When two oceans meet

Set in the same world and follows the same characters as: Coureur – A Game of Fate 

They wiggled around happily, crawling on the soft, spongy ground that their current habitat was made of. Quite the heaven to find for the Dracoryphians. A hive-mind colony of worm-like creatures that traversed the space as passengers on whatever they happened to come across. Sometimes it could be a living creature that they’d slowly consume as their colony grows, other times an asteroid full of nutrients, as was the case with their current habitat.

The bio-organic rock tumbled through the vastness of space, with its course set nowhere in particular. The Dracoryphians lived off of that. Any random impact would cause their colony either to migrate to the new host entirely or split the colony with part of it now forming a new colony on a new host. Should the rock impact the surface of a planet, all the better for them, for their colony would conquer the world and settle upon it, consuming life and nutrients of the entire planet until naught but desert was left.

A frightening species that brought forth only devastation and cared only for the survival of their colony. The rock upon which this particular colony found their dwelling was overgrown with fungi, with but a small solid core at the center. Each time a member of the Dracoryphians died, its body would be consumed by the fungus, in turn growing, providing more food for the colony. A well balanced, symbiotic relationship, an ideal condition for the thriving colony.

“Aye captain, but shouldn’t you learn to follow the safety procedures you came up with yourself?”

Spoke Cid, an average height, and above average physique man, in his mid-forties.

“I told you before Cid, this ship is part of me. Every plank that creaks is an ache in my heart.”

Ashlandis grinned at him, leaning off the railing of her dragon-hunting air ship, while holding onto a single piece of rope, looking out at the vastness ahead of them.

The Coureur slowly drifted to the side, departing from the dragon hunter’s air-station that could dock ten dragon hunting vessels and have a reserve dock for emergencies. Wasn’t quite the capital, but such field stations became the new norm in the past years. Cid strapped his safety harness in, attaching it to a rope that hung from above the air dome and leaped up onto the railing himself.

“SIXTY PERCENT! WINDS ARE FAIR!”

He shouted at the helmsman that set the engine power.

“So, a basic patrol?”

Ashlandis glanced at him with a smirk.

“Actually…. I lied.”

“Oh no… what’d you do this time?”

She winked at him.

“Oh we’re just smuggling some feu-wine.”

Cid facepalmed.

“Captain… if the guild catches us…”

He began but she interrupted him

“they’d join in to down a barrel.”

Cid shook his head.

“Such a rascal…”

She grasped onto the rope and pushed herself off the railing, swinging around and landing on a railing to his side.

“Yea yea… we’ll just drop by the Kelira, drop it off, get paid, and be on our way.”

Cid nodded.

“How many?”

He clung to the railing while watching his careless captain casually walking on it, with no safety.

She shrugged.

“Uhhhhbout 5-6 barrels?”

Smuggling illegal substances wasn’t an unusual activity for the dragon hunters, especially during the off season when their primary prey hid and slumbered away, namely – during the autumn. No government patrols would bother the ‘saviors of the lands’ and the ‘local heroes’ who protect civilians from being devastated by the formidable foes of humanity – the dragons. And pirates, well, very few pirates would dare attack a dragon hunting vessel.

At the break of dawn, a tenday past their departure, the city of Kelira showed on the horizon.

“Ohhh, there it is. Cid, prepare the resupply checklist, get an estimate for fuel, food and other supplies that we’ll need.”

Ashlandis spoke softly, sitting at the tip of the bowsprit of her ship.

Cid, leaning against the railing while admiring the dawn, only nodded. But Ashlandis knew her second in command well enough that she needed no confirmation from him, she knew he heard her.

They landed at the Kelira’s port, and the moment Ashlandis’s feet touched the solid ground beneath, she gasped. For in front of her stood an old acquaintance she hardly expected to meet.

“ASHY!”

She exclaimed.

Ashlandis’s eyes darted around, taking in the sight of her old friend.

“Luna??? Here?”

The red haired girl gave her a soft smile.

“Who do you think ordered the fue-wine?”

Ashlandis glanced at her ship for a moment and then let out a light-hearted chuckle.

“Oh… Now it all makes sense, you alcoholic…”

“Oi! I am so not! It’s just good for my tavern, good for biz, you know… rare, illegal, that’s the stuff that sells!”

Ashlandis gave her a slow nod.

“Mhmmm… don’t get in trouble now.”

Luna winked.

“Oh come on, I’m not that stupid…”

Ashlandis nodded.

“Yeah, you’re just clumsy…”

“Where to next?”

Luna inquired, setting down a tray of mugs on the table for Ashlandis and her crew.

“It’s autumn, the dragons are mostly dormant, so we’re patrolling. Gotta pass over the northern ridges, make sure all is calm in the mining villages, then land for another resupply and back to the field base for R&R.”

Luna listened attentively, taking a swig from 1 of the mugs of a random crew member before setting it back down on the table, for the confused hunter to get flustered.

“Less exciting than our last trip together…”

Luna recalled with a grin.

“Oh no… don’t remind me of the hellish chess game. I still get nightmares about it.

Luna chuckled.

“But it got you some nice trinkets that sponsored ship upgrades.”

“True…”

Ashlandis sighed.

“And, no casualties either, well except for my sleep.”

Luna grinned, grabbing another random mug from the table and raising it.

“Here’s to no casualties.”

She toasted.

“And to life as hunters.”

Ashlandis and her crew cheered together, except for the helmsman whose drink was stolen by the tavern owner.

They talked and danced and cheered all night. At the break of dawn the following day, Ashlandis and her crew of the Coureur set out once more, to sail the wind currents of the vast blue ocean, the sky. In the meantime, elsewhere entirely, in the darkness of space, in a whole different ocean, a spongy meteorite got hit by another, fracturing the colony of the Dracoryphians into pieces, since the impact fractured their home into several smaller pieces.

A giant mech with a glowing thermal blade kicked the monstrous creature out of space. Nothing to slow it, and nothing to grasp to, the creature flew toward a planet. The mech readied its blade and engaged its thrusters, dashing after the beast. In the dark of night, the sky lit up. No longer was the blue sky-ocean of the earth separated from the dark ocean of outer space.

A loud explosion shook the village. Like a roar of thunder, but the sky was clear. A kid sat by the window, with a mecha toy in one hand, and a wooden dragonic figure in the other, with his jaw hanging, watching a fireball descend from the skies.

“Woopsie…”

Whispered the kid, glancing down at the figures in his hand.

“Captain?”

Cid prompted Ashlandis who appeared to be daydreaming, swaying in her hammock.

“Mh?”

“The citizens here are troubled by events from a couple of nights ago, asking us to investigate.”

Cid proceeded.

“Oh!? What happened what happened?”

Ashlandis’s interest was piqued, she swung her body around and sat up in her hammock. Above them on the deck, numerous steps could be heard, the crew was restocking the supplies.

“There was an explosion they said, some thought it to be a mine collapse, but some had witnessed a fireball in the sky.”

“Ashlandis’s mind buzzed with assumptions just from those few words.

“Fire dragon, this far north?”

She gasped.

“No, the fireball fell from the skies they said.”

Cid replied calmly.

“Dawhh…”

She slumped back in her hammock.

“Meteorite then? Boring.”

“Well, perhaps…”

Cid proceeded.

“and still, it is our duty to ensure safety of citizens. We should at the very least find the crash site.”

She shrugged.

“It didn’t crash into the mines or the city, it’s fine.”

“Captain…?”

Cid continued.

“Yes Cid?”

Ashlandis replied smugly.

“Did you perhaps forget that space-metal sells well?”

She grinned at him.

“Why didn’t you start with that? Giddy up!”

The hull’s panels trembled and creaked as the Coureur gained altitude to pass over the snowy peaks. Cold winds smashed against the hull, ice formed on the railings and the propeller’s blades.

“Blasted heavens we weren’t prepared for northern expeditions.”

Complained an engineer while hanging off a railing, held by a rope, flaming 1 of the frozen engines that no longer spun.

“Unsure we can cross this safely; we should turn back.”

Ashlandis traced the frosted wooden railing with her hand.

“She’s fine, just shivering a little. Right, old girl?”

She smiled warmly, caressing the battle-scarred railing beneath her fingertips. It had claw marks on it, and a missing chunk, from their encounter with a few newborns. The engine rattled, coughed up a plume of black smoke into the engineer’s face, and roared to life.

“Ca-hou! Aghh! Nice!”

He pulled himself back by the rope and glanced at Ashlandis who seemed sentimental over the damaged railing.

“I told ye we could patch it up…”

She glanced at him and shook her head softly.

“Reik died that night, I won’t ever forget, and neither will she.”

Ashlandis smiled. The ship shuddered under their feet and dipped a little in the turbulence.

“Aye captain.”

The engineer nodded and headed to the subdeck.

The Coureur descended on the other side of the peaks, having crossed the ridge successfully. With decrease in the altitude the winds calmed and the frost began to thaw. Just ahead from a side of a mountain, a pillar of smoke arose.

“There shouldn’t be volcanoes here.”

Ashlandis commented.

“True. Helmsman, course for the smoldering hole.”

“Well that’s definitely new…”

Ashlandis said, peering into her binoculars into the hole in a mountain, at the bottom of which in a pool of smoking stone laid bits and pieces of a foreign object, the meteor they presumed. Shattered into thousands of tiny pieces.

“What is it?”

Asked Cid.

“It’s shattered, as if it wasn’t a solid metal core meteor but something… softer.”

She commented.

“Descend?”

Helmsman inquired behind the controls of the ship.

“No…”

Cid replied. Ashlandis agreed with Cid’s decisions.

“Keep altitude, do another circle. Ring the bell to get the hunters up. I want to make sure that the impact didn’t awaken anything slumbering in the depths of those mountains.

A squad of 5 hunters emerged from the crew’s quarters few moments later, armed with powered drill-lances and harpoon guns.

“Tel, ultrasonic bait at the surface of the hole. Kerfyn on the bowsprit for overwatch, Cid, crowsnest.”

The crew was swift to fulfil their roles, assume battlestations and fulfil the commands. A ‘thump’ came from a launcher as Tel shot the ultrasonic bait that emerged sounds at four of the most common frequencies that dragons would react to, annoying frequencies at that, meant to lure the beast out in search of whatever made the noise. Those devices were quite handy for luring and distracting.

On the grassy fields, in the afternoon’s breeze of the mining village, sat a kid. He anxiously eyed his dragon figure, and the mecha figure with which he played the other day. His hand trembled as he reached for the dragon’s figure, then he swallowed and grasped it firmly. Nothing happened. He sighed.

“Stupid… so very stupid…”

He mumbled to himself as he grabbed the mecha-figure with his other hand.

He cautiously looked around. All was quiet.

“Hah! Stupid!”

He commented again and let his fantasy run wild. The mech leaped into the air, kicking down like an arrow at the dragon! The dragon flew up, over a boulder that to it was a mountain, and roared. A thunderous, mighty roar was deafening. It made the kid’s ears buzz. He glanced up at the snowy peaks above which a huge serpent slithered through the air, assaulting a dragon hunter’s airship.

“I knew it!”

The kid cried out, throwing away the mech and the dragon’s figure, running away from the park toward his home. A moment later the town’s bells rang. People poured onto the streets in haste, seeking the nearest entrance into the mines.

“WHERE DID THAT FUCK COME FROM?”

Yelled out a hunter, firing his blunderbuss that was loaded with grenade like devices that exploded on contact with a hard surface.

“Matters not anymore!”

Called out Cid.

“Rather, what the hell is that thing made of?”

He watched bits of the serpent’s body fall away, as if shedding long scales with each explosion that impacted. There was no blood, well, not from a single entity at least.

“The scales are bleeding but not the dragon?”

Called out Cid.

“The scales get torn and damaged but seemingly regrow.”

Ashlandis responded.

“Helmsman 10% overboost it’s gaining on us!”

The ship just barely managed to swing out of the way when the serpent’s claws whizzed past the armored hull. From 1 of the claws something broke off and leaped toward the nearest hunter. His drill lance whirred to life, and then brown goo splashed onto the floor. His lance pierced with ease through a worm the size of an adult’s arm.

“WHAT THE FUUUUUCKK!???”

He shuddered kicking its limp corpse away.

Ashlandis’ sharp instincts told her that something wasn’t right.

“Open the portside ribs, fire the demolisher at its torso!”

She commanded while leaping up onto a mast and then wrapping her hand up in rope and focusing her gaze on the beast’s body to see how it’ll react to the demolisher’s shot.

The whole ship shook beneath the crew’s feet when the armor plated left side of the hull split open. At the center of it was a massive cannon mounted by Cid.

He swung it around, took aim in haste. Another crewmember loaded the cannon from the rear.

“Loaded!”

“Light ‘er up!”

Shouted Cid. The fuse hissed as it burned away.

The creature, as they figured out, couldn’t fly. What seemed like a flight at first just turned out to be a long leap. It landed on the mountain peaks after missing its previous strike, and coiled up like a snake, watching them, their trajectory, before leaping once more. The helmsman did an exceptional job keeping the creature within the firing trajectory of the demolisher.

“DROP HER!”

Ashlandis commanded and the helmsman obeyed, shutting the engines and dropping the ship as the creature leaped. Its jaw missed the crowsnest by mere meters.

“FIRE!”

Ashlandis shouted and the whole ship rocked. The recoil from the demolisher was enough to push the ship half a dozen meters sideways.

The helmsman struggled to catch the ship and stay stable while the ruckus on the deck unfolded. The explosion left a massive hole in the creature’s chest, and from within, hundreds of those worms from before splattered. Dozens of blown to bits corpses but also dozens of living ones landed on the ship.

“Spin her round for an aft volley!”

“ROGER!”

The helmsman obeyed the command swiftly. He spun the wheel in haste, ignoring the 3 giant worms that were approaching him, hanging off the ropes above him. His sole duty was to be the helmsman, and nothing would stop him from fulfilling the commander’s orders. The ship sat slow sail straight away from the creature that had fallen onto the mountain peaks below. He pitched her and the rear opened up.

4 cannons unloaded as soon as they had a shot. One of the worms leaped toward him, but before it had a chance to gnaw at him, its body fell slump onto the floor as two pieces. Ashlandis stood next to him with her saber in hand.

“Demolisher round two! Move ‘er!!!”

She made quick work of the remaining worms and another shot rocked the ship, breaking off more pieces of the creature beneath them.

It no longer had the strength to leap to attack the nimble air target that was pestering it with long distanced attacks.

“Hunters giddy up! Few more volleys and we’re engaging up close.”

She glanced at the engineer.

“Send out a support request, those thing…”

He picked one up with the tip of her saber, skewering the corpse on it, and stared at it.

“we’ve ought to cleanse the area from whatever that is… Tell the guild to send a squadron of hell storms, we’ll burn this ridge to ashes!”

The order was received, and for the next week the fires never ceased. Three crews of hunters and a squadron of 5 hellstorms rained hell upon any area where those worms were discovered. The village was evacuated and an outpost was placed in the region. For the following year the outpost was to be manned by dragonhunters to assure that the infestation of those invaders does not happen again.

The guild learned off their disturbing quality to consume a host and take over its corpse, piloting it with the thousands of worms that worked in unison, for the good of their colony. But this battle was over, another win for the hunters, and a loss for the invaders.