Deserted Island, Island District, Old World
The sun rises over the archipelago known as the Island District, its presence chasing away the darkness and turning the once-black, cloudless sky into a masterpiece of purples, deep pinks, orangey yellows, and pale blues. As the light hits the water, it causes the sea to sparkle, giving it an ethereal appearance, and adding to the beauty of this morning.
Waves crash against the rocks and cliffs of Moga Island, continuously chipping away at the stone and ruins that reside for the most part beneath the waves. It is this unstoppable force that has carved out the many caves, tunnels, vertical drops, and smooth stone beaches which are found throughout the coastline.
With the help of both warm and cold oceanic currents which bring vital nutrients to the archipelago, the waters around the deserted island and its neighbors are teaming with life, supporting an incredible variety of aquatic lifeforms. Whether it be the many species of Tuna or the incredibly rare and mysterious Ceadeus, the area is more than capable of supporting any type of animal; even those that lack aquatic capabilities can profit from the sea's bounty, either feeding off beached carcasses or actively diving into this alien world. Even the landmass' vegetation benefits from the decomposing corpses of sea creatures that are dragged inland and provide the plants with otherwise inaccessible nutrients.
The ocean may provide life to all the inhabitants of this landmass, but it can just as easily take it away. Those who aren't prepared to confront the ocean's power risk being swept away by large waves or smashed into rocks and dragged under by the mighty currents. They may also encounter and become victims of the rulers of the deep. Even for those who are perfectly adapted to life at sea, this deceptively hostile environment can still pull the unwary to a watery grave. Due to the sea's unpredictability, many of the animals that aren't fully aquatic still rest on land. Even top-holder carnivores prefer the safer and slightly more reliable coastline when it comes to sleeping, and Spark, a young bull Lagiacrus, is no different.
Sprawled out across the stone beach, the massive leviathan is woken by the morning light hitting his eyes; however, he doesn't mind and starts basking in the warm rays. Although gigantothermy doesn't make this specific behavior necessary for him to start moving, Spark still enjoys the feeling. Once he's done basking, Spark finally opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. Getting up, he begins pulling his large body over the beach and towards the crystalline water, ready to begin his day.
As the Lagiacrus reaches the water's edge and places his feet into the ocean, he looks at the glistening surface, searching for any potential threats that may be lurking in the depths. Spark may have reached sexual maturity, making him an adult, but he hasn't yet attained a size where he would be immune to predation for the most part.
He may have outgrown most of his old enemies such as Royal Ludroths and Gobuls, but he's still small enough for Plesioths to see him as prey that's not too dangerous to tackle; however, the biggest threat to Spark's survival is another member of his species. Seen as a rival by other Lagiacrus bulls, he'd be lucky if the larger and older males only chase him off; however, the more likely outcome is that they would maul him or even try to kill him if they managed to catch him. Luckily for the young leviathan, everything appears to be clear and he enters the ocean, closing his nostrils to prevent the water from entering his respiratory system.
The further he goes the deeper the water becomes until he can finally push himself off the seabed, and begins swimming. Undulating his body from side to side, Spark's method of aquatic locomotion may not be the most efficient, but it still has some advantages since it allows him to more easily navigate the many underwater obstacles and coral reefs that surround the area.
Diving deeper into the warm shallows, Spark slowly begins picking up speed, his powerful tail propelling him through the waters while his limbs help him steer, and the hood-like structure on his neck makes him more hydrodynamic. Weaving around submerged boulders, he uses the massive obstacles as cover, allowing him to stay hidden from potential prey. It's during these early hours of the morning when he has the best chance of a successful kill, as light penetration in the water is poor; in addition to this, the silt that's floating around makes visibility even worse, practically making the leviathan invisible. The Lagiacrus's center-shaded body further adds to the difficulty of his prey seeing him, with his blue top and beige bottom blending in with both deep and surface water respectively.
However, while his prey may struggle to find him, he has no problems discovering their location. Thanks to some sensitive sensory organs, Spark can detect pressure waves in the water, allowing him to find moving objects without actually seeing them. Paying close attention to his surroundings, Spark senses something not too far away from his position and quickly dives, not wanting to give himself away if this is a possible prey item. Meanwhile, above him at the surface is a group of Epioths who are just about to go forage.
Unlike Spark and many other species of leviathans, Epioths are almost completely aquatic, only ever coming onto land to sleep or sunbathe; the rest of their time is spent in the water, usually feeding off seaweeds, water grasses, and algae. As the herbivores dive, they use their powerful tails to move, their fin-like feet allowing them to make sharp turns while their dorsal fins provide them with balance as they twirl around in the depths.
Despite being more competent in the water than most other leviathans, they're still very skittish, knowing that they're tempting targets for many aquatic predators. As the Epioths approach the marine garden below, they keep looking around, trying to spot any signs of danger. Reaching the bottom, they begin grazing, glancing around every few minutes to check for threats; however, none of them notices Spark hiding amongst the silt and stones. Although he hasn't been spotted, the Lagiacrus is still in a precarious position; his body can only attain high speeds in short bursts, meaning that if he's to succeed in this hunt, he must hit his target on the first try, if he misses, there won't be any second chances.
Lucky for the Lagiacrus, he does have one major advantage over his prey: he can stay submerged for longer. Thanks to his efficient breathing system, his species is capable of holding its breath for multiple hours, meaning that all Spark has to do is wait for an Epioth to run out of oxygen. Eventually, he gets an opportunity as an Epioth breaks off from the others and begins swimming up to the surface. With the herbivore's attention directed elsewhere, Spark positions himself under it so he can catch it off guard, then launches his attack.
Rushing towards his target at amazing speeds, the Lagiacrus opens his jaws and smashes into the smaller leviathan from below. Due to how fast Spark is going, his momentum continues to force his body forward, causing him to emerge from the water's surface in a spectacular polaris breach. Crashing back into the ocean, Spark moves back to the surface with his prey still in his mouth, the impact having killed it almost instantly. He may have made a kill, but now he has a new problem; lacking the tools needed to bite through flesh cleanly, chew, or stabilize his meal, the Lagiacrus instead has to use a more unconventional tactic to dismember the Epioth. Momentarily letting go of his victim before grabbing it by the tail, the leviathan begins violently smashing the corps against the water, swinging his head around in the process.
By shaking his head around and continuously hitting the Epioth against the ocean's surface, Spark is both slowly forcing his teeth and tooth-like protrusion around his mouth deeper into the corpse's flesh, and causing the tissues keeping the body together to tear. Finally, with one final swing, the Lagiacrus's victim is ripped in two, the tail getting swallowed while the rest is sent flying before splashing a few meters away.
Swimming over to the carcass, Spark grabs the Epioth's head and repeats the same motions, soon decapitating the herbivore as the main body tumbles across the water's surface, leaving behind a pool of crimson in the process. As the bloodied corpse floats there, the Lagiacrus clamps his jaws down on the torso and thrashes it around, until he finally manages to rip open the stomach thanks to his unrelenting assault.
Digging his snout into the body, he yanks out the animal's internal organs, the intestines pouring out of the gutted Epioth, and floating on top of the waves. By the time Spark is done eating, he's reduced the smaller leviathan to a nearly unidentifiable mass of skin, muscles, and bones. As fish gather around the remains of his meal, the Lagiacrus takes in a deep breath and dives back into the ocean and disappearing into the depths.
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Moving through one of the many underwater caverns that cover the island, a pack of Sharqs patrols the area as they search for something to eat. Despite being carnivores themselves, they commonly become prey for many of the large reptilian rulers of the sea, so to make themselves seem less appetizing they travel together. As they continue swimming, they begin to see something heading their way. Immediately the fishes turn around and flee as Spark emerges from the darkness, his long body undulating from side to side.
Despite the poor lighting conditions in the cave, Spark has little navigation problems, his sensory organs providing him with enough of an idea of his surroundings to not swim into obstacles. As he keeps weaving through the flooded tunnels, the Lagiacrus picks up something larger than himself moving around in the area. This immediately puts the Lagiacrus on guard as something bigger than him could mean danger.
Turning around, Spark begins swimming back the way he came, preferring to not risk meeting whatever's in here with him. Heading back to the cave entrance, the Lagiacrus begins using the electro-sacks located below his dorsal spikes to generate weak electrical pulses which give off some light to briefly illuminate his surroundings; unfortunately, this is also causing him to give away his location.
Unbeknownst to Spark, he's just caught the attention of an adult Plesioth by lightning up the area around him, putting himself in great danger. As the piscine wyvern closes in, it keeps its distance, not wanting to risk attracting what may be an adult Lagiacrus; this apprehension gives the leviathan enough time to exit the cave, but now, his enemy can see that he's still at a vulnerable size and begins swimming towards him, ready to go in for the kill.
As he's swimming up to the surface, Spark catches a glimpse of the oncoming Plesioth emerging from the cave. Immediately he activates his electro-sacks and generates an electrical field around himself; this forces the piscine wyvern to veer off course, but it doesn't go away, instead, it begins circling the Lagiacrus, waiting for its opportunity to strike.
Even though he hasn't fully mastered them yet, Spark's thunder abilities are very dangerous, more than capable of seriously injuring the piscine wyvern if it's not careful. But the Lagiacrus is also in danger; the Plesioth is much faster and more agile than him, meaning that fleeing isn't an option. If he's going to survive this encounter, he'll have to stand his ground.
Circling the Lagiacrus, the Plesioth knows that he can't keep this up forever, and once it gets its chance, it'll go in for the kill, using its razor-sharp teeth and venomous, sleep-inducing spines to put him out of action. As soon as Spark's electrical field goes down, the piscine wyvern lunges at him, jaws wide open; however, this is a mistake. As it reaches him, the leviathan reactivates his abilities and shocks to predator, causing it to recoil at the pain and back away.
Seeing his chance, Spark swims away, attempting to reach the shallow reefs to hopefully escape his attacker; however, as soon as the Plesioth recovers from this, it begins heading towards him. Quickly catching up to him, the Lagiacrus is forced to once again ward off the piscine wyvern with the threat of electrocution. This time the hunter keeps its distance weary of being subjected to a stronger voltage than before.
Luckily for the Lagiacrus, this time the threat is enough to keep the Plesioth from trying anything and he makes it to the reef; however, his adversary is persistent and follows him. Using the coral and boulders to his advantage, Spark manages to keep himself hidden, eventually succeeding in losing the piscine wyvern, and swims far away from the area, refusing to stay around and let his opponent find him once again.
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As midday changes to the afternoon, Spark makes his way back to land for a much-needed rest. Swimming up towards the rocky beaches, the Lagiacrus begins hauling himself onto the partially flooded shoreline, his thick hide protecting him from the jagged stones around him.
Continuing to move further inland, the terrain under the Lagiacrus's feet commences transitioning from rough stones to softer sediments, making the walk somewhat more comfortable as the water flows around his ankles. Feeling the sun beat down upon his scaly skin, Spark begins looking for a nice place to begin sunning himself.
Moving between the towering cliffs which flank him on both sides, the Lagiacrus keeps looking for an area to rest on; however, just as he finds what could be the perfect spot, he discovers it's already taken. Sleeping on a sandy outcrop is an Ivory Lagiacrus, and unfortunately for Spark, this one is considerably larger than him.
Other than the fact that he's severely outmatched by size alone, Ivory Lagiacruses have been able to learn to reliably use their electrical abilities on land, unlike non-leucistic individuals which tend to rely on water to help them, though it is still possible for regular Lagiacruses to learn this too; unfortunately for Spark, he's not one of them.
The reason why these leucistic individuals have better control over their electro-sacks outside of water surprisingly has to do with their coloration. Their predominantly white coloration allows them to blend in with the sky, giving them better success when fishing than regular individuals. Because of this change in hunting behavior, most Ivory Lagiacruses spend a lot of time outside the water, forcing them to learn to use their electrical abilities on dry land.
Spark may not be aware of this fact, but what he does know is that he doesn't stand a chance against this massive leviathan. Wisely, he decides to go look elsewhere before the Ivory Lagiacrus wakes up.
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After walking for about half an hour, Spark finally comes across a large, grassy clearing nestled between the deltas, cliffs, and forests. Moving towards the area's center, the Lagiacrus lays down and begins soaking in the sun's rays. Placing his head against the ground and closing his eyes, the leviathan feels himself beginning to relax.
However, his rest is suddenly interrupted when he hears something moving through the nearby woods. Opening his eyes, he glances at the trees as a Moofah bounds out of the vegetation, seemingly panic-stricken as it gallops towards him. Approaching him, the wooly mammal tries to stop and run around Spark; however, the sudden change in direction causes it to momentarily slip, making it nearly collide with him and kick dust into his left eye. Blinded, the leviathan immediately rises its head and roars in pain, swinging his head around as he tries to dislodge the particles in his face.
Sprinting away from the roaring leviathan, the Moofah attempts to flee back into the woods; however, as it makes a run for it, its escape route is cut off by a Jaggi. The mammal leaps back in surprise and fear as the theropod bird wyvern screeches at it, upset that its initial lunge missed. The wooly animal attempts to fight it off with its horns, but things only get worse for it as more members of the pack arrive. Trapped between the Jaggis and Spark, it seems like it's the end for this Moofah; however, it hasn't quite run out of luck just yet.
Spark's eyes tear up in an attempt to flush out the irritating dust, but this doesn't give him immediate relief and he starts scraping his face on the ground in a futile attempt to regain his vision. Unbeknownst to Spark, his flailing around has just forced some of the theropod bird wyverns to leap back to avoid getting hit, leaving the Moofah with a way to escape.
With their prey sprinting for the opening, the pack dashes for the fleeing mammal; however the Moofah is nearly as fast and agile as they are, making it hard for them to catch it. One Jaggi manages to grab the herbivore by the rump, but as it tries to slow the animal down, the wool in its mouth falls away, causing it to tumble to the ground in a cloud of dust. The other theropod bird wyverns desperately attempt to salvage the situation, but their efforts aren't enough and their target successfully escapes.
Despite having failed to capture their prey, the pack doesn't have time to rest or sulk about this with Spark thrashing around. Scattering, the Jaggis continually find themselves narrowly avoiding the Lagiacrus's movements as the leviathan slowly regains his vision. By the time he's able to see again, the theropod bird wyverns have left the area, leaving nothing but footprints in their wake. Looking around, Spark lays back down and resumes his sunbathing as if nothing had happened.
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As the hours pass and the sun starts dipping down towards the distant horizon, Spark starts heading back to the coastline. With every step he takes, the Lagiacrus gets closer to his destination; however, as he passes the area where he saw the Ivory Lagiacrus, he sees that it's no longer there.
Not knowing where the larger animal is, Spark begins looking around worriedly. Knowing that the Ivory Lagiacrus could rip him to shreds if they bumped into each other, the smaller Lagiacrus has plenty of reasons to be nervous. Moving with extreme caution, the leviathan hurriedly starts crawling away, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.
Turning a corner, Spark is expecting a clear way to get to the coast; however, what he finds is the Ivory Lagiacrus blocking his way. The smaller leviathan backs up as his larger adversary advances, a large Tuna hanging from its jaws.
Spark is pinned between the cliff faces and the massive leviathan, and without the knowledge of how to produce his electrical field on land, things seem grim for him. However, to his surprise, the Ivory Lagiacrus doesn't attack him or even attempt to chase him off, instead, it just walks past him with its meal.
Not seeing him as a rival for the food in this area due to their vastly different hunting strategies, the larger animal simply leaves the Lagiacrus alone, deciding not to waste energy over an unnecessary fight. With his path now cleared, Spark quickly moves away from the Ivory Lagiacrus.
After a few more minutes of walking, the Lagiacrus arrives at the beach just as the sun vanishes. With the moon rising behind him, the leviathan starts moving over the shoreline, with rocks and sand shifting under his feet as he does so.
As he continues walking, the Lagiacrus can just about make out the outline of a cave entrance in the pale moonlight. Approaching this potential resting place, he notices the water begins to glow with the light of bioluminescent algae and some other species of leviathans, making the ocean give off a magical vibe. Entertaining the cavern, Spark makes himself comfortable and curls up, the sound of lapping waves slowly aiding him to drift off to sleep.