyes began to glow with a golden light, and their skin changed to resemble obsidian. Directly between the two, the ground opened, and he felt himself get sucked into the deep dark pit. Falling through blackness, he saw a pale yellow light below.