Ruler Of Iron And Flesh

Inian and Janae sat in the Queen's discussion area with the large table in the center. The Queen had agreed that half their forces would fight with Inian, including their behemoth level mecha.

They made it official by signing a doc.u.ment that had the Queen's seal on it.

"Burt will go with you to Predo, to show that you have already gained our support," Queen Irigia said.

"Thank you, your majesty. With you, fighting against the Empire has become that much more possible." Inian said.

The Queen nodded and proclaimed, "Off with you now! Don't come back until Predo has joined our alliance."

The trio bowed and quickly left the castle. Inian left Kraque and Reclusa in Irigia because they are not very inconspicuous when traveling. Inian, Janae, and Burt went and found a vehicle that was given to them by the Queen. It was the fastest land vehicle that they could get.

Janae hopped in the driver's seat, and the trio began driving.

Traveling East to the Sea wasn't too tricky, but they had to go through Weton, which was under Imperial control.

Burt was prepared, however, and paid off low-level guards at local checkpoints on their way to the Ocean.

It only took them three days in the vehicle to make it to the ocean, and they were exhausted, but they had no time for a rest stop.

"I can't believe you did that to the guard, Janae!" Inian said.

"What? He deserved it."

"Hey friends, a boat dock is right up ahead." Burt said.

They looked up to see a few boats lined up against the dock. A manager was talking to a few people about the boats.

The trio walked up to them and overheard the conversation, "It's too dangerous right now, I won't let you take a boat out." Said the manager.

The other man crossed his arms, "I don't plan to go out that far, just a little fishing trip."

The manager wasn't budging, "no means no. Now go back to your home." The man threw his hands up in defeat and walked away. Burt was the first one to go up and talk to the manager, "Excuse me, kind sir."

"What?! I haven't had a good day, so speak quickly."

Burt scratched his bald head, "you see, we need a boat to cross the ocean and get to the Predo Dynasty."

The manager looked frustrated, "I already told the young lad over there no, and I'm going to tell you all the same thing. There have been more sea monsters as of late, and I'm not letting anybody take a boat out."

Inian stepped forward, "I'm sorry, but we have no choice. We will pay you what we must, but we need to get to the Predo Dynasty. We don't have a choice."

The manager saw Inian's steadfast determination. He sighed, "I can't give you a boat after I just refused someone..."

"Then we'll have to take it 'by force' and leave you some compensation."

The manager raised his eyebrows, "okay then. It'll be 10 Diamond coins to rent it for a month. Return her clean and in good condition, please."

"Alright then," Inian replied. He dropped the coins in the manager's hand then went to one of the sh.i.p.s on the dock.

Each ship was the same, and they had enough space and long-lasting supplies onboard to last them for three months. They weren't supposed to use all the supplies, but they were there for emergencies.

"Why aren't we taking a flying ship?" Asked Janae.

Burt responded, "it's too far to take a flying ship, none of them would be able to make it. Except for a select few, but those are not available to us."

Janae sighed, "Time to get sick on the ship."

The ship had a top deck and four rooms inside the hull. A recharging mid-tier monster core powered it. It wasn't fast, but they could travel for a long time.

Janae rubbed her hands together and went to the wheel; she was turning levers and pressed buttons that Inian had no idea what they did.

Burt went below deck to check their supplies and begin cooking some food. Inian untied the ship from the dock, and soon enough, they were off in the direction of the Predo Dynasty.

The water was smooth for a while, but then it got rougher and rougher the further they traveled out into open waters.

*BLEGH*

Janae was wretching over the side of the ship. She slumped on the railing, hanging over the edge.

Burt had taken over the ship's steering, which left Inian to cook for them.

Inian marched below deck and grimaced as he stared at a vast array of cutting tools and spices. 'It looks like Burt had quite the operation going on down here.'

Most of the supplies on the ship were nasty and were meant to be long-lasting, but there were some fresh ingredients on the boat.

Inian was chopping onions when he heard Burt yell from the top of the ship, "Inian! Stop what you're doing and get up here!"

He dashed up the stairs to see storm clouds rolling spiraling towards them.

"I'm no seaman but, that doesn't look like a normal set up storm clouds."

Inian replied, "those aren't natural at all."

Suddenly, the boat rocked viciously to the sides. Waves began forming on the bottom of the ship, and Janae who was hanging off the side fell overboard.

"Janae! Inian called out as he ran to the railing.

He didn't see her in the water anywhere, so he jumped in after her.

The water rushed around his face as he dived in to save Janae. He could see through the muck of the water a bit due to him being the king.

Looking around, he spotted Janae and swam towards her. But behind her, barely visible to his eye, was an enormous monster. It was the size of a mountain, with a long scaly neck and the head of a dragon. Its lower half was a mass of hundreds of long tentacles that writhed about behind it.

Inian screamed after seeing the terrifying monster, and half his air went out of his lungs.

He needed to get Janae though and swam like he never swam before to grab her. He reached under her arms and began swimming up back towards the boat.

Through the water, he heard the chuckling of the beast behind him.

Inian's legs moved powerfully to get to the ship when he heard a voice resounding in his mind, "aaaahhhhh, so you are the king young one?"

Inian began to panic when he saw the mountainous monster start moving closer to him. He breached the surface to toss Janae out of the water and onto the boat, then dived back under.

He was prepared to fight the monster if he needed to, even though his body was shaking, even under the water.

The monster moved closer and closer until his snout was right next to Inian. The beast smiled a crooked smile.

Inian gulped, he wasn't even the size of one of its hundreds of teeth.

"You ARE the king! Lucky day!" The beast roared.

The water vibrated with every syllable spoken to him.

"You would try to cross MY waters, young king? I am a descendant of the dragon, and you are not the ruler here."

Inian's heart dropped when he heard that, so he raised his arms and prepared to fight to the death.

"oh no, young king. I will not fight you; instead, I will help you! No monster will bother you while you cross the waters to get to one of your human nations. After all, you need to stay ALIVE, so my older brother has the chance to kill you. He has been waiting for so long."

One of the monster's tentacles wrapped around Inian, completely enveloping him.

"Keep in mind that I can kill you any time, your majesty."

The monster laughed and tossed Inian out of the water.

He shot one hundred feet up into the air before he came crashing down on the ship. "oooaahhh," Inian g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

Burt was yelling from the ship's wheel, "What happened down there Inian? Why were you down there for so long?"

Inian got chills thinking about the fact that there was a monster the size of a mountain right below them, "sorry Burt, but it's best if I just don't tell you."

Burt snorted, "fine, be that way."

Janae was coughing and spitting up water. "Are you okay?" Inian asked.

"I'm fine, but I thought I saw something down there. Did I?"

Inian shook his head, "no, it must've been your imagination running wild. Anyway, I'm glad you're okay."

Janae nodded her head and went to lay down below deck. The group continued their journey in relative peace, but only Inian knew about the threat that was always lurking below them.