Steven Burke - The Dark Tide

“What? Are you telling me that thing is a leviathan? Does such a creature actually exist?” queried yet another elven mage. She was shaking uncontrollably as she eyed the beast wearily. The elves were losing control of their emotions which did not bode well for the magic defenders. The group started to bunch closer together. It should have been a serious warning sign to all of them that they were nervous. They were immortal and had survived much over the centuries. Something was making them uneasy and it was not the beast they saw.

“Watch out!” Elirownil yelled as the creature finally revealed itself. In an unbelievably swift move the water demon rose out of the depths and swallowed the three mages who had just voiced their concerns. The scales were an emerald green color and its eyes were ruby red. Blood gushed from its massive maw as it submerged itself once more. It was much faster than it should have been. The elves should have been able to avoid such an obvious attack.

Elirownil acted as quickly as she as she could muster under the current conditions. As the creature sank back under the murky surface, she shot a purple ball of fire at its backside. The magical projectile rebounded on the master elf after hitting the beast’s protective hide. The elder magician did not move fast enough to avoid the rebound of her own attack. The purple ball of fire slammed into her chest and threw her some fifty feet into the air. She landed with a dull thud and did not move. Her body had a dried, withered appearance and looked as though something had sucked all of her fluids out of her body. All the bones in her body were broken and she lay at awkward angles.

“Master Elirownil!” screamed the one remaining elven mage. He did not know what to do since his master’s attack had proven ineffective. His eyes locked on the beast as it slowed its submersion.

Suddenly the leviathan reared its scaly head and upper body out of the water once more. The demonic lord of water opened his gigantic mouth and shot black liquid at the motionless elf. The acidic fluid liquefied the elf instantly and his soul was ripped from his body the instant before his flesh melted away. The water demon inhaled forcefully and swallowed the struggling soul. The vile beast let out a roar of delight and dove back into the depths. The water where it had disappeared had an oily look to it. An eerie silence immediately followed the one sided battle scene.

***

Prekihar swam deeper into the greenish depths of Lachlan laughing to himself about the feeble defenses employed by the elementals. The lord of water demons was still overwhelmed by the decision Kana had made. He did not think a guardian would ever summon him from the underworld. He did not know that any of them had the knowledge to do such a thing. He still marveled that it was an elder elemental, which happened to have stewardship over fire and air, which had brought him out of the void. He gained a better understanding of her choice once he knew how desperate she was after losing the powerful dark lord to imprisonment. He was simply in awe of how much power she had gained in such a short period of time. Having lived for as many years as he had, he knew immediately to be wary of Kana’s quick temper and her new found dark powers.

The demon lord had elected to appear as the legendary leviathan because of the effect it would have on those who were foolish enough to try to fight him. He was under strict orders to make his way as quickly as possible to the heart of Landen. He was the arch nemesis of Lord Neb and was almost equal in power to the aged elemental. Prekihar respected Neb and his substantial abilities. He did not wish to meet his foe this early after his rebirthing into the world of the living. His powers were still growing and were not nearly sufficient to take on any of the guardians. That was why he did not attack Necia and Hilzarie. However, he was already more than a match for the elven mages. The defensive barrier the elementals had put up was no match for magic of the underworld.

He continued north along the shoreline to deal with the elven mages that had taken up posts there. The first group he reached after dispatching their friends did not have an elemental with them. So, without any hesitation he pounced. He was able to snatch up two of the magicians before they could do anything to ward off the surprise attack. The other three responded much quicker than the leviathan had anticipated. His binding spell did not work as well on these elves as the first group he had attacked. They shot their own binding spells at him that held him fast. For several moments he could not move at all. While they held him bound, they sent sparks up into the sky which was clearly meant to signal to the others that they were being attacked.

Unfortunately for Prekihar there was an elemental close by when the warning went up. Lady Necia responded instantly to the summons. She appeared just as he had managed to break loose of the binding spells. She knew at once who they were dealing with and made a decisive move toward the retreating beast. She burst into dark red flames and shot straight at the water demon. The impact caused a small quake and sent a significant tidal wave eastward. Necia reared back and sent a barrage of fire balls at the stunned water lord who was zigzagging wildly as he attempted a retreat while she rained down fire from above. She had fiery red wings that helped her hover above the trapped demon lord.

Prekihar transformed into his human form and summoned a trident to his side. He threw up water all around him to diffuse the fiery assaults. The elves were transfixed by the battle that was taking place some twenty feet above the water and did not see the long tentacles of a kraken reaching out for them. All three were grabbed by their ankles and hoisted into the air. They all screamed in terror as they were whipped about by the ancient sea monster. This particular beast had lived many years in Lachlan and was not serving the wicked water lord. He had merely taken advantage of an opportunity in snatching up his prey. He had not had much to eat with the dark fiends on the water. They had shielded against attacks from anything below.

Lady Hilzarie joined the fray shortly after the elves had been snatched by the kraken. She quickly created a massive vortex in the water that began to pull the kraken back into the depths. This distracted the beast long enough for the elven mages to electrically shock the creature into releasing them. They were caught by a friendly gust of wind and alighted on the shore. They quickly attacked the kraken with a mix of fire, ice, and lightning with great affect. The ancient beast exploded into tiny pieces and the swirling water calmed instantly after the creature was dead.

Necia was trying to hold Prekihar in place but was losing the battle. She turned around to check on the others for the briefest moment. When she looked back, her quarry had slipped away. The mist grew thicker at this point and edged ever closer to the western banks. The fiery elemental returned to the shore where the others had gathered and landed with a little more force than she had intended. She was clearly frustrated by her inability to deal with the dark lord’s replacement.

“Well, at least we know who is leading the demonic hordes now” said a windswept Hilzarie. She always tried to look at every situation in a positive light. Her approach had proven to be most effective over the years.

“Someone will need to inform Lady Khalida about this” replied Necia irritably. Flames momentarily encircled her and then faded away. Her frustration was not related to the encounter as the others thought. She realized that the encounter she just had was because of her former master. While she was still struggling with loyalties, it was no longer possible for her to delude herself as to what Kana was doing. She had summoned a powerful creature from the underworld. There was only one way to do that and that was with the darkest magic. She must have made a deal of some kind with the keeper himself.