Chapter Text
As the night looms overhead, a dragonship drifts across the ocean. Known as the Arbadon, after an extinct species of Elder Dragon believed to be related to the modern Ceadeus, it boasted sturdy armor in the form of giant bones reinforced with steel plating. Its sails were long, stretching from one end of the ship to the other as they rode along the wind. The wooden frame of the deck was a deep brown color, armed with cannons, ballistae, and a hunting gong in the event of an attack from a seafaring monster. A dragonator with a drill-like spear tip hangs from under the bow of the ship, a standard model for a dragonship its size.
Aboard the dragonship, a thirty-year-old man with black, sort of messy hair with specks of dark gray tended to his studies. His eyes were a chilly blue color, almost gray. His skin was fair in shade, though a little more on the pale side from spending more time indoors recently. He wore a dark blue coat with a subtle green pattern and light blue fur along the collar. His pants were a darker blue, almost black. On his desk was a pair of silver and gold, spiked pauldrons and fingerless gauntlets. Beside the desk was a similarly colored set of greaves and across from them, hanging on a stand, was a set of chest armor that would go underneath the coat. Hanging on the wall was a massive greatsword, with a wide, jet-black blade and a golden hilt shaped like the head of a dragon. On a stand beside his desk was a small Flying Wyvern: a Halk. The Halk had reddish feathers growing on its body, along with a bright orange mane around its neck. It wore a silver anklet on one of its names, with the name “Wren'' written on it. It watches its owner write with dark purple eyes. The man was busy, writing out a letter. While he wrote, he wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses as he cross-referenced a book he was reading. Sticking between two of the pages was part of a letter he’s been using as a bookmark that read:
“...The memory of the land of my ancestors is all but a murky one. I’m sure anyone with family that came from the Lost Continent can attest to that. I do not know why we left that landmass millenia ago, but the journal left by my forefather has given me some insight. I will give you some of my notes to help you on your expedition. I wish you safe travels and your sister and I, along with the rest of our friends, will be waiting for you.
Good luck out there, Your Highness.
-Esmund”
Callum shakes his head after rereading the letter. He doesn’t have to be so formal. We’re not moving through the Alliance’s district much these days. I’m just like any other hunter or researcher out there. Suddenly, there was a knock on his door. “Come in,” he answered.
“Commander Callum, I would like to make a report,” the visitor stated. The visitor in question was a Felyne. He had gray and white fur with very faint stripes on his tail and limbs. He had pale green eyes and the pattern on his face resembled a mask, with gray around his eyes and his snout being white. The Felyne wore a simple light brown coat, all buttoned up to keep himself warm during the cold of the night.
“Ah, Nemo. Anything good?” Callum turned around and spoke to his companion.
“Well, fur starters, the navigator said we’ll be arriving at the Lost Continent tomorrow,” Nemo told him. However, Callum could already tell there was something off in his voice.
“You sound like there’s a catch…”
“…Yeah. He also said there’s some sort of crazy storm coming in from the north that might be heading towards our direction. Elder Dragon, mayhaps?”
“Well, let’s see what we can narrow it down to,” Callum said, picking up another book from his desk and opening it. He flips through the pages having extraordinary sketches of a multitude of Elder Dragons. Some looked like pretty standard dragons, while others were more bizarre than the last one. “Describe that storm for me, would ya?”
“The navigator said it was a gigantic black cloud crackling with lightning.”
“Any unusual colors?”
“Not really. It was also at a normal altitude above the sea. And-“
“Ok so I already had Amatsu off the list cause they tend to live near mountainous regions, so now I can cross off Shantien as well since it’s not so high up in the sky. An Ibushi was slain recently in the Kamura region and they only seem to be active over land. Now Namielle or Kushala, one of those might-“
“But here’s the thing. From what the navigator said, it looked like the sea was moving in tandem with the storm,” Nemo interrupted Callum’s train of thought.
“Huh?”
“Yeah, like there’s something beneath the surface that’s causing all of that. They might’ve seen something swimming around under the storm, but I’m not so sure…”
Callum looked puzzled for a moment, but then his eyes widened. He then starts to frantically flip through the pages of the Elder Dragon encyclopedia. Nemo couldn’t tell if he was panicking or excited. Perhaps both. Finally, Callum spoke. “Nemo, go out and tell the rest of the crew to prepare for the worst. We may be on the verge of having a close encounter with a poorly documented species of Elder Dragon. And I would rather have the crew be safe on dry land than face this giant out at sea.”
“Giant…? Wait, you don’t mean…?” Nemo’s pupils shrink when he realizes what monster Callum is alluding to. “Pawright, I’ll go and tail the crew to start prepping the ship’s weapons.”
“Thanks, buddy.” As Nemo left the room, Callum looked back at the page he landed on. An illustration of a long, shadowy silhouette of a dragon, more appropriately a sea serpent, with many of its features blackened out due to hardly any knowledge of the elusive beast. “So, looks like we’ll finally meet the legendary Emperor of the Ocean. Atlanstra…”
Callum ran up onto the deck as his crew readied the arms of the ship for combat. Now with all his armor equipped and his greatsword strapped to his back. Rain poured on steadily as the storm came overhead. He approaches his navigator, looking off into the distance in search of the elusive Elder Dragon. “Jozef, what’s the status of Atlanstra?”
Jozef was an older man with a full gray beard, blue eyes, and paler skin. He was dressed in a blue and off-white, wooly coat with leather gloves and boots. Atop his head was a similarly furred hat that bore the symbol of Pokke Village on the red band up top, matching the belt he wore around his waist armor. A heavy bowgun with a long barrel was hanging off of his back. Back in the day, he was a well-renowned gunner, being able to snipe a monster with relative ease and land almost every shot. Even in his old age, his eyes are still as sharp as ever. “Well, Commander, there appears to be some movement beneath the waves over yonder. Almost serpentine in motion, if you ask me. Does that match what that there book of yer’s says?”
“Yes, unfortunately. I do not know how much in danger we’re going to be if Atlanstra does decide to move closer to the ship. We don’t even know how big it is for reference. What few records we have of the sea beast say that it’s a truly colossal monster, perhaps even rivaling a Dalamadur in scale. If that is the case, I’m afraid it could easily destroy the Arbadon,” Callum sighed.
Jozef looked at the young captain and shook his head as he went back to watching the sea. “I already made peace with that fact. This may be my last job as a hunter. I’m old, I’ve got grandkids, and a couple of them are rising in the hunting world themselves. I already said my goodbyes in the event I go out in a land far away or at sea. But I’ll be content knowing that my legacy will carry on and that I will bear witness to something extraordinary.”
“Well, I’ll do my best to make sure things don’t come to that. You’re a brave man, Jozef. I can only hope that I can bring you back home safely. The Captain’s already adjusted our course away from Atlanstra, so we may be safe from whatever powers it may possess.”
“I appreciate the concern, laddie. But, old as I am, I’m not some walking skeleton that could just pass on at a moment's notice. I still have a few years left, methinks. I’m only sixty-four. So long as you youngins keep whatever monsters we encounter distracted, I can lie down and kick some arse,” Jozef said with a hearty laugh.
“Well, you keep an eye out and see where it’s heading.”
“Ay, will do. And if things come to pass, how about I share a drink with you and your teammates? My treat for letting this old timer tag along for the ride.”
“I’ll talk about it with Alicia and the others. For now, I’m going to see how everyone else is prepping.”
“Alrighty, see ya, Commander.”
As Callum tries moving through the crowd of crewmates, he manages to find his team. Nemo spots him and waves at him. “You guys handling things ok? Are all the other hunting parties all set for what might happen? I just got done talking with Jozef about Atlanstra's status.” Callum asked.
Alicia, a long-time childhood friend of Callum’s and one of his regular hunting partners, answers, “Well, Mark and his team have been doing checkups on all the ballistae and cannons after managing our stocks, while Elizabeth and her team have been doing lookout, just like Jozef. As for us…” she said looking at their other partner Nigel furiously trying to get himself in gear. Alicia is a woman around the same age as Callum with hair dyed a light purple and bluish eyes. She wore dark gray armor with two capes hanging from her back and waist armor made from Legiana webbing. Leaning against the table was her lance and shield, both made from the same metal as her armor. In a fight, she serves as the defender of the party, drawing the monster’s attention by pestering it and bracing for its assault.
“Having problems there, Nigel?”
Nigel grunts, and then he notices the commander. He sighs. “Ah…it’s just you, Callum. Yeah, the blasted gun’s a bit jammed. I could have sworn that it was in peak condition when we left Minegarde.” Nigel was older than Alicia and Callum, having spiky black and white hair on his head and piercing amber eyes. Some people think that he looks like a reincarnated Nergigante just from the way his hair is reminiscent of the crown of thorns running along the Elder Dragon’s neck. But Nigel just merely laughs it off. It wouldn’t be the first time he’s seen someone get called a human version of a monster. Unlike his companions, Nigel was born in the New World settlement of Astera and he’s seen the Admiral there be compared to a Rajang more than once. Unlike the monster he’s compared to, Nigel’s more of a ranged fighter, often seen with a magnifier over his left eye to help himself focus; most of the time he just keeps it over his eye, giving him the appearance of wearing an eyepatch almost. Combined with the scar going across the left side of his face, it gives him a grumbly look, especially with the raggedy cloak around his shoulders.
“I see. Maybe it got messed up while we were stopping at one of the islands on the way here?” Callum suggests.
“Eh…maybe. Maybe some of that bubblefoam we packed could do the trick,” he replies, reaching over to the purplish bottle on the table. As he reached out, the ship rocked violently. “Gah! Damn weather. What timing! Had to happen right when we were about to hit the shore...”
Suddenly, a booming roar echoes from the ocean, almost like a deep song. From the corner of Callum’s eye, he sees a gargantuan body rise out of the sea and back into the water. “Shit, it’s right below us,” he huffed. He then turns towards all his companions. “Ready the cannons and ballista! And prepare for the worst!” Alicia grabs her lance and shield before running out into the middle of the deck.
Nigel frantically starts pouring the foam into his weapon and shaking it about. After doing so, he gives the chambers a quick spin and out of the barrel comes a seedling. “Well, that’s what’s been jamming my weapon.” He then unfuses his bowguns apart into two smaller handguns and starts readying them with ammo. “Not every day we get to tango with an unknown Elder Dragon, but here we are.”
“Now’s not the time for getting excited. We can conduct our research on it later. For now, let’s just try to repel it,” Alicia said, holding out her shield in front of her and pointing her lance toward the sea.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you loud and clear.” Nigel points his guns to the other side of the boat facing away from Alicia. All around them, various crewmates were jumping onto the cannons and ballistae, ready to fire.
Beside Alicia was Callum, holding onto the hilt of his sword. Then they spotted a gigantic webbed claw rise out of the ocean above the left side of the ship. “Fire!” Callum ordered. The men on the ballistae and cannons started blasting away, with many explosions landing on the palm of the giant hand and many arrows became embedded in the hide of the arm it was attached to. Despite all the damage done, it continued to come crashing down onto the railing of the boat, causing it to rock back and forth wildly. Callum swings his sword at the back of its hand, causing it to let go of the boat and shake it in the process. The massive claw sinks beneath the dark waves as the Elder Dragon swims beside the ship.
“Grrr…bloody thing sure packs a punch. Now where did it go?” Nigel growls, trying to catch his balance. Then on the other side of the ship, a colossal silhouette rises out of the ocean, with a long neck and a pair of short, muscular arms on its sides. Its image was hard to make out against the black sky, but its arms and chest both pulsated with a brilliant red light. Tendrils coming off its head and arms swirled around wildly as an intense wind danced through the air. Piercing through the mysterious visage was a pair of crimson eyes that followed the movement of the people below it. The massive Elder Dragon roars with a sound so deep, yet so beautiful at the same time, almost like a somber dirge emitted from its great maw. Its tail starts to wiggle about violently beneath the water’s surface, churning up the ocean into a series of raging waves shaking the boat with immense force. It grabs hold of the ship with one of its arms before rearing back with its other arm outstretched in an attempt to smash the boat once again.
“Get ready, here it comes!” Alicia yelled, putting herself in front of her friends. Before the giant serpent could make contact with the boat, the waves picked up even more and started to rise up and up. The monster begins to look around confused and begins bellowing at the water.
Nigel taps Alicia and Callum on the shoulders. “Uh…guys. I think we’re about to hit landfall…” They turn to see a series of rocky formations jutting out of the water and a giant cavern behind these pillars. On the cliff above, strange structures rise out of the ground, touching the heavens.
Shit… Callum thought. “Get ready for impact!” He shouts as both the ship and their adversary come crashing down onto the land. Callum’s vision grows dark from the crash as the echoes of the Emperor of the Ocean fade away…
When Callum comes to, he finds himself lying amongst the wreckage of his ship. He finds Wren perched right beside him, miraculously unharmed. “Lucky little wyvern, aren’t you…?” Callum said, catching his breath and getting up slowly. He sits up from his current position and sees several members of his crew all lying in different spots to varying degrees of consciousness and injuries. He spots his teammates Nigel and Allicia in similar conditions as himself. “Hey, you guys alright?” he calls to them.
Allicia looked back and replied, “To be honest, no, not really.” Her cape is now all in tatters as was part of Nigel’s cloak. Rips in their clothes show they too have received injuries during the crash, while parts of their armor became chipped and scratched as well.
“Yeah, I’ve gone through worse…probably,” Nigel groaned. Then suddenly some of the rubble next to Callum is thrown around as someone digs up from beneath.
“Phew! I thought I was done fur…” Nemo exclaimed, sitting with a bunch of wooden planks all around him. He looks around to see everyone else’s condition as well. “So…we made it?”
“We need to check up on everyone to see who survived the wreckage and who didn’t, as well as treat the wounded and scrounge up any usable supplies that you can find,” Callum explained. He begins to stand up slowly, his arms and legs aching. He has no idea how long he or anyone else has been unconscious. One thing’s for certain, Atlanstra was nowhere to be seen in the shipwreck. If we’re alive, then surely a massive Elder Dragon like that is still somewhere out there too… He looks towards the mouth of the cave and sees that the storm from before is still brewing. “Alicia, Nigel, you go around and try to help the others.
“Alright, leave it to us,” Alicia said, getting up from the ground. She nods her head with a bow, heading off with Nigel to go look for others in need of assistance, quickly finding someone halfway buried under some planks and lifting it together to free them. It was Jozef, having a hard time freeing himself from the rubble. He sits upward and catches his breath as the two younger hunters place the planks behind him.
“Nemo, you come along with me to help me find out where we are and find some additional resources.”
“Got it!” Nemo scampers off in front of Callum as they move into a tunnel in the cavern’s walls. Wren flies up and lands on Callum’s shoulder. The cave was a bit luminous, filled with various crystals glowing in the dark as bioluminescent animals crawled on the walls and ceiling. Eventually, the trio came across an opening in the cave, where the light was peeking through. “I can smell grass from here.”
“Yeah. Let’s see what we can find,” Callum replied. They walk out onto a cliffside peeking over the ocean. There was wild vegetation all scattered about, from grasses to large ferns. The air was foggy, but it seemed as though the storm from earlier was dissipating. And looming in the distance is what appears to be some sort of ruins on another, much larger cliff with some of their structures piercing high up into the heavens. “Woah…” Callum whispers under his breath.
“Hey Commander, check this out!” Nemo said as Callum stared off at the scenery.
“Hmm?”
“Here!” Nemo points at a peculiar plant growing within the brush. It had blue flowers with a white blotchy pattern on them.
“That’s…a Dawn Flower... We’ve just had traces of these as fossils, yet here it is in full bloom. Here, let me just,” Callum says as he reaches down and grabs some of the seeds from its bud. “I’m going to need to take these as proof we arrived on the Lost Continent.”
“To whom?”
“You know who. The Guild. I’ll send Wren out once I finish writing my letter to Val. Once I’m done, I’ll attach the seeds and the letter to Wren’s legs and send him on his way back to the Old World. In the meantime, we’ll conduct our research here, although probably in a safer environment. After all, if the Commission's First Fleet was able to fare well after a shipwreck in the New World and their boat got stuck on a bloody mountain, I'm sure we’ll manage just fine too. Now then, let’s see what else we can find here and report back to the others with what we’ve found,” Callum replied, grabbing some herbs and blue mushrooms.
“Pawright then.”
As they gathered more materials, Callum couldn’t help but stare off at the ruins looming in the background now and then. He sees how battered and destroyed some of the structures were from a distance. Hmmm…what could have caused so much damage to those ruins over there? Perhaps we’ll figure it out once we do some exploration. But first thing first, help everyone that we can in the crew, then find a safe place for all of us to rest , he thought. And out of the corner of his eye, he sees what appears to be two monsters fighting one another: a brutish, six-limbed monster and a graceful, bladed monster trading blows as they chased each other on the cliffs near the ruins…