Shay and Phay stood at the very edge of the stern overlooking the sea below. They were poised in a solid stance. Spears held and tips pointed forward. Energy channelled through their weapons, the runes coming alive and staining the air before gathering at the tips.
A mass of blue eminence and volatile heat gathered before shooting forth in rays of power. The rays curved through the air, crossing a distance of over 10 meters in what felt like two blinks of the eye.
And yet the large shadow moving in the depths of the water moved just as swiftly.
The rays struck against the water, sending forth steam, foam and sprinkles of water in an explosive fountain that rose into the night sky.
The two sisters paid in it no mind.
The large shadow torpedoed for the ship's hull. Shay was the first to react. Before the fountains of water could even begin falling, she was already turning- Phay one step behind her. Her spear pierced out and the energy rays shot forward.
The shadow paused and backed off. It moved towards the distance before it slowly rose from the depths.
Water fell down its body as though washing down a waterfall, the blowhole at the top of its head sent a geyser of water over 6 meters into the air. Its skin was the color of volcanic ash, with scales facing backwards in a streamline pattern.
The beast was as large as a submarine with a body as streamlined as a torpedo. A tail broad enough to cover two buses arose like a monument of retribution before it fell. As though a bomb had gone off, torrents of water flew in all direction.
The beast opened its wide mouth, a dark maw threatening to swallow the world, before it released a bellow that was akin to the towing of rusted bells above a church.
It was grating to the ears.
"Qualaag" Ushanti heard Shay whisper.
She was standing a few feet behind them. Her eyes were locked on the creature that was attacking them. "What the hell is a Qualaag?" she asked
Shay responded without looking back. "I've heard stories. Back when your mother was your age she found a whale beached on the shores of Moka..."
"That small island a short distance from home?"
"Yeah. Of course the way your mother explains, it was a baby whale the length of two canoes and it was wounded at the time, attacked by something sharp" Shay explained.
"I guess it grew up then" Liam rushed up behind them. His chest was rising and falling and he was slightly out of breath.
He'd been running.
"I guess it did"
Qualaag's bellows echoed once more causing Ushanti and Liam to wince.
"What ever it is does not matter. That thing is attacking us, it is an enemy we have to kill" Phay said pulling herself over the railing with one hand. Before anyone could stop her, she was gone, already falling towards the unstable surface of the water.
"Phay!" Shay gritted her teeth and took a second to face them. "Stay here"
She was gone too.
A couple of seconds later, two spear wielding warrior maidens could be seen running along the surface of the water as if it were solid ground. They were closing in on Qualaag. Phay was the first to reach it, her spear flashing with a blue light as she poured Aether into it.
Ushanti rushed to the railing, grabbing it with both hands until her knuckles were the white. She watched with a stone face as the sea boiled in the distance. Even from a distance of 10 meters, the shockwaves caused the ship to tremble a little.
'I'm useless once again' she bit her lips until a single drop of blood fell.
***
"Sister!" Shay shouted over the rustling waves. "Don't be reckless"
But it was useless. Her sister turned a deaf ear to her and instead she lunged at the beast with everything she had.
Shay gritted her teeth and pulled on everything she had to catch up to her. Her Aether core was 2/3 of what it actually was as she never found the time to fully replenish what she had lost to the strange presence in Liam's body.
She exploded with motion. Water displacing behind her as she shot like a torpedo.
Phay was already engaging the beast however by the time she was withing striking range, Phay was knocked aside.
Shay's spear spun once to gather momentum, the runes feeding on her Aether to enhance itself. Spear pierced towards the skin on Qualaag's side just before the fin.
On impact, her arm recoiled. Her wrist throbbed and the entirety of her arm felt slightly numb. She stepped back, taking a second to inspect the area she struck.
'Not even a scratch'
Her gaze sharpened and she quickly brought up her spear to guard her side. Something heavy slammed into her, shaking her entire body, causing her bones to creek. It felt like a wall had driven into her.
Her brain rattled and it took a second to realize that it was actually the beast's fin.
Like a stone through a slingshot, she was flung back with such force that she broke through the air with a sound akin to a small handgun.
Shay's vision blurred for what must have been a second, the world was darkener and tilted.
There was a constant ring in her right ear. Did she burst an eardrum?
Her body bounced off the surface of the water once, then twice before she fell below the waves.
The water began pulling her down, a trail of red drifting upwards as the blood from her lips dissolved in the salty water.
From the stern, Ushanti screamed.
"Shay!"
Aether erupted from the entirety of her body. The force of such a release caused cracks to manifest on the deck below her. Her thoughts stopped, her mind clouded.
The water responded to her grief. It grew agitated and unstable. The water below seethed and boiled. Large waves came to life and spread all over.
If one were to see them they would have thought a typhoon was passing. A wall of water the height of 5 meters rolled into the ship. Soaking the deck. The impact shook the entire ship.