Shane Hegarty - Hero Rising

“You call us Legends, kid,” said Sulawan, “but we have Legends in our world. And when they become real, they’re far scarier than anything you humans can imagine.”

Cornelius moaned, pitiful. They stopped and peered out at the frothing sea. Finn wasn’t sure what exactly he was looking at.

“Wherever there are dead, this creature finds life,” said Hiss. “And in this place, there are dead everywhere.”

“He left a creature to ravage this world, and there is only one way to stop it,” said Sulawan.

“A charm,” said Beag, flat nose twitching.

“He took it with him,” explained Hiss. “To Darkmouth. You see, he was wearing it. When he crossed over. When you desiccated him. We need that charm. Which means we need Gantrua too.”

One of the Quetzalcóatls stopped circling, shot back towards where they stood on the beach. Hiss straightened, gripped in a psychic link with the creature, just as Finn had seen before.

“It is happening,” said Hiss, in a droning voice that sounded as if it came from someone else.

“What’s happening?” asked Finn.

Hiss stared ahead. “The dead are rising.”

The waves came at the shore in spiteful bursts, lifting themselves only to smash down hard. But even the waves seemed to avoid the circle of boiling water out in the depths.

“That thing forming in the deep is what they call Gashadokuro, or just the Bone Creature,” Hiss continued. “Millions of the tiniest of organisms come together, binding the bones so that the Gashadokuro rises and rampages anywhere in this world where there are bones to build from. The only way to stop it for good is with the emerald charm Gantrua carried with him to your world. He knew we would have to rescue him if we ever wanted to defeat the terrible creature he left behind.”

Finn watched the spitting sea, which was becoming more active by the second.

“Shouldn’t we … um … move?” he said.

“Don’t worry,” said Sulawan. “The sea is deep and the Bone Creature not so tall. Yet. We have time. But it is growing ever stronger. If you don’t find us Gantrua and his charm, then it will not be stopped until we are all dead and our bones joined with it.”

The circle of water was widening, darkening. Beag the Sprite hid behind Sulawan’s thick legs. For the first time Finn noticed the mysterious fourth Legend was still with them, but again pressed into the shadows of the rock wall. He couldn’t seem to see its shape, only its yellow eyes.

“Maybe we should g-get out of here,” stammered Beag. “You know, just in case.”

Finn looked at the Orthrus to see if Cornelius and Hiss were as fearful. Hiss appeared to be whispering something calming in Cornelius’s ear.

From the depths, the sound grew. It also appeared to be coming closer.

“The Gashadokuro has grown bigger with every visit, but has never reached this island,” said Sulawan. “We should be safe here.”

With an explosion of spray, something massive punched upwards, forcing a shock wave across the water. It frightened Finn enough that he stumbled back, lost his footing on the uneven ground and fell towards the cutting debris.

Sulawan grabbed him by the arm, held him as he dangled awkwardly, his view of the creature obscured by falling water and black seaweed. But he could make out a yellowed concoction of bones among the dark surf, a ghastly frame forming a makeshift skull with cavernous eye sockets hit by waves.

Sulawan jolted Finn back away from the sea. “That thing’s bigger than before,” he said to Hiss.

The Bone Creature started to push forward, forcing itself through the high waves.

“It shouldn’t be able to get to us,” said Hiss.

“Yet it is getting to us,” said Beag, jittery now and backing away behind the retreating Sulawan.

Where the sea grew shallower, the Bone Creature was slowly emerging now, its skull clearing the water, followed by shoulders made up of many layers of bones. It was accompanied by the sound of scraping through the earth, its feet crunching across the seabed. The shale and broken tools at Finn’s feet shifted.

“It is much bigger than before,” Hiss said to the other Legends. “We should—”

A great bone hand reached out from the sea.

“Run!” said Beag, leaping on to Sulawan’s shoulder.

Before Finn could take two steps, Sulawan swept him up under one armpit and began to stride hard along the uncertain ground.

Behind them a hand smashed down on the shore, a thump of splintering bones that fell like shrapnel around those fleeing.

The serpents dived from above, attacked the Bone Creature, but Finn couldn’t see if they were having any effect on it.

“Finn, we need to say goodbye now,” Hiss said. “Sulawan will explain your mission.”

Before Finn could ask anything else, the Legends broke off in different directions, Sulawan running with Finn under his arm.

The bone fist cracked the beach between them. Being shaken around half upside down, Finn made out only the blur of bone hitting rock, and the way the scattered splinters immediately swept back together and returned to the Bone Creature’s hand as it lifted it free, ready for another attack.

Sulawan pounded across the shore, Finn held solidly and helplessly in the crater of his armpit – his nose millimetres from being worn away to a nub on the rock wall.

Beag was clinging on to Sulawan’s shoulder with apparent ease despite the sharp turns and juddering speed.

They reached the part of the beach where Finn had first arrived on the island, the pathway running up to the cliff he’d almost fallen off. Sulawan slowed, and peering around his forearm Finn could see only glimpses of the Bone Creature swinging wildly at circling, dive-bombing serpents.

“Let go,” Finn just about managed to say.

Sulawan let go, dropping Finn on to stony ground.

“I didn’t mean let go like that ,” said Finn, winded.

Sulawan grunted.

Above them, more serpents were appearing through the clouds to pour towards the creature.

“Call him,” Cyclops said to Beag.

The tiny Legend stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled so loudly that shrill, piercing sound still rang in Finn’s ears after he had stopped.

Above them, a serpent reappeared with the Orthrus in its jaws, taking Cornelius and Hiss to safety.

The mountain shook with the sound of battle.

“OK, kid, this is where you go home,” said Sulawan. “Next time I see you, you’ll have Gantrua in your pocket.”

“I can’t do that,” Finn told him. “That would be crazy.”

Leaning down and thrusting his single eye in Finn’s face, Sulawan snarled. “I hear old Cornelius and Hiss saved your life once. And your father’s. Maybe you should think about that before going all selfish on us.”

There was a stirring in the water, a blackness moving through the waves towards them.

“So, let’s say I decide to grab Gantrua,” asked Finn hurriedly. “What then? I just reanimate him, tell him it’s all been a big mistake, ask him for a charm and hope he doesn’t pull my head off?”

“You call us,” said Cyclops, and handed him a tube, a little longer than Finn’s open hand, and made of some kind of thick shell, ridged and lumpy on the outside but smooth inside its rim.

“In here are three of the crystals we smuggled out of this mine over the years and kept out of Gantrua’s hands. You push the end of this Gatemaker, a crystal will poke out the other end. It’ll be enough to punch a gateway open for a brief few seconds. We’ll know you’re ready then.”