Chapter 90: A Little Immature (1/2)

Shooting high into the air, Mike narrowly avoided the tidal wave, feeling a pang of sympathy as it swallowed the raider vessels. Exercising a massive amount of his Water Magic, he managed to create a break in the wave, preventing his own ship from suffering the same fate.

He landed on the water and stayed there, making use of a new application of magic he'd picked up in his experimenting over the last few days. By hardening a patch of water directly under each of his feet, he could literally walk on it. However, he had yet to really put it to use, and was beginning to see a flaw.

As the aftershocks of the titanic creature's emergence continued to reverberate through the nearby ocean, Mike was having a great deal of trouble maintain his balance. It was a bit like trying to stay standing during an earthquake. Finally, he added another component to his magic to flatten the surrounding water as it approached him, allowing him to concentrate long enough to investigate the situation.

The creature, whatever it was, had partially surfaced, and looked pretty much like a small island, about 500m long and 250m wide, with a set of massive purple eyes. The rest of its body remained underwater, hovering below the surface. It reminded Mike a bit of a crocodile.

The creature's gaze wandered around for a bit searching for something, and Mike noticed that each pair seemed able to move independently of each other. Finally, after a few minutes of searching all three sets focused on him. It stared at him intently, but Mike thought it looked a bit confused.

Figuring that such a monstrous being would be hard to escape from, and even harder to kill, he fell back on his usual trick.

Pushing mana into his voice to allow it to carry farther, he yelled. ”It's rude to stare, you know? Can I help you with something?”

The creature blinked, a process involving several overlapping membranes that quickly whisked across the surfaces of its eyes. A subsonic rumbling emerged from deep below the ocean, causing vibrations in the water for kilometers in every direction. Although Mike wasn't completely certain, he got the impression it was demanding to face its ancient enemy. However, the tone of the message carried more resignation than anger.

”What is your enemy? We are the only ones here right now.” He asked while scratching at an itch on his upper back. He couldn't quite reach it.

The vibrations sounded again, and this time it carried the description of an ancient being whose winged bulk blotted out the sun, whose cries split the sky, and whose wrath rent mountains and boiled seas.

”Nothing like that here. I think you might be mistaken….” Mike had started trying to convince the creature to leave, when he felt something flop onto his head. Glancing up, he saw Audra returning its intense stare with one of her own.

There was a brief moment when the island-sized monster and the palm sized-dragon engaged in a staring contest. Audra finally broke the silence with a short, high-pitched squeak, which Mike's Communication Magic translated as, ”Come at me, bro!”

Mike frantically picked her up and put her back into his pocket, while addressing the creature. ”Sorry about that, she's very young.”

There was another burst of vibration, this time longer. It seemed to mean that the creature understands, and will wait until its enemy was ready to face it. Without saying anything else, it slowly slipped beneath the waves.

[That went surprising well.]

Audra once again clambered out onto his head, looking around for the creature that had disappeared. Mike thought she seemed disappointed it was gone.

”You are going to give me some headaches in the future. Aren't you, little one?” Mike said while reaching up and scratching the underside of the dragons jaw. She responded with something close to a purr before laconically curling up on his head.

Sighing, Mike started making his way back to the ship until someone called out to him from nearby.

”Wyrmkin! Please wait! I must speak with you!”

Looking around, Mike saw the old, milky-eyed man nearby. He was draped over a broken section of a mast, looking utterly spent.

”What did you call me?” He asked while stepping over to the man.

”I used your appropriate title, Wyrmkin. It is the word my people use when addressing one who has bonded with one of the Wyrms, greatest and most sacred of all dragons.” A mixture of awe and reverence had creeped into his tone, and it was clear that the gaze of his one good eye was fixed upon the tiny form resting on his head.

”Okay…..Did you want something?” He was feeling a little creep out by the raider's expression.

”While I would welcome some assistance in regards to our current situation, I know that aiding those who were once your enemy would be asking too much of you.” He said while gesturing vaguely at the scattered remnants of the ships that had once held his people, ”I would ask for one boon only. Tell me from whence you hail.”

Mike realized that they had been speaking in a language different from his usual one. This became evident when the translated meaning of the man's last statement filtered into his mind. It seemed that in whatever culture the man originated from, such a request would basically require a self-introduction to properly respond to it.

He took a moment to look around at the scattered remnants of the raiders, recalling how poor and ill equipped they had been. Only a handful seemed to have survived the creature's arrival, most of whom were clinging to the overturned hull of one of the ships which had miraculously survived.

Corpses had begun to surface now, and he was sure that the sharks wouldn't be too far behind.

Once again, he felt a twinge of sympathy.