Prey...
An eerily cheerful smile lighted upon a childish face, deep blue eyes turned up towards what she knew as the sky. Thin beams of light pierced down from the heavens above, shimmering and waving erratically, their tenuous, warming grasp choked out by an oppressive blue long before they reached Scylla. But where another child would reach desperately, screaming, towards the little glimmer of hope they could see, Scylla simply... snickered.
How stupid those immortals had been, thinking they could keep her down for even a moment. How terrified they must have been, to decide they’d cast her away rather than deal with her properly. The child giggled, her body almost... moving on its own, it seemed. Beneath her, in the inky recesses, low growls distorted by water, rumbled up. Rocks scattered and fell, and glowing red orbs turned upwards in the same manner Scylla did.
Well, it didn’t matter to her. They could’ve killed her and chained her down in Tartarus and still she would claw her way free. None of them could have captured her and contained her. And sure enough, neither would this hell they’d thrown her to. As soon as she knew where she was, she could find her way back, and when she did... Oh, those immortals would be so surprised.
Scylla took in a deep breath, salty brine filling up her mouth, and her lungs (if they could even be called that anymore). She snapped out a brusque order, voice distorted to something... unrecognizable as human by the ocean water. But perfectly coherent to others. Beneath her flowing gown, her dogs shifting, growling eagerly, throwing aside current-worn pebbles beneath their scaly bodies.
Ajax, Achilles, Cyril, and Zoey, all spurred on by the master’s order, turned their heads up and thrust off the rocky ground. Their heads waved back and forth, their serpentine bodies slithering up through the water, carrying away their master, connected to them by body. High, high above, where water met air, where the ocean gave way to heaven, where tumultuous, raging wings ravaged at the surface of the sea, Scylla could see Prey.
The aquamarine light streaming erratically through the water wasn’t the light of the sun. It was the dim light of a storm, where pounding rain and flashing lightning ruled the surface, and even sent the depths into turmoil. Massive waves pounded above, the very ocean itself shifting about as one horror of this ocean deep rose up.
And amidst it all, stuck in all this chaos and mayhem, the monster could make out hulls. Wooden ships that just so happened to have the misfortune of getting stuck above her hideout when the storm struck. They could weather this squall alright. When she’d first ventured to the surface of this strange new place, Scylla had watched. She saw the massive, floating islands above, and far below, almost insignificant when compared to the heavenly land masses, boats. Fleets, even. Poor people cast down, never to be seen again, stuck to live the remainder of their miserable lives floating.
And since she’d watched, Scylla knew. Those who lived here knew how to handle the ocean. They fished up prey of their own from the sea, they handled monsters well, and she’d never seen a wreckage after a storm. But while they knew how to handle monsters and storms, it occurred to Scylla that both at once certainly wasn’t easier.
Up and down, up and down, up and down... The little girl’s eyes locked onto the smallest boat of the fleet as the massive swells tossed it around. And, to a lesser degree, her, as she got caught in the stormy currents. Up... and down... and drawing ever closer. Each dip in the waves only brought them closer to their death, and Scylla closer to her meal. And then, with the small wooden ship only meters away, a command.
With a quick movement, the small redhead darted to the left and grabbed hold of Ajax, holding tightly to the dog just in time for Achilles to respond to her order. With gnashing teeth and a water-distorted bark, the wolf-headed creature lunged forward, massive fangs sinking into one of the water-sogged wooden planks. A low growl rose out of Achilles as it shook and twisted its body. Scylla’s whole form writhed with the one dog, and with the flow of the current as a wave dashed her body against the side of the ship, but safely clinging to Ajax, it was only her dogs who were really subject to it.
With a powerful snap, the board Achilles attacked broke loose, and with a flick of its head, the dog discarded the plank. The ship lurched, and Scylla shouted out another order, followed by another. Ajax’s coiling body wiggled away from the ship, carrying its master to safety, and Cyril lunged forward with the same, bloodthirsty growl as Achilles. More teeth sunk into more wood, and already weakened by the previous assaults, the two dogs made short work of board after board after board.
Ocean poured into the newly made hole, tugging at Scylla and her dogs, but too weak to drag them in, even as the opening was quickly made wider and wider. And then, a command. All four of her dogs lunged forth into the abject darkness of the hole, hidden from even the light of the flashing lightning. Their snake-like bodies spread out in every direction, pulling the entire monster into the ship. Releasing her grip on Ajax, the small girl lifted up, up towards the surface of the water, and with a splash, she broke free of the rising waterline.
Immediately Scylla was assaulted by the sound of frantic steps and harried screaming, the simultaneously salty and musky scent of below decks, and the glimmer of lantern lights. For a second, everything froze, everyone froze. All that sailors that had been rushing about trying to bail the water, pail in hand, had stopped at the sight of that little girl springing suddenly to the surface.
A creepy grin, illuminated only by the soft glow of the lanterns, lit the child’s face. She spat out a lungful of water as, beneath the slowly-rising waters, four pairs of glowing red eyes slowly slithered forward. Scylla’s mouth opened, baring fangs just slightly off, and with one word, she broke the terrified silence.
“Hunt!”
The order came out rough, aggressive, but still ostensibly childish, and all hell broke loose. Salty waters erupted in a powerful spray as all four of Scylla’s dogs attacked, lunging to the surface in a trained formation that kept the girl stable. Physically, at least. The frantic yelling morphed into horrified screams as the sailors discarded their pails (with a few throwing them at the dogs) and began a panicked charge towards exits, and towards whatever weapons might be found in the bowels of the ship.
And above it all, rose that downright evil cackle of Scylla’s. Ajax and Achilles slithered up out of the water, onto the damp platform just forward of them and, snarling, immediately lunged for the first fleeing souls in sight. Two screams cut off into choked garbles as the massive wolf heads seized them, their bones and bodies crunching as both dogs gave ‘em a good shake and then quickly discarded them to the side.
Off to the sides, Cyril and Zoey did much the same, hauling the armed and dangerous up by their feet and dashing them against the wall. Together, all four of them worked like a pack of well-trained ratters. Spending no more than a second on one little rodent before moving onto the next. They could feast after the slaughter, after all...
“Stop!” It wasn’t long before the order came. Scylla’s dogs cleared out the lower decks in what felt like record time. All four froze at her command, turning curiously to face her. In Zoey’s jaws hung the still-whimpering form of one last sailor, bloodied, battered, and missing... a delightful amount, but not dead. The look Scylla gave Zoey was enough. One last soft crack and the sailor fell silent, before being ungracefully dropped in the water with a splash.
The redhead cast her gaze about the almost completely flooded hull, chuckling quietly to herself as she counted up all the floating corpses, and all the stains of viscera stuck to the walls lit up by the dim light of overturned lanterns, one after another being slowly snuffed out by the rising waters. All this would be washed away once the depths claimed this vessel.
“Alright~” Scylla’s voice held a menacing tone in it. “Ajax? Achilles? Cyril? Zoey?” She said smoothly, almost singing, glancing between each wolf-headed snake as she said their names. “Let’s have some fun!” Though innocent-sounding, those words were as much an order as all her others had been. Glowing red eyes and snarling visages turned up towards the staircase that led above decks, and the slithering dogs carried forward.
There was no doubt in Scylla’s mind that the other ships knew about her by now. If not from the one or two escapees, then by the screams. It didn’t matter though. That only made it all the more exciting!
An eerily cheerful smile lighted upon a childish face, deep blue eyes turned up towards what she knew as the sky. Thin beams of light pierced down from the heavens above, shimmering and waving erratically, their tenuous, warming grasp choked out by an oppressive blue long before they reached Scylla. But where another child would reach desperately, screaming, towards the little glimmer of hope they could see, Scylla simply... snickered.
How stupid those immortals had been, thinking they could keep her down for even a moment. How terrified they must have been, to decide they’d cast her away rather than deal with her properly. The child giggled, her body almost... moving on its own, it seemed. Beneath her, in the inky recesses, low growls distorted by water, rumbled up. Rocks scattered and fell, and glowing red orbs turned upwards in the same manner Scylla did.
Well, it didn’t matter to her. They could’ve killed her and chained her down in Tartarus and still she would claw her way free. None of them could have captured her and contained her. And sure enough, neither would this hell they’d thrown her to. As soon as she knew where she was, she could find her way back, and when she did... Oh, those immortals would be so surprised.
Scylla took in a deep breath, salty brine filling up her mouth, and her lungs (if they could even be called that anymore). She snapped out a brusque order, voice distorted to something... unrecognizable as human by the ocean water. But perfectly coherent to others. Beneath her flowing gown, her dogs shifting, growling eagerly, throwing aside current-worn pebbles beneath their scaly bodies.
Ajax, Achilles, Cyril, and Zoey, all spurred on by the master’s order, turned their heads up and thrust off the rocky ground. Their heads waved back and forth, their serpentine bodies slithering up through the water, carrying away their master, connected to them by body. High, high above, where water met air, where the ocean gave way to heaven, where tumultuous, raging wings ravaged at the surface of the sea, Scylla could see Prey.
The aquamarine light streaming erratically through the water wasn’t the light of the sun. It was the dim light of a storm, where pounding rain and flashing lightning ruled the surface, and even sent the depths into turmoil. Massive waves pounded above, the very ocean itself shifting about as one horror of this ocean deep rose up.
And amidst it all, stuck in all this chaos and mayhem, the monster could make out hulls. Wooden ships that just so happened to have the misfortune of getting stuck above her hideout when the storm struck. They could weather this squall alright. When she’d first ventured to the surface of this strange new place, Scylla had watched. She saw the massive, floating islands above, and far below, almost insignificant when compared to the heavenly land masses, boats. Fleets, even. Poor people cast down, never to be seen again, stuck to live the remainder of their miserable lives floating.
And since she’d watched, Scylla knew. Those who lived here knew how to handle the ocean. They fished up prey of their own from the sea, they handled monsters well, and she’d never seen a wreckage after a storm. But while they knew how to handle monsters and storms, it occurred to Scylla that both at once certainly wasn’t easier.
Up and down, up and down, up and down... The little girl’s eyes locked onto the smallest boat of the fleet as the massive swells tossed it around. And, to a lesser degree, her, as she got caught in the stormy currents. Up... and down... and drawing ever closer. Each dip in the waves only brought them closer to their death, and Scylla closer to her meal. And then, with the small wooden ship only meters away, a command.
With a quick movement, the small redhead darted to the left and grabbed hold of Ajax, holding tightly to the dog just in time for Achilles to respond to her order. With gnashing teeth and a water-distorted bark, the wolf-headed creature lunged forward, massive fangs sinking into one of the water-sogged wooden planks. A low growl rose out of Achilles as it shook and twisted its body. Scylla’s whole form writhed with the one dog, and with the flow of the current as a wave dashed her body against the side of the ship, but safely clinging to Ajax, it was only her dogs who were really subject to it.
With a powerful snap, the board Achilles attacked broke loose, and with a flick of its head, the dog discarded the plank. The ship lurched, and Scylla shouted out another order, followed by another. Ajax’s coiling body wiggled away from the ship, carrying its master to safety, and Cyril lunged forward with the same, bloodthirsty growl as Achilles. More teeth sunk into more wood, and already weakened by the previous assaults, the two dogs made short work of board after board after board.
Ocean poured into the newly made hole, tugging at Scylla and her dogs, but too weak to drag them in, even as the opening was quickly made wider and wider. And then, a command. All four of her dogs lunged forth into the abject darkness of the hole, hidden from even the light of the flashing lightning. Their snake-like bodies spread out in every direction, pulling the entire monster into the ship. Releasing her grip on Ajax, the small girl lifted up, up towards the surface of the water, and with a splash, she broke free of the rising waterline.
Immediately Scylla was assaulted by the sound of frantic steps and harried screaming, the simultaneously salty and musky scent of below decks, and the glimmer of lantern lights. For a second, everything froze, everyone froze. All that sailors that had been rushing about trying to bail the water, pail in hand, had stopped at the sight of that little girl springing suddenly to the surface.
A creepy grin, illuminated only by the soft glow of the lanterns, lit the child’s face. She spat out a lungful of water as, beneath the slowly-rising waters, four pairs of glowing red eyes slowly slithered forward. Scylla’s mouth opened, baring fangs just slightly off, and with one word, she broke the terrified silence.
“Hunt!”
The order came out rough, aggressive, but still ostensibly childish, and all hell broke loose. Salty waters erupted in a powerful spray as all four of Scylla’s dogs attacked, lunging to the surface in a trained formation that kept the girl stable. Physically, at least. The frantic yelling morphed into horrified screams as the sailors discarded their pails (with a few throwing them at the dogs) and began a panicked charge towards exits, and towards whatever weapons might be found in the bowels of the ship.
And above it all, rose that downright evil cackle of Scylla’s. Ajax and Achilles slithered up out of the water, onto the damp platform just forward of them and, snarling, immediately lunged for the first fleeing souls in sight. Two screams cut off into choked garbles as the massive wolf heads seized them, their bones and bodies crunching as both dogs gave ‘em a good shake and then quickly discarded them to the side.
Off to the sides, Cyril and Zoey did much the same, hauling the armed and dangerous up by their feet and dashing them against the wall. Together, all four of them worked like a pack of well-trained ratters. Spending no more than a second on one little rodent before moving onto the next. They could feast after the slaughter, after all...
“Stop!” It wasn’t long before the order came. Scylla’s dogs cleared out the lower decks in what felt like record time. All four froze at her command, turning curiously to face her. In Zoey’s jaws hung the still-whimpering form of one last sailor, bloodied, battered, and missing... a delightful amount, but not dead. The look Scylla gave Zoey was enough. One last soft crack and the sailor fell silent, before being ungracefully dropped in the water with a splash.
The redhead cast her gaze about the almost completely flooded hull, chuckling quietly to herself as she counted up all the floating corpses, and all the stains of viscera stuck to the walls lit up by the dim light of overturned lanterns, one after another being slowly snuffed out by the rising waters. All this would be washed away once the depths claimed this vessel.
“Alright~” Scylla’s voice held a menacing tone in it. “Ajax? Achilles? Cyril? Zoey?” She said smoothly, almost singing, glancing between each wolf-headed snake as she said their names. “Let’s have some fun!” Though innocent-sounding, those words were as much an order as all her others had been. Glowing red eyes and snarling visages turned up towards the staircase that led above decks, and the slithering dogs carried forward.
There was no doubt in Scylla’s mind that the other ships knew about her by now. If not from the one or two escapees, then by the screams. It didn’t matter though. That only made it all the more exciting!