In the Great Inland Sea, at the edge of the continent where the sea blended with the ocean there was a small volcanic island. This island, known as Coralenia, was a peaceful and flourishing place with diverse wildlife. The people of Coralenia lived in peace and harmony with the nature and among each other in the City of Corolis, which was about the only city on the island. The other settlements were just small villages. But the peaceful life of Coralenians was about to be threatened by an foreing invader.
Ervon, the most skillful seacaptain in all Coralenia, along with two other captains stood on an edge of a cliff facing East, looking to the sea. Ervon peered through his spyglass. He saw an armada of ships approaching in the horizon.
”The Royal Fleet of the Kingdom of Panathia”, he murmured.
The two captains gave him a look of concern.
”I’ll bet my hat they are not coming for a peaceful visit”, the other one of them said.
”I’d say you’re right. We are in deep trouble. There’s nothing we can do to stop them from robbing and ravishing our island”
”What if we let them mine as much gems from the volcanic caves as they like. Do you thing they would then leave our city untouched?”, pondered the second captain.
”I highly doubt that”, Ervon answered, ”They’ll propably even capture our people as slaves”
Near the bottom of the volcano, roughly a kilometer away from the City of Corolis, there was a temple made of shining white marble. This was the Temple of Wisdom. In times of crisis the elected representatives who were in charge of Coralenia gathered to the temple to ponder the problem and seek advice from the wise priests and priestesses of the temple. Ervon was one of the representatives and he now stood in a circle along with the others in the great hall of the temple. In the middle of the circle of men and women was a gigantic shiny gemstone resting on a stony pedestal. The Grand Diamond was the pride of Coralenia. This massive brightly shining diamond was more than triple the size of a cannonball.
”I’d say we have no other choice than to surrender and hope and pray that they are merciful”, said Barron the Merchant, one of the representatives.
”We should give those bastards a run for their money”, objected Leron the Smith.
”With what force? In my mind it’s not worth all our lives to take a meaningless bit of their army with us”, argued Barron.
”There is a third option”, a priestess with black curly hair interrupted, ”We could use the Horn of the Seas”
Everyone just stared for a moment in silence. Then Barron spoke:
”Forget it. There’s no time for fairytales”
”I think it’s worth the try. What do we have to lose”, said Ervon.
The Horn of the Seas was the second most valuable artefact in all Coralenia, only outshined by the Grand Diamond. It was actually a shell of a giant cone-shaped sea-snail. It was believed that blowing to the horn near the sea would summon the Leviathan. The fiercest and biggest creature God had ever created. A gigantic sea beast the size of a small island that lived where the sea met the ocean. Legend had it that the ancestors of Coralenians once lived on a different island entirely. When an earthquake and an erupting volcano were about to wipe out the whole island, a wise old man blew into a horn made out of a sea-snails shell, calling a massive sea creature to emerge from the water. The creature, known as Leviathan, took all the people on its back to safety to another island. That island became known as Coralenia.
Ervon stood on a cliff facing West where the sea met the ocean. In his hands he held the Horn of the Seas, that the headpriest of the temple had given him. The council had voten in favour of trying to summon the Leviathan and Ervon had been elected as the one to blow the horn. A group of curious Coralenians watched in excitement, though keeping a fair distance to the edge of the gliff. Ervon blew to the horn. A loud low frequency buzzing sound cut through the air. They waited in silence for a while, but nothing happened. Ervon tried again. But there was no more results than with the first time. The day went on and Ervon kept waiting and blowing to the horn. The crowd of people got smaller and smaller until only Ervon was left. Eventually the sun was setting and dusk settling in. Ervon was getting ready for giving up, but one more time he blew to the horn. As the sound of the horn faded away something weird started to happen. It was as if the sea had suddenly started to boil. Through the churning waters, an enormous head accompanied with a long neck rose up. Ervon was petrified by horror and amazement. He was face to face with a bluish-grey dragon-like head as large as a ship. yellowish glowing eyes the size of millstones stared down at him. From the water, dozens of tentacles crawled up the side of the cliff. Ervon noticed that one of the tentacles had slithered over the cliff behind him, blocking his path. It was massive. Thicker than the thickest tree trunks Ervon had ever seen in the forests of Coralenia.
”What do you want human?”, the creature spoke with a loud low voice that sounded like rumbling thunder. Ervon saw a glimbse of razor-sharp fangs as big as himself. The smell of rotting flesh was stunning.
”It better ought to be important for you woke me up from my deep sleep of nearly hundred years”
”Oh great and mighty Leviathan…”, Ervon began.
”Do please stop it human. I need no praising words. Just get to the point”
”Foreign invaders from the mainland are going to raid our island. We would be forever greatful if you would get rid of them for us”
”How many?”, the beast asked.
”At least fifty ships. Maybe even closer to one hundred”
”That’s quite a favour. I’m not very fond of the idea of doing that for the sheer kindness of my heart. Shouldn’t you give me something in return? Do you happen to have something I would actually want?”
Ervon thought for a while. They could offer the Leviathan some of their sheep and cattle. But then again, this creature could go and hunt down a whale whenever it wanted so it would most likely just laugh at that kind of gift. What would this massive sea beast possibly want? Ervon tried to remember what the legends said about the Leviathan. Suddenly he came up with an idea. Leviathan was, according to tales, very fond of decorating its lair with everything from whalebones to corals and vulcanic rock.
”Actually, I think I do. You see we Coralenians have this big diamond..”
”A diamond?”, the creature sounded mildly interested
”Yes. And I dare say it is the biggest diamond you have ever seen”
”Hmm… ”, the Leviathan thought for a while before answering, ”It’s a deal. Bring me this diamond and I will crush this fleet of invaders to bits for you”
Ervon smiled in relieve.
”I promise you, I will bring the diamond here by tomorrow morning”
”It was a pleasure doing business with you”, the monster said.
Then it retreated under surface, creating huge waves that crashed against the rocky wall of the cliff.
The next morning Ervon had called up a meeting in the Temple of Wisdom and the members of the council had once again united. He told them he had actually met the Leviathan and promised to give the Grand Diamond to it in exchange for driving off the invaders.
”I know you as a man of truth, who would never mess with us. So this must indeed mean that the time of miracles is not yet in the past. Though I have to admit I have always been very sceptical that there even exists a creature like the Leviathan”, said Barron the Merchant
”But what about the diamond? We simply can’t just hand over the symbol Coralenia”, said Leron the Smith.
”Keep in mind that without the help of the Leviathan the diamond will be one among the first things to be stolen anyway”, Ervon cut down his complaint.
A moment later, Ervon was once again standing on the Western cliff. Two strong men were carrying the diamond in a wooden crate with handles attached to it. The members of the council were all standing on the cliff. Ervon blew to the horn and after a moment the Leviathan rose from the sea. The majestetic beast struck fear and awe into all who were present.
”You have the diamond?”, the creature asked.
”Yes we do”, answered Ervon and instructed the two men to bring the crate with the diamond in it to the edge of the cliff.
The men retreated with steps glumsy from nervousness. A gigantic flipper-like paw with webbed skin between the toes rose from the water to the edge of the cliff. In each thin and long toe there was a sharp curving claw larger than a human being. From the paw hung a dosen of small snake-like tentacles. The tentacles slithered into the crate and lifted the shiny gemstone out. The creature lifted the diamond close to its huge yellowish eye.
”Looking good. You were not exaggerating human. During my entire lifetime of three thousand years I have never seen a gem as brilliant as this one. It deserves a special place in my collection. You will have my word that I will protect the habitants of this island from harm”
”Thank you”, Ervon said.
”You’re welcome human. And have a nice day”
The massive monster returned to the sea making the water churn and swirl as if it was boiling.
It was midday. Ervon and a crowd of Coralenians were standing on the Eastern cliff looking nervously to the sea. The ships of the Panatheans were very close now. Maybe an hour or so and they would be on the shore. And the Leviathan was nowhere to be seen. Some of the people were holding spears or simple shortbladed swords. Practically they were as good as useless, had the Leviathan chosen to break its promise. People on the shore were getting increasingly scared and nervous. Why hadn’t sea beast come already? Then, without a warning, a massive tentacle smashed through the surface, coiling around one of the ships and dragging it underwater with immense force. The soldiers on the decks of the ships were petrified in horror as more monstrous tentacles rose from the sea. Some of the tentacles coiled around ships and tore them in half, some slashed trough the air striking down masts and swiping people off the decks. Most of the soldiers were in complete panic, jumping into the water or trying to hide inside their ships. Some brave souls tried to fight the few tentacles that were not moving to fast to even hit, but even their mightiest swords and spears were only like needles, that seemed just to irritate the beast making it more aggressive. Suddenly a large reptilian head rose from the sea accompanied with a enormously long serpent-like neck and finally came the body. On the cliff, Ervon was baffled by the size of the body he has’nt seen before. It fit the descriptions of the tales. The massive body resebling one of a turtles, with tentacles sprouting from its sides, was indeed as large as a small island. When surfacing its whole body the monster had toppled over at least a dosen ships at once. The Leviathan let loose a roar so powerful it sounded like an erupting volcano. Then it lunged down its head as fast as a striking snake, crushing an entire ship to smithereens with a single bite. Its massive and immensely long serpents tail rose high into the air and slashed down to the sea surface, creating waves as high as treetops.
The Panatheans had seen enough. All the remaining ships began hastily turning around in order to retreat and get away from this nightmarish monster as fast as possible. On the cliff the Coralenians cheered. Their island had been saved from being conquered.
