Chapter 10: The Monstrous Depths

Note: Thanks to WRC264 for beta reading this. Ahlona

My wings flapped over the boiling water. The dark waves crashed into each other as the remains of the dugout sank beneath the waves. Illina ripped out her dagger before she vanished beneath the water. I grabbed the amulet around my neck, my sword flaming in my hand.

I dived for the water, folding my wings around my chest and thrusting my sword first. I splashed into the dark surface. A boiling hiss roared around me. Bubbles burst from around my blazing sword, the light almost snuffing out.

The waters lit up around me anyways. A glow of darkness. It was unnerving. There was so much beneath me. I couldn’t see any ocean bottom. Illina kicked to my right, her red hair flying about her. Where was my Stefan?

A bright light blossomed beneath me. A great sun appeared, the water becoming pale blue in every direction. There was still no sign of the ocean floor. How deep was it? That unnerved me. Stefan appeared further down, his blue robes billowing around him.

A dark shape flowed through the water.

The sleek shape was nearly the size of the River Whisper. A great behemoth of a shark. Black and long, its tail a vertical sweep. It turned around, rushing at Stefan with mouth open. Instead of fins on its side, it had arms. Legs.

It wasn’t a real shark. It was some monstrous thing. The light fell across its scales, revealing the patchy gleam of its hide. Grandmother Shark felt stitched together. From its head thrust out two metallic-looking whiskers. An abomination. Revulsion rippled through me.

Then fear for Stefan.

I unfurled my wings in the water. The liquid pressed on them, making it difficult. I kicked down and flapped them, propelling me deeper. Bubbles frothed from my blazing sword. My hair streamed around me.

Stefan yanked himself to the side with his magic. The shark’s mouth bit on nothing. Then I was at it. The water buffeted around me. The turbulence from Grandmother Shark’s wake swept into my body. I didn’t care. I swung my sword and cut into hits hide. I tore through black scales. A minuscule misting of red burst from it.

The shark didn’t make a sound. It flicked its fins hard. It shot past me. The turbulence of its passage spun me. I screamed, bubbles bursting from my lips, the sound lost to the boiling froth of my sword. The blue world danced around me. I kicked legs to right myself.

I looked up to see Illina swimming by me, her dagger clutched in her hand. She had a determined look in her face. Her amulet floated out before her. I didn’t need to breathe because of it. Felt no need as I kicked my body to stop my spinning.

Grandmother Shark turned in the water to come out at us. The metallic whiskers both crackled with lightning. It arched off into the water. A tingle raced through me as it turned to face us. Then the lightning zapped from both ends. Branches of white-hot plasma rushed at us, feeling up the world before me.

Illina

“Cernere’s black cunt!” I screamed into the water and kicked up.

The lightning sizzled through the ocean at me. I gripped my dagger, kicking mad to get clear. But it came at us too fast. My heart’s rhythm surged faster. The crackling boil roared through my ears. Then white light burst around me.

My nervous system exploded with activity.

My entire body spasmed as the current lanced through my body. My heart’s rhythm flagged. The gears in my mind stuttered. Numbness burst through my leg. I spasmed, every muscle contracting and relaxing at the same time.

I screamed, tumbling. I glimpsed the dark shape swimming at me, its clawed limbs paddling, hurtling the monstrous thing at me. Grandmother Shark’s maw opened. Sharp teeth gleamed. My body didn’t want to move. Every part of me tingled with pain. My limbs flailed.

I couldn’t even scream. My jaw locked tight.

Stefan Halian

The lightning surged at us.

I hardened water before us, forming a solid shield of it. I grabbed Ahlona and yanked her down. But Illina swam up. I shouted, but then the wide net of lightning boiled around us. It hit my shield and danced over the front. The entire water came alive. My skin tingled. I gasped, current arcing into us even though we were safe.

But it wasn’t one of the main branches. That shot towards Illina who wasn’t so lucky to dodge it.

Her body convulsed above. Her red hair flew. The deadly dagger in her hand flashed in the light from my sphere. Grandmother Shark swam for her, opening its mouth. Illina drifted towards it. I could feel the current shifting. A great vortex pulled at us, drawing us towards us.

I hardened a spear of water, binding it with a matrix of water magic. I hurtled it at the shark. This attack had devastated the kraken days ago. It rippled past the stunned Illina and slammed into the shark’s open mouth. It hit the roof.

It should have pierced into the monster’s brainpan.

Instead, it unraveled.

The magic that formed it came apart the moment it touched the beast. The unraveled spell spilled out of its mouth as it snapped its jaw close. Then swam over Illina. Her stunned body spun in the water as the hulk swam over her. Then the current of its passage hit Ahlona and me.

I spun, cursing. My robes billowed around me, soaked with water. I kicked to fight for control, my body reeling. It had unwoven magic. It had been imbued with anarcane properties. I shuddered as horror swept into me.

Ahlona swam upward, fighting through the current. Her wings flapped. She swung her sword at the shark’s belly. She slashed through the dark flesh. A rent appeared. Blood cloud the water. A clawed foot slashed at her. She blocked with her sword. The blow threw her through the water, wings spread wide to slow her.

My mind whirled. This thing was an abomination. Nothing naturally produced it. We were near Chevsa. The warlocks had made something to guard the waters around their home. Something that was immune to magic.

Gods, that wasn’t good. What could I do to it then?

Ahlona

Frustration rippled through me.

The water clung to me. It slowed down my swipes. My sword stroke that hit its belly had not been hard enough to cut deep. I snarled and swam after it. The tail swayed before me. The water slapped me. It threw me back, tumbling me. My wings fought to stabilize me.

It was so similar to flying and so different all at the same time. My wings couldn’t flap fast, but they could paddle me through the water. Grandmother Shark started her turn. I changed the angle of my attack, swimming out ahead to intercept the hoary beast.

I thrust my sword out before me. The water boiled off the glowing blade. My wings flapped hard. Fatigue already burned across my flight muscles. It was so much harder to push this heavy water than air, but I surged forward. The shark’s beady, black eye reflected the glow from my sword.

I plunged into its side.

My sword rammed a foot into the shark’s flesh just past its gills. Blood misted from the wound. I snarled my frustration. If I wasn’t in the water, I would have rammed my entire blade into the monster. I flapped my wings to pushed my sword deeper, cutting into its flesh.

Darkness flashed to my right. A claw hurtled in. The water hardened to my right, forming a strange plane that bent and distorted everything beyond it. The claw struck a barrier. It unraveled, but it deflected back the claw long enough for me to kick and swim over the shark, my sword cutting into its flesh.

I glanced at Stefan. He faced me in the water, floating almost motionless. The water swirled around me. It grabbed my body in strange ways. The shark kicked. The turbulence from the shark slammed me but then a new current engulfed me from the other direction. Water streamed over my naked body, keeping me from being thrown back.

I smiled at Stefan and flapped my wings. I hurtled down at the shark, a way being cleared before me. The water pushed on me. It sent me thrusting at the monster with force. Power. I wasn’t being restricted like before.

My mage’s magic hurtled me at the shark.

My blade slammed into its back. The boiling tip punched through Grandmother Shark’s hide. It buried deep this time. To the hilt. I smiled in triumph. Bubbles burst from my lips as I cried out my delight.

The shark thrashed.

Its tail slashed through the water as I twisted my blade. Its body twisted around. From my right, its snapping jaws lunged in at me. The motion ripped my sword free from its body. A long stream of red bled out.

The open maw loomed for me. But the water was around me. My Stefan held me tight. He pulled me up and over the monster. The mouth slammed close beneath me. I thrust out my blade and scored a long cut down its head, striking the hard skull.

I could fight this thing. I flapped my wings hard, the water flowing around me. Stefan brought a vial to his mouth. He popped off the cork and then thrust it past his lips. He sucked on it as he floated there, his magic surging out into the ocean.

I slammed my sword deep into the monstrous shark’s back.

Illina

The fuzzing spasms dwindled.

My gears churned properly. My nervous system responded. I spun about, looking for the beast. It circled the bright light Stefan had conjured. The mage floated. He did nothing that I could see. Was he injured? Unconscious.

No, he brought a vial of pussy juices to his lips.

I gripped my dagger and kicked down at the shark. Ahlona buried her sword into its back. She gripped her blade like it were an anchor, her body stretched out, her feet down by the dorsal fin. As the shark swam, she was pulled along after it, blood streaming around her.

I grinned in vicious delight and swam lower. I clawed at the water with my left hand my right holding the dagger tight. My legs kicked, my muscles responding to the commands of my nervous system. I hurtled towards that shark.

I hit the turbulence around it and fluttered my leg to push through it. I drove in for the beast’s side.

A claw slashed out at me.

I gasped as I felt the buffeting pressure of the swiping death come at me. The pressure hit me, spun me. I lost sight of it. The water surged around me, gripping me. I yanked upward, stomach lurching. The claw slashed harmlessly beneath me.

What was that?

The water flowed around me. I kicked and squirmed, gripped by it. Panic surged through me as I fought to control myself and go for the shark. It was past me now and turning around. Ahlona still clung to her sword buried in its spine.

The shark clawed at the water as it turned and surged at me. Its mouth opened wide. The water gripped me, ripping me away. I fought against it. I would get to the damn thing. I kicked hard for it, my knife held low.

Its toothed jaws opened. I would stab it my blade into the roof of its mouth. One nick and it would die. I grinned and—

The current violently tore at me from the side. It gripped my entire body, hurtling me out of the way. I screamed in frustration as the shark swam past me. I slashed fruitlessly with my knife. I kicked against his pressure. What was going on?

Stefan stared at me.

“Idiot!” I shouted, but only bubbles burst from my lips.

Ahlona

The shark pivoted, slowing its forward movement. I risked it.

I wrenched my sword free of the back of the shark. I had to stab into a vital spot. The skull. I kicked forward. My wings flapped. I swam up its body, the water surging along with me. My Stefan’s power caressed over my flesh, cocooning me.

It turned to lunge for Illina again. She straightened in the water and faced it. She was shouting something, bubbles bursting from her angry lips. She raised her dagger up in the air. Grandmother Shark’s whiskers crackled.

I kicked harder, fear for Illina surging through me.

The water rushed me at the shark’s body faster. Then I was over its skull. I slammed my sword down. My blade pierced through the scales and struck the bone. A jarring impact halted my progress. I gasped, feeling the heaviness of the skull.

I would never penetrate it.

Lightning crackled from it.

Illina surged to the side, her toga billowing around her form, her limbs fluttering. The arc of crackling energy swept out before the shark. My skin tingled, current striking me even back here. My cheek spasmed.

The water held me in place. Stefan’s magic pushed down on my arm. My sword. I could feel the weight of the water increasing on the weapon’s pommel. I felt the tip of my sword grinding against the heavy skull. The pressure increased more and more.

Grandmother shark’s head thrashed. I gasped, moved by the current. Stefan’s magic held me in place, rocketing me back and forth. The water flowed over me. My brain rattled in my skull. A disorienting writhe burst through my stomach. A nauseating burst of bile crept up my throat.

The weight of all that water had my sword grinding into the skull. Bone popped. A loud cracking sound rent the water. Then my sword slammed down. The weight of the water ripped it from my hand and drove it deep into the Grandmother Shark’s brainpan.

The beast thrashed. The monstrosity writhed and twitched. Clawed hands slashed at the water. Lightning flickered at the ends of its metallic whiskers only to sizzle out a moment later. Blood streamed from the wound, turning the water crimson. The shark’s twitching slowed.

Stilled.

It drifted through the water.

My mage had killed it with my sword.

Stefan Halian

I was burning through my magic fast.

The construct of solidified water did not provide a stable ride. The three of us crowded on the liquid, the heart lying bloody on Illina’s lap. The rouge glowered at me. She seemed to think that getting swallowed by a shark was the solution.

“It would have torn you in half,” I said for the thousandth time.

“Not before my knife pricked its skin and killed it,” she rotated.

“If that thing works that way,” I muttered.

“We missed a great chance to test my dagger.”

“Does it matter?” Ahlona asked, weary. “We have the heart. Tomorrow, we shall sail for the Dead Isle and be there when Sir Bryce arrives.”

“We’ll gank his ass,” Illina said. “Assuming we don’t die. He stole the Ambrosia for a reason.”

“I’ll ward us with life magic if necessary,” I said and drank a vial of Illina’s salty pussy juices. I gulped it down, the magic infusing me.

While hers was better suited for working earth, I could use it for all the elements. I kept up the current of water around our liquid craft. I maintained its shape, blazing through power. This should have been beyond my skill.

I had grown so much since leaving Esh-Esh. Since having a purpose. My blood had come alive.

Ahead, the lights of the village grew brighter and brighter. Night had deepened. The moon shone as a crescent above, the waters around us dark and rippling with the occasional silver highlight. We passed the moored River Whisper. Someone on the bow shouted at us, but her words were lost.

Then we were hurtling to the shore. A few of the warriors were crouched by a fire. They seemed to be dicing and laughing. One looked up and stared at us as I slammed our craft onto the shore. It melted back into liquid, depositing us gently on the sand.

I then dried us off, pulling the water from our clothing as we rose. My robe grew lighter. Illina’s toga grew light and airy. She glanced at me and grinned. Then she stood proud and held up the heart before her.

It was large. The size of a medium dog. It was impressive that she could even hold that thing. She was stronger than she looked. Krab had made her race well, and Las’s animating cum gave them a vitality.

“You survived,” the headman grunted. Ko’van appeared out of the dark, arms folded.

“We triumphed!” Illina said, not caring about the blood that ran down her arms. “Look at this! Cut this beauty out myself.”

A cackling laugh emerged as more and more of the villagers appeared from huts, many wrapped up in furs or naked. Sleep was rubbed from eyes as they gazed out at us. I smiled at the, standing proud and triumphant beside Illina and Ahlona. Then the chuckling shaman marched up, her annoyed granddaughter in her wake.

“We have the component,” I said. “When can you perform the ritual?”

“Right now,” Shaman Ayniala said and glared at the heart. She spat on it. “Throw that warlock-cursed heart on the flames. Let the abomination burn.”

“So the Warlocks of Chevsa did make it,” I said as Illina threw the heart onto the fire the warriors diced around. They jumped back as it sizzled and smoked. The blood on the outside boiled. The heart blackened as the flames attacked it.

She glared out into the bay. “They make mockeries on their black rock. Now we can fish again without fear. You are a great warrior. Follow.”

“Follow?” I asked, staring down at the burning heart. She was already pushing past the granddaughter and marching back to her yurt. I hurried after her. “Don’t you need the heart?”

“No, no, you needed the heart.”

I stared at her. “To buy your service?”

Her hawk-hard eyes fixed on me. “Do you think I would break a curse out of the kindness of my heart.”

I guess I was wrong about the Ilt hating commerce. I glanced back at the fire. If that was the price to pay, so be it. I needed this damned curse on me removed. I couldn’t believe that Lagu supported Bryce. Did she want Pater dead?

Ahlona

“We must draw the curse out of you,” said the shaman the moment she entered the hut. She glanced at me and smiled. “And we have the perfect receptacle to deposit it into.”

“My angel?” demanded Stefan.

“She will be fine,” the shaman said. She pointed at her granddaughter and then snapped at the concoction steaming in a wooden bowl by the fire. It looked like she had just finished steeping a potion. A green fume rose from it. “You must drink this elixir to be blessed, angel.”

“What will this do to her?” Stefan asked.

“Why, inflame her blood.” The shaman glanced at him. Then she grabbed the ties of his robe and undid them. She threw him open and grabbed his cock with her wrinkled hand. She stroked him while he gaped.

“Ah, my touch isn’t going to get you hard,” lamented the shaman. “A few decades ago, eh, I’d have boiled your blood.”

“Or shriveled his cock with your black womb,” muttered the girl, her voice soft.

“What as that?” barked the shaman.

“He would have risen to the occasion,” she said brightly.

The shaman eyed her granddaughter with suspicion as she brought me the bowl.

“Wait,” Stefan said as I took it. “It truly will not harm her.”

“No. Nor will it affect her. We merely need to get the spell out of you and into somewhere else.” She cackled. “You shall see the benefit eventually. Yes, yes.”

“Ahlona,” he said and stared at me. “You don’t have to do this.”

“You must have your magic,” she said. “I want to fight the Lawbreaker at your side.” I brought the foul concoction to my lips. The green smoke caressed my face before I touched it. A strongly bitter scent filled my nose.

It spilled onto my tongue. I wanted to gag. My wings fluttered as I tilted back the bowl. I gulped it down, my taste buds rebelling at the tonic. It settled down in my stomach, this heavy weight. I kept swallowing it, my throat working. It grew bitter as I reached the dregs. Bits of leaves and sodden roots spilled down my throat.

“Creation’s passion, that is foul,” I gasped and thrust the bowl back at the granddaughter. “Now what.”

“Oh, it shall come to you,” said the grandmother. She sat down by the fire. Her granddaughter knelt, too. An eager look on her face.

“Gods, they’re going to watch us fuck,” Stefan said and pulled off his amulet that had the key to my chastity belt on it.

I blinked at that. Then I felt the fire in my belly. I gasped. My wings spread wide. This wild blaze ignited my cunt. My blood boiled. Nipples hardened. My cunt clenched. I flapped my wings, my halo blazing bright.

“Stefan!” I gasped. “The Divine Spark’s rapture, get my chastity belt off!”

The heat consumed my mind. My thoughts. Cock. I needed his cock in me. I shuddered while Illina moved closer. She watched and then started unwinding her toga. A mischievous grin spread on her lips.

“Mmm, go get some angel pussy, Stefan!” she cheered, her hips rocking. Her small breasts came into view, jiggling.