Tales Of Mysteria: The Sea Goddess

The times were cold and bitter. The world was brittle and dying and the Gods… The Gods were cruel. They regularly attacked, enslaved and plagued the mortals with any type of suffering their saw fit. They could end the world at the drop of a hat though so no mortal dared speak against them. But this was one of the times someone did. Far on the coast of human lands, on the docks of a city called Harowick was a woman and a massive crew of warriors packing several ships full of supplies and materials needed for the trip they were going on. The woman’s name was Saenis and she was in charge of this expedition.

“Come men! We haven’t much time! Mareus is sure to be expecting us and the longer we take, the more time we give her to prepare!” Saenis shouted as everyone doubled their efforts. From the distance running through the crowd of onlookers came a messenger, with a scroll in hand.

“Hermion. I hope that scroll you hold brings good news,” She said placing her hands on her hips. Hermion breathed a tired sigh and handed her the paper.

“See for yourself. I am forbidden to look at letters or messages that are not for me.” She took the paper and read it over.

‘Dear sister Saenis, I’m afraid our worst nightmares have come to fruition. They know. And there is no stopping it. I do not wish to sway you into stopping as we have come too far to stop now but I merely wish to tell you to prepare. She waits for you.’  ~Kaela

“Ah crap. I was afraid this would happen,” Saenis said handing the letter back. “Tell Kaela that I am off to sea now. And that she needs to be prepared for one hell of a storm.” Hermion had started to run off but was caught by Saenis before he could.

“And Hermion! One last thing!” He stopped and looked back at her. “Make sure everyone is safe on a boat by Sun high. Got it?” She had a hopeful look in her eyes which was a look that didn’t often adorn her face. Hermion nodded and then left as fast as he possibly could. She looked at the people gathering nearby and smiled slightly.

“You’re our hero Saenis!” One man shouted.

“She’ll make that old serpent look like an ant!”

“Come back to us alive!” Everyone cheered for her. Even the men and women on the ship. She calmed down the crowd and crossed her arms.

“Now now everyone. Calm down and listen to me closely: This will not be an easily won fight. I am lucky to have so many brave men and women help me with this. I cannot say everyone will come back in one piece nor can I say whether I will live to see all of you again… But I promise you that tonight a God will die!” Everyone cheered and chanted Saenis’ name. With that, everyone had set sail and some 14 ships sailed off the coast of the city of Harowick and into the expansive seas.

*****
The Seas were calm. The waves were light and the several ships that glided across the waters suffered no resistance. This was truly strange. Saenis looked out over the front of the ship and saw no land. Only endless water.

“This is very strange.” She walked over at the side of the boat and drew her knife, messaging the man on the ship in Morse code by reflecting the light of the sun on the blade. The man on the other ship understood. Ready your men. Something is coming. She told one of her soldiers to send the same message and she did so.

“Maybe Mareus is sleeping,” said one of the men.

“No way. Kaela said she was expecting us.” Saenis sheathed her knife.

“Maybe she was misinformed.”

“Has it ever been that easy?” said one warrior beginning to climb up the sailing mast. “I’ll check up top and see if maybe we can find something.” Saenis went into her quarters and brought three people with her while the men and women outside continued to keep watch. Saenis pulled out a map and circled the large ocean. One man was named Ahjak, a tall and muscular warrior dressed head to toe in armor and a determined look on his face. He was fiercely loyal to Saenis, willing to die for her if the need ever arose. Kind of dramatic but he's the kind of guy you want with you in a fight. Next to him was Kras, a Feraci warrior(bipedal animals but don't call them that)who went on this expedition to lay eyes on the serpent Mareus himself. He wanted to know if the legends were true as he didn't believe them. Next to Saenis was Tevia, a magnificent archer from a class of native people called Weichan. They rarely leave their lands but these so called “Gods” harm anyone and everyone and even if the Weichan weren't targeted yet they would be soon so she joined to nip that in the bud.

“Mareus is an elusive beast. Big as the ocean itself and incredibly powerful. We need to be ready for everything she can throw at us. Which is why I have had someone make this for us.” Saenis pulled a small knife sized weapon from her side and it instantly grew into a golden three pronged spear with a blue jewel at the center. It surged with energy and the jewel glowed a luminescent blue. “This trident holds the power of the seas in it. Very hard to make and even harder to control but with this, we may have a greater chance against Mareus.” One of the warriors, Ahjak, grabbed a book and set it down on the table opening it up to the page that detailed Mareus… But it seemed to be torn out. Saenis was shocked.

“What?!” she walked over to her bookshelf and searched for all the books that detailed the Gods but nothing was there. It was all gone.

“This is impossible. No one is allowed in here. No one has read these books but me!” The other warriors looked through the rest of the book to see if it had any useful information. They found a page that showed a picture of a beast that seemed far too big and the book itself was vague on how she looked.

“Saenis have you ever seen her?” Tevia asked. Saenis sighed and looked back at her warriors.

“Only once. And she was terrifying to look at.” Saenis seemed to be shaking in fear at the memory of seeing the sea beast. Outside the warriors kept a watchful eye over any changes in the sea patterns.

“Hey guys,” said one of the men. You ever wonder what happens when a God dies?” The woman directing the boat thought it over.

“Maybe it’s like… They just fade away into dust or something.”

“No. I heard from the temples that if a God is killed their soul kinda transcends into a higher place.” said another warrior

“Wait so if a jerk of a God dies they get to go to God heaven?”

“Regular heaven.”

“I thought regular heaven was where they lived.” One of the women gestured out to the sea.

“Does this look anything like the Heaven ya read in the stories?”

“Well how would the stories know? They were written by some guy who had a lot to say about something he didn't know. Heck, I can write books like that.”

“You can write?”

“Screw you Kalas.”

“So another question: If a God dies, does he go to a better heaven? Or does he go to a divine Underworld or something?”

“I put my money on the heaven thing. Gods don’t get repercussions for jack. They can kill and pillage, destroy and demean whoever and whatever they please and still get to live the good life.”

“Yeah. Really sucks when you think about… Wait. What money do you have?”

“I have money.”

“You mean HAD money.” Someone interjected.

“Don’t tell me you boys went out drinking again.”

“One should enjoy their final hours.” The man gave a dry laugh but the mood immediately soured.

“You guys think we’re gonna actually able to do this? Actually kill a God?”

“Do you doubt Saenis?”

“No of course not. She has earned my respect and loyalty and I will fight with her anywhere. It’s just… A God. I mean we’re talking about taking down something that is older than civilization itself and strong enough to make the Earth shake. Surely I’m not the only one terrified here.” Everyone agreed with him. They had never even seen the Sea Serpent before and the stories told about it were both amazing and frightening. The Serpent was said to be so big she could devour entire islands in one gulp. Not really something you want to upset. The man on the mast had saw something in the distance.

“A strange fog.” He grabbed the magnifying glass at his waist and looked towards the fog that seemed to be rolling in fast.

“Hey guys!” he shouted to the people down the mast. “Some weird fog is rollin' it’s way in. Should we tell the boss?” he said climbing his way down. They agreed it would be best to get Saenis and one of them left to retrieve her.

“Saenis. Some strange fog is coming our direction.” Saenis frowned.

“Not good. Not good at all. Let's go.” She walked outside with everyone and the fog had already surrounded the ship’s leaving almost nothing visible. In the fog, there was a brisk cold air that began to slowly freeze over much of the boat. The ship’s behind Saenis’ began to fade away as the fog got denser and denser and she heard them call her name.

“Saenis!” They cried and even though they were not far behind her, they sounded as if they were miles away. They continued to call her name before their voices were completely drowned out. Rain sounded but none was seen and thunder was heard both miles away and inches away. Growling could be heard from the sides of the ship yet when Saenis looked over the sides of the boat, nothing could be seen.

“Warriors! Weapons drawn!” Saenis shouted at the top of her lungs hoping all would hear her, even the men lost in the fog. The unsheathing of metal was echoed throughout the waters and the growling that was grew in tone, the very oceans vibrating. One of the men looked over the edge of the boat and merely saw his reflection looking at him. Any other person would have just walked away but something about the way the reflection looked made him uneasy and he stared longer, taking in every detail he could before he saw something underneath the reflection traveling fast by the ship.

“Boss! Something’s underneath the-” he began but was cut off as the entire ship was hit by something massive that nearly tipped the ship over. Everyone tried to grip onto something on the boat but many fell overboard into the sea. Saenis stabbed her sword into the boat and grinded herself to a halt. Luckily she wasn’t the only person who managed to stay on board. When the ship corrected itself, something big had risen out of the sea but no one saw or heard it. It looked hungrily at one of the men on the ship and released a mild hissing and a low growl, drawing the attention of Saenis.

“Kalas look out!” She shouted as the creature quickly snaked down and bit down on Kalas, light enough to not kill him but hard enough to keep him from escaping. He cried for help and Tevia drew her bow but was afraid to fire for fear she might hit him by accident. None of them could do anything but watch as the serpent-like creature threw Kalas into the air and opened its gaping maw, Kalas screaming on the way down into the mouth of the creature before it snapped its jaw closed and looked at the ship eyeing all of the small and delicious looking humans and released an ear splitting scream. Saenis pulled the knives out of her boots and ran to the edge of the boat, jumping off and digging her knives into the hide of the serpent. It seemed barely at all hurt and instead rushed under the water, taking Saenis with her. Tevia got to the wheel of the boat and turned so she was following the sea creature as closely and as fast as possible while Saenis began to pick at the dense armor of the beast.

Trying to fight a sea creature underwater is a very difficult thing but she trained purposely for this and managed to climb to the head of the beast and stab at its dense hide, actually managing to damage it and pick a hole inside it. She quickly stabbed at the beast’s exposed flesh and it’s screams were muffled by the waters. It rose its head above the water and attempted to throw Saenis off but she remained on board. Tevia had aimed the pointed head of the boat at the serpent and Saenis, seeing an opportunity, had stabbed her blades into the beast’s open wound and use all her strength to pull it down towards the ship as the point had stabbed its way into the serpent’s mouth and run the beast over. Saenis jumped off the beast and back onto the ship before the serpent began to turn into water and fall back into the ocean.

“That was easy,” said Kras patting Tevia’s back.

“That wasn’t Mareus.” Saenis responded. The oceans began to shift and changed violently as it began to crash into the ship, knocking it off course and into something more dangerous that a single serpent. The mist began to slowly fall away as Saenis’ ship crashed head on into one of the other ships she sailed with. The splintering of wood was a terrible sound and the hit of two ships nearly knocked everyone off their feet. From the sea came another scream as another serpent spawned from the ocean followed by another and another and another.

A fifth one rose from the seas as if freshly born and roared at them all a roar that was not by any means identifiable yet still drove fear into the hearts of the men and women. The sea began to swirl in one motion, taking the ships and everything in the seas into the massive whirlpool. With the mist gone, Saenis could see clearly that the serpent creatures were numerous, attacking each and every ship that had sailed with her and there were many broken pieces of wood swirling in the ocean. Saenis was awestruck as in the center of the whirlpool grew a hideous and monstrous creature that she recognized all too well. It's eye alone was as big as two ships and its skin a dark blue and dense rock cover, almost like armor. The creature opened its mouth and roared, it's raw power coming through in its voice and pushing water away as well as actually shattering one of the ships. Lighting shot down from the sky and assaulted Saenis’ ship yet it still stood. The monstrous creature looked at Saenis ship as if it was an atrocity. As if it defied her very existence.

“This is Mareus.” The beast gave another roar in response and a large tentacle shot out of the sea and smashed down on one of her ships, splitting the construct in two halves and sending all on it flying into the air only to plummet into the seas where they were torn apart by ravenous sea creatures. Mareus had long yellow and crooked teeth and inside its mouth was what seemed to be another sea serpent. A serpent inside of a serpent. The eyes of the creature were a sickly green and cat like in design yet Saenis noticed that it had more than just two eyes. It had five. Two on the left, two on the right and one in the middle of two dragon like horns it had on its head. When Mareus growled, her skin moved, shifting like a wave from its head all the way down its neck, almost like a machine trying to cool off. Its breath was that of dead sea life and human flesh and a faint mist pouring from her mouth.

Everyone could only stare in awe at the sheer size of the sea serpent Mareus. She was truly a terrifying beast, many of the men on the ship dropping their weapons and falling to their knees, quietly praying for forgiveness. Saenis was the only one who refused to fall off her feet and drew her trident slamming it into the floor of the ship and shifting the waves around it, knocking the boat away from the gaze of the giant sea serpent but a large tentacle shot into the air and wrapped around the ship, holding it tight and lifting it out of the sea and into the air where three smaller serpents rose out of the sea to feast on the stranded warriors.

“I don’t see this ending well.” Said Kras.

“Maybe not for you. But I’m gonna make it back home in one piece.” Growled Ahjak as he drew his sword. Tevia began to fire arrows at the serpent, each one either bouncing off it’s hard skin or breaking entirely as it leaned down and snatched away another of the warriors, eating him whole. The second serpent leaned down and ate one more while a third leaned down and tried to eat Kras before he pulled out his spear and held it over his head, the mighty serpent biting down and stabbing itself with the spear heads and screaming in pain. It reeled its head back and brought Kras with it as Kras began to attack the beast from inside its mouth. Ahjak pulled a small potion from his pocket and shook it, a hissing sound emanating from it. He aimed to throw it to Kras but was taken away by one of the serpents as it gripped onto his leg with its mighty jaws and pulled him off the ship.

“Kras! Catch!” he shouted as he threw the potion at his nearly eaten friend who caught it and tossed it into the mouth of the sea beast before jumping out, leaving his spear behind. He fell onto the ship and covered his head as the sea serpent let out a small scream before it exploded, Kras’ spear flying out of its mouth and into the sea.

“Damn. That was my favorite spear too,” he groaned rising to his feet. Ahjak was stabbing at the inside of the mouth of the serpent and the third serpent did his best to keep the attention of all the other warriors so no one could help Ahjak escape. Ahjak grabbed the tongue of the serpent and stabbed it with his knife, making it howl in pain though not enough to release him. He drew his broadsword and stabbed it into the serpent’s teeth which made it truly scream in anguish and open its mouth. Ahjak threw his sword towards Kras and called for Tevia’s help. She notched an arrow to her bow and aimed it as carefully as she could at the serpent, making sure she wouldn’t accidentally harm her friend.

“If this works, I’ll give up archery forever because nothing will ever top this amazing shot.” she said softly.

“Be careful of the things you say Ms.Tevia,” Kras replied. She released the string of the bow and lightning crashed from the cloudy sky, the arrow piercing through the air with the swiftness of a lightning bolt itself and nailing the dreaded serpent dead center in the eye, the only unarmored place on its body. All that could be heard from it was an ear splitting scream that was heard even over the lightning storm surrounding the ships at sail. Ahjak used as much of his strength as he possibly could, his muscles bulging with raw power as he grabbed the serpent’s tongue and jumped out of its mouth and onto the ship, bringing the creature down with him. One of the warriors on the ship used his massive hammer to whack the sea beast on the top of its muzzle, forcing its teeth down on its tongue and cutting it clean of. The Serpent whined and reeled back, blind in one eye and missing a tongue it retreated back down into the seas. There was still the last serpent to deal with and it began to bark and snap its teeth in a vain attempt to frighten the warriors on board.

“These things are not infallible!” Saenis shouted. “They bleed and die just like we do! Stand tall warriors for your children will sing songs of the bravery we have shown today!” Everyone hollered in agreement. Saenis swung her heavy trident into the air and lightning shot down from the sky and hit the golden spear, charging it with overwhelming power that she aimed at the beast but it rammed its head into the side of the ship and knocked everyone off their feet. The trident fell but still brimming with energy, it fired at the tentacle that held the ship high and the tentacle completely blew up in half, the ship soon becoming weightless and falling down into its natural place in the seas. Saenis grabbed the trident and when the ship landed on the waters, she slammed the butt of it against the ship and instead of being buried underwater like it should have been, the waters instead helped keep the massive boat afloat as the whirlpool grew worse and the storms heavier.

“Boss!” shouted one of her soldiers. ”This thing isn’t gonna hold much longer. No matter what that spear of yours does!” Saenis looked at the the golden tool and contemplated on what they should do next. Only two of her ships remained and they were without many men or women to continue to fight. Something needed to be done.

“I have an idea. But it’s not gonna be easy.” A sea serpent came from the oceans once more and rocked the ship. That was exactly what she needed. She grabbed the belt of Ahjak’s explosive potions and bellowed a hearty warriors cry as she charged at the watery beast, stabbing her trident into its neck and climbing up to the head of the beast, stabbing her trident into its head just light enough to not kill it but hard enough for it to feel it. She clenched the trident hard and it began to shake with electrical energy, making the beast whine and violently shake to try and knock her off.

“I command you now!” She said digging her trident further. She pulled right and the beast’s head turned right, all the way facing Mareus at the very center of the destructive ocean. The creature fought her the entire way but she managed to keep it under her control until she met face to face with Mareus and made the serpent she rode bite Mareus on the neck. She seemed barely affected if at all and shook her serpent off. She opened her massive jaws revealing her horrid crooked and yellow teeth and the second serpent that lived inside her and began to eat the rebellious creature. Saenis jumped onto the face of Mareus, gripping her rock like skin and pulling herself up to her eyes. She climbed to the head of Mareus in between its two horns and stabbed her trident right into its center eye. Mareus howled as the sky began to practically rain lightning, her cries in pain splitting the heavens and breaking the seas.

The serpent's attached to Mareus began to cry as well and fell apart, disintegrating into water and falling back into the oceans. Mareus shook its head and dived down into the ocean, flying deep beneath the seas at intense speed. Saenis hung onto the trident and one of Saenis’ horns for dear life as the waters were cold and strong, nearly making her lose her grip. Mareus had purposely bumped against undersea rocks and crashed into rubble all in a vain attempt to shake Saenis off who had pulled a short sword out of its hilt and began stabbing the already injured eye of the creature. It wailed in agony and spun in the water with amazing speed. Saenis gripped the trident and pulled hard, the Sea Serpent going in whatever direction she willed it.

Saenis managed to pull the massive Serpent above the waters and pulled her trident out of its injured eye. Saenis thrust the spear into the sky and it was if the heavens crashed down upon her golden rod, filling it with power she had never felt in her life. It did more than just cover the weapon but it covered Saenis in an armor of pure electricity. Mareus opened her mouth and Saenis let out a strong battle cry once more as she dove into the maw of the beast, swallowed whole and falling swiftly down Mareus’ throat. Filled with pride as well as power she took the belt full of potion bombs she got from Ahjak and ignited them, wrapping them around her waist and descending further and further down the giant Sea Serpents gullet…

Everyone on Saenis’ ship stared in awe as their leader was eaten entirely by the fearsome Serpent of the Seas. The rain that fell on their heads seemed to mock them as every light pang of water felt like they were shot with thousands of arrows rapid fire. Their hearts ached as Mareus let out one last howl of dominance, asserting herself as truly immortal.

“She’s gone,” Kras muttered weakly.

“We failed.” said Tevia. Ahjak was completely speechless. Mareus turned toward the last ship of warriors and growling, slowly swimming her way toward them and opening her mouth, ready to devour what was left of these fools who dared tried to slay her. Everyone simply closed their eyes and waited for the end to come only for Mareus to stop and groan. Her throat seemed clogged with something and when she opened her mouth, smoke snaked its way out and the small serpent inside Mareus began to ignite on fire. Mareus choked and coughed and the oceans around her seemed to shake. The very Earth seemed uneasy as her eyes became a sick and tired red, her voice dying and whimpering before she began to turn pale and harder than stone. She looked to the sky for the last time before her entire body became encased in stone and she exploded into pieces. Despite the stones being incredibly dense, when they hit the ship, they broke apart into dust almost as delicate as snowfall. But then something terrible happened. The seas overflowed.

The entire sea of water began to grow and drown the lands all around the world, but astonishingly the ship withstood it all. It seems as though all the wrath that was stored in the Waters of Mysteria had suddenly been unleashed and nothing but the worst was consuming the world. Water had conquered nearly everything and drowned all except the highest of mountains. The waters were immense and overpowering and shoved the ship back and forth, violently pushing and pulling it worse than anything they could have imagined. The wrath of the Seas seemed to go on for hours before finally subsiding when the massive ship crashed onto land and knocked everyone off. Ahjak was the first to rise to his feet and noticed how different the world was. The Ocean seemed bigger and deeper. Mountains seemed smaller. The world had changed. Ahjak looked out to sea and frowned. Tevia groaned as she got up and walked beside Ahjak.

“You think there’s any chance she survived?” asked Ahjak. Tevia sighed and shrugged. She didn’t say a word but simply stood there with Ahjak. Kras was helping everyone up and looked at the ship.

“I think it’s time we return home.” Ahjak said.

“If there’s a home to return to,” Kras said quietly. Tevia flicked his ear.

“Negativity is not welcome right now.”

“Well I'm sorry but how can one keep a positive mindset knowing we are responsible for drowning most of the world in water? I mean just look at this!” He gestured out to most of the mountains in the distance now looking like islands. “How many people have died Ahjak?”

“What did you think was going to happen? We killed the Goddess of the Seas. Did you think everything was going to just end all neat and tidy? No!” Kras growled and Tevia glared at him. “You kill a God and everything that was theirs falls apart. You’re a fool if you didn’t see this coming. I had the foresight to warn my people and if Saenis is smart she would have done the same.” Tevia was then sucker punched by Kras, knocking her almost instantly to the ground. She held her face in surprise and looked at Kras with eyes full of hatred.

"Don't you dare speak ill of Saenis. Ever!" Tevia would have gotten back up and decked Kras right across his muzzle if Ahjak didn’t step in.

“Knock it off you two! We can’t afford this!” The two simply glared menacingly at each other before shaking hands. Tevia’s hands were cold as ice while Kras’ were hotter than fire.

“There we go. You don't have to like each other much. Just enough to work towards the common goal of getting the hell off this island. Now let’s bring some heads together to find a way to fix this ship and hopefully find some survivors out there cause I doubt we are the last ones on all of Mysteria.” Kras seemed less than willing but nonetheless managed to get most of the men with him to look over the damages of the ship while Tevia searched the forests of the island for food. They were going to be here a long while. Ahjak however was stuck looking out at sea wondering about Saenis. If by some means of magic she did survive the explosion of the monstrous Sea Serpent, would she have survived the storm that followed?

“Oh Saenis… Peace be with you in the afterlife.” he said before turning towards the massive damaged ship. From the waters just out of view of the land stranded people of Harowick was a woman with long black hair, beautiful blue eyes and a golden trident in hand with a blue gem at the center. She stood on top of the water as if was solid ground and every step she took made ripples in the sea. She took 3 steps on the sand before stopping and contemplating if it would be the best thing. She thumbed her trident and decided not to.

“No. Saenis is gone. It would be unkind to show up and say I somehow survived. I’ll let them think I’m dead. From this moment on I am no longer Saenis. I am Nessaly. Goddess of the Seas.” Pride filled her heart as she returned to the oceans she came from. “In time you will forget about me Ahjak. Though I will never forget any of you.”