An Adventurer's Voyage IV

## An Adventurer's Voyage

"An Adventurer's Voyage" is a fictional adventure written by a novelist born in Umbraton. It tells the story of a young man who sets out to sea with his kingdom's navy, encountering all manner of monsters and mysteries, eventually finding a legendary treasure and defending his kingdom from a monster from the depths. There are many chapters in the story, but only the following are left in the first volume.

## Introduction

The kingdom's heroes look for a way to strike down the colossal beast, which has arisen from the depths of the sea. "The Monster of the Deep," the sixth chapter of the tale, tells the story of Colin the Brave and his comrades as they arrive on the island where the final piece of the treasure is hidden. It is here that the monster of the deep finally reveals its true form to the warriors...

## Volume IV: The Monster of the Deep (VI)

Suddenly, a massive tentacle rose from the water, creeping up along the side of the Argo. The entire ship began to tilt, and the crew was frozen in place by their fear. Only Colin the Brave moved, he raised an axe above his head and swung it deep into the encroaching tentacle. The warrior, stirred into action by Colin's bravery once more, drew his dagger and plunged it into the tentacle. The two hacked away at it until it was severed clean from the beast.

The crew frantically raised the sails, wanting to return to land, but the seas began to churn violently. At first, the crew thought it was a large chunk of a coral reef that had floated to the surface, but as it continued to rise out of the water, the crew realized it was the gnarled flesh of some gargantuan monster. To the relief of the crew, it stopped rising from the depths, unnaturally still.

Colin the Brave felt dizzy, unconsciously recalling the huge monster sculpted on the remains of that stone gate to the kingdom under the sea. What he did not know, was that this beast had a name that could only be found in ancient sea charts: Havga.

After tossing this way and that on the water, the ancient vessel Argo finally made it to shore. The crew jumped down and decided to climb up the cliff that ran along the edge of the beach.

Halfway up the cliff, one of the men heard Colin muttering under his breath.

"There are two monsters of the deep..." he heard him say.

The warrior, always concerned for Colin but impatient nonetheless, grabbed him and asked, "What was that you said?"

"A monster that can attack ten ships all at once... This new, black creature fits the description much more, don't you think?" Colin was not looking at the warrior, but gazing into the distance, as if in a dream.

"Two monsters, you say?" The crew was incredulous, but after thinking about it for a moment, they realized it was entirely possible. The first monster they encountered had grayish-white tentacles, same as the tentacle that had just grabbed hold of the Argo. The new monster rose from the sea, however, was jet black...

"Were the rumors wrong? Is this not the Kraken?" The warrior bantered among himself for a long time before concluding the discussion.

"Have you men ever seen a creature of the sea called an 'octopus'?" asked Colin, seemingly back to his senses.

"No, what is it?" asked one of the men.

"I hear it's no fish, but a demon that possesses the evil eye!" replied another.

"I've heard rumors about it, they say it's a clever and deceptive creature," chimed in a third man.

"That's right. My father caught one before, but it escaped... And that grayish-white monster closely resembles an octopus." Colin said. "But no octopus is huge enough to make a fleet of ships or an entire island disappear overnight," he added.

Sure enough, the jet-black monster gradually rising out of the ocean was much bigger than any octopus. As the froth and the waves surrounded it grew larger and more violent, the form of a small mountain appeared out of the water. It seemed to have lost most of the vegetation that once grew on it, only bare stone was exposed to the air.

Only after the crew reached the top of the cliff and looked down upon the water did they realize the true scope of the monster of the deep. The small mountain they saw earlier had completely surfaced along with a large, black tentacle. With one massive sweep, the tentacle sent a surge of water crashing into the island's forest below, along with the Argo.

With their ship stuck between the now-submerged trees, the men began to lose hope. "It's impossible... How could we ever defeat a monster such as this?" Terror began to grip the hearts of the kingdom's bravest heroes.

"The ancient ship Argo, and the Golden Eye... According to our treasure map, all we're missing is the Deep-sea Trident. So long as we find it, we have a chance to defeat these monsters of the sea!" proclaimed Colin the Brave.