The Slaying of the Leviathan

By: Asara Posted on: June 29, 2005

One of many tales from my text "Exploits of Ancient Times," this entry highlights a favorite ocean epic regarding Neraeos, not yet Lord of the Sea, and His triton companions in the empires of Achaea's eastern sea.

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THE SLAYING OF THE LEVIATHAN

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The Leviathan, for the record, was (and maybe still is) the most feared and massive creature the sea kingdom had to offer from the past 200 years or so. Aside from the great, intelligent sea dragons of the deep that cannot always be considered monsters, the Leviathan was the king of underwater terror with the might of fifty krakens put together. So impressive was this creature that it is remembered with a capital "L". There was no triton that was able to lay his eyes on it and live, and because of this, the wrath of the Leviathan in the tritonic empires only enhanced its great dominion of the depths.

So when rumors of the Leviathan spread telling horrific tales of dozens of demolished villages and slaughters that forsook many lives, something needed to be done. The almost dormant League of the Seven Cities was called to action with great skepticism, for it had been several decades since this great alliance stirred. With the passing years, each of the triton and mermic city-states had grown in difference, and several hostilities between nations had been occurring as one would expect in a realm that houses several authorities all at once. Indeed, this was the last union the League would ever see.

The League of the Seven Cities alliance was ordered to organize in Scyros, naturally, being the political capital of the Eusian Sea. Ambassadors, generals, queens, and kings from each kingdom came: from Phocia, Lothos, Aegos, Lemnos, Caspia, Scyros, and Riparium. While hours and hours of debate endured in the Scyrian Senate, priests and priestess prayed to Caspian, Father of the Sea for guidance. In granted dismay, however, no signs of the Elder Sea God came forth as it had done so recently for several years. The coming of the Leviathan disheartened them. No one could account for why Caspian would not aid His seafolk in their time of distress, and many even dared to believe He had abandoned them, but that is another story for a later time.

Necessarily though, the Divine Sea Prince Neraeos was present, presiding over the meeting. His impressive presence dominated the Senate, being of quiet, calculating countenance. It was He who, when a possibility of joining massive forces was brought forth, decided that if this was the chosen course of action He would fight alongside them. And it was.

So began the accumulation of the largest army the ocean kingdom had ever seen. The disciplined Phocian Tempests walked alongside the barbaric and ferocious Aegian Knights, their most hated enemy. Lanced warriors from Lothos and muscular, powerful finned mermen from Riparium ranked in rows for several leagues straight. The tritons from Scyros stood resolute, their silver turret shields powerfully emanating silent strength. And who else in front but the demi-god Neraeos and by His side Idomenaeos, now a Tempest, Iocolas, the coralwarden, and Aeolos, Neraeos' first, best, and most trusted friend and advisor.

The gigantic force met their foe (and the fate of the inhabitants of these entire seas) hundreds of fathoms north in the direction of the Holy City of Caspia in the frigid, freezing, and demoralizing darkness of Borak's Sea. Nay, they did not first come into contact with the Leviathan in readiness, for it was still during their march northward did the hideous creature pounce on its prey. They were ambushed!

Taken aback by the sheer power of the beast, and again to panic by its awesome ugliness, the Army of the League suffered greatly in less than a small amount of time. Spears were unable to pierce the hardened skin of the monster. Nations from the warm-watered south had troops who were handicapped by the glacial waters for they were not used to fighting with practically numbed hands. Aegian hippocampi could not carry their knights fast enough to maneuver around the speed of the monster's jaws. The Leviathan chomped up straggling warriors in their retreat, leaving the enormous army to be composed of hopelessly little when Neraeos arrived.

Like a beacon of light, Neraeos and His party of four stood resolute when they received the attention of the Leviathan. To say they fought the leviathan on their own is far from false, for there are few mortals who would not be demoralized after such terrible circumstances and would stay to fight. Such courageousness is rare.

It is a pity, reader, that the glory of the battle in action is hardly justified by the words given to you here. Idomenaeos was battered away by a tail though unhurt, his large round shield splintered into tiny pieces. Aeolos was able to fend himself from it for a bit, giving Iocolas time to pursue other means of attack. Iocolas, with the abilities of a transcendent coralwarden, was able to lead a legion of dolphins to carry a net to ensnare the beast. They brought the net into it, entangling it, causing it to thrash in panic.

Alas! In its blood frenzy the Leviathan roared and lashed about, and somehow, too, caught Iocolas in the net! Iocolas surely could not escape the battering, and while the iron-fibered net sawed into his flesh, he died a warrior's death. It was this rare instance of distraction, however, that Neraeos seized an opportunity. Wielding the Spear of Tides, Neraeos hoisted it up above His shoulder and threw it with aimed precision and divine strength.

Indeed, as the spear pierced the eye of the Leviathan, it was slain! And as its body drifted down to fall and cause the seafloor to tremble against its' weight, the remains of Iocolas went with it, irretrievable. His sacrifice is remembered throughout tritonic myth today.

One of latest epics of Lord Neraeos' demi-godhood days, this legend further influenced the faith of the tritonic people in His might and abilities. The blood of the Leviathan was collected to be later used in holy rituals, is considered sacred to the seafolk, and is also used to annoint the newest members of the Order of Neraeos from Sapience. Where the Leviathan came from no one knows, but one would hope that another like it will never come again. May we be blessed with the grace of the seas.