Enmity of Atlas

Kiva’s body slammed into the hardwood floor. In Trenton’s rush, he hadn't simply tossed her down, he’d practically hurled her entire being straight into the ground, the floorboards bowing underneath her. Man was he strong. Well, not like she could really complain. Trenton had the harder job right now anyway. Kiva rolled to feet, moving off of the precarious floorboards beneath her. She needed to focus. Leo, Garrote, Millie, those were her first priority. If any of them fell into the waters, they’d almost assuredly perish.

Kiva’s eyes darted around the floor, scanning for any sign of life. Luckily, Trenton had just so happened to throw her into one of the sleeping bays, but with how much the ship was careering and tilting, it was impossible to orient herself to which one she might’ve been in. Across the way, in between the chaos of the men staggering to the surface, Kiva spotted Millie, who was struggling to rise from the ground. Kiva tried to take a step towards her, but the whole boat suddenly lurched to the left, everything not secured sliding into the wall. Kiva slammed into the wall shoulder first, the men unwittingly piling on top of her, everyone struggling to try and get to their feet. Kiva pushed herself out of the tangle of limbs, tentatively standing nearly completely horizontal on the wall of the boat. From beneath her sleeve, she channeled her magic into the oak tunic she wore, forcing its branches to grow forward, latching onto Millie and pulling her forward.

“What’s happening!?” Millie cried in between sobs.

“We’re under attack! Hold on to me!” Kiva shouted, working her way over the men towards a door at the front of the room.

Kiva thought back to her activities earlier that night. She had visited everyone in their sleeping bays to keep track of where everyone was and give them some comfort before bed. She distinctly remembered Millie being separated from everyone else, which meant this bay didn’t have any of the others. The ship careened back to the right, throwing Kiva and Millie to the ground. From above them, the ceiling groaned and creaked, the boards bending towards them. Kiva quickly jumped to feet, dodging out of the way as dozens of bone tendrils broke through the ceiling, skewering handfuls of men all around her. Was the beast walking on the ship? The spikes bore in and out of the room, poking through the ceiling at new points, catching new unsuspecting victims, before rising back up into the darkness above. Their screams and pleas rang in her ears, but she had to focus. As much as it hurt to say, she had to prioritize the lives of her team before anyone else.

Kiva shoulder bashed her way through a door by the main stairwell, coming out into a hallway lining the hull of the ship. Leo backed up in the wall next to the door, flourishing his blade towards some hulking figure before them, digging into its flesh. Standing in front of them was a large green skinned humanoid beast, several slimy tendrils on its back flailing around wildly, others having already been severed. Leo and Kiva dove to the right, sliding along the ground as the ship tipped backwards, sending both them and the beast sliding towards the wall on the far end.

“Burn it Leo! It has to be weak out of the water!” Kiva shouted, doing her best to hold onto Millie and remain upright.

“I can’t! I’ll set the whole ship on fire! I can’t use any magic!” he shouted back, hugging the wall to avoid the monster as it jumped towards them.

Kiva ducked low and forward, letting it pass easily overhead, using thick branches to slice into the monster's flesh as it passed. The beast cried out in pain, rolling to a stop and standing at the far end of the hallway. It was trying to work its way uphill towards them, which meant they had a moment to strategize. Even after Kiva’s attack, it didn’t seem very fazed. Its slimy skin must’ve been incredibly thick. They’d need something else if they wanted to deal any significant damage. It wasn’t like they could just hit it hard enough to-

“I’ve been waiting ages to try this move!” Garrote shouted from behind them, sailing over their heads towards the monster, his feet not even touching the ground.

He was positioned like a missile launching at its target. How confident was he? Using the speed of his fall, and some of his magic, Garrote drove his blade into the monsters skull, flipping his body sideways over the monster, finishing off the attack by slamming his left hand into the back of the monster head, using a sudden burst of gravity to push it’s skull further into the blade. In all, it was an incredibly graceful move, the result of hundreds of hours of practice. What was less graceful was Garrote continuing to fly backwards, his whole body slamming into the back wall. The monster screamed, spasming in place for a second, before collapsing in a heap. Similarly, against the far wall, Garrote squirmed to his feet, holding his head, which was now mysteriously bleeding. It seemed like simply hitting it harder was an option, after all.

“I got too excited. I went too fast,” Garrote moaned, jogging up to them. “Looks like the gangs all here. We should-” The ships tilted to the side, throwing them all against the wall.

“You’re way too calm for the current situation!” Kiva called out, grabbing the both of them and pulling everyone towards the way she came in from. They sprinted up the stairs, coming out onto the deck to survey the situation. The beast's head was hovering over the edge of the boat much like when Kiva left. But this time, it wasn’t boring into the boat. In fact, every spine on the top half of its body was bent backwards, slashing at something on the creature's back. Was…was someone on top of the serpent!? That was mad! They weren't nearly strong enough to hurt that thing. In fact, where was Walibeld? Wasn’t he on the ship?

A splitting, piercing battle cry rang out, it’s force enough to push their hair and clothes back. It was Trenton's voice, thousands of times louder than they’d ever heard it before. There was no sound, no light, no indication of what was happening. The only thing that Kiva saw was the serpent’s head, which moments prior was held aloft above the edge of the ship, bow and crack, slamming into the edge of the ship with the might of a god's hand pressing it down. It was so fast that Kiva barely even saw what happened. But what she was able to see was its head, the whole thing caved at the top like a meteor had hit it from above, it’s brain a mess of red viscera. Whatever just hit it, hit it unbelievably hard.

When the serpent's head struck the edge of the boat, the entire structure lifted, the whole boat practically flying horizontal through the air. For a moment, they hovered, everyone free falling, the air whipping wildly around them, before they struck the water, the boat now tilted towards its right side. The four of them rolled along the top of the deck towards the ocean, Garrote desperately trying to slow their fall. They were going to hit the water.

Out of the murky water, drenched and coated in blood, a dark figure rose, spreading their arms wide and catching all four of them, easily carrying them back up the slope of the boat at nearly an impossible angle. It was Trenton, but he looked odd, like Kiva had never seen him before. All across his body, he had these thick green and brown lines, their width flowing and changing as they wrapped around his body like lines of water. Enhancement magic? No, it couldn't be. At least, not of a type that Kiva had ever seen before. Kiva looked up at his eyes to catch his attention, but she noticed an even weirder detail, something she didn’t see at first. Trenton’s eyes were faintly glowing yellow, the unusual light quickly leaving his eyes as he walked. In fact, upon closer inspection, the tattoos were also fading away, his regular skin tone overtaking the odd colors. What the hell did he just do?