The City of the Dead

Chapter 11

"I'm sorry, but what exactly is a Cthulhu?" I screamed over the alarm, unsure of what was happening. My head was pounding as I prayed for the blaring to stop.

"It's the second deadliest monster to roam the seas: part octopus; part human; and part dragon. It has the power to breathe underwater and can breathe fire. I've faced it once before and believe me when I say you do not want to see this thing."

"Second deadliest?" I almost didn't hear the rest of what he had said.

"Yes, second to only the Kraken. That is a monster that no man stands a chance against."

"You've never heard of a ship surviving the Kraken?"

"Never. The Kraken hunts its prey down and once it reaches them, they don't stand a chance. The beast is almost impossible to injure, and even more impossible to kill."

"How does it choose its victims?"

"It has a master," Dyson replied gravely.

"Please tell me this isn't exactly like Pirates of the Caribbean. The Kraken's master isn't Davy Jones is it?"

Dyson chuckled, but quickly turned serious again. "I don't know what Pirates of the Caribbean is, but Davy Jones is long since dead. It is legend that he used to command it, but he died eons ago. Now the Kraken has a new master, but no one knows exactly who it is. Many have speculated that it is Blackbeard since in his three hundred years sailing the seas it has never once attacked him. Everyone knows who Blackbeard is, and the Kraken's master would likely send its pet to finish him off."

"How do you know this isn't a Kraken then?"

"The alarms would be much louder." Just as he finished his sentence, the alarms stopped and my ears had a constant ring in them, making my head throb. 

"What does this Cthulhu do exactly?"

"It sneaks up on its prey very slowly. Then once it is within a mile of the ship it slowly begins to rise out of the sea. When you see it, it doesn't seem like a threat because of its size. It looks like it could hardly move, but believe me it can. Once you see it, you have five minutes tops before you're dead. You have to get every weapon you possibly can find and prepare to fire every last cannon. 

"Once it is within two hundred feet, it begins to breathe fire on the ship. Eventually, the ship will just burn up. That's the case for most ships that don't have Blackbeard as a captain.

"As you know, Blackbeard has powers over the water. He can move the water to make it douse the ship, and then the fire will hopefully go out. Last time that occurred, something happened that none of us expected: the Cthulhu had wings. It flew at us and hooked itself onto our ship with its tentacles. Blackbeard led the fight and he got a lucky shot, hitting the Cthulhu in the eye, blinding it. It went back the depths and has only been reported attacking one ship. That was last week, and there were no survivors. All that was left to tell the story was the damage." He shook his head sadly, mourning the lives of the pirates.

"This time Blackbeard can't fight though; he's too weak. Is he even going to be able to use the water to surround the ship?" I demanded.

"I'm not sure."

"I'm going to help them. I'm on this ship and I'm not going to let it go down without trying to do something about it. You stay here. I don't want you to hurt yourself any worse than you already are. I'll be back soon." I jumped to my feet and ran to the door before Dyson could do anything.

"Emer-" I was out the door before he finished. It was stupid to go in without a weapon, but there wasn't much of a choice. There was no way I could find my way to the weapons room on time, and if Dyson's timing was correct, we had mere minutes before the attack would occur. I took the stairs three at a time, almost tripping on the top step.