“Blow that leviathan with everything we have! We can’t lose another one of our ships! FIRE!” One of the ship captains ordered, launching more explosive cannonballs at the giant monstrosity.

  The leviathan had just chomped down on the front deck of the ship, locking its jaws on it and tearing the section off of the ship. And the whole time it was doing that, the cannonballs impacted against the creature’s body, exploding and causing it to recoil back. The front deck was then dropped, landing into the ocean, as the giant retreated back into the ocean to take cover.

  Unsure of where the leviathan would reappear, Barry felt that it would be safer for him and Puck if they got onto the deck of one of the ships. He asked the dolphin to take him to the same ship where he had met the first captain so they could figure out a plan.

  The dolphin quickly took him to the ship and hopped off with Puck on his back, climbing onto the ropes that were on the sides. “Hey, dolphin. If you understand me, stick close in case I need you again.” Barry requested, he then heard a clicking sound that had to have meant it understood. He was surprised by how intelligent dolphins were, at least these kinds that were with Abe.

  He climbed up the ship and reached the deck, he was greeted by the crew members with thanks from earlier, in spite of how they treated him from before. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Where’s your captain, we need a plan before another ship gets chewed on.”

  “Right here, boy.” The same captain that he was referring to, stepped down from the upper deck. “And you can call me Captain Cook, I’ve still got some life in me.”

  “Cook? Are you a chef?” Puck asked with a puzzled look on his face.

  Captain Cook was in awe of the Kobold’s appearance, he was not expecting such a creature to be at Barry’s side, let alone ask a ridiculous question. “What? Well, I can cook, but that’s not important! Jokes aside, I do have a-”

  Clashes of waves rocked the ships side to side, interrupting Captain Cook’s sentence. Everyone then witnessed tentacles emerge from the water, wrapping around one of the ships in the distance. The mast of the ship was constricted by one of the tentacles and began snapping under the pressure of the tentacles. Crew members tried to hack and slash at the tentacles to stave it off, but were then distracted by the reappearance of smaller sea monsters serving as reinforcements for the giant leviathan.

  “Crudes! I thought we had gotten rid of the pesky sea creatures with our explosives!” Captain Cook panicked, he wasn’t sure how much more explosives they had at their disposal.

  Barry thought that perhaps if they were able to eliminate the giant leviathan, then the rest of the sea creatures would flee. “A plan, were you about to tell me one or…”

  The captain snapped his fingers, getting back on track. “Yes, I do. Each ship is equipped with a unique harpoon capable of breaching through the toughest of armors, specifically crafted for beasts like this one. However, they’re meant to be used as group, and we don’t have many. And since this beast wants to hide under the waters, we can’t get a clear shot. But if successful, we’ll be able to blast away at the creature with our entire explosives, and it’s important that we do because we don’t have much left.”

  Over across the ocean, the ship that had been attacked had lost their mast, but were able to cause the tentacles to retract after inflicting enough damage to it. However, more sea creatures emerged and tried climbing aboard to distract them from helping any of the other ships.

  Thinking over the plan that Captain Cook had, Barry agreed to it since he couldn’t think of anything better. “Alright, I’ll go back out there and act as bait to lure it out. You and everyone else get your shit ready for when it’s time.” He started walking over back to the edge of the ship with Puck.

  “W-Wait, you two are going to face that thing alone!? Young man, there has to be another way to draw it out.” The captain was concerned for the safety of the person that had already risked their lives, fending off the sea creatures attacks.

  “Know anyone else crazy enough to do this? No, I don’t think you do. And don’t go believing I’m dying out there, I’ve got beef with the gods and a damn doctor in the future for the crap they’ve pull on me. So, like I said. Be. Ready.” Barry assured, Puck then climbed on his back just before he fell back into the ocean to be picked up by Abe’s dolphin.

  He instructed his dolphin what the plan was, and it answered back with clicks and whistles. They swam in the direction of the next ship that was getting attacked by the leviathan’s tentacles and minions.

  Drawing his sword, once again being imbued with Puck’s fire, he started slashing at the tentacles to make it back off. Puck focused on incinerating any of the smaller creatures that were trying to climb aboard to lessen the burden for the crew members. Although Barry wasn’t able to cut deep because of the leviathan’s scales, he was able to make a couple of gnashes that burned at the flesh to make it retract its tentacles.

  A tentacle then jutted out in front of him, attempting to swipe at them, but the dolphin submerged leaped above it. To which, Barry took the opportunity to slash at it from below before landing back into the water. A couple of other tentacles rose to retaliate at them, but Barry and Puck fought back while the dolphin skillfully maneuvered around to avoid capture. All while making whistles and clicks that meant it was having fun.

  ‘This dolphin deserves a reward or something, it’s pretty amazing.’ Barry appreciated the animal’s usefulness ever since he was provided its services.

  With Barry and Puck keeping the leviathan distracted, the ships were able to gather-up their bearings and prepare for the plan that was passed on between each other. The crew members ran around to the decks to reload their cannons, ballistas, but more importantly, prep the kraken harpoon. They had one shot, and they were not going to screw it all up.

  It was becoming clear to Barry that, as time went on, the aggressiveness of the tentacles emergence was a sign of how irritated the leviathan was getting. Eventually, the tentacles stopped appearing, Barry found it strange.

  He was curious what the leviathan was scheming now. ‘It stopped? But why-”

  His dolphin sensed that something was up and made a sudden sharp turn just before coming into contact with the giant head of the leviathan’s maw that burst out in front of them. They were relieved to have averted the ambush, watching it swallow a pool of water as it dunked its head back down.

  Something else would occur that they weren’t prepared for, erupting from behind them was a jet stream of highly pressurized water being shot up from underwater. It was the leviathan that was desperately trying to knock Barry and Puck off of their ride. Everyone watched as the dolphin did all it could to evade getting struck.

  But unfortunately, the water jet would cause enough disturbance of the area around them, causing Barry and Puck to fall off of the dolphin. “Damn it!” Barry cursed, the dolphin had to keep moving because if it took enough damage, it would be expelled from the world, returning to the afterlife.

  The ships close by ordered their men to throw him a lifeline to get him back on board before the beast had time to swallow him whole.

  “Barry! Nasty fishies coming here!” Puck mentioned, pointing out to the creatures swimming their way to them.

  Not only were they about to get attacked by the sea creatures, the leviathan had stopped firing its hydro cannon from underwater. This could only mean one thing to Barry, and he didn’t like it.

  “Hey! Catch on to this!” One of the ships crewmates yelled out, getting their attention. They fired a lifeline from a ballista with a rope attached directly near them. Barry grabbed hold of the lifeline once it reached them, being reeled in back afterwards.

  Barry looked behind himself and saw the massive silhouette of the leviathan’s shadow chasing them down. “Puck see giant monster! Puck, no think we’re going to make it!” The Kobold was concerned about their chances.

  Quickly judging the distance between them and the boat that was reeling them in, Barry wasn’t sure if they were going to make it in time either. ‘This is cutting it close…fuck it.’

  The moment of truth would come, they had reached the hull of the ship and were being lifted to the deck when, as expected, the leviathan lunged straight up, breaking the surface with its maw wide open. The leviathan’s massive body collided with the side of the ship with enough force to nearly knock it over, and making the crew fall down, sliding on to the other side.

  Acting swiftly, Barry grabbed Puck and tossed him on the ship. “Stay here, Puck! You’ll be safer!” He told him before letting go of the lifeline, falling to his doom through the gapping maw of the beast.

  “Barry! No!” Puck cried, worried about Barry's fate. He toppled on the deck, scrambling to get back.

  The other ships saw this as a perfect opportunity now that the leviathan had exposed almost its entire body just to abduct Barry, and fired their kraken harpoons at the leviathan. Screeches wailed from the beast as it felt multiple harpoons pierce through its armored scales from all sides. It tried resisting against the restraints that were placed on it, but wasn’t able to pull away.

  “FIRE!” One of the ships commanded, unleashing a barrage of cannonballs at the beast, with every other ship doing the same as a follow-up.

  Explosion after explosion, the leviathan produced an eerie roar as everyone observed it getting consistently assaulted from all sides. It tried using its tentacles to rip away at the binds, but were blown to smitheries from the cannonballs.

  All while this was going on, Puck was worried that Barry might be dead after being swallowed by the creature. Needless to say, he was furious at the sea leviathan and wanted revenge.

  He felt his body getting hotter within, his desire to obliterate the leviathan ignited within. Golden flames of magic spiraled around Puck, getting the attention of a couple crewmates, wondering what was going on with Puck.

  “You stupid monster! Give back Barry!” Puck rushed up to the front of the ship, gathering the intense emotions he was feeling. His chest began to emit a golden glow, what he did next was something astonishing to those around him.

  Unhinging his jaw, a blazing orb of inferno manifested in front of his mouth, as he leaped into the air, aiming his new attack directly at the head of the leviathan. Puck then released his ball of combustible fire, zooming across the air, landing a direct impact that exploded. The attack made the leviathan roar in intense pain, scarring a portion of its face and tenderizing its flesh.

  Puck would continue to use his new explosive attack to harm the beast. All together, with Puck and the ships bombarding the leviathan with their attacks, the beast suffered major damage with almost no way of escape with the kraken harpoons holding it in place.

  Its minions tried to board the ships to halt their attacks, but were kept at bay by the rest of the crewmates who were on standby.

  But just as things were looking great for the contestants, the ships supply of cannonballs and explosives started to go dry. Their consistent barrage was coming to an end. And not only that, but the raging storms swirled around above the leviathan. Sounds of lightning crackling above echoed across the ocean, something bad was about to happen, and that was when thunder struck the giant leviathan by the tip of the horns.

  The electricity carried over from the body of the beast, down the tether that bonded together with the kraken harpoons embedded into the beast's body. All the ships ballistas that were connected to the harpoons exploded, destroying the restraints keeping the leviathan in place.

  Ships swayed from side to side, eventually stabilizing. But after the explosion came worry, because when everyone recovered from what had just happened. They were now in the presence of an enraged leviathan that was surging with a vengeance after being free from its bonds. It didn’t care how injured it was, the beast allowed its savage instincts to take over and go on a rampage.

  Everyone watched as it submerged back into the ocean, torpedoing at the nearest ship, smashing into the hull, creating a breach into its structure that would start to flood within. All the ships had left were normal harpoons to fire from their ballistas, no more heavy munitions or kraken harpoons to harm the leviathan with.

  Captain Cook took control of his ship and plotted its course to ram the creature head on, if it was going to start thrashing every ship in its vicinity, he was going to inflict as much harm as he could before going down.

  Puck had no way of reaching the leviathan on the ship he was on, but then looked at one of the ballistas that was firing harpoons at the leviathan. A light bulb lit up in his head and he rushed to one.

  The person manning the ballista was caught off guard by Puck, who climbed up on top of the ballista and held on tight to the harpoon. “What the-”

  “Shoot Puck at monster!” Puck urgently requested the guy.

  He was shocked to hear the little Kobold say such a thing. “No, I can’t let you-”

  Puck saw that the leviathan made another appearance above the water after being rammed against Captain Cook’s ship, and quickly kicked the ballista trigger, sending him flying through the air towards it. Puck was zoning in near the creature, elevated slightly above the leviathan’s head, and dropped.

  Honing in on the beast, Puck was able to latch onto one of its horns, unnoticed by the creature. Puck saw it open its mouth to try and take a bite out of the ship it was attacking. “Eat this stupid monster!”

  He charged up another ball of inferno and fired it directly inside its mouth, exploding and scarring it within. The leviathan roared in pain, turning away from the ship. One of the creature’s eyes shifted to look up at where the shot came from and spotted Puck. “Give Puck’s friend back! Now!” The Kobold shouted at it.

  The leviathan tried shaking Puck off, but he held on tight to its horn. Suddenly, the leviathan stopped shrugging off Puck and bellowed another mighty roar, it sounded like it was in intense pain. Puck wasted no time and launched another bomb, this time down its throat. The leviathan was experiencing third-degree burns inside from Puck’s attacks, but not only that, but it seemed like the creature was bothered by something else.

  Regardless, the leviathan took a dive back underwater and attempted to retreat. Puck continued to hold on, enduring the ride that he was on. But it would not travel far, because shortly after, the creature resurfaced again, screeching once more in agony.

  “What’s going on? Did the little guy burn its insides that badly?” One of the crewmates wondered.

  Captain Cook observed the condition that the leviathan was in, he noticed that one of its arms was clawing at its chest where its heart would possibly be at. A crazy thought appeared in his head, thinking he knew what the true reason was. “No…could it be!?”

  And a couple of moments after, everyone would then witness the most wildest thing they had ever seen in their entire lives. “YOU ATE THE WRONG FUCKING GUY! I’M GONNA RIP AND TEAR YOUR INSIDES!”

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  Emerging out from the chest of the beast was Barry, after hacking and slashing his way from the inside. He gasped for air and viewed his surroundings. “Fresh air, finally! Disgusting inside here.”

  “Barry! You alive!” Puck shouted from above, happy to see that his best friend wasn’t dead after all.

  Barry looked up, confused how and why Puck was holding onto the horns of the leviathan. “Puck! I thought I told you to stay on the-”

  He stopped talking because the leviathan tried picking at its exposed wound to swipe Barry off, but he would return back inside for cover. ‘Back to tearing it from the inside, I suppose!’ Barry decided to get back to work, inflicting as much damage as he could.

  All the other ships continued to fire spears at its exposed wounds, Puck felt like he didn’t have much in his mana tank and waited for the right opportunity to fire more of his explosive fireballs.

  But regardless, the leviathan submerged back under the water to try and flush out Barry with another one of its hydro cannon attacks. Puck gripped its horn, not wanting to let go.

  With their target no longer insight, the ships awaited for the creature to show its self once again. A stream of pressurized water blasted out from under the water towards one of the ships, it punctured a hole into it as well as knocking it with enough force to capsize the ship entirely. But that was not all, the hydro cannon swept across and struck a couple of masts from the other ships, damaging them to a certain degree.

  Everyone was worried how much longer this fight would go on, they could not afford to lose any more ships to the beast.

  But shortly after the leviathan’s attack had occurred, the beast would breach through the surface once more, letting out a deep-bellowing roar. Puck, still holding onto it, unleashed a volley of explosive fireballs down its throat for it to eat.

  With its insides being both scorched and ripped apart, the leviathan’s condition was clearly getting worse and worse with each given moment. Barry was still having a field day inside the beast, raging against the monster with a passionate desire to kill it from within. While Puck fed it some more of his fireballs, using up every last bit of mana he had left.

  The ships were in total awe of how just the two of them were giving it their all to fell the monstrosity keeping them from reaching their destination.

  There was not much the leviathan was able to do to shake off Puck, or expel Barry from its body. Their will and determination could not be waved off that easy, they were simply that focused on slaying it.

  And the time would come, with its energy fading away, losing the strength to continue pushing on to lay waste to those around it, that leviathan would meet its end. It raised its head high in the air, giving out another loud screech that shook the eardrums of everyone around. Shutting its eyes before toppling over, crashing against the ocean surface that created a giant ripple in the ocean, shaking every ship around it.

  “T-The beast! Is…is it dead?” One of Captain Cook's men questioned, no one truly knew if the monstrosity had been slain or not.

  But moments after crashing down, the raging storm would soon begin to part. A ray of sunshine shined through the gaps before eventually revealing the bright blue sky that was hidden behind it. To everyone, it was as if they had reached the light that was at the end of the dark tunnel they were just in.

  Puck popped up from under the water and swam on top of the floating leviathan, he stood on its head, stomping his foot down it multiple times to assert his dominance over the creature. “Yeah, Puck, make you pay for eating Barry! Puck conquer giant stupid fishy!” He raised his hands up high in the air, which made everyone cheer in response.

  Slashing his way back out of the monster’s chest was Barry, drenched in blue blood and flesh, he pulled himself out. “How many times will I have to bathe myself to get rid of this blood, I hope this shit comes off.” He wondered, as he walked around to where Puck was. The people on the ships cheered even louder.

  Barry sat down on the head of the monster, exhausted from the crap he had just gone through. Puck did the same, laying on his back looking at the blue sky. They were both out of it and needed some rest after giving it everything they had to kill the bastard. Sounds of clicking were heard nearby, which turned out to be the dolphin that Abe had lent to Barry. It danced around, happy to see that they were both alive.

  Captain Cook drew his ship close by to pick them up after a splendid job of taking down the beast through grit and sheer will power, no one would expect anyone to go toe-to-toe with something as terrifying as what they had just killed.

  Taking a glance at Puck, he was a bit bothered by the fact that Puck had still chosen to ignore his order to stay out of harm's way. However, he was more impressed than irritated that the little Kobold was fearless when going up against the creature, and even obtained a new skill in the process. “Puck.” Barry said.

  Puck looked at Barry, he was expecting Barry to berate him because of his decision. “Yeah?” Puck prepared himself for a stern talking from his friend, he would have still attempted to face the leviathan head on again if he had to.

  But what Barry did next shocked the little guy, Puck felt Barry slap him on the back in a friendly manner. “Good work.” Barry complimented, Puck was stunned. “You probably think I’d be mad at you, and I am. However…you’ve clearly got guts to fight something way out of your league. You’re getting stronger with each battle, I can see that.”

  The Kobold was happy, his tail wagging as a sign of his current mood. “Mmm hmpf! Puck was angry when giant monster ate you, Puck thought you died and wanted revenge.” Puck was glad for Barry being alive in the end.

  “But Puck.” Barry called out, Puck gave his attention back to him. “As proud as I am that you fought back, and you’ll probably disregard my order again, please don’t charge back in after I try to save you. I need you alive at all times, it’s important that you do as I say. If you had died, my efforts in saving you would be pointless. Do you understand?”

  The seriousness in Barry’s voice was genuine as Puck listened, he wanted to know why Barry was so protective of him. “But why? Why can’t Puck help you? What’s wrong with that?”

  “Because Puck, you…” Barry stopped mid-sentence, he was experiencing another one of his headaches whenever he would receive another random memory fragment. ‘Another? Right now?’

  His vision would black out, with his surroundings changing into a scene of Puck and the True Barry hanging out with each other. Only the True Barry’s appearance was a ghostly apparition this time, with Puck’s being completely visible.

  He watched as the two were chatting about random topics, having a good time as they travelled to who knows where. The scene then shifted to another environment, one with them working together to defend a town from an invasion of monsters with smiles on their faces.

  As Barry watched them fight, it became apparent that they trusted each other and knew exactly what the other would do next. Their synergy when working together was something to behold, it astonished him.

  Suddenly, a giant monstrosity showed up in town to terrorize everyone, the two banded to take down this intimidating foe, pulling no punches with pure optimism. It seemed like nothing could bring them down. And in the end, they were victorious in fending off all the monsters. The town cheered in response to their efforts, their heroes raising their fists in the air, standing on top of the giant.

  The memory would then fade away, returning Barry back to reality. “Why Barry?” Puck asked him, bringing back to his question.

  Gathering himself together after recovering his thoughts, Barry wasn’t sure if telling him that he was linked to his memories of the person he was borrowing his name from would suffice. He also didn’t want to confuse Puck with that sort of response, so he provided him another answer. “Because not only are you my friend, I need you alive so you could communicate with that dragon, Valkynox, from your dreams. Whoever they are, that dragon could be friendly, and we could use their help.”

  Barry hoped that his answer would be enough to get him to stop disobeying him. Puck thought about his reason, the Kobold tapped his chin. “Hmmm…” Puck was curious about Valkynox as well, but if Barry thought there was a chance for this dragon to be useful to them, then being able to communicate with it could be crucial. “Okay, Puck think your reason is good.”

  A sigh of relief was released from Barry. “Yeah, you being alive is important. I’m glad you can understand-”

  “But Puck still think you shouldn’t fight big problems by yourself. So Puck will still help you no matter what, but Puck will be more careful.” Puck countered, interrupting him.

  Befuddled by his friend’s words, Barry shook his head in disagreement. “What!? Puck, I can’t have you-”

  “Hey! Climb on board, you crazies! We’ve got clear skies now that the storm is gone, so let’s get to cruising!” Captain Cook shouted down at them, dropping a ladder for them.

  Puck was the first to rise up and make his way to the ladder, while Barry remained in place for a moment, bothered by Puck’s answer to refuse letting him tackle the big challenges on his own. Barry got back on his feet, walking over to the ladder as well. ‘Puck, I can’t have you dying on me. You’re the only link I have to possibly recovering my memories so far.’

  They climbed on board and were praised by the whole crew by their courageous display of fearlessness. A lot of them were stunned to still see Barry alive after witnessing him get eaten by the leviathan, they would have figured he’d die by the creature’s stomach acids.

  One of the crewmates gave a damage report, which could have been a lot worse if the leviathan was just as aggressive as it was towards the end. They had lost four ships out of the twelve they had brought, but not as many contestants they were expecting to lose. The survivors from the four fallen ships were picked up by the others. Overall, a majority of them survived.

  As Barry was resting up near the helm of the ship, he inspected his Character Profile and noticed that he had leveled up a couple of times after slaying the leviathan and its minions of smaller sea creatures. The same would be true for Puck and everyone else that participated in fending off the attack.

  There was something that he had obtained after slaying the leviathan that was added to his inventory, aside from the monster parts he got from each other sea creature he killed. It was an organ referred to as, “Leviathan’s Mutagen”. It was an ingredient of Rare rarity, Barry could only assume that Sherry would be able to craft a potion out of it once he got back to base. But that would only be until after him and his group obtained the prism key from the water temple.

  He wondered what sort of power or ability the mutagen would grant him once Sherry crafted a potion out of it, like she had done with the three zombie cores he had obtained from Thalia and her brother’s corpses.

  But regardless, Barry would adjust both him and Puck’s stats if needed, seeing as how they had leveled up a couple of times during their fight. Barry was level 33, and he would boost his Strength, Agility, and Endurance stats by 10 points each, leaving the rest of his 36 available stat points alone. He was waiting for the moment he would need to increase his Intelligence and Wisdom for something that required him to have better stats in those categories.

  As for Puck, the Kobold was level 22 with 45 available stat points to be distributed. Barry allocated 4 points into his Agility and Endurance each, while also boosting his Intelligence by 10 and his Wisdom by 15 each as well. He didn’t want Puck to just be a glass cannon, but also didn’t want his firepower to lag behind.

  Barry was satisfied with his decision and laid back where he was, Captain Cook offered him and Puck a bed below the deck, but he declined. Barry didn’t feel like moving, he was content where he was and rested. Puck did the same thing, following Barry’s lead.

  No one bothered them, just grateful that they were able to help them out from being totally massacred by the sea creatures of the ocean. However, they were all curious as to where Barry and Puck came from, never had they seen someone as fearless and resilient as Barry, much less a Kobold that wasn’t a thief who travelled with a human.

  About 3 hours would pass, Barry was still sleeping when Captain Cook shook him a little to get him to wake up. Barry was training with Thalia during his nap, but quickly woke up in response to the captain’s gesture. Barry blocked out the sunlight from his tired eyes and looked up at the captain. “Damn, I forgot it’s bright. What’s up?”

  “We’re almost at the island, thought you should know.” Captain Cook informed, he still couldn’t believe that they made it. “And I think we’ve spotted the group you were with before near a beach, so we will be docking near them soon. Also, while you were sleeping. We’ve received notification from the system referring to the prism we’re seeking.”

  Wondering what it could be, Barry opened his system menu to check out what he was talking about. From his quest menu, he was able to read some additional information referring to the prism that was supposedly inside in a water castle like he had seen from Ron’s vision. It also showed on the map the area of the island inside a yellow outline of a circle, with a pin placed in the center of the island that had to be the water castle.

  “I see, noted.” Barry acknowledged the captain’s words and rose from the floor. His neck and body were stiff from sleeping on the deck, Barry might have appreciated the bed had he not been so stubborn to refuse. “Finally, we can start snagging this prism before it falls into the wrong hands.”

  Captain Cook and the other crewmates were curious what he meant by potentially letting these prisms fall into the possession of someone bad. “I’ve been thinking about what you said before back at the town, how you think that someone evil is trying to obtain these prisms. What makes you say that? Who would want to oppose us and destroy our world?”

  Barry wasn’t sure how else he would be able to convince him and the others that what he was saying was true, he didn’t have any way to prove to him except his words alone. “Well, believe it or not, my group and I received a vision about these prisms being taken away by strange beings that discussed world domination by using these prisms. And if you read the quest again where it says, ‘Be warned, you and the rest of the contestants are not the only ones seeking these keys…’, it would make sense to us that we’re against each other.”

  Captain Cook and a couple other of his crewmates thought over what he was saying, personally reading the description of the quest over once more. If what Barry was sharing with them was true, then reaching this prism was crucial before these supposed beings did.

  “I can understand why you are so determined to reach the prism now, especially with your speech from before. You were only trying to rally us together to realize the dire need to claim the prism, but instead, everyone disrespected you because of how terrified and angry they were…and for that we’re sorry.” Captain Cook took his cap off and slightly bowed to Barry, as did every other crewmate.

  Seeing them apologize made Barry feel a bit awkward, their apology made him feel respected, but also confused because of the way he basically called them cowards because of their mishaps before he arrived. “What the- Quit with that!” He yelled, getting their attention. “The hell are you all apologizing for!? I disrespected you just as much as you did to me, so let’s just call it even…geez.”

  Everyone was confused, the captain spoke. “But, we were wrong-”

  “Just can it, captain!” Barry looked away with an irritated look, crossing his arms as he looked overboard at the island close by. “We were all assholes! But if you’re all really that sorry, then how about we give it our all to get this damn prism.”

  The crew looked at Barry, they weren’t sure how to respond to him. They weren’t quite sure themselves, but for some reason they felt him being sincere in his own type of way. The captain gave a faint smile and replied with a few simple, meaningful words. “You have our full support, we won’t let you down ever again!”

  “Good, the more help, the merrier.” Barry grumbled, as he continued to look outward.

  Captain Cook took control of the helm again from one of his men and steered them towards the beach where Barry’s group was at. It would take them less than 30 minutes before arriving at the shore.

  Barry could see Abe’s carriage parked, believing that it had changed back into its original form being a boat. ‘Seems like they made it just fine like Abe promised, while me and Puck were the only ones going through trouble.’

  He went to go and wake Puck up from his sleep so they could rejoin their team together. The whole group approached the ship he was on in a haste after catching sight of Barry.

  Barry and Puck abandoned the deck down a ladder, with Kat being the first to greet them. “I knew you would both make it back alive, I never doubted you both for a moment.” She was truly happy that they were alright.

  “Sorry about Puck slipping past us.” Luna commented, somewhat embarrassed that he was able to. “How was it defending the-”

  “Shit, absolutely shit.” Barry interrupted. “I got eaten by a giant leviathan creature and almost dissolved from its stomach acids if I didn’t react fast enough.” He remembered his time inside the leviathan’s body while being digested, it was not a comfortable feeling, it was also difficult for him to breathe while inside the beast.

  They were all surprised to hear him say something so outlandish, but believed him still. “That sounds…disgusting. How did you get out then?” Buford questioned, raising a brow.

  “Don’t tell me you had to exit out of…you know?” Ron said, hoping that was not the case.

  Completely bewildered by Ron’s guess, Barry shook his head instantly. “Hell no! I didn’t escape that way!” Everyone sighed in relief, not wanting to imagine him literally having to do that. “I carved my way out from the inside and out through the creature’s chest. I had to go back inside to seek its heart and end the son of a bitch after getting some fresh air, because it was getting hard to breathe.”

  Almost his entire group was bothered by what he had done in order to survive, people like Ron and Kat felt a bit uneasy just imagining Barry ripping and tearing inside a giant sea creature’s body.

  Regardless, Barry was just glad to have made it on the island and wanted to hurry up to retrieve the prism before it was too late. “Whatever, listen, we’re all here now and that’s what matters. That said, Ron and Puck, we’re doing some recon. That water castle should be in the center of this island, as shown on the map and based on Ron’s vision.” Barry then motioned towards the tropical forest, feeling energized after his nap on the ship.

  Puck followed Barry from behind without complaint, but Ron was speechless, completely off-guard by his name being called to join him. “Wha- What! Can’t we at least wait for the rest of the ships to dock?” He suggested as he reluctantly tagged along.

  “No, we can’t waste any time. Don’t worry, we’re just scouting is all and relaying what we find to everyone else before retrieving the prism.” Barry told him, not stopping for one moment.

  Ron sighed before picking up the pace to catch up, he was not expecting Barry to immediately jump to do some reconnaissance after landing. “Fiiiiine. You’re such a relentless bastard, you know that?” Everyone thought it was funny that what he said was true about Barry.

  “Of course, why else would I still be alive?” Barry replied, he was amused by his comment and took it as a compliment.

  And so the three went on to do some scouting ahead, their mission to retrieve the one of the eight prisms would soon begin.