Needless Carnage - Strangers

[Gildarts]

Gildarts remained mounted on the serpent for a while, he was completely safe with its mammoth jaws beneath his toes. Yet he felt he had to focus his stature to command the once tyrannical beast. The most notable problem he faced was that that he had no idea where he was and could only follow the winds of change to know where he was going. Storms crawled overhead and splattered tears onto his shoulders but this did not dissuade him from his unswerving direction as he progressed forward.

Time remained pendent in the rolling waves as the beast’s massive head was the only thing above the crests of water; the rest of its whole body had plunged into the vastly deep waters below. The Prime settled into a seated position, cross-legged and smiling, he pulled out a bite to eat and shared it first with his voyaging companion, “You’re an unlikely friend, if I can call you that.” Gildarts remarked through a small bite of bread, “But, you don’t seem to be too bad if you didn’t attack those kids. Plus you saved me the trouble of dealing with those pirates.”

Cretus ate the bread that sponged on his tongue and the unknown texture dissolved in his mouth. After he had swallowed the herbivore food, the monster opened his jaws as if to respond and released a low sigh, “Gruuhhhh.”

“Yeah, you and me both buddy.” Gildarts pat the creature’s head and still wondered what had caused the beast to surrender. He pulled out the small crystalline flower that shimmered in the moonlight and recalled Martha’s words ‘This is the real Jewel of the Sea. The one that the shop was named after. I got it from my grandfather when I was very young; it is said to keep seafaring wanderers safe and tame even the most vile serpents of the ocean. I think it will do you well on your journey.’

She had said it could tame monsters but the atrocity below his haunches wasn’t even that. Gildarts hoped they would find another island soon, his cloak was fraying under the water wilted wind and chilling his joints painfully. If the two monsters ported soon, it was even possible that he could ask Cretus (as he was a dragon of the sea) to aid them in the fight against Acnologia. Almost too much time had passed, but Gildarts had faith in his heart that his guild would survive. After all, he had.

...

Fatigue grew potent within his muscles as the grueling weather became as endless as the tides. Frozen air pinched his tendons and the only thing keeping his face from becoming red with windburn was the thin layer of scruff lining his jaw. This was a truly treacherous place. He had once been the definition of the word. Now, he began to feel as though he was getting too old for his passions, and yet adventure was still never far from his reach.

Finally the two titans approached land. Gildarts began to raise his hardened, weatherworn squint against the surprisingly warm air. He grew perturbed as he sensed something was wrong, very wrong. His blood chilled to the sinister haze that surrounded the island, whatever was askew did not make itself immediately known. Above he saw a looming black shadow growing into the night sky and clouding the stars. Gildarts crouched low and readied his shoulders as Cretus grounded into the gravel and lurched his skull so suddenly that the Prime slipped off.

Gildarts fell graciously onto the solid land and the head of the mighty beast rose upward. Before Cretus departed, Gildarts offered him a threatening leer that spoke words even a sea monster would understand. He raised a metallic fist and in response the monster blinked his eyes in comprehension. This exchange was an unsaid promise between man and beast. Gildarts would allow him to live and Cretus would no longer kill people for food, he had the means and then some, to live off of the ocean. Cretus had learned from the Prime that there were some humans worthy of living, so he was now willing to spare them all.

The giant reptilian fled under the haze of night leaving Gildarts to stand alone on the silent, stony shore. When he turned his back to the ocean he met something unexpected. It appeared to be a green blob with a block head. The creeper’s heavy block-like feet crawled toward Gildarts who held his position yet his weary muscles tensed in an alert defense. His eyes traced the strange moss colored creature and found that it had emerged from the depths of the shaded forest dotting the shoreline.

As it approached, Gildarts grew skeptical of the suspense. The black-faced frowning creature didn’t seem to want to attack him and yet even as it neared there was no sign of it slowing its pace. It didn’t speak as it closed in on his shielded perimeter and suddenly the immortal felt an explosion of fire braze his nose. Luckily he had blinked in the moment and kept the singe of fire from his eyes but now looked around for a trace of the creature completely baffled, “Huh? Where’d it go?”

Gildarts gripped his fist and shook his head in disappointment. What the... What had the kamikaze accomplished? It must have wanted to kill him. Gildarts came to the conclusion and deduced it's raison d'être was solely a means to keep visitors off the island with a fiery defense mechanism. “AH! It singed my cloak!” Gildarts looked startled and tamped the flames from the edges of his dark cape. He vaguely realized that the burned corners he smothered could have easily been his face.

The Prime ventured into the heart of the novel forest with his guard up. There must be more, just one of those things couldn’t guard an entire island. The trespasser remained on the alert as he continued to walk and after a half hour, he came upon the far edge of a town.