Chapter 63: The Eleventh Floor[6]

Meeka closed her eyes, her hands trembled in fear but something emerged from deep down her.

“Forgive me, Father. Forgive me for hiding this gift.”

Her voice was barely audible above the clamor yet the sea seemed to listen. The next instant light exploded.

A golden light surged from her palms and rippled outwards in a wave that pierced the shadows.

The sailors shrieked as their spectral jaws were gaping with the light burning through them. The anchors of the ghost fleet dissolved and their chains snapped like glass.

Alice staggered back with her breath caught in her throat, only Becca remained steady as she ran towards the edge of the ship and looked down into the sea for any signs of Xior.

The ghost fleet howled, the sound was not only heard but they all felt it. It was akin to an ache inside the bones, a groan of regret and fury torn free.

One by one the ships began to dissolve and fading into the mist. The skeletal sailors crumbled into dust and their weapons scattered like sand on the wind.

The sea swallowed them whole until only silence remained, then sounds of someone climbing the side of the ship was heard by them.

Becca leaned over the other side to see Xior climbing up, he pushed once more and jumped onto the deck of the ship.

Meeka lowered her hands and the glow dimmed leaving her face pale and trembling in fear. She swayed with uneven breath. “It will return,” she said, her voice steady despite her exhaustion.

“This was no mere haunting. The sea itself is alive on this floor and it will test us again.”

The ship moved violently, a deep vibration ran through its timbers. The cups inside rattled and the weapons clattered to the deck.

The air thickened with salt and brine, the scent was sharp enough to sting.

The waves began to rise, slowly at first but then violently, huge walls of water towering higher and higher until the ship looked like a toy in front of it.

Xior braced himself at the railing with his gauntlet ready. The ocean itself trembled, then with a roar that split the night a huge shadow broke through the surface of the water.

Its body stretched beyond sight, its scales glistening like blackened steel and ridged with barnacles the size of boulders.

Its fins cut through the sea like cliffs and its mouth was wide enough to swallow a dozen ships like theirs, whole.

Its one eye froze them, it was a single orb as vast as the red moon in the sky. It stared at them directly, blue fire burned within and it had a gaze that put pressure on each soul on the deck.

The ship tilted dangerously as waves surged outwards. Meeka’s face was pale as she saw the colossal figure in front of her. “The Leviathan, lord of the seas and the…god of the mermen.”

The creature loomed higher as its presences blotted the stars. Xior did not flinch upon seeing the Leviathan.

His gaze locked directly with the Leviathan’s, the gauntlet on his hand sparked a fire faintly. For a long, terrible moment no one breathed. Then the Leviathan’s eye blinked as the motion sent shockwaves across the sea.

*****

The sea was still, it was silent because of the gaze of a god. The Leviathan’s eye filled the horizon, an endless pupil of abyssal blue fire, staring into them with the weight of the whole ocean.

“You who trespass…prove yourself or by swallowed whole and fall to the bottom of the ocean.”

The words reverberated like a pressure in their chests, their bones groaned. The tone was commanding and it felt as if they would be torn apart just by the voice but they all felt it, the voice was mourning.

Becca tightened her grip on her sword and grinded her teeth. “A god of the sea that mourns?” She questioned Meeka.

Meeka lowered her gaze her voice barely audible. “The Leviathan has seen countless challenges, countless deaths. Its sorrow is the ocean itself.”

The Leviathan’s eye narrowed, and the ship rocked with the weight of its intent.

“Seek my tears. The gems of sorrow born of eternal tides carry passage to land within them, fail and the sea will claim you. I look forward to see what the challengers of this time will do. You have a Nameless among you, you might as well clear this.”

The deck shuddered as a whirlpool opened beneath them. Water rose like a column and wrapped around each of them in tendrils. Xior reached for his weapon but it was useless, the sea itself had chosen.

“Hold on!” Alice shouted, but the cry was devoured by the vortex. The world twisted as salt filled their mouths and pressure pressed against their lungs as the light of the surface was torn away.

When they awoke there was no sky, a dim blue glow through the walls cast the place in eerie shadows. They stood in a flooded corridor of stone, its archways carved with runes.

Barnacles clung to the walls. Beatrice jolted awake and clutched her head. “It’s alive.”

The others looked at her but she was she right. The walls pulsed lightly, like veins beneath skin. The labyrinth was alive.

Meeka’s holy light flickered softly, her presence alone casting a warmth against the chill. “The Leviathan’s tears lie hidden in this made. Without them, we cannot leave. Let’s go.” She said as she stepped forward.

Xior adjusted his gauntlet and stretched his arms, Becca flexed her sword and Alice leaned on her spear. Beatrice covered her body with tentacles like always. The air was thick and muffled but it wouldn’t be able to hold them back.

In the past couple of days they had been through too much, something like this was nothing to them at this point.

“Then let’s move, before this places swallows us whole and get cursed to die at the bottom of the ocean.” Xior said and started walking forward.

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