Barry and the group arrived at the town after about an hour and a half, Ron utilized his illusion magic to disguise Abe and his spectral carriage and horses. He made them seem completely normal, that way no one in town would freak out and suspect them of being evil entities.

  After parking near the town stables, Barry asked for Kat and Anna to go along with him to ask around for any information regarding the ocean storm before attempting to traverse it.

  “The storm is really brewing now that we’ve gotten closer.” Anna mentioned, feeling the tense breeze that was being picked up with the scent of the ocean.

  “There’s also a lot more people here than what I was expecting…” Kat pointed out, the town was in fact packed with other contestants that were looking to traverse across the treacherous waters.

  As they got closer to the docking ports of the town, they noticed a crowd of people in a horseshoe formation around a small group of people that stood on a stage. One person in particular, an old veteran ship captain, stood on a pedestal trying to get everyone’s attention. “Listen up, everyone! We’re going to have to wait out this storm a bit longer, we can’t have anymore accidents happening like last time. We’ve already lost 2 ships!”

  The three listened closely to what was being told. “We may have some experienced sailors in town, myself included, and we all recommend waiting this one out. As important as it is that we should try to reach the island to retrieve one of these prisms, we can’t make any rash decisions.” The captain strongly advised the crowd, valuing their lives as a priority.

  Murmur stirred up in the crowd, most of them questioning how much longer they were expecting to wait before sailing off. A moment after, a couple of other people shouted out from outside the crowd to get everyone's attention. “Stay away from the water! We are not heading out!”

  The crowd made way for these group of adventurers, some carrying a large fishnet with them. Gasps could be heard, as everyone viewed what was being contained within. “Are those sea monsters!?” Someone called out.

  Barry’s group were able to see what the buzz was about, catching sight of a bunch of vicious looking sea creatures being dragged. The people displayed it up front by the pedestal for show, revealing to everyone, the neon blue sea sharks with multiple eyes and tentacle appendages that had barbs. They were all captured dead inside the net with harpoons sticking out of them.

  More concerns of the ocean arose from the crowd, the captain and the other veteran sailors were even more worried about the travel to the island. It was becoming clear to everyone that this quest was sure to be no push over. With the presentation of this newly identified sea creature, it made a lot of contestants feel discouraged.

  The old captain asked for the crowd to settle down as he was about to give another announcement, after a few moments there was silence and the captain took the stage once more. “After discussing with the other sailors, taking into account the raging storm, rough waves, and unexpected appearance of sea leviathans, that we…will not be travelling out to sea at all. The risk is too great for all of us to go through with this quest.”

  A lot of the people in the crowd were relieved to hear the captain say that they weren’t going to be boarding their boats, completely agreeing with them.

  Kat and Anna understood that their decision to hang back to preserve their lives, rather than potentially throwing their lives away for the sake of retrieving one prism key.

  However, when they looked at Barry, his thoughts about the current situation were written all over his face. He was clearly disappointed in the fact that they were all giving up at trying to get the prism, he was irritated. “Barry…” Kat spoke to him, in a shy voice. “...are you-”

  He leaped from out of the crowd, jumping again in midair before landing on the stage with the sailors. The old captain was shocked to see Barry appear up in front of them. “Hey, what are you-”

  “You all are giving up that easy!?” He shouted at everyone with rage in his voice, startling the whole audience. “Don’t you all realize how important it is that we retrieve these prisms!”

  People in the crowd started ranting about Barry, wondering who the hell this guy was. The old captain tried reasoning with Barry, not wanting to get into a heated argument with this stranger. “Kid, I’m sure everyone knows just how important it is for us to complete this wretched quest. It’s only one key that needs retrieving, we can always get the other-”

  “JUST ONE, YOU SAY!?” Barry interrupted the captain, he was beyond belief of what these people were thinking. He turned to the audience and shouted once again. “I’d like to inform you all that we’re not the only people trying to get these damn rocks. There are others that are trying to collect these keys in order to dominate the world! I’ve seen them from a vision!”

  People talked among each other, thinking about what Barry was saying. But ultimately, the rest of the contestants were more focused on the fact that Barry seemed to want them to rush head on into the storm without considering their own lives. A couple started booing him off the stage, mad of the attitude that he was showing.

  Barry ignored the back talk that he was being given, and tried reinforcing his reason for trying to cross the rough waters. “None of you understand how important it is that we try to get these prisms. Yes, the ocean is shit right now with disgusting sea creatures. But this storm and those creatures aren’t natural at all, they’re obstacles placed by the moderators that need to faced-”

  Someone threw trash at him, to which he avoided with a side step. “Get the hell off the stage!” One yelled at him. “Yeah! Go try your luck out there if you're so determined to get there!” Another agreed, tossing junk at Barry as well. “It’s just one damn key, and what makes you think someone is trying to dominate the world!? Take a hike, looney!”

  Anna and Kat were shocked at how the people were treating Barry. They could see from their perspective of how dangerous the situation was, but they also agreed with Barry that even losing one key to these mysterious beings could be a huge loss.

  Remaining still, too angry to even bother moving out of the way of the trash being thrown at him, Barry balled his hands into fists, his expression shifting into a dark look of total disappointment as he continued to be bashed with verbal insults and random items.

  It eventually got to the point where he couldn’t manage his temper and exploded on everyone with a voice filled with intense rage of emotion that shook the people of the town to their core. “COWARDS! THE LOT OF YOU!”

  Everyone quieted down, Barry’s entire aura of hatred and disappointment was now being projected so strongly that it made them all still in their place. “You’re all scared because of what’s being faced in front of you and the people on those ships you have all lost! I GET IT! We’re all in this crap shoot of a game because of the gods, we didn’t ask for any of this!”

  The people’s hearts were beating rapidly as they continued to listen to the mad man as he resumed. “So you think choosing to ignore the quest is the best solution so far to save your lives, FINE! All of you can stay behind and choose to ignore the issue, there’s 7 more of these damn keys, no big deal? Right!? WRONG! You may hide with your tails between your legs here all day, everyday, if you want. But what happens if the other people around Scion decide to hide as well to preserve their lives from the challenges? Tell me, what do you think will happen if they choose to do the same!? Anyone wanna take a guess!?”

  He paused for a moment to allow someone to answer his rhetorical question, but no one raised their hands. “No one!? Well let me tell you, we’ll be decreasing our lifespan exponentially by just allowing these prisms to be taken by these competitors that are against us. Why!? BECAUSE WE DIDN’T BOTHER FUCKING TRYING AGAIN! We’ll be dead regardless if everyone does nothing, and I ain't sitting around like the rest of you!”

  Barry could still see the terror in everyone’s eyes as he spoke, he wasn’t sure if his words were getting to them at all or if he was scaring them even more. But he didn’t care at this point because he just wanted to vent out his rage. “I’ll damn well swim over to that island if I have too, whether I die out there from the clashing waves, the thundering storms, or from these fish bastards. It makes no difference to me. Because I’ll die anyway once these prisms fall into the wrong hands, so stay the fuck here like you all agreed on and don’t get in my way. I’m already ticked off just by looking at you all.”

  They then watched Barry flee the scene in a burst of speed as he long jumped away, Kat and Anna watched him heading in the direction of where Abe had parked the carriage. The two left to regroup with the others as well, thinking about what Barry said.

  “Anna, what Barry said to these other contestants…was he too harsh?” Kat questioned how Barry tried reasoning to the town about the dire situation of the main quest and the prisms.

  Anna thought about Barry’s own speech, she believed that neither side was in the wrong about their beliefs and worries. However, what Barry said was true, if they just allowed the prisms to be obtained without any resistance, then the likelihood of the main quest being considered a total fail would increase tenfold. “Perhaps he was, yeah, I feel bad for how everyone else in this game is feeling. I wouldn’t want anyone to die a meaningless death. But as we go through these challenges, we can’t be weak and allow these quests to steam roll over us. What Barry said is true about not submitting to fear and giving up…we have to try.”

  When they returned to the carriage, Barry was already explaining to the team about what he learned. He was still fuming about what had happened, how everyone just gave up hope on retrieving the prism from the island.

  “I see, so that’s what all this ruckus is about.” Abe nodded with a hand on his chin, with his pet raven nodding along with him, perched on his shoulder. “Well, looks like it's just this band of rough bunches to make the journey alone. But never fear! Abe, The Great Animal Whisperer, and his trusty animal pals, will get you all across this blasted mess of an ocean before you can say, Oooshakabuui!”

  “Oooshakabuui!” Puck shouted out loud, everyone else couldn’t help but laugh a bit at the fact that Puck actually believed him. The Kobold then looked puzzled as he looked around. “Huh? Why are we not there already? Puck confused?”

  Abe looked away, about to burst out in hysterical laughter, but then turned back to Puck with a harmless lie to explain the reason. “Sorry, I forgot to mention that you need to do a couple of physical exercises like a hundred jumping jacks, a hundred twirls, a hundred…” He would continue to list a few more, as well as tell him to do them inside the carriage.

  Puck was totally convinced, believing every word that was told to him by the wise and mighty, great Abe. The Kobold then rushed inside the carriage to quickly get those exercises done and over with. Everyone, but Abe, Ron and Barry, went back inside as well. Barry rode in the front of the carriage with Abe, while Ron stayed at the back. He was needed to maintain Abe and his carriage’s disguise of being spirits, otherwise people would likely freak out.

  And as they rode towards the shore of the ocean near the docks with the other ships, Barry glanced in the direction of the people that he tried convincing. They all looked at him as well, Barry wasn’t sure if they were looking at him with anger at how he called them cowards, or possibly surprised to see that he really meant what he said about attempting to make it across.

  He looked away with a scowl on his face, Barry couldn’t stand looking at them all. ‘Stare all you guys want, I’m not giving up like the rest of you. And when I manage to claim the prism, I’ll be thinking to myself why I even bothered convincing you all when I never needed this town's help to begin with.”

  “Hey, Ron.” Abe nudged at the illusionist, getting his attention. “Think you can whip up some more of your fancy, schmancy, magic to keep my surprise a secret from the townspeople? I’m about to shapeshift my lovely carriage into a luxurious boat.”

  Ron raised a brow to him, curious about what was going to happen. “Um, sure. Let’s hop off the carriage, we’ll pretend like we’re morphing the carriage into a boat together. But what about your spirit horses? Wouldn’t it be strange if you made them disappear in front of everyone?”

  “Ah! You got a point there, boy.” Abe said as he snapped his fingers, but then thought of a solution. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it seem like I told them to leave and make them disappear when no one is looking. Let’s focus on changing the carriage first.”

  The three got off the carriage, standing off to the side. Abe detached his horses from the vehicle before starting the process.

  Ron looked at Abe, watching his hands at the ready so that he could mimic his hand gestures and be in sync. Abe nodded at him and began whirling an essence of magic that was a light gray color around himself, Ron had also manifested his own essence of magic around himself, making it share a similar distinct color.

  Everyone watched in awe as Abe’s carriage floated in the air, slowly the carriage began to change in shape and size. First was the hull that took shape, building upon that was the rudder, keel, cockpit, mast, etc. Eventually it would take the form of a sailing yacht with its spacial interior that still contained the rest of Barry’s group inside Abe’s same spatial dimension. It was then brought down onto the ocean, rocking along with the waves that collided with the shore's walls.

  The townspeople were not expecting Barry to be in the company of such wondrous mages capable of reshaping a carriage into a yacht, it was something truly marvelous to spectate.

  Abe hopped on his yacht and whistled to the horses in a way to tell them to run off, his spirit horses listened to his command and galloped away until they would eventually vanish into thin air to be rejoined in the afterlife. “Come aboard on the Great Abe’s grand yacht! Oh, and if you get sea sick, I kindly ask that you don’t puke on my beautiful deck. Hard to get the stains out and all.” He asked, tipping his hat as he began preparing to embark.

  Barry and Ron stepped on the yacht, Ron wanted to go inside and check on everyone else that was inside the whole time as it changed shape. He was curious to know if anyone was affected in any way during the transformation, but would find out that they were fine soon after.

  Once Abe was finished with his inspections of his yacht, he went to the helm, clasping his hands on the wheel as he looked at Barry to ask him if he was ready. “Alright, she’s all set. On your go, captain.” He joked.

  “Kick it, Abe.” Barry said he was eager to get the voyage started.

  And just like that, Abe whistled a melodious sound before hoisting the sails, allowing them to start picking up speed. The townspeople would watch as Barry and his crew whisk away from the shore, travelling into the treacherous storm filled with sea monsters. Barry did not dare to look back at the town, he didn’t want to give them any of his attention.

  Ron and the rest of the team would soon come out of the boat’s interior to check out their new ride. Buford stomached his fears of the ocean and came out, while Puck chose to remain inside because he still needed to complete his exercises, believing that would bring them to the island faster, just as Abe said it would. Everyone was amazed by how Abe was able to change the carriage into a yacht, they wondered what else Abe was able to transform the vehicle into.

  The ocean waves clashed with the hull of the boat, it wasn’t too bad after a while of Abe getting used to the rough waters. He was confident in his boat being able to endure the elements because of its ghostly form, which was more resistant to physical abuse than compared to real boats made of real material. But there was one other factor that helped the boat sail across this turbulence…

  However, although the ocean wasn’t much of a problem against Abe’s yacht, Barry was curious how he was going to be able to handle any of the sea creatures that lurked in the waters. “Say, Abe. What’s your plan against these sea creatures, what do we do if they attack the boat?”

  “Yeah.” Anna asked with a puzzled expression. “Is this boat equipped with some sort of weapons we don’t know about?”

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  A smirk formed on Abe’s face. “I was expecting someone to ask that question. But first, let me ask you this. Don’t you think it’s weird how we’ve never encountered any ferocious predators during our travels so far?”

  Barry gave it some thought for a moment, he couldn’t remember a time when they encountered anything that was hostile. “No…no, I don’t think we have.”

  “Nope, not a single predator came up to us to say hi. Why? Well, my carriage, or this boat if you wanna call it that, is enchanted with a ward that repels almost all hostile creatures within a certain radius. So if one of these sea creatures happens to enter this radius, a suggestion is conjured in their minds that causes them to turn away.” Abe said, twirling a finger in a circle aimed at his head.

  Another thought entered Barry’s mind then, after his explanation. “Really, then would it have been possible to enchant the sailors' ships before we left?”

  “Nope.” Abe shook his head. “You see, during my glorious time of living, I had asked a buddy to place that type of enchantment on my vehicle. And I honestly wasn’t expecting for it to persist even after death, let alone even be able to have my vehicle after death.”

  “That explains a lot, I’ll admit Abe, you are pretty resourceful like you say you are.” Barry complimented, getting Abe to be so smug. But Barry was still curious about one other thing. “However, weren’t you going to use animals to take us over to the island? I was kind of expecting you to summon some aquatic animals.”

  Abe chuckled, finding his next question very amusing. “Oh, but I have.” He then tilted his head to the side of the ocean. “Care to take a look at our flippery, friends.”

  Taking the hint, everyone looked overboard to inspect what he was talking about. Upon gazing into the ocean, focusing their eyes on trying to locate what sort of animals that Abe summoned, a splash of water sploshed up the air onto a couple of their faces. They couldn’t believe what sort of animals Abe summoned to assist them on their journey.

  “Wha- There's dolphins!” Luna was the first to point out what type of animal they were.

  “Yupper, since I am the Great Abe, my connection to my animals allows them to grant me and my vehicle the best traits and abilities that they have. And with that being said, these dolphins were a unique breed in their former life, capable of swimming and dancing just dandy no matter how strong the ocean currents are. Not only that, they are one of the fastest aquatic animals in the world. So like I said, we’ll get to that paradise island with no issues at all.” Abe sounded very proud as he explained.

  It was cool to everyone how Abe’s animals were able to bestow upon him their unique abilities, he also mentioned that the biomes that were inside the vehicle weren’t the only animals he had. So just by mentioning that, raised more questions of what other sort of other awesome animals he had.

  “Hey, is it me or…are those town’s ships moving out to the ocean?” Kat said as she pointed back at the town in the distance.

  Everyone but Barry looked back and saw what she was saying. It appeared that the ships were actually making another attempt at sailing back out. “It seems so…” Anna agreed, then turned towards Barry, curious what he thought of it. “Barry, what do you think of them now that they’re going back out?”

  Barry didn’t care to take even a glance at the ships. “They all refused to listen to me the first time I asked, but now they suddenly want to make the trip again after we left. It bothers me.” He crossed his arms with his eyes closed, if they were cowards before when he asked, they would probably not fare well against the challenges when presented and that would cause more problems for themselves.

  A bit of time passed as they watched how the ships were faring against the difficult terrain, which were all under the advisory of experienced veteran captains. And under their instructions, despite the rough waters, it appeared to Barry’s group that they might have a chance at making it across.

  Then suddenly, Ron and Anna believed that they might have spotted something emerging above the ocean surface, but dived back down in the distance. “Tell me you saw that?” Ron asked Anna for assurance.

  “Yeah, I saw something…like a fin?” Anna questioned, everyone then went to the edge of the boat to inspect what they were seeing.

  A couple of moments would pass, everyone believed that it was possible that the sea creatures were now making their appearance after travelling this far out. Eventually, their curiosity would be sated after witnessing something.

  Shadowy figures of different kinds could be seen lurking under the water past their boat quickly. “Those have to be the sea creatures.” Ron concluded. “Our boat’s wards must be working like Abe said, but…” He then looked at the ships that were following behind them. “They must be going to attack the ships.”

  It was true, the sea creatures were on their way to stir up trouble for the people on the ships. Upon reaching one of the ships, the people on board began to feel some rocking back and forth, at first assuming that the ocean waves were getting stronger, but that would not be the case.

  One of the people claimed they saw something underwater that was nudging against the ship, describing it as a figure similar to the sea creature that was brought to them back at the town. They would then get a much closer look with the sudden surprise of the creature lunging out of the water straight up at them.

  It was the same sort of half-shark, half-octopus monster, and it’s gaping jaws were aimed for the crew member’s head. Luckily, they were able to step back in time before getting their head chomped on. “S-Sea monster! They’re here! Oh shit, warn the others!”

  And that was the start of the attack of the sea monsters, Barry’s group were able to tell that trouble was brewing already from where they were at. One ship flagged a red banner to signal to the others what was going on, with them doing the same and so on. The sea creatures were not only attacking the hull of the ships, but were also attempting to climb aboard using whatever appendages they had to grasp with. There were a variety of different kinds of nasty creatures.

  The crews of each ship resisted these creatures with whatever they had on hand with them, using harpoons, fishing nets, arrows, whatever. It seemed like they were able to back the creatures off well for now, but the movement of their ships were being slowed down by the ones focusing on the hull.

  “They’re fending off the creatures from reaching their decks for now, but they won’t last long if all their ships' hulls take too much damage. They’re too busy to focus on protecting their ship because of the number of creatures there are.” Buford said, they were all worried for the fate of the rest of the contestants.

  Barry wasn’t looking at how dire the situation was, but hearing his group describe it, made him experience the same unknown burning sensation inside that he hated. ‘Are you fucking kidding me, don’t you dare make me go back to help them. They’ll make it through all this, although they should have joined us at the same time we left, instead of teetering on the decision because they were too scared.’

  “Oh no! One of the ships looks like it’s going to tip over!” Luna called out. The bothersome feeling inside Barry got even stronger.

  “Look at how many are clinging to the hull of that ship over there! We have to go back and help them!” Kat suggested. Barry gritted his teeth, trying to resist the urge to give into this annoying sense of justice.

  “I wouldn’t recommend that young lady.” Abe warned, “We’ll be detected once we show some hostility towards these fiends, the ward can’t conceal us if we happen to turn back to help. We can only hope that they get through this on their own.”

  The overwhelming feeling of doing the right thing could not be contained inside Barry, causing him to reach his breaking point. “Gah! Fuck!” He shouted in a fit of rage, slamming his hands down on the seat he was sitting on and causing the others around him to get startled.

  They watched as he stomped his way over to the edge of the boat with a furious look before asking Abe something. “Abe, I’m borrowing one of your dolphins. I’m going back to help those sorry bastards.”

  Everyone was shocked to hear him, Abe was bewildered by his decision. “Hold on, what!? You can’t be serious-”

  “Abe! I’m going!” Barry repeated himself, everyone could see the seriousness in his eyes. They all had thought that he would be the last person to want to help them because of how poorly they treated him.

  Thinking about Barry’s impulsive decision for a bit, and realizing the grave danger that the ships were facing, he abruptly made some weird clicking noises in front of them all. One spiritual dolphin leaped out of the water, performing a flip before splashing back on the water, ready to take Barry. “You’re one looney guy, Barry. But I give you props, don’t be stubborn and come back if it gets too dangerous. You hear?”

  “Being stubborn is what’s kept me alive, I’ll be back.” Barry replied as he moved towards the dolphin.

  “Wait, Barry!” Kat called out. “Let us go with you, we can-”

  “No, none of you are going back with me. I need you all here as insurance in case something goes wrong.” Barry cut her off, everyone could sense the urgency in his voice. “Everyone here is going to make it to the island, the prism is more important than the unfortunate ones I’m going to help. Stay here and DON’T come with me. I mean it.”

  No one responded to his firm request, it was silence. He was right in the fact that they were more likely to reach the island than the others, sending anymore of their team members to assist could potentially lead to a huge loss if things went wrong. But still…

  After stepping his foot down, he turned away and resumed getting on the back of the dolphin. The sea creatures' attack on the ships already had his attention, he didn’t need to keep track of the well-being of his team members on top of that.

  Suddenly, Puck came dashing out of the inside of the boat, looking very exhausted after possibly finishing up all the exercises that he was told to do. “Oooshakabuuii!” He called out with a smile, but was confused a few seconds after. “What? Why we no at island? Puck was told we’d reach island after doing exercises?”

  He then saw everyone else looking at Barry, who was now on the back of his dolphin, preparing to swim away. “Oh! Puck wanna pet weird looking fish too!” The Kobold then hurried to have his turn of petting the dolphin, mistaking it as such.

  Everyone would then watch as Puck leaped off the deck, grabbing on to the tail of the dolphin, just moments before Barry was carried away. “Aaaah, fishy swimming too fast!” They all heard Puck’s voice cry out in the distance.

  “Was that Puck! Barry! Puck is-” Anna tried informing Barry of Puck’s sudden appearance, but was too late given the distance between each other. “Um, that did not just happen…right?”

  The group was all astonished to see what had just happened, they had completely forgotten that Puck was inside the boat the entire time. And after seeing him hop on to Barry’s dolphin, they were worried what would become of Barry and Puck now that they were going back.

  Barry held onto the dolphin as tight as he could on its dorsal fin, as it jetted across the ocean with great speed like an engine motor. As he got closer to the ships, his desire to show up and save their sorry asses grew.

  He pointed at one of the ships that needed the most help while asking, hoping for the dolphin to understand him despite not knowing how to speak dolphin unlike Abe. The dolphin motioned in the direction of his choosing and continued to jet towards it, Barry was glad to know that the dolphin was able to understand his words.

  But along the way, Barry would soon feel something grasp onto his shoulders, to which he instantly looked over to check what it was. He was totally shocked to see what it was. “Puck! What the hell are you doing here!”

  Puck spat out some water from his mouth, disgusted by how it tasted, before he explained himself. “Puck saw you petting fishy and wanted to join, that’s why Puck is here. Also, what are those other weird looking fishes?” He pointed at the sea creatures assaulting the ships.

  Unsure of whether to go back and drop off Puck at the moment, he saw that they were approaching the ship and figured that it was too late already. “Those are enemies, Puck. I really didn’t want you to go with me, but fuck it, you’re here now. We’re going to do what we can to protect the ships from these things, think you can do that?”

  Quickly understanding the situation at hand, Puck nodded his head. “Yeah! Puck burn all nasty fishies off ships!” Puck then had a thought in his head. “Oh, Barry, take out your sword.”

  Barry didn’t question him why, and pulled out his greatsword. Puck then started channeling his magic into his weapon, swirling around his blade until they witnessed it become ignited with Puck’s golden flames. “Puck did it! Now you have fire sword!”

  Amazed that Puck was able to learn how to do what he asked in a brisk manner, Barry was proud of Puck’s accomplishment and rubbed his head. “You pick up things quickly, Puck. Nice job, I’m gonna have more fun now.”

  The dolphin had reached their designated ship, swimming at the side of the ship with a clear view of the monsters clinging and attacking the hull. Puck started scorching the creatures with his flames, while Barry slashed at them all, cutting deep into their flesh.

  Curious what was going on down below, witnessing the creatures falling off the hull and bright golden flames burning the creatures, one of the crew members made a comment about it. They then saw Barry and Puck riding on a dolphin, assisting them in fending off the creatures.

  “I-It’s that guy! He’s helping us out…on a ghostly dolphin!?” The crew member was perplexed by what he was seeing, but didn’t care in the end because of how dangerous things were.

  Barry and Puck continued to do what they did best, eliminating the burdens all around each of the ships. The sea creatures took notice of their presence, now realizing that they were being stopped by them, and chased the duo down.

  One shark-like creature with tentacles tried leaping out at them, but was swiftly dispatched with a slash of Barry’s flaming sword. “We have their attention, Puck. Keep focus and don’t fall off.” Barry warned, Puck acknowledged and remained steady.

  With Barry and Puck now drawing aggro from most of the sea creatures, the ships were more capable of maneuvering across the ocean since they were no longer being overwhelmed with too many enemies.

  A train of sea creatures were now swimming behind the duo, Barry concentrated on keeping any of the creatures back while Puck continued to attack the rest of the creatures that were attacking the ships as the dolphin did its drive by. “Keep it up, Puck!” He encouraged.

  The dolphin was much faster than the swarm of sea creatures that tried chasing them, and after realizing this, the sea creatures decided that they would never be able to swarm them in one go and left the chase. Barry noticed this unusual behavior and watched as they started moving ahead of the ships, which was odd. ‘Where are they going?’

  Everyone began to feel the turbulence of the waves growing stronger than ever before, the captain of each ship began giving out quick instructions to their crew to endure the crashing waves. The dolphin did its best to keep Barry and Puck from submerging into the water as they held on tight.

  Over time, everyone then observed something that was truly unexpected from anything they’ve seen so far. A massive whirlpool started to form ahead of the ships, trying to draw in everything that was nearby, where they would be swallowed up and crushed all together.

  Barry observed the cause of this whirlpool and spotted the silhouettes of the sea creatures swirling around in a circle. ‘This just got more troublesome.’ He wondered how he was going to stop the creatures now that they were banding together to create this whirlpool.

  “Hey! Boy!” It was the same veteran captain that he met on stage when he was making his speech. He was talking to Barry over the edge of his ship from above. “We appreciate your help, but mind telling me what we’re bloody seeing?”

  “It’s the sea monsters! They’re the ones creating the whirlpool, turn your ships away!” Barry informed.

  The captain tried asking his crew to turn away, but the pulling force of the whirlpool was too strong to retreat from. “No can do, son. We’re already caught within the drawing currents and will eventually be sucked in within the blasted vortex…” A light bulb then flickered in his head. “Wait…I might have an idea!”

  The captain then disappeared for a moment from Barry’s view, then reappeared with some information to share. “Hurry and tell the other ships to prepare their cannons and a couple barrels of explosives. We’re going bomb fishing today!”

  Barry rather liked the idea and agreed to spread the word, he would then travel to each ship, sharing the plan. All the captains fancied the idea and prepared what they had. Barry’s dolphin remained outside the domain of the whirlpool, watching from the side line.

  Eventually the time would come when all the ships were trapped within the whirlpool, their ships were angled in a way where their cannons were aimed directly at the ocean. The ships did their best to resist the swirling vortex, as to not get swallowed so quickly.

  All the captains awaited for the first captain’s signal, not wanting to screw up the plan because of how important it was for them to get out of this trap. The atmosphere got more intense as Barry and Puck watched to see what happened next.

  The time would come when the first captain would order his crew members to flag an orange banner, telling everyone to commence the plan as he shouted, “NOW!”.

  Cannons started firing directly at the sea creatures under the water, explosive barrels were charged and dropped, and everyone watched as bodies of water erupted from the ocean. Bodies, upon bodies, of sea monsters flew up into the air, some landing on the crew deck of ships dead or critically injured but eliminated.

  Despite some rocking of the ships due to the explosions, the strength of the whirlpool started to weaken. The captains were soon able to steer the course and adverse the danger of the whirlpool that would become no more. There had to have been a large decrease in the number of sea monsters, given the amount of floating bodies on the surface.

  There was an uproar of cheers from the ships, claiming this as a victory to everyone there. Barry was impressed by the captain’s idea, he thought he would have had to think of something, but was glad that they were able to come up with one on their own. ‘Doesn’t seem like the sea creatures will be a problem anymore. Now all they have to do is-’

  Suddenly, just as the ships were celebrating, from out of the ocean emerged something bizarre and unholy that made Barry’s eyes widen.

  The screams of the people aboard the ship filled the air, as a large tentacle with barbs and suction cups wrapped around the ship, in an attempt to drag it down. One of the other captains shouted at their crew, urging them to help. “Fire! Save that ship! I-Its, Its uh- what in the world!”

  Surfacing from the ocean was deep sea with a large maw that was able to munch on ships with its row of monstrous teeth. It had multiple eyes that glowed a bright yellow, curved horns protruding from its head aiming at the gray skies. Its whole body was covered with hardened scales that functioned as a layer of armor to protect from the consecutive blast of munitions and fired harpoons, it also had two webbed claws that held the ship in place. The tentacles had to be an extension of its lower half body that was still underwater.

  Barry was astonished by the appearance of this boss like monster, one thing was for sure, it was a force to be reckoned with. ‘Just when I thought it was over…damn it.’