Undying Will

On a small dingy boat a young man could be seen expressionlessly looking at the mini whirlpools that surrounded his boat. His black hair camouflaged with the inky blackness of the night sky. His blue eyes pierced through the noxious fog, not a single movement in his body otherwise.

At the front of the boat a single solitary sea king could be seen towing the small raft, it had blue scaly skin and a solitary horn piercing out from it head. Its wide mouth seemed to be open in a permanent glower, it jagged teeth gleaming softly in the pale moonlight.

A sn.o.bby voice echoed from Lore"s side as a small and lean sea king made its way out of the water. "The young"uns are ready. We swim on the nest on your order. Do not disappoint me scale-less one." The only vocal sea king said.

"Sure. Thanks for this Tiamat." He said, still somewhat caught off guard at the amount of authority that the young sea king could muster. He had said that he would provide Lorean with an army and had come through at a level that had far surpa.s.sed his expectations.

"Are you sure that these sea kings will do as I say?" He asked as he clenched tightly to the holstered dagger at his side.

"Yes. For the last time scale-less one. These young"uns are more than willing to partic.i.p.ate in the upcoming campaign!" Tiamat snapped, his patience fraying at the level of disbelief that his statements had been received with.

The boat swayed gently to the side as more uniquely designed sea kings poked out of the sea. At he forefront of them all stood a gawking red scaled eel like sea king.

"Humph. Gather, and at his command charge toward the mountain! You tear any snake that you come across, and flee if you come across the nest patrons!" Tiamat said, his voice carrying outwards.

He had spoken in the human tongue for the benefit of Lorean, for sea kings understood both the tongue of the surface and the more guttural screeches of the undersea peoples.

Lorean nodded, unperturbed at the level of attention that the predators gave him. He had been told the motivations of the sea king"s and the reason that they decided to aid him.

They merely wished to lessen the influence of the nest patrons, the ones that stood in command when the nest father or mother was inactive.

On their words the Yuda had been expanding outward uncontrollably, far outweighing the lands that had been allowed as per some agreement that Tiamat"s elder had made with the old snake that housed the mysterious island.

So overall the conflict could be boiled down to a bout for territory, so it was only obvious that the sea kings would not hunt the infants of the nest, for that would draw the wrath of the nest father and go against the agreement.

Nonetheless Lorean was happy with the aid that he had been provided, any help was better than the foolish scheme he had cooked up to infiltrate the mysterious island all alone.

"Let"s go." and with that the boat zoomed forward heading closer and closer to the solitary monolith, flanked on all sides by gargantuan sea kings at a somber pace that bellied the eve of the conflict that was about to begin…

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The high priestess had had it up to the tip of her nose with the number of complaints that she had received about her disciple, now wondering what had possessed the little docile girl so curious about the ways of the world eater.

Now all she could look at was a gluttonous abomination that had become drunk on the highs of power and fantasy.

With a deep sigh she cradled the bridge of her nose, cursing the rules once again for their strict regulations on the high priestess, once a disciple was chosen almost nothing short of death could rescind the position.

A dull thud sounded softly as Merla pushed open the door to the ritual hall, a fawning expression on her face as she lead her teacher forward.

"Teacher, all the acolytes are gathered, and Balogna reports that the things are ready to be served to the world eater." She said, a barely hidden hint of glee at mention of the acolytes, who just prior to the arrival of her teacher, she had taken great pleasure in disciplining for a reason she had not yet thought off.

An expressionless nod met her expectant gaze as her teacher took to the center of the room, looking closely at the various faces before her, before looking at the five p.r.o.ne and tied up figures that stared at the entire setup with a level of hatred that would have made the high priestess flinch were she not used to it.

"Acolytes," She began her voice magnetically attracting the attention of the entire room. "Today is the day that we honor the world eater. The holy deity that has protected this island since its very inception.

Today is a day of thanks for the care that he has shown us. Today is a day where we look upon the one that has blessed and cares for us from the shadows! Today we dine at the same table that he dines upon, drinking holy elixir when he drinks the blood from his quarry, where we eat the meat of his foes as he swallows the sacrifices that we place before him."

A round of nods went around the room, even those that had never heard of let alone seen the world eater nodded piously.

"But remember. Though he is our caretaker, we must not forget humility. These people-" Here she motioned to the tied up forms of the crew unknowingly causing one Terrick to clench his fist beneath his sleeves.

"These people are the currency that we shall use to curry the world eater"s favor! Accord them the same courtesy that one would accord money. " She finished grumbling in her mind at the level of incomprehensibility that spread around the room.

Merla glanced disdainfully at the tied up figures, the only thing that stopped her from going up to them and spitting on their faces being the stern face that her teacher was making as she talked about another "life lesson" that Merla had never been forced to learn.

"Let the ritual begin." She finished before turning around and bowing deeply to the pool of water that she had stood before.

A priest"s figure walked to her side, a sacrificial knife on a platter in his hand.

The high priestess took up the dagger amidst the silence, resolutely cutting into the palm of her hands and letting the blood drop into the pool before motioning for her disciple to do the same.

Over the course of the next few minutes, the gagged form of the five crew mates looked on in morbid fascination at the priests that walked one after the other to drop a drop of blood into the clear pool.

As the final person dropped it in, the high priestess once more began. "With the ocean of blood we shall summon him, and with the bodies of his prey we shall welcome him."

The water in the pool began to churn as a faint tremor began to permeate the land.

Suddenly the doors burst inwards, a dull and breathless Yura holding the sides of the door frame with pale hands,

"Edda, high priestess, the island is under attack!!"