What Lies Below

Gabriel felt torn as he looked out onto the ocean. His guild had ordered him to recover a potential treasure from beneath the waves. A treasure that whispered of time and space, something he'd sworn to seal away or destroy. Time should not be meddled with. Space need not be twisted upon itself at the whim of mortals. Yet, he felt a loyalty to the guild that had taken him in. They'd provided shelter, were his companions if only for the time being. Heroes didn't turn their back on their friends.

A hand touched his shoulder. Gabriel whipped around at the touch. A pirate stood behind him. The first mate if Gabriel remembered correctly. "We're approachin' the coordinates, sir. Cap wants ye to disembark quickly. These waters speak with the tongues of the dead." Gabriel looked at the man, a song welling in his throat. Throwing his arm around the man, the bluette swept his hand across the horizon. A low note rumbled in his throat.

"The king and his men stole the queen from her bed. And bound her in her bones. The seas be ours and by the powers, Where we will, we'll roam." He sung, loud enough for the sound to drift over the waters. The crew halted in their work, looking about for the source. Suddenly, a chorus of voices floated back over the water. "Yo-ho, all together, Hoist the colors high, Heave ho, thieves and beggars, Never shall we die!" The look of horror on the sailors faces invigorated Gabriel. Clearly, they needed to be roused! He continued to sing. "Some men have died, and some are alive, and others sail on the seas. With the keys to the cage, and the Devil to pay, We lay to Fiddler's Green." The first mate struggled to escape Gabriel's grasp. He released the man, throwing his arms wide. Once more the chorus sang over the waves. "Yo-ho, all together, Hoist the colors high, Heave ho, thieves and beggars, Never shall we die!"

As the note tapered off, waves began to grow. Gabriel laughed joyously. Look at what he could do with only the sound of his voice! The captain hurried to the void mage's side. "What have you done?! You've angered the gods with that defiant song! Get off my ship! Now!" Gabriel grinned at the man. "I think not, my good man! This is merely the power of my voice! Don't believe me? Let me show you!" A short musical rift sounded nearby. Gabriel stomped his foot down. "Let's get down to business, to recover this thing, Did they send me daughters, when I asked for kings? You're the saddest bunch I've ever met, but you can bet before we're through, somehow I'll make a man outta you!"

The captain hit Gabriel across the face. His head barely turned but it effectively cut off his song. The jovial attitude of the void mage vanished instantly. He wouldn't stand for this insult. "Do you take pride in your ship, captain?" His voice questioned, low and dark. The captain didn't seem to realize he was in danger. "Aye and now I want you off of it!" Gabriel smirked grimly. Magic dripped from his fingers. Dark magic that seeped into the boards at their feet. It rapidly consumed the essence of the wood, warping it into a mockery of its former self. "Then let the ship have you, captain. I wash my hands of you."

The void mage leapt into the water. He hadn't even surfaced before he heard the screams. The ship had been infected by his magic. It came alive, reaching for its crew with twisted fingers. Gabriel didn't need to watch. He'd done similar things in his journeys across the multiverse. The very thing that the captain loved would consume him. Then it would roam the waters, a monster to fuel the legends of sailors. Eventually his magic would either run its course or the creature would evolve to become independent. Either way, Gabriel didn't care much. The slight to his honor (his pride truthfully) had been avenged.

Under the water, navigation would have hindered the average mage. Gabriel was no average mage. His magic let him pinpoint his destination as he needed. Warping the space around him, Gabriel not only increased his speed, but allowed his body to endure the depths. Breathing had become unnecessary ages ago. He only went through the motions of it for his own amusement. Dark shapes filled his vision before long. The structures that had randomly appeared. An underwater city they'd dubbed it. Gabriel could see how wrong they were.

Whatever had shifted to unveil this city, it was not from this universe. The remnants of time had faded, degrading well past the point he could accurately read them. At least this contaminant couldn't do any more damage. Yet it made him worry about the tablet. Should he bring it back to the Abyssal Fleet? Would it lead to a rift of Time, a corridor that connected the many eras and places of the multiverse? Gabriel grit his teeth. Investigate first, you gorgeous son of a bastard you. Gather the information to make the decision. Not that his decision would be wrong without it. He simply was curious.

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Gabriel swam toward the ruins, his senses open. His mission was to recover the tablet and eliminate survivors. Possibly the monster that eliminated them all. A worry niggled the corner of his mind. Time remnants could alter their surroundings. It created alien environments that rapidly mutated beasts and plants. Even microbiology was affected in these spheres. If the city had been covered soon after being transplanted, it would have created a bubble. A bubble of alien power constantly mutating anything trapped within the city. That tectonic shift may have unleashed a horde of monsters - some even too small to detect reliably.

This was why he'd traveled to Fiore. It seemed to be a nexus point for temporal displacements and spatial warping. His vow to protect the multiverse from the consequences of such things beat hard upon his heart. Gabriel resolved to hand the tablet over with a warning. If this gateway was a time rift, Gabriel would need to seal it. Perhaps the Abyssal Fleet would agree and aid him in that endeavor.

As the void mage got closer to the ruins, shadows drifted up from the buildings. Gabriel scowled. Monsters had such inconvenient timing. His eyesight, sharpened from his magic, could pick up the mutations in the approaching creatures. A few had once been sharks, some octopi, and some starfish. Gabriel was sure there were monstrosities not even his eyes could detect. His hand extended out, sparking with magic.

"Fear not creatures. I'll put you out of your misery. A great hero like myself doesn't enjoy killing but will do so when necessary. For the greater good, you must be put down. Subject yourselves to my will. Deus Vult!" As Gabriel started to activate his spell, a low rumble shattered his concentration. Soon, a high pitched screeching noise followed. The monstrosities scattered. Gabriel cursed. He'd have to hunt each one down individually. Who dared to interrupt his holy purpose?

A large shape materialized above the city. A bulbous head led into a sinuous body. Razor spines decorated down the creature's back. A multitude of eyes glared a menacing yellow as a shroud of tentacles waved gently in the water. Gabriel's eyes widened as massive fins detached from the body. One wave of those could destroy the city. Especially if the creature moved as fast as the slayer believed. After all, no creature could sneak up on his superior senses. Clearly, a flap of those fins made it flash through the water. A cavernous mouth slowly opened, rimmed with great number of slender needle teeth. Gabriel anchored his spatial coordinates. Something bad was coming.

The monster inhaled. Water rushed into its mouth. If Gabriel hadn't anchored himself, he'd have been swallowed. As it was, he witnessed one creature generate a powerful whirlpool underwater. Magnificent. He had to determine if this was a natural beast or a temporal mutation or a spatial warping. A hope kindled that it might be natural. That allowed him to let it live and dominate the sea as it saw fit. A stunning testament to what nature could accomplish on its own. Maybe with a slight nudge from magic but no one acknowledged that bit.

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Gabriel pondered his orders as he observed the beast. After inhaling, it had forced the water out through holes in its side. The effect caused the creature to vanish from sight. Within a minute it returned. It didn't seem to be harmful unless you couldn't get out of its way or didn't know its capabilities. Not a threat to anyone other than the ignorant. Those it was welcome to. The world needed a few less idiots. His orders had been scorched earth policy. Kill the creatures in the ruins, kill any survivors, and recover the tablet that pointed to the potential coordinates of a gate or treasure.

Technically, the creature wasn't in the ruins. It patrolled outside them. It had taken no notice of Gabriel and had ignored the monsters that tended to wander while it was out of sight. Perhaps it was merely a deterrent for the warped then. No threat to his mission nor was it covered in the boundaries of his mission. Unless it was responsible for the science team's downfall. Then it might fall under his orders. The fifth time Gabriel watched the massive beast disappear, he decided to test a theory. The monsters peeked their heads out. With a casual flick of his wrist, the void mage unalived them. Blood colored the water around their bodies. Another use of magic caused the bodies to float toward the surface.

The pattern broke. More rapidly than any observed iteration thus far, the beast returned. A low rumbling howl rippled through the water. Gabriel's eyes widened as the 'tentacles' detached from the monster. Hundreds if not thousands of creatures near identical to the leviathan, swarmed the corpses. It didn't even take a minute for the water to clear. The offspring had swallowed even the blood in the water. The reactions of the beasts within the ruins suddenly made more sense. Gabriel rubbed his chin. The wriggling shapes returned to the original. The swarming mass of bodies made it hard to tell but it seemed some of them were larger than before.

Gabriel rubbed his face. Stupid scientists meddling where they shouldn't have. Best he could put together, the idiots had touched something they shouldn't have. The original was unleashed. Ravenous it had devoured the team, growing larger with every meal. Sometime during that growth, it had either found a mate or budded its nightmare babies. Did the mother eat? If so, did that put ships in danger? Gabriel groaned loudly. That meant he had to deal with this monstrosity. Even for someone like him, that would be a challenge. Maybe he could delegate. Leave this mess to someone else that might be better suited for it. A submarine fleet or a anti-magic nuke or even a mage wielding water would be able to handle this better than he. Well, not better than he, but a good hero knew how to use the tools in their belt.

The bluette decided against deciding anything at the moment. For now, he'd focus on retrieving the tablet. Any monsters he ran across were probably better restrained rather than killed. Otherwise, there would be a whole new problem to plague the nightmares of sailors. Gabriel sighed heavily. His magic propelled his body into the ruins. As he descended into a place lost to time, the bluette sang a little ditty. "Home is behind the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread, Through shadow to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight., Mist and shadow, Cloud and shade
All shall fade, All shall fade"

As Gabriel crossed some invisible line, the monsters attacked. Their bodies slammed into him. Sharp teeth gouged his flesh. Dead eyes stared blankly into his own. The void mage barely registered the attacks. He did grow angry though that such lowly beasts dared to mar his perfect flesh. It caused him to forget the real danger overhead. "Enough!" Magic pulsed from him. Purple fire tore through fragile bodies. The slayer didn't even wait to see the results of his spell. He'd entered the ruins for one reason and one alone. Monsters, dead or alive, were no concern of his.

Ignoring the niggling voice in his head which shouted about orders, Gabriel went deeper into the ruins. The shattered buildings stood close together. There was a strange pride to these structures. Almost as if they were saying 'look at me. I might be broken but I still stand.' He saluted the withered giants of the past. Between the buildings, shadows hung heavy. When Gabriel reached the street, he found a strange thickness to the water. As if there was a separation between the water above and the water below. An odd phenomena. Perhaps this was why the monstrosity and its babies stayed above the ruins.

As Gabriel swam, something darted toward him from between two buildings. Irritated by the earlier monsters, the void mage snapped his fingers. This time he remembered the nemesis above. A shape froze in the midst of whatever action it had aimed to take. A shrill cry cut the silence. "Bobby! You killed her! Oh my gods! You killed her! She only wanted to thank you for rescuing us!" Gabriel rolled his eyes at the hysterical female. Sure the woman might look dead but that was no reason for this display. "I am here to liberate you and she's not dead so calm down." The water gear made it hard for Gabriel to tell but the woman appeared to be crying. She'd drown herself in her own tears. "You're here to rescue us?" She asked hopefully. Gabriel's hand filled with corruption. "Of course. Rescue you from life."

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The woman had a handful of seconds. She didn't fight, didn't scream, didn't do anything. Her eyes moved a fraction wider in abject horror. Gabriel was mildly disappointed. He could have done with a good horror fest. Actually, that gave him an idea. A grin slowly slid across his face. Bobby's body bloated from a gesture. Gabriel put some distance from the woman's body before it exploded. A cloud of red obscured the immediate area. Then the screams began. Gabriel conducted them as if they were in an orchestra. "Mission accomplished, partially anyways."

Monsters suddenly rushed past. The ruins came alive with creatures. Gabriel blinked in surprise. Where had all of them come from? They swarmed the cloud of blood. Much like the creatures above, the water rapidly cleared of blood. The woman screams cut off abruptly. Something roiled in the pit of Gabriel's stomach. The science team and research team had been in the ruins. He'd made an assumption. One that seemed to increasingly have been not exactly on the right side of correct. Of course, he was a hero so he couldn't be wrong. However, he could be slightly misled with misinformation. Such as a belief that the monster above was the only one of its type - that grew and budded as it ate. It turned out that it merely might have been the only one that got enough food.

Gabriel decided to call an audible regarding his orders. Well they were more like suggestions anyway. No one could order someone of his temporal ability about. He ate gods for breakfast. He also knew how to avoid being eaten in turn. Every body he put in the water would only strengthen his enemies no matter how fast he killed them. If he removed them from the time stream, that caused another set of issues. Namely, it would give him temporal poisoning. Same with moving the enemies to another dimension except it would be spatial poisoning. Neither was altogether pleasant. To complete the mission, Gabriel had to avoid completing at least one objective.

The void slayer decided it wasn't prudent to eliminate the survivors. They'd slowly get killed over time. The monsters couldn't be removed without dedicated effort, time and possibly even an entire team of highly powerful mages. Giant one above rapidly getting stronger with all its babies, the ones in the ruins waiting for the bodies to attain that status. Gabriel refused to unleash a school of leviathans upon the ocean. He figured the Abyssal Fleet wouldn't much appreciate that regardless of their orders.

The monsters finished their feast. Gabriel scowled waiting to see what they did. There was no infighting. The monsters appeared to respect the strength of each other. That or they got sleepy after they ate. Regardless, the creatures drifted apart slowly. Gabriel waited until all traces of them had been gone for several minutes. He did not want to tempt fate. Hero he might be but heroes respected strong villains. Otherwise they ended up dead. A large amount of minions also should be given a healthy amount of respect.

With the enemies gone, Gabriel stretched out tendrils of his magic. He hoped that the tablet and any scientist survivors would have different temporal energy than the ruins. Otherwise... Gabriel had to figure out where the scientists had been last. That was irritating and made him consider disregarding all orders. Who wanted to search a ruin infested with monsters for a tablet that may or may not lead to a temporal rift or great treasure? Futile suicide.

Thankfully his magic came through. The tendrils pinged upon several objects of stronger temporal poisoning then the rest of the ruins. A few had temporal touches that didn't match with the temporal atmosphere of the ruins. Interesting. The objects might be monster eggs or the tablet. Considering the clustering of the scientists - those not matching the Temporal signature of the ruins - there were three or so potential tablets. Gabriel pulled upon his dimensional travels, on his journey through time. Point me in the right direction, ghosts of my past, of my future.

Cold fingers trailed down his spine. A whisper of dread in his ear to guide his way. Gabriel teleported to the tablet. In retrospect, not the smartest idea he'd ever had. The scientist that were practically on top of it exploded as space rippled. "Fuck!" Gabriel quickly scrambled for the tablet. "They're coming, they're coming, gotta get the tablet. They are coming!" The creatures didn't make any sound either so he'd have no warning. Gabriel found the tablet - he hoped - and teleported away. His body screamed as it reconstituted. Blood streamed from his eyes and ears. Still, the bluette could see enough that he had grabbed something tablet shaped at least. Good enough. He'd turn that in to the Abyssal Fleet. Job well done.

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