A huge wave of water rumbled to the sides of the circular island, silhouettes of ma.s.sive feral creatures could be seen on the shadows of the mountainous outcrop that surrounded the fragrant island. The cacophony of loud cries deafened him as a host of soldiers rushed past carrying men on stretchers, their mounts not being as lucky.

The front wave swimmers had been neutralized almost too easily, it was surreal!

Next to him the squad leader took a deep breath, gasping at the weakness that she had suddenly been forced to acknowledge. The foe before them was too violent, brutal and savage. The air itself seemed to vibrate with the wrath of the wave of sea kings, alone their bloodl.u.s.t was already palpable, together it was an overwhelming momentum that proved to the islanders why the creatures were called sea royalty.

The morale of the men on the island had taken such a ma.s.sive hit, and the two groups hadn't even met in open combat yet!

(A/N before you start trying to chew me out, this isnt because of some strength that the main character has, I am merely trying to look through the eyes someone that has never faced something being forced to feel the suffocating pressure all of a sudden in a ma.s.sive scale. Think Rome vs elephants. )

Bruma sighed before turning around to look at the keen eyes of the information executive on the front lines. He was the one in charge of reporting the entirety of the situation on the front lines to prevent the control room from being too swamped to deal with the scattered reports from each unit.

"Wing advisor Bruma, orders from head quarters are ordering you to a.s.sume position as the temporary head of the Left wing, effective immediately! We're glad to have you on board sir!" He said as he looked over at the squad leader beside Bruma with well hidden curiosity.

Bruma nodded quickly. " Summarize the situation for me soldier! Since my role as advisor was subst.i.tuted with the leading post, I am lead to believe that my predecessor is currently incapacitated for some reason.

I want your briefing to give precedence to the information provided by recon, the state of the soldiers and the conditional reports of the one that engaged that," he motioned harshly to the lazily advancing enemy. "In that order. I also want to be given a direct line to all the Brigand leaders under my supervision." He said walking briskly to the outpost of the left wing.

The man quickly nodded before hurrying over to the information tent, no doubt to summon the various men and to compile all the information that he had revealed.

Bruma glared darkly at the coming storm, 'What do these creatures want at this time? This is the most organized I have seen them, arent they just dumb beasts?!'

Alva looked concernedly at the men and women around her, quickly getting Bruma's attention and requesting to be dismissed, she had to return to her own squad.

With a swift nod Bruma parted ways with the brown skinned women. Pinching the bridge of his nose he tried to calm down. He had forgotten the pressure of the seat of command, now he could almost feel the mountain like presence that the sea king's emitted. They weren't something a single ordinary man could beat.

As the door to the outpost opened, the heaving informant walked in. Bruma looked at him sharply waiting impatiently for the information that the man would provide to him.

"Left wing leader, Most soldiers are fine save for those that had been placed at the gateway in from the hollow mountain and a small elite unit of swimmers that previous left wing leader Ifrit had led to gain a preliminary understanding of the situation.

He returned hurt, while the entire unit suffered light but incapacitating damage. The Yuda mounts on the other hand were ripped apart with extreme prejudice. None survived, I am afraid to say.

No information has been pervade from the gate guard save for the tolling of the warning knell. Most of the soldiers on land are either too shaken up by the attack or filled with a sense of bravado that would prove damaging if they were deployed. Only a select few squadron leaders and all the brigand leaders are truly serious of the coming events.

The morale of the armed forces are at an all time low with conflict rising between some of the lower units in favor of a destructive 'compet.i.tion' that seriously undermines the overall cohesion of the wing.

Right Wing leader Rapunga has chosen to reinforce the rear guard and promises to provide forces to reinforce the mid guard as well.

Secondly with regard to recon, though it was placed on a higher state of importance, I believe that it ties closely to the summarized situation, particularly of the swimmers. "

Bruma nodded in understanding motioning for the man to hurry.

"The enemy seems to comprise solely of sea kings with a single exception being the man that leads them." here Bruma could not help but interrupt.

"Soldier are you trying to make me believe that these savage beasts are answering to someone, let alone that that someone is a human?!" He asked, a sinking feeling a.s.sailed his gut when he nodded.

"A Human he may be, but as per the information that Ifrit provided, he was a monster all on his own, singlehandedly dealing with the entire human aspect of the unit all on his own. Luckily however no one save for the gate guard have lost their lives, and even with the latter no conformation has been provided.

The a.s.sailing wave comprises of close to two dozen strong, with no confirmation of whether that is the full strength of the force.

The man that lead that force seems to hold no specific power of the devil, though it is unknown whether he has displayed his entire strength. An alternative can be drawn that his hold on the sea kings being that form of power.

The individual fighting capabilities of the sea kings seem to fall somewhere between that of a lower Yuda and a Yuda patron. A group of these creatures could deal with a singular patron though it is only a speculation at this point." The man concluded his report and huffed.

Bruma pursed the bottom of his lip as he made up his mind. "The line to the Brigand leaders?"

"here" With that two snails were brought out, one a dirty brown and another a mottled green.

Instantly Bruma pulled the two small communication devices from the man's hand, "You both were able to hear in on the report, thoughts?"

**************

In the fragrant temple five people looked at each other from their cuffs. After the head priestess had addressed the group of priests, all of them had immediately left the room. However those that had been tied to the walls still remained tied to the walls and they were growing anxious.

Angella groaned slightly as she pulled against the cuffs. She did not much like the metallic constraints on her wrists and she had made it expressly clear in her word choice.

Suddenly the sound of a door being opened sounded out as two heads looked into the room, with a quick sweep the duo entered, soundlessly closing the door behind them.

Terrick immediately motioned to his mouth asking his crew to remain silent. The group obliged.

With a quick rummage through the satchel on his waist he pulled out a bent hairpin, with a small jimmy into the lock in the walls Scipio was free. The priests of the island had obviously never thought that anyone would set the captives free, the lock that was used was too primitive!

Terrick walked quickly to the rest of the group, freeing them.

As the group made their way to the center of the room, Fawkes motioned around them. "Where is this? The last thing I remember is falling onto the moldy deck of the s.h.i.+p, now I'm here?"

Sorren nodded strongly folding his hands on his chest and pouting.

"I'll keep it short. You all were kidnapped and brought to this island to be made sacrifices. I infiltrated the island making friends with a sea king in the process and attempted to rescue you. Met a slightly demented girl who gave me the idea to play off as a priest, which surprisingly worked and here we are!"

Fawkes stared at him mind boggled as Rein kneeled down holding his head and soundlessly weeping. The whole ordeal had obviously been too much for the red head.

Immediately however Angella recovered, "What's the plan then?"

" The soldiers around the place have all pretty much left, so the last thing that we need to be worried about is running into them! That being said however, with our luck it wouldn't be too surprising if things went south, so here's the plan.

All of us will split up into three groups of two with Rein going along with Fawkes. We'll follow these routes," here he pulled out a map from the pack, letting a collection of grey and black robes fall off the top.

The blueprint that he had had been pick pocketed off of Tyr, and head markings that ran through the spine of the building to the refinery. Terrick planned for them to leave the same way that he had come in!

"These robes complete the disguise! I ripped them off a few priests that I stowed away carefully and should make most people ignore you. If you do meet someone inquisitive, just say that you were recruited by either an old coot called Tyr or an old women called Balogna. They should buy that. If asked where you're going say you're going to find yourself some elixir.

If they still nag you knock them out." With a nod at all of them, he quickly grabbed onto Angella and Breta and walked briskly out of the room, the former caught pulling on the robe over her regular clothes.

The frothing pool at the center of the room made him uneasy, he didn't want to have to stay in that room more than he absolutely had to. Immediately behind him he could feel as his comrades too exited.

" We need to redirect ourselves to the head priestess' place. She has a potion that we need…" Terrick muttered leading the silent Angella on the route that he had charted out.

Back in the room however, the frothing pool rumbled. The frothing began to intensify as the fishy smell of slime and age began to run rampant in the room. In the very center the water began to part as a red light s.h.i.+ned outward. It was an eye…