They had failed the nest father was waking up, and he was in a mighty state of rage. The Yuda patrons glanced around them, a veil of rage covering their savage yellow eyes. The creatures roared a battle cry as they lunged forward, biting scratching and constricting on all that they could get their fangs on.

The winning sea kings could not help but begin to retreat, their original number almost halved by the savage counter attack.

'Rally!' Tiamat screeched out as he dove forwards, his sharp fangs tearing into the exposed torso of a snake that had just risen to its full height. The Yuda screeched but did not move, only rising higher.

With a final glower of pure red hot rage the creature plunged down, smas.h.i.+ng against the water with all the force of a falling wars.h.i.+p. The water gushed all around as the sea kings were pushed back, they yowled and screeched but still held on, a gritty gleam in their eyes as the glared down at the coming onslaught.

Tiamat knew, if it wasn't for his presence the sea kings would have fled, they were creatures with hardly any sense of camaraderie after all, they would just as easily abandon another of their race if it meant their continued survival.

True most of the older and wiser of the race could put aside differences and work towards something, but, the younglings could not. He could see it, the ones at his side visibly trembling as their instincts seemed to fight to gain control over them. They wanted to flee, they would have fled, but Tiamat was there and so their fate was sealed.

The sea kings were a race that was often misjudged for their level of intelligence, their savagery and of course their overall anatomy. It was believed that though the creatures came in different shapes and figures, there was something that still unified them as a race, Tiamat was an example of such an a.s.sumptions challenge.

He was an infernal born to grow to one day become the strongest beneath the surface of the sea.

With a shout that roared with defiance he shot forward, no longer caring for the state of those that wished to flee, he shot off the crest of a ma.s.sive wave that had formed as the water of the earlier Yuda fall returned from the side of the jagged mountain that surrounded their isolated battle ground.

His eyes glazed forward as his blood burned, the air split crisply to the sides as he landed on the face of the Yuda. The huge serpent swayed back, surprise in its eyes. With the opening that that had brought Tiamat sunk his teeth into the Yuda's eyes.

With a spurt of blood the creature roared, with a fountain of blood the creature fell, and with the satisfying taste of brain matter Tiamat screeched.

He would do it! He would win this conflict, return to the infernal court and boldly say, that the threat to the younglings was no more.

Unfortunately for him however, his would bear witness to two scenes that would strike fear into even his reptilian heart. His cold blood would freeze and he would enter h.e.l.l…

The skies around him darkened as he made out the inside of a Yuda's maw, he squealed to the side plunging into the sea and hiding under the ma.s.sive dead creature's floating carca.s.s. The Yuda above seemed not to care as it took a ma.s.sive bite.

With blood, bone and taut muscle fibers it grinned.

Then the world shuddered and clouds descended into the cloudless sky. The pink that existed in the atmosphere wafted higher, a putrid red taking its place. And as Tiamat glanced on, the island that stood at the very center of the mountain crumbled to the side, a monstrous eye glaring down at them…

*******

I couldn't help but gulp as I glared at the body of the monster that had just awoken. I could feel a primeval terror seep into my bones as I craned by head upwards. The part of the crew that was still in the fragrant temple panting behind me as a flabergasted glance was shot towards the crumbling temple.

Luckily the group had managed to get out relatively unscathed, with the only known casualty being a particular psychopath that had made life difficult for the currently shocked and semi naked high priestess.

The temple lay now in ruins, our ears still ringing with the cacophony that had accompanied the fall of the huge building . A stream of red could be seen evasively flowing through the fallen debris, a collection of mutilated limbs all around.

Those were the priests that had still remained inside the building. Terrick had made no plans to save them, and even looked on impa.s.sively at the fallen men and women. The only real emotion on his face was the traces of fear that followed the appearance of the ma.s.sive signs of old and broken dull looking scales.

The creature hadn't actually surfaced, only signs of its presence had already mowed the tallest and most important building in the entire island.

A low growl came from the wreckage as pinkish water began to appear from under the broken debris. The foundation of the building had come clean off, the only thing on the island that protected it from being flooded had been torn down and the pinkish red water that appeared moved snail-like to submerge the entire structure.

With a final bellow a angular head could be seen finally appearing in our gaze. A towering head that seemed to glower down at us from the heavens itself.

Red eyes lazily moved from left to right as a forked tongue the size of a two storied house flicked out from the gargantuan head.

The eye moved right, a hungry gaze at a portion of the island. It gazed blearily at the houses before slowly moving left. Again all it could see was buildings.

It slowly craned its head backwards as it sought to get a clear image of all that surrounded it. True it had not moved forward, but every sway of its head sent tremors through the island. The cobblestone cracked and the land inclined upwards.

The creature flared open its nostrils as it greedily sucked in the pink air that surrounded its only visible body part. A storm of pinkish fog plunged into it, a spiral forming at the opening.

With another flick of its tongue it slowly turned its head, the high priestess beside me flinched as the eye settled on her, no longer was there any intelligence in that gaze. It was merely the glance of a predator.

Slowly the creature began to move, slithering through the air it moved towards us. The earth around us seemed to cave as a ma.s.sive earthquake shook the island.

Its mouth opened and a jagged pathway the size of a marine battles.h.i.+p opened out. The fangs dripped with a red liquid and steamed as it came in contact with the air. The fang on the right seemed chipped while the right one stood oddly curved backwards.

An overpowered stench a.s.saulted us as we fell to the floor, the shaking ground proving too much for us to handle.

Terrick looked pale while Fawkes silently swore at his shaking legs. They were terrified, and they weren't the only ones.

I gulped slightly as I scampered to my feet . With a deep breath I looked around me. "Get up! Now! That thing can barely move, the only movement will be from that long a.s.s neck that it has, let's leave before it decides to lose some weight!" I roared in a soft voice as I clasped at Fawkes arm.

He was still, fear clear in his eyes. The earth still shook but I had gotten quite used to it. I looked down at him seriously before smacking him on the cheek.

"No time for panic attacks! UP now, cry about it later!" I snapped, satisfied at the light that finally returned to his eyes.

The Yuda took us all in, an odd gleam of savagery came into its glance as its tongue flitted through. The groan in the very beginning being the only noise that it had made.

It looked at us and flicked its tongue out. Then with a sound that I could swear probably reached into the grand line, it roared.

The results were immediate, the tiles plucked off as it revealed the what lie under it. The high priestess fainted, the noise and the curveb.a.l.l.s that reality that life threw at her proving too much.

Terrick looked on dumbfounded. The roar had shocked his system more than it could handle, the same could be said to everyone in this troupe, save for me and Fawkes. The man had gotten to his feet and resolutely plugged his ears. Double layering the armament Haki on his finger tips and on the surface of his eardrums.

Still he had barely made it through. I on the other hand had decided to dispose of my ears, bringing my fingers and plunging it into the soft organ. It would only be a hindrance in this encounter and I could heal it later.

I looked over at him clearly before dragging Terrick and Angella, the girl that accompanied him with the high priestess and Rein on Fawkes' shoulders, then, we ran.

We didn't look back, but if the maddened vibrations that I felt along with the mad tingling of my Haki was anything to go by, the serpent was hot on out tail.

Buildings stood overturned and the roar of fangs shot through the air. The world around Fawkes turned murky as he tried to cope with the sound. Throughout this entire situation he had been forced to come face to face with styles of fighting and scenarios that he was uncomfortable with and he was beginning to become fed up of his performance.

In a futile effort to block out the noise he roared too, his legs buckling under the weight and the uneven ground.

The creature fumed as it chased after its prey. Its eyes glared on eerily as it stopped, the tail that had spent close to a century curled up would require more coaxing to move. It shot into the sky, raising to its highest position before letting off another roar.

It screeched loudly hoping for the flies that zoomed in front of it to slow down.

With a venomous glare it bore its fangs at their retreating forms before spitting at them. A projectile shot at us, singeing the very air it made contact with as it fell towards us.

I locked eyes with Fawkes, the fear had begin to make a comeback.

With a nod we diverged, running into narrower pathways to flee the flowing poison. The scales underneath the road where we had been running revealed itself, gleaming as if it had been given a polish.

I could not help but curse as I looked on. This had been a disaster, a solid thirteen on the f.u.c.king Richter scale.

"f.u.c.king huge snake can't keep it in its mouth.." I muttered out, though I could not hear still making out the words with the way that my mouth began to move.

The creature followed us with its eyes hungrily still at its highest point. It curled in on itself as it bore its fangs again, just the movement of its body making a storm come to life.

The air blew as the creature roared. The land shook as the creature roared. And the island came to life…..as the creature roared.