Leviathan

The Queen of the hoary deep

Thus, it was in direct contrast to their first sighting of the subtly camouflaged Kraken, that they could hardly miss the terrible beauty of what was uncoiling around them… All seven of them gasped in absolute shock and drew in a collective, sharp intake of air.

‘Snake, basilisk, serpent… No wait, Leviathan.” This amazing realisation made Jake’s head spin, as he gazed in awe at what he was witnessing… Endless, writhing, serpentine coils had the hypnotic effect of rooting them all to the spot, as they wove around the small group in an ever-tightening snare. The head of the serpent was as yet hidden, but its tail, or truncated, tubular body, stretched, turned and insinuated itself throughout the chamber. A chamber which they gradually realised, must be at least as high and as wide as a thousand-foot subterranean hill.

At first, Jake guessed that this might all be just a mirrored circus illusion, with reflected images coming from the vast array of gems, but these formations clearly emitted their own light, and as such, he realised that the serpent must be at least a mile in length… They were wrong in assuming that the Kraken ruled over the Endless Sea and its great, hoary depths. For here before them was the ultimate throne room… One which befitted a queen as great as the legendary Leviathan herself…

Already there would be no retreat, as the ten-foot-wide coils adroitly sealed their only exit.

“Let us all enter in into a dark monster-filled cave… Great idea Jake,” Kaylea muttered sarcastically, but the others ignored her as they gazed spellbound at the mesmerising display presented to them by the ultimate hypnotist… Indeed, if one is about to die, then it is almost an honour to be killed by the vision they were treated to… Against the perfect backdrop of a gemstone cavern, Leviathan showed off the exquisite beauty of her multicoloured scales, as they slid in intricate patterns around the many gem formations…  There was an ever shifting, shimmering myriad of shades and colours, and Jake was reminded of the iridescent rainbow of colours he’d seen reflected off an oil slick… It was the most beautiful and dazzling experience of their lives and made for the ultimate irony, as they all prepared to die…

“Don’t look into her eyes,” Jake cautioned, as he struggled to disentangle Nightmare from his mantle. The others were also drawing their weapons, and Bella already held Shusher, or Evlaveia, or Devotion, in her hands. It hummed and vibrated with added impetus and increasing menace – as it sensed that it now faced an enemy, whose powers far exceeded his own…

Trivayne was the first to lunge forward boldly and attempt to cleave through the adamantine scales with his bastard sword… But his sword made no impression, or even a dint, as it merely bounced off the typhon-like dragon…

“Kill!” Bella ordered, pointing her rod at one of the coils in desperation, but Shusher responded by simply muting itself in protest… “Blast!”  She tried again, but the now undevoted rod had sullenly ceased to vibrate…

“Bella, it is Leviathan. Immortal and impervious to humanoid weapons,” Jake cautioned, reaching out and lowering her arm. “Only God can slay it…”

“How do you know this?” she asked incredulously.

“I’m not sure…” he shook his head in confusion, “It’s mentioned in the Bible I think… Look, maybe you can use that thing to teleport us out of here…’

Bella turned to him in amazement, “And how do you propose I do that?” She may be powerful, but she had a great deal to still learn about being a mage… or Magic Maker…

Jake had some inkling, however, of what she should try, as he brought to mind his recent conversation with Lazon about how to travel between portals or stargates.

‘Recent? More like a lifetime ago, it seems,’ he thought to himself, before moving closer to his sister, “Try to picture an exact location, like the entrance to this cave for example, and maybe Shusher will be able to encapsulate us in a bubble, and bend time and space for us…”

“Are you being serious right now? Why I don’t I just picture a breakfast buffet at a luxury resort…” she piled on the sarcasm, but was then swept back, along with Jake and the others against the cave-wall by an irresistible force, as Leviathan rose her head to regard them…

Her head itself was the size of a whale… So enormous it was that took a while for the entirety of it to slowly, yet inexorably rise out of it now waiting coils… A typical dragon’s head, with whiskers and horned protrudences fanning out at all angles; as well as proportional rows of teeth in massive, gaping, muscular jaws. Slightly curved, pointed teeth, which matched some of the surrounding mineral and crystal formations in length, but which now shone with a polished, glistening white brightness. But it was the enormous, glistening gold, teardrop eyes, more than the teeth, which held them captive and trembling in terror… It’s, narrow, black-crescent-pupils, contracted sharply as Leviathan brought them into focus and regarded them with such an ancient malevolent power, that they found themselves subjected to an unbreakable – paralysing spell…  

“What creaturesss are you?” she hissed with a tone resembling the sound of a thousand distant, stringent female whispers… No one could find it within themselves to answer her, and so she came to her own conclusions, as a section of her tail pressed them firmly against the back wall… “Peoplesss of the dry lands have banded together it would ssseem… And now dare to ssslip ssso boldly into my domain… Would that He had not created you to be ssso tiny… Barely sssufficient for a meal…”

She stretched her head forward sedately until the tips of her ten-feet long teeth were mere inches from their faces, as though she was now about to leisurely nibble at their exposed heads. Between the crush of the diamond-hard scales and the hard rock behind them, they felt their ribs creaking and preparing to crack like a pile of dried kindling…

“Shield bubble and eject!” Bella’s terrified little voice squeaked, as she tried desperately now to pay heed to her brother’s advice…  He turned to her in amazement… ‘How did she find the courage to even utter a sound?’  he wondered, as all of a sudden, they were popped out of the dragons clutch like a cork out a champagne bottle…