Beseech the Unwavering Tides

An armored knight burst open the door. “Breach!” he screamed. “The Eldran has breached the barrier!”

“What?!” An old captain hurriedly stood up from his seat. “That’s impossible! They can’t possibly have destroyed the divine shields!”

A muffled explosion confirmed their worst fears. The old captain and the knight hurriedly rushed outside.

There, out in the distant horizon, was a wave of dark purple mold rapidly encroaching upon the land.

Grass immediately withered away as if stepped on by an invisible force, trees began to hiss and bend, and the wildlife began to mutate.

Mammals crumpled and grew massive limbs, insects grew rapidly in size, and birds began to sing a deafening war cry loud enough to reach the old captain’s and the knight’s ears from miles away.

“Oh gods above,” the captain whispered, color draining from his horror-stricken face. “Please save our souls.”

“Wh-What do we do?!” asked the knight.

The captain gripped his hands and took a quick breath. “Evacuate everyone,” he said. “Immediately.”

“I-I beg your pardon?” The knight surveyed the grand scenery of the city space and looked back at the captain. “Everyone? The entire city?”

“The entire city!” The old captain spun around and stepped back inside. “Summon all the warriors we have left and have them barricade with everything they have at the breached locations and hold them out. We must buy as much time as we can!”

“B-But where are we supposed to evacuate everyone to?! There’s barely any safe land left! The capital city has already fallen, the king is dead, and the infection has already claimed most of this continent!”

He cursed under his breath and slammed a fist against the wooden table, knocking over some cups. Head hung low, he stared down at a map riddled with red X marks. “I don’t know! Just… just evacuate to wherever the mold hasn’t spread to!”

“That’s… that would be…” The knight also looked down at the map. More specifically, he stared at the remaining area of land without any marks. “That… cursed island… Isn’t that where a lot of adventurers died?”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures!” The old captain slammed a hand on the map, right on the island. “We’ll have better chances of surviving there than here. Start evacuating now!”

“Yes, sir!” The knight bolted away, bumping shoulders against a tall humanoid with a head of a lizard along the way.

“Ah, I knew it,” the red-scaled lizardman muttered, sighing and scratching his head. “It’s over. We’ve lost, haven’t we?”

The captain flinched and glanced over his shoulders. “Lord Aestus? Since when were you here?” he asked.

“Just now.” Aestus stepped closer to the map and narrowed his amber slit eyes. “Empress Ophea’s Final Resting Place, huh? Honestly, I think I’d rather get ingested alive in her veins than by those abominations.”

The captain tossed a disapproving glare and shook his head. “That is if she hasn’t been corrupted by the Eldran herself.”

“Hm.” Aestus scratched his chin. “I doubt it. If she truly did, we would’ve already been eradicated by now.”

“Then is she already dead?”

“I don’t think so either. The surrounding coral reefs still have her veins entangled among many of its polyps.”

The captain raised a brow. “How do you know that?”

“I’ve been keeping a keen eye on the spread of the Eldran as well, you know.” The lizardman tapped a pointy finger at the red marks near the island. “These shores have been claimed by the Eldran for months already, and some aquatic wildlife have also been found washed ashore covered in its mold. And yet, the coral reefs surrounding Empress Ophea’s den remain untouched. Don’t you ever wonder why that is the case?”

“What are you trying to say?” The captain flinched at another distant explosion. “Look, we do not have time for idle chatter. Save it after we deal with this breach—”

“My friend, I may not act like it now, but I’m just as impatient and desperate as you are. I’ve been doing research on this island for quite some time already, long enough to craft a theory only a madman would make.”

“And is this theory worth our time discussing it right now?”

“Yes, right now.” Aestus pulled out a worn leather book from his sleeve and tossed it onto the table. “I’ll make it brief: The Primitive Sea Monarch can not only resist the Eldran but can actively repel it.”

The captain blinked. “What?”

He opened the book’s contents with some underlined paragraphs. “And believe it or not, I have found reliable sources proving her assistance to humans at some rare points in history. Now I may sound insane, but what if… there’s a slight chance that we can convince her to fight alongside us?”

The captain stared at the lizardman, slackjawed, before dryly chuckling and shaking his head. “You’ve finally gone mad. We truly are doomed.”

“Hey, I am still very much sane. In fact, I’ll wager with everything I have on this miracle that we can get her help.”

The captain facepalmed and walked away.

Aestus slammed on the table. “Listen to me! Empress Ophea can, without a doubt, turn the tides of this war! Maybe even literally!”

“Are you even hearing yourself?! The Empress Ophea, The Primitive Sea Monarch? The same enormous beast that swallowed continents?! That’s who you want to recruit?!”

“Yes,” he answered confidently. “I already have found a team who will join me. I was actually planning to tell you tonight, but…” He glanced at the broken shield at the distant horizon. “It seems my journey may have to start earlier than scheduled.”

“I can’t believe you. You’ll perish before you can even get close—!”

Another explosion interrupted the captain. He grunted and stood up. “Enough. I don’t have time to argue with you any longer. If you’re that confident, I expect you to return with good results.”

He promptly walked away. “And if this is our final meeting…” He glanced over his shoulders. “...I’ll see you on the other side."

“Of course.” Aestus retrieved the book, stuffed it back into his sleeve, and turned around. “May we both survive for another drink together, friend.”

With that said, the two rushed in opposite directions, one toward the monsters from the stars, and the other toward the monarch from the depths.