The rain was nasty. And uncanny. Like, I could literally see the clear sky on the horizon. But instead we sat in the nasty rain that left dark smudges on my skin. I wished I had brought my wizard’s hat.

Another terrible wail rippled over the surface of the ocean. I watched the water, but it was hard to see with the rain.

“Jalani!” Bombasar roared. “The wind spirits!”

He himself jumped onto the lower deck and ran towards the main mast in the middle. Another sailor took the wheel. I watched the Pirate Prince use ladder and net to scale himself up. For such a large man he climbed like a young squirrel. Finally, he made it up to the crow’s nest and yelled out at the sea.

“COME YOU BIG MONSTER! COME AND FACE BOMBASAR IF YOU DARE!”

Then he started commanding the spirits. The waves started churning, and the wind started blowing. Jalani and his apprentices were commanding wind spirits of their own, who were blowing all they could into our sails. I had never imagined a ship could move as fast as ours did.

Bombasar leaned over the edge of the crow’s nest and pointed. “TURN THE SHIP!”

The sailor who had taken the helm from Bombasar nodded and started spinning the steering wheel. The ship rocked and tilted to its side, but Jalani and his apprentices were using the spirits to counter the tilt with the winds, letting us do an unnaturally tight turn with the ship that kept most of our speed.

I looked back at the patch of water we had just left. There was something very large moving underneath it.

Then there was a lurch as a gargantuan mass rose from the water. The force of the Leviathan emerging from the water almost knocked our whole damn ship on its side. But we had evaded the monster’s jaws.

With deft mastery of waves and wind and great steering by the crew, we managed to avoid the crushing blow that had chomped the Salakin trading vessel in one bite.

I watched in mute amazement as a tower of dark blue and gray flesh rose from the churning ocean that vaguely resembled a crocodile’s mouth.

“HEEL!” Bombasar shouted and great waves crashed into the monstrous creature. The creature’s maw sank underwater, and then a great shadow was cast over the ship.

The rain stopped and every sailor’s eye was turned above. A black and gray fin the size of an island covered the ship and was about to slam down.

We threw everything at it. Bombasar and Jalani conducted spirits to push their winds and waves against it. The crew steered the ship sharply to avoid the blow.

I prepared the most profound Water Jet I had cast yet. I had been weaving Basic Water with kinetic components ever since we heard the first wail. I just hadn’t given it any shape, unsure of what I would need.

The moment I had seen the maw miss us, I had started creating a Water Jet.

The Water Spear I had used against the Mamba had been powerful. But that I had done with barely any cultivation, and lesser levels in Spellcrafting and all the related Attributes.

Not only that, I commanded the spirits to compress the Water Jet with their winds. They obliged and started preparing for the shot.

I didn’t need to pierce the fin. Even if I blew a hole through it, the rest would still land on us. I needed to push the damn thing away.

So I widened the spell’s opening and poured more mana into the kinetic components. The water churned above my hands, held back by the formation while I prepared to release it.

There was so much mana in the spell that I could feel where my control was slipping. I weaved in more continuous components to increase the mana flow in. When I was at the limit of my control, I poured a large part of my cultivation into the spell as well.

The wind spirits gathered around the water. I could feel their eagerness through our connection, but they were waiting for me to tell them what to do.

I showed them the direction I wanted and the shape the water needed to hold. Then I gave them a generous helping of purified mana, that they could create spiritual power with.

The spirits created a channel with their winds. A wind tunnel, if you will. I could see it with my Mana Sight. A thick tube of mana condensing in a cylinder form.

Then the fin descended upon us, and I felt a lurch in my stomach, but I steeled myself and unleashed the spell.

All I had to do was to aim at the tube and unleash the spell. So that was what I did. A great torrent of water ripped through the air and with the help of the four greater wind spirits, it shot with such tremendous speed that it actually threw the fin back.

My arms shook and I could feel the spell almost unraveling. I poured all of my Focus and practice with meditation to center myself and only exist in that moment of having to keep the spell together.

I aimed for the outer part of the fin, and the water struck it at an angle, forcing it away from the mast. Spray exploded everywhere. I couldn’t even see where my spell was hitting anymore, but I kept pouring mana into it.

But the shadow above us started to give way.

“STARBOARD! FULL TURN TO STARBOARD!” Bombasar roared from the crow’s nest.

I couldn’t hold on any longer. I let the spell collapse and stumbled against the railing and wiped my nose from the blood.

The massive fin slammed into the water next to our ship, and rocked it. It almost toppled, but the spirits pushed it upright with winds and waves.

Bombasar had turned us in time. But the turn had been so tight, and the force and waves of the slamming fin so severe, that the ship rocked and almost toppled.

A sailor slid across the deck and caught a rope. The helmsman clutched the wheel, like it owed him money. I had to use some elaborate kinetic spell variation I had learned from the spellbook to press myself into the deck.

Jalani’s wind spirits righted the ship again.

The Leviathan emerged again and tried to snatch us into its jaws, but we were riding a massive wave with such speed that it missed. Immediately I heard two loud explosions, and the great beast was struck by high-speed cannonballs shot from artificed cannons. The crew cheered as the Leviathan let out a terrible wail. Another volley of cannonballs struck it, and we reached out of range.

“TURN!” Bombasar roared.

Every fiber of my body resisted the idea of turning, instead of barreling through the waves full-speed away from this monstrosity, but I had to trust Bombasar’s experience and seafaring skills.

He was already pointing towards the gunships and shouting for someone to raise a flag. A sailor scrambled to obey.

“Jalani! Hold us here!” Bombasar roared over the clamor.

I glanced towards the reef. Both gunships were still firing, but now we were out of their way. Bombasar had brought us around to face the Leviathan without putting our ship between it and the cannons.

That was reassuring. I had been far too busy trying not to die to keep track of where everyone was.

The frigate turned, another volley of cannonballs struck the beast’s maw and I thought it was about to submerge again.

But it didn’t. As if suspended by some strange force, instead it rose from the ocean. The waves from its emergence were so tall that Jalani had to counter them with waves of his own to not topple the ship. Bombasar started chanting something.

“Lend me your power, Baron! Now!”

I didn’t miss the lack of speaking in third person. Bombasar must have been serious to drop all theater. I wondered what kind of a pact he had made with the Old Bones and what it had cost him.

The Pirate Prince stretched out his hand and a dozen green spectral chains shot out and struck the Leviathan like harpoons.

I couldn’t begin to measure the spiritual energy involved, but the sheer force emanating from this attack was tremendous. Was this the power of Bombasar or Zamadi?

The chains sank into its body without drawing blood. For a moment I thought they had simply passed through it, but then the creature tried to turn towards one of the gunships.

Every chain pulled taut.

The Leviathan’s head jerked to a stop. It thrashed and wailed, but for some reason it was almost as if frozen. I saw Bombasar growling with effort in the crow’s nest, and another tremendous pulse of spiritual energy was sent through the green spectral chains towards the Leviathan.

Green chains started to appear and wrap around the Leviathan’s massive body. They started criss-crossing upwards from the water all the way up to its neck. The power of the Deep Lord Zamadi had suppressed the Leviathan.

“Now, Jalani!”

Jalani shouted something I didn’t understand, and the water rose around the beast. Waves pressed against it from both sides.Now with the waves pressing into it, and the chains criss-crossing, the Leviathan was immobilized. 

But it sure as hell wasn’t done. It let out a terrible wail that sent literal shockwaves across the water.

One of the chains snapped and vanished in the air. Bombasar swore, and another shot out to replace it. 

I couldn’t help but to take my first proper look at the Leviathan, now that it was still and largely out of water. It was a massive and terrifying beast.

A mottled body of blue and gray, scales so thick they looked like someone had glued gleaming rocks into this abomination between a crocodile, whale and a frog. The rain intensified, and faintly burned on my skin. The Leviathan let out another terrible wail, and then it fixed its eyes on us. It was the malevolent disdain of an apex predator. It watched us silently from its lofty heights, and if it was contemplating something, it was likely deciding who it would eat first.

Even when chained and pressed by waves from all directions, it looked like it was the one in control.

Thunder and lightning animated the sky, and suddenly a heavy spiritual presence loomed over us and put the crew on their knees. Only Jalani, Bombasar and I could withstand it. This was exactly the same power that Zamadi had used against me. Fortunately I was now better equipped, and this pressure was much weaker than the Baron’s.

I slipped into my Magical Trance and used my Arcane Body Art’s cultivation to permeate my body and mind, which protected me from the spiritual assault.

Now Jalani and Bombasar were also winded and Jalani had even taken a knee. Bombasar turned to me. 

“Bombasar has done his part, sorcerer!”

I nodded.

I infused myself with Mana Augmentation and ran across the deck. While I did this, I cast a powerful kinetic spell on myself. Then I jumped towards the Leviathan just as two more cannonballs rocked it.

I released the kinetic spell to provide me a boost in the air. The four wind spirits picked me up and flew me to stand on the great sea beast’s snout.

Up close, the scales were even bigger than I had thought. My foot landed between two of them, and I immediately slipped. One of the wind spirits pushed against my back while I caught myself with kinetic magic.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

The Leviathan shifted beneath me. It wasn’t much of a movement for something that size, but I had to crouch and put a hand down to keep from falling. 

A green chain stretched across its snout a few feet ahead of me. It tightened, pulling the head back into place.

I looked towards the ship. Bombasar was still up in the crow’s nest with his arm extended. From here, he looked pretty small. The chains blooming out of his hand were starting to fray, and I wondered how much time I had.

The Leviathan’s skin was slippery and gross, but I trudged forward along its nose, while I could see two gigantic eyes watching me.

I had been watched by plenty of things that wanted to eat me by now, but this was unnerving on a whole another level. There was something primally terrifying about the Leviathan, that even the biggest angry gorilla couldn’t quite match.

I scuttled across the scale bridge of the great beast’s nose until I reached my destination between its eyes and placed a hand on it, and sent an emotional pulse of Spirit Connection to it.

“Hello,” I said. “Are you all there? Is Tiamat there? Who else? Are you guys in pain? Do you need help?”

All these questions I asked in spirit language of pulses, but what came back was just malice, violence, and distress. They came at me in such intense waves that I almost lost my nerve.

The emotions were so intense and there were so many mingled into such soul-wrenching agony of the mind that it bordered on madness.

Hunger. Then pain so strong I felt sick. Something wanted me gone, while something else seemed desperate for me to stay.

How many spirits were in there?

I steadied my breathing and looked down at my little hand pressing against a bulging scale. I centered myself. Zamadi had told me to untangle them. I didn’t know what that meant, but I could sure tell there were a lot of spirits and they sure were tangled.

I pushed through the discordant noises of the spirits, and asked again. I promised I wanted to help. I knew they were in pain. I was sent to help by Zamadi.

I thought about the Bellwright and how happy he had been when his bell finally rang. I wanted to do something like that here. This was very much so more than I could chew, but I kept chewing anyway.

The cacophony of pulses that responded to me was painful, and I winced and almost removed my hand from the beast. But I kept pushing, despite the mental pain, and I had to use every ounce of my Spiritual Presence to create enough space for me.

Fortunately that seemed to be enough. Because using that space, that I had created with the force of my will, I felt something slither in from under all the madness and rage. I felt something trying to reach me.

“Anyone there?” I asked.

Then from under all of the pain and violence, a lone feminine voice answered.

Hi.

I was thrown off by the voice. There was something about it that I found ineffably compelling; like I could feel a connection instantly, just based on the sound and tone of that pulse of emotion.

But as soon as the voice had emerged, it was gone. Immediately it was replaced by the discordant pain and anger, and the Leviathan let out another wail.

Then, without warning, it flicked me into the air from its nose, lunged upwards and swallowed me.