Loph

From the Journal of the L'na Dawn, Cetacious...

I am Cetacious, my people are the L'na, many of us are among you now since our worlds converged and I make my home here, in the warm waters near Battered Wreck it is a dangerous place. I am no teller of tales, but a protector, a guardian of the deeps and those that call the surface home. It is the way I have chosen. In order to fulfill that duty I must spin a tale, one that many will not find credible. But one that must be told, for the evil that dwells in the deeps is rising and the surface must be made aware.

I was out seeking a fishing skiff that had not returned with the evening tides. Now, a lone vessel in the vastness of the ocean is not any easy thing to find, but I knew her captain. A good man that fished a particular area of water I knew well. I found the remains of the vessel that morning, the red sun setting the waters a blaze with the blood that had been spilt. For blood had been in the water, among the wreckage of the skiff. The men that had been her crew were not to be seen, but the numerous sharks, long, sleek and deadly told their fate readily enough. With a mental command to their primitive brains I sent them on the scent trail of blood that did not exist.

The flotsam that had been the long, low, fishing boat was not what I expected; I maneuvered past the canvas sails that billowed in the water as if caught by a ghost wind. The hull had been scuttled from within, her belly busted outward, the boat had settled to the gunnels, her masts finally keeling her over. The deck, tilted beneath the surface, was unscathed. I unconsciously surfaced, blowing air and refilling my lungs. I hovered there, my flippers only moving me minutely to keep my head above water. I contemplated the possibility of pirates, but the nets floated among the barrels and crates. Old Captain Ron had nothing of value but the very boat that bobbed before me. The pirates that sailed the gulf would kill and toss the crew overboard, but they would not have sunk the boat.

Then the reason for the attack came streaking at me! It had been there the whole time watching me, putting the boat and sails between us, using the objects to break up the currents of its movement. I did not notice it till it was upon me in a flash of whipping limbs and green flesh.

Human-like spindly, arms with spiky growths, ending in webbed talons reached for me. A head, similar to that of a lantern fish, complete with a phosphorescent appendage protruding from its crown snapped in with long, flesh ripping stiletto teeth! Its body was eel-like in its sinuousness, its flat rudder of a tail thrashed; frothing the sea.

I pushed myself back and down, the creature flew over me and almost folded in back on it self to come in again, all the while I was being assaulted mentally by almost physical blows of rage and unending hunger. My own abilities, gifts of my home world, made me strong of will and mind, almost immediately putting up defenses like stone bulwarks against the pounding. My forelimbs easily deflected the mad swipes of the monster's claws. I bashed my nose into the things chest; an attack that has had strong effect against sharks that could not be persuaded to turn aside. It convulsed slightly, its gill slits fluttering with bubbles, which made me think that it had rudimentary lungs as well.

I pressed my momentary advantage lashing in with my own talons, but the creature was like water and seemed to flow past my attack. I felt a sting rip along my ribs as it managed to score first blood. The thing kept up the mental attack of blood and gore. I sent my own mental assault back, trying to override its power with my own, thinking to turn it aside, or weaken it for me to finish the fight. I almost heard laughter from the creature as my attacks found no purchase within its mind.

"What are you that you think you can face me and live?" said a burbling voice in my mind. It was wholly alien and was not the language of the surface dwelling two-legs, but it made me understand its speech.

"I am Cetacious, this is my place to protect, and you have spilled the blood of those I called friends."

"You are as insignificant as the land-walkers, though not as easily controlled."

This exchange occurred as we grappled beneath the waves; we clawed and gnashed our teeth, our blood mingling in the water. My conical teeth, the teeth of a predator ripped its flesh as it drove its own into my shoulder. It was more than the exchange of words; it was an exchange of sights and images; information passing between us as neither would relinquish the mental link.

Through my adversary I learned it called its race Loph, and they were ancient when the world was young, an elder race long forgotten, passed into myth and legend, resurfacing as images of gods, monsters, and mermaids. They wait in their deep cities, titanic coral structures hidden in the Stygian depths. Wait for the proper time to move against the younger races and the Event has given them their opportunity. With the convergence of universes, they have found allies: allies I could not see...

I realized that the loph was forcing me deeper, thinking to drown me, or take me to a depth I could not withstand. Neither was likely to happen. I grappled my foe, keeping its arms pinned, my head beneath its jaws, forcing them shut, as I punched for the surface, my flukes driving us hard toward the light. I aimed us at the floating deitrus that had been Captain Ron's boat. The loph twisted, sending us into a spinning dance, until I had to break my grip, else allow those teeth to close on my flesh once more. I did not see the thick tail until it smashed me out of the water, sending my senses reeling, letting the loph drive deeper into my mind.

It drove hot spikes of agony into my brain, sending me off balance, destroying my defenses. I could blearily see the monster closing in from below. It kept up the attack as one would twist a knife deeper into the flesh. As it closed and I saw my death among those long teeth, I managed to form a solid ball of water with my magic, putting it between us. The loph could not turn, smashing into my spell, careening back, loosing its mental hold on me.

I was weakened and bloody, so was my foe. We were at a standstill, it was a matter of who would bleed out first, or lose their concentration, allowing the other to smash in and turn their psyche to jelly. The loph and I floated about ten meters apart, we could see each other's minds as well as the blood seeping into the water around us; neither wanted to continue the fight, but neither wanted to let it go as a draw. The shark that swam back into the bloody battle-field decided it for my enemy. It was not one of those that I had chased off with a suggestion, this was a massive brute, almost fifteen meters in length, its, razor mouth parted, tasting the water.

The loph could not decide if I had the power to direct the monster fish or not. "You have been warned, Cetacious of the L'na, use the warning well."

With a powerful undulation the loph disappeared into the dark depths. I did not pursue, because I was wounded and I was not sure I had the power to divert the shark if I wanted to.

I managed to avoid the thing as it nosed the wreckage of the boat. I swam away with the images of Ron and his crew destroying their own boat at the loph's silent command. Its brutal attacks upon the men when they hit the water and the fierce joy it felt as it partook in the feeding frenzy of the sharks that had come upon the carnage.

And now I return to you with my tale of these creatures, this threat from a lost epoch. They are rising...and I do not know how we might defeat them.