Enmity of Atlas

Trenton woke up feeling oddly…satisfied. He felt normal, more or less, but also unusually pleased. The memories from last night were still fresh in his mind, sharp and clear, even the stray corners easily in focus. He remembered vividly the sight of Clint’s corpse, his body torn and violated, his blood coating the ground. And, he also remembered the sudden burst of strength, the anger, the desire, the heavy hammer which sat impossibly comfortable in his hand. He remembered the strike, the feeling of the blow crushing the beast's skull, the entire great might of the power coursing through his veins being channeled into that one strike. It was impossible. He knew it was impossible. Trenton wasn’t nearly strong enough to pull something like that off. Even attempting such a move should’ve shattered every bone in his body. But instead, he felt great, better than ever before–actualized–whatever that meant.

Off to his side, Trenton didn’t even notice Leo, so caught up was he in his own thoughts. Leo, with dark circles under his eyes and drooping eyelids, stowed his longsword, approaching Trenton. He offered Trenton a hand, which Trenton took gratefully. It looked like they were in one of the storage bays, an area that was really far away from the sleeping bays. It was an odd spot for Leo to choose to rest, but Trenton wasn’t going to complain. He needed the alone time, anyway.

Leo led them up to the top deck, where everyone was already enjoying lunch by the railing. Leo silently pulled up two barrels for them to sit on, resting his chin on his hand. He didn’t seem much in the mood to chat, a sullen atmosphere hanging thick around him. Trenton thought to say something, but Leo was typically like this after big fights, something about being unsatisfied. He’d get over it in due time. He always did before.

It was around noon or so, everyone in relatively good spirits as they’d managed to patch up the boat, more or less, and get the vessel moving just a couple hours earlier. After the tragedy of last night, it was nice to be moving again, the fresh air and wonderful weather only heightening the experience.

“Thanks for catching us last night, Trenton. Believe it or not, trying to stop 4 people in the middle of a free fall is a little difficult,” Garrote said, a smile dancing across his lips.

“I was mostly just trying to get back onto the ship. I was really tired after…” Trenton trailed off, recalling the event prior to emergence from the water.

“Yeah, what was that? I had no idea you could hit that hard!” Kiva asked, putting down her mostly finished meal to the side.

“It was awesome! And also a little scary!” Millie shouted, throwing her arms in the air, something in her hand flying over the railing and into the water, “Oops.”

Trenton hesitated, wondering the best way to explain it, but Leo actually stepped in before he could say anything, “It was nothing…nothing special. He’s just incredible…right?” Leo said, looking over at Trenton, unspoken words passing between them.

“...yeah. There was danger so I pulled out all of the stops, nothing impressive,” Trenton lied. It wasn’t really a good cover up, but Trenton trusted Leo’s intuition that this should remain quiet for now.

“I wouldn’t exactly call that nothing special, but I guess I don’t know you that well. I had no idea you had something like that in you,” Garrote said.

“Just takes the right moment. It’s all about technique and timing. It’s exhausting, though, and hard to pull off. Don’t count on a timely save in the future,” Trenton said, desperately trying to make it sound at least a little believable. Kiva eyed the two of them for a moment, but eventually decided to just let the topic drop.

For the next two days, they traveled over the Liafer, the adept crew, whoever was left, easily shepherding the boat through. The Liafer was incredibly large, easily a couple miles across, which alleviated any tension or worry of crashing. Most of their time spent was either talking while they relaxed, or on guard duty, watching out for any sign of trouble. When they were together, they watched over the scenery, taking in the cliffs, which slowly faded to hills off to the left, and the thick forests, which began to form on their right. It was an old shepherd's tale that the Liafer was so fertile it had a special variety of tree growing all along its borders, a hard wood oak, but Trenton had never believed it.

Looking now at the massive trees, which towered over them on the right shore, Trenton realized that there might’ve been more truth in the story than he had thought. Although, it was probably still exaggerated. The wood couldn’t have been that durable. At one point during the travel, these piranha-like creatures were attacking from below the ship, trying to sink them, but they were dispatched without too much trouble, at least compared to the adiathan attack. It seemed everyone was more on edge after one near death encounter, so the guard shifts were a lot more fruitful than they had been the day of the attack. Trenton internally had to come to terms with the fact that the bottom of the ships defenses were pretty much all down due to the news he delivered to them, but there was a couple among them who had their wits still about them. He highly doubted it would’ve turned out much different even with prior warning.

A little after noon on the second day, they were getting close to the southern pass, the winds pleasant and warm, luckily. They had been having great luck with weather, no storms, gentle headwinds, pleasant humidity. But there was no telling how much longer that would last. It was best to enjoy it while they had it. Especially with how much further north they were going to be going. It wasn’t going to stay warm forever.

“Look!” Millie shouted, leaning over the railing and pointing ahead of them.

Ahead of them, the structure’s great size both imposing and impressive, was the southern pass, one of two bridges across the Liafer. For most people, this bridge would be the only way to easily cross the Liafer, the only other bridge being way farther north in the Bloody’s territory. It was an incredibly important landmark, serving as a gateway between the two halves of the world. Similar to the docks outside of Wyrm’s Perch, Trenton marveled at the feat of engineering. Even just building something this massive so far out in the plains was undeniably impressive, but keeping it fresh and usable, protected from monsters? That was a step beyond. They must’ve had a couple strong guards watching over it at all times. Jarlis made it sound like that was the system back at the docks, so it only makes sense it’d apply here, as well.

When they got close to the bridge, close enough to steer under it, the boat suddenly lurched, their forward movement stopping entirely. Trenton thought to panic, that they were under an attack of some sort, but as he looked around, he noticed the crew seemed completely nonplussed, no one even slightly bothered by whatever was happening. Trenton leaned over the boat, looking down beneath them to see that the water was…far away? Yes, that’s right, the water was far away. They were flying. Someone had just picked up the entire boat with graviturgy, likely holding them aloft while they performed some sort of inspection on the boat. They couldn’t rightly let them pass into Dasellium without proper inspection, after all. Regardless, the strength to hold an entire boat aloft in the air was remarkable, practically astonishing to Trenton. Even after the time he had spent traveling the plains, Trenton still found it incredible just how many powerful warriors there were out in the world, each one with a unique story.

Their group bustled up to the front, where they saw Walibeld and Jarlis standing, looking up. Above them, arms splayed wide, a man was descending towards the boat, his entire form free floating. He must’ve had some incredible control to make flying so effortless. Garrote’s control, impressive as it was, paled in comparison. Garrote’s use of his magic was much more akin to simple casts, the very basics of using magic. The man touched down with a refined grace, his pale eyes scanning their group. When he saw Walibeld, his face lit up.

“Ah, Walibeld! You didn’t tell me you’d be coming through! No need to show me your pass. I’ll let you pass in just a minute. Tell me, what’re you doing now that Aria’s gone?” The man said. Oh, so they tell their bridge guards about the collapse, but not the docks sitting a handful of miles outside of Wyrm’s Perch? Some very clear favoritism at play here.

Walibeld nodded towards Trenton, “I’m taking them to see Era. Things have gotten pretty messy, so it’s taking me longer than I’d like to sort through,” Walibeld quickly caught him up to speed on what had happened, as well as the enemy they faced. The man listened intently, nodding along throughout the whole story.

“Well,” he said once Walibeld finished, “that sure is something. Have you contacted the king? I’m sure he’d love to know about this.”

“Not yet. I’ve had my hands full. I plan to give him the details in full once we reach Dasellium ourselves, the quicker the better.”

“Right, right. Well, I won’t hold you then. Any official report I file will be way slower than you telling him yourself. I’ll trust that you’ll see to it,” the man said, taking a step back and raising his arms. Slowly, the boat began to lower back into the water, the man releasing them to continue forward.

Something’s wrong

Trenton whipped around, a strange foreboding feeling prefacing whatever was approaching. He could feel it, a rumbling, a quaking, unbelievably fast, and unbelievably massive. He wasn’t even able to say anything before it was upon them. Barreling around a bend in the river was a colossal mountain of a creature, a cephalopod with long, snakelike arms burrowing into either side of the river, vaulting itself forward. It was a kraken, one far too large to swim through the river, which meant this wasn’t just any kraken. Somehow, the moment he saw it, Trenton knew exactly what it was, an uncanny feeling somewhere in the back of his skull–familiarity. This was the elder beast Kullisates, the scourge of the sea. It couldn’t even fit itself into the river; it was so massive. Why was it here? Why now? In the blink of an eye, sensing impending doom with the beast making contact with the back of the boat, Walibeld made a split-second decision.

“Displace,” he said, the word reverberating with a powerful hum. In an instant, Trenton, Millie, Garrote, Leo, and Kiva were teleported 4 miles to the east, at the top of a large hill overlooking the eastern bank of the river. Walibeld, however, was not with them, nor was any other man that was on the boat with them. Trenton watched, now from afar, as Kullisates’s gargantuan body plowed through the ship and through the bridge, decimating both with ease, its momentum not even being slowed in the slightest, Walibeld nowhere to be seen.