9 The Kraken

Tyr and his crew set out a few hours before sunrise. Many of the people he brought along were woken up in the middle of the night and morale was low. Everyone knew that Fenrir had deserted the guild and many of the people in the guild chose to follow her.

Taylen looked at Tyr, hesitant to speak her mind.

He felt her gaze on him and turned to his left, promptly demanding, "You want to say something. What?" Tyr did not have time to waste worrying about her thoughts.

In a soft voice, she tried to comfort him, "You shouldn't push yourself too hard. The guild is doing well. Fenrir didn't even..."

Before she could continue Tyr pushed his mount forward to block her path. His eyebrows furrowed and hissed, "Don't mention her name in front of me." He then turned his lizard mount around and it scurried further ahead so he could be alone.

The air was tense with the confrontation and Krystof cleared his throat and brought his tiger mount towards her. In a melodic tone, he said, "Ya know, you probably shouldn't mention her if you're tryin' to win him over," He whispered the next part while leaning closer, "Jus' a word of advice." Throughout their lives, Taylen continually did things that Tyr did not like. He thought it was funny that she liked Tyr so much, but had no idea what kind of person he really was.

****

As the day broke, the group made it to the pier. The scouts had come earlier to hire a ship to hunt the Kraken. There was only one ship willing to take on the task. It was a merchant ship by the name of Hakudo Maru. The captain, Juels, was an older selkie from the far north. He wore a sand-colored fur coat that had patches of tan, a whip and cutlass hung at his hips.

"Leavin' soon as ya git your people on board. Aye ain't got time ta be wastin'. Barely fit ya in as it is. Ya got three weeks ta find the Kracken or we 'ead back. I be keepin' the money either way," Juels said in a low raspy voice. The sun was rising behind him, reflecting off the sea. No clouds lined the horizon and the sky made a gradient from orange to a bluish-grey. The salty sea caused the wind to be cool as it blew the morning air.

"Understood," Tyr replied. Turning back to his group, he yelled, "Hurry up and board the ship. We're leaving as soon as everyone is on board!" He had no time to waste, as everyone got on board he hoped the Kracken and weather would be cooperative.

****

It was almost the third week at sea and night had fallen. The storm caused the waves to roll and the heavy clouds filled the air, blocking out any light from the moon. The boat rocked in the waters from the many waves coming from all directions. Most of the members had to have an anti-sea-sickness spell cast on them.

The waves looked like mountains with their peaks stretching into the night sky. The valleys made by the watery mountains howled with the wind that blew through them. The bow of the ship struck the sea with great force and salty water smacked the deck of the ship. The rain came down in sheets and everyone held on to something for fear of being tossed overboard.

After three hours of this weather, as the ship scaled a mountain of water, the captain noticed just over the peak were massive tentacles as thick as the skyscraper buildings that stood in the innermost part of Marseille. The suckers at the ends of the club-shaped tentacles varied in size, the smallest being the size of an ox. As the boat neared, three of its five arms and two tentacles became visible stretching out above the water towards the boat. Water fell from its limbs and beak as it prepared to rend the ship asunder.

"Ya best be gettin' ready," shouted Juels, turning the boat sharply so it would not crash into the opened beak of the Kraken. The ship creaked with the sharp turn and he his eyes narrowed at the creature.

Tyr ordered the ranged fighters to keep the limbs off the boat while the supportive and defensive spell casters chanted their spells. He had already gone over the plans with each team and gave them a list of protocols to ensure they understood their roles.

An arm descended upon the ship, dripping heavy sheets of water across the deck. Krystof's team of rangers shot force missiles at an angle so the tentacle was pushed to the side. The limb crashed into the water, missing the boat by four meters.

Tyr vaulted onto the arm and ran up its sinewy length, his wyvern flew beside him. He drew his lance and dashed and jumped as the arm rose to shake him off. He neared the Kraken's head and tried to jump over a tentacle that swatted at him. Realizing it was too late to jump over its entirety, he pulled his lance back and thrust it forwards towards the limb. The force of his first blow caused salty water and blood to spray towards him, his hair flew back wet with the rain and seawater, his second blow caused water and blood to explode out of the chasm he made spraying the head of the Kraken.

Through the hole that dripped with blood, Tyr locked eyes with the Kraken as he flew through the gaping hole in its arm. In the Kraken's mirrored eyes Tyr could see his reflection as he snarled, "I'm gonna stain the sea with your blood!"

The Kraken gave a piercing screech as an arm came from below to knock Tyr from behind. Tyr's body flew like a rag-doll towards an adjacent arm that was getting ready to drive him into the sea. Just as he was about the hit the arm, he spun and kicked off of it with so much force that the arm bent like a rubber band, changing the direction he was going.

He was now above the Kraken and the support mages that Taylen commanded finished casting their spells. Beams of white, brown, and blue light shot out through the sky and enveloped Tyr. With their spells, he could dodge each attack with as much ease as his wyvern, Aži. He took out his second lance and spun his weapons faster and faster. His wyvern blew streams of fire which intertwined with the gusts of wind that arched out from each swing. The vortex of wind that his swings created caused the rain to fly back up into the sky. Copious amounts of steam permeated the battlefield when the moisture mixed with the wyvern's breath. As he picked up speed the fiery wind sliced through the Kraken, shallow cuts at first, but eventually it became deeper and deeper causing slashes four meters thick.

The monster realized that it was not winning and began to submerge. Seeing this, Tyr threw his offhand lance into the air above the Kraken where it hovered glowing brighter and brighter. He descended upon the monster and swung his main lance in a wide arc, slashing across the creature's eyes. Upon impact, the lance above let out a thunderous clap and sent a beam of light through the Kraken. The explosion of sound dispelled the clouds from the area.

The moon shone down on the mangled body of the monster and the water was dark with its blood. From his vantage point, Tyr gazed upon the choppy water as it rippled and rose from the limbs that flailed about. Even after death, the body moved. Tyr turned around and saw that two arms still grasped the ship. A mast creaked with the pressure of the arm. Tyr quickly flew over to the deck and ordered his group to get the arm around the mast off first.

While his group worked on the freeing the mast he went to focus on the arm that tried to pull the ship's bow down into the water. The ship tilted at a 45-degree angle and the crew hacked the limb with desperation in their eyes. With a few swings, Tyr hacked away the Kraken from the ship's bow. The ship crashed down into the water. The force caused many to fall down upon the deck. As Tyr kicked off the last bit of flesh, a loud crack came from the middle of the ship. The mast, which his team was working on freeing split into two and fell into the water.