Chapter 19

I looked out the hole in the wall expecting the Kraken. I saw something that made me think I was hallucinating. I saw a creature whose front half was a huge great white shark but the lower half had the tentacles of a giant octopus. I have seen a movie called Sharktopus but never imagined that one actually existed. At least it wasn't the Kraken. I heard a familiar roar and realized that I had spoken too soon. He was watching me from a distance. One of his eyes was glaring at me from one of the cave openings. I built the courage to slowly walk up to him. I wanted to touch his face. I heard a strange sound behind me so I turned to see three merqueens staring at me. Tiamat had summoned Brita and Atla to her island for a purpose. They approached me with extreme caution. They seemed to be having a great debate whether they should trust me or not. Finally Atla backed away from approaching me with genuine fear. Brita pressed her quivering face against mine and showed me the marina trench. When they started showing me specific paths to take I realized that I was being asked to go there to retrieve something. Tiamat nod her head and was pleased that I understood what was going on. It turns out to be something made out of metal that seemed to be covered in coral and barnacles. I couldn't make out what it was. But it seems to strike fear into the hearts of the merpeople. She was shaking with fear as I was shown a hydra that was guarding it. I told them that I understood what was going on and was willing to help them. They seemed to appreciate what I was saying but were too afraid to say or show me anymore. I asked them to show me exactly what it was so I can get it. Because I might come back with the wrong one. Since I be able to retrieve whatever it was but be able to do it only once. I might get killed in the second attempt. After a few minutes of talking back and forth between themselves Tiamat fearlessly stepped forward to show me and the others screeched and cried. They tried to hold her back as though she had offered herself as a form of a sacrifice. They held on to each other and wept as she pressed her shaking hand against my cheek and showed me a golden trident. I asked if it was Poseidon's and she hissed and backed away from me. Turns out it truly belong him. But the stories about him were wrong. It turns out he was a member the helm of the darkness. He broke the rules when he chose a side and became the most feared Merman in all of the seven seas. He was an evil and heartless beast. He had a magical trident and a bloodthirsty hydra to aid him in his reign of terror. He was defeated, imprisoned but his trident was stolen before it could be destroyed. The Trident was taken away by his loyal aid, the five headed hydra. I promised to procure it for her. She backed away from me like I had set her on fire. It turns out they wanted me to find someone who can destroy it. I promised to take it to the headquarters and find a person who could do it. I read somewhere in the Drake's library that dragon's fire can destroy things so I decided to find one. This got their interest piqued. I was shown that there was a dragon that lived here. I just had to convince it to shoot flames. They made a sound that was closely resembling excitement. They walked to a corner of the cave that had a huge opening that showed the beautiful lagoon where rough waves were crashing against the ragged rocks. Alta extended her hand towards me gingerly. Here goes nothing I thought myself. I stood beside her and grabbed her hand. We swan dived into the lagoon and instantly I felt like I was shot out of canon. It took me a few minutes to get used to everything moving past me at the speed of light but never got over the rag doll feeling. They escorted me as far as they dared to do so. Then I was on my own. I saw a crab like creature, a meadow sea grass that were few meters in length, then came a field of sea pens that was apparently guarded by angler fishes and jellyfishes swimming around to warn trespassers. There was a particular place where even these creatures wouldn't go. I guess that is where I am supposed to be heading. It turns out I was right. It was a hole that plunged deep. Which had labyrinth like tunnels. I had to swim till I found the right one. It was pitch black but since I was a creature of the night my eyes adjusted easily. I didn't need to breath so holding my breath wasn't hard. The floor of one the tunnels was littered with broken skeletons. Some were human others were mythological. I just followed it like it was a road till I found the infamous hydra picking it's teeth with a bone. I saw that a merman was talking to a group of strange looking creatures. I didn't care who it was or what they looked like. The trident was my prize. They kept pointing at a crevice that could fit someone like me easily. When I got close enough I realized that the trident fallen in and they are trying their best to retrieve it but since they are larger in size than me their efforts had only sent it even further down. Luckily the crack starts well past the entrance of this cavern so I snuck out and quietly swam into chasm to get it. The scene above me was serene till I touch the pitchfork. The moment my fingers wrapped itself around the golden fork the hydra went nuts and started to bang their heads against the crack to widen it so it can retrieve the treasure. Others that were there tried to reach for it too. So I had no choice but to take it and swim as fast as I could. The hydra seems to sense where I was. I realized that it is connected to the huge fork. It won't listen to me because I am a vampire. But until I let go he can't touch me because he catches fire. So it was going mad with rage. I just had to keep swimming till I reached Tiamat. I almost got reached her when a handsome merman got in front of me. He extended his hand as though he was asking for it. I pretended to give it to him and punched him in the face. Then I swam as hard as I could. Since I was a vampire I couldn't get tired. So I just had to focus to double my efforts to get to them. The ladies grabbed my arm out of nowhere and we shot off like a bullet. I was back on the island five blinks later. I dragged my legs to the place where the dragon was snoring and Tiamat wiggled her fingers. Electricity shot out of her fingers and the dragon roared in pain and breathed the hottest fireball I had ever seen. I threw the trident at the ball of fire and immediately it turned into a liquid metal pool. I heard three very unusual sounds. First the loud angry sound of the dragon, the cheers of the mermaids and the agonizing scream from the depths of the water. The mermaids quickly ran to calm the dragon down as I was escorted back to the pool to send me back to where Drake was. I saw how the mermaids took care of the Hydra when it surfaced. I saw one of them open up a burlap sack and pull out a bloody decapitated head with snakes on it. The hydra gazed at it and turned to stone and began to crumbled. They gave a cheerful screech and the Kraken flicked his tentacles at the stone sculpture. It turned to sand as it collapsed onto the beach.

I was escorted to the pool and shoved face first into it. Then the light glowed bright and I was back in the bathtub again. I walked out to see Drake leaning against the wall with a book in his hand. He looked fabulous in a white shirt and faded jeans. He must have heard my thoughts because he dropped the book. He gave me sly smile as he asked to me continue describing how amazing he looked and how I felt. He said he prefers to remember every word that I would use to describe him. I blushed and tried to run. I guess they reinstated the connection since he knew what I was going to do. He was in front of the door. He pinned me to the door and watched with delight as my face turned three shades of deep red. There was a sharp knock on the door. He growled, "Whoever you are please have health insurance because you will need it"