The problem with leading an army of apex land predators was that they had very strong opinions about water. specifically, that it should be in a cup, or a river shallow enough to walk through.
It should definitely not be endless.
Elara stood on a cliff edge, overlooking a vast, churning expanse of turquoise ocean. The salty wind whipped her hair across her face. It was beautiful.
Behind her, the Union Expeditionary Force looked horrified.
"It is... too much water," Kaelen grumbled. The Lion Alpha was wearing his 'tactical sunglasses' and carrying a backpack filled almost exclusively with dried meat and confiscated Twinkies. He took a step back from the cliff. "It is a desert of death-liquid."
"It's the ocean, Kaelen," Elara said, breathing in the salt air. "It's where the signal is coming from."
Roric stood beside a palm tree, looking at the crashing waves with deep suspicion. "The noise. It never stops. It is like the earth is screaming."
"It's crashing waves, Roric. It's soothing."
"It is aggressive," the Wolf countered. "And I cannot smell anything but salt. My nose is blind here."
Zev, naturally, was the only one having a good time. He was dive-bombing the surf, skimming his talons over the water, and screeching happily as spray hit his feathers.
"LOOK AT ME!" Zev shouted, pulling up into a loop. "I AM FISHING! I CAUGHT A SLIMY ROCK! OH WAIT, IT IS A JELLY-BLOB! IT STINGS! I REGRET THIS!"
The Logistics of Leaving
They had traveled South for two weeks, leaving Vance's Landing in the capable hands of the Beta Lions and the reformed Ferals. The goal was simple: Trace the radio signal Zev had picked up.
The signal was a rhythmic, Morse-code-like tapping. Elara had translated a fragment of it: ...help... rising... deep...
"Okay," Elara said, turning to her three Alphas. "The signal is coming from an island chain about fifty miles out. We can't walk there. We can't fly everyone there—Zev can't carry Kaelen that far without getting a hernia."
"I have very strong thighs!" Zev shouted from the sky, dropping the jellyfish.
"We need," Elara took a deep breath, "a boat."
Kaelen looked at her. "A boat. This is... a floating bowl?"
"Basically. A big wooden house that floats."
Kaelen crossed his massive arms. "The Lion does not float. The Lion sinks. The Lion is dense with muscle and majesty."
"We will build a raft," Elara insisted. "We have the trees. We have the canvas. And I have the engineering diagrams from the City."
The Boat Building Montage
Building a seaworthy vessel with Stone Age warlords was exactly as chaotic as Elara feared.
Day 1: Elara explained the concept of buoyancy (things floating). Kaelen tested this by throwing heavy rocks into the water. "The rock sank," Kaelen reported. "Yes." "I am heavy like a rock." "But wood floats, Kaelen! We put you on the wood!"
Day 3: Roric's Wolves proved to be excellent carpenters. Their obsession with precision meant they carved the hull logs to fit together perfectly without nails. However, they insisted on carving scary faces into every single plank to "scare the water demons." "The boat looks haunted, Roric," Elara noted. "The ocean must know we are dangerous," Roric replied, sanding a fanged skull on the rudder.
Day 5: Zev was in charge of the sails. He had scavenged parachutes from the Vance City supply depot. "It is too colorful!" Kaelen complained, looking at the bright orange and neon green fabric. "We look like a poisonous fruit!" "We look festive!" Zev argued. "And if we sink, they can find our bodies easily!" "ZEV, STOP HELPING," Elara yelled.
The Launch of the S.S. Twinkie
A week later, the vessel was ready.
It was a trimaran—three hulls lashed together for stability—with a massive orange parachute sail and a deck wide enough for Kaelen to pace without falling off.
Elara christened it The Horizon. Kaelen called it The Floating Coffin. Zev called it The S.S. Twinkie (because of the creamy filling of supplies in the hold).
They pushed it into the surf.
"Okay," Elara said, standing at the tiller. "Everyone on board. Life vests on."
She had fashioned life vests out of empty plastic jerry-cans and leather straps. Kaelen looked absolutely ridiculous wearing four yellow plastic jugs strapped to his chest over his muscles.
"I look like a bloated bee," Kaelen growled.
"You look buoyant," Elara assured him. "Get on."
They waded out. Kaelen hissed every time a wave touched his knees. Roric hopped onto the deck with dry feet, refusing to touch the water at all.
Elara caught the wind. The parachute snapped open.
The boat lurched forward.
"We are moving!" Zev cheered from the mast (the crow's nest).
"The ground is sliding!" Kaelen gripped the railing so hard the wood splintered. "Why is the ground wobbly?!"
"Get your sea legs, Kaelen!" Elara laughed, feeling the spray on her face. "We're explorers now!"
The Deep Blue
They sailed for hours. The coastline vanished behind them.
The ocean here was strange. It wasn't just blue. It was filled with bioluminescence, even in the day. glowing purple shoals of fish darted under their hulls. Massive, whale-like creatures with four eyes breached in the distance, blowing spouts of neon mist.
"It is... full of life," Roric murmured, looking over the edge (from a safe distance). "But not life I know. These things have no fur."
"It's a different biome," Elara said, checking her compass. "The signal is getting stronger. We're close."
Suddenly, Zev shrieked from above.
"CONTACT! MOVEMENT! BIG MOVEMENT!"
Elara looked up. "A storm?"
"No! A fin! A dorsal fin! Bigger than the boat!"
The water fifty yards to their port side bulged. A massive, serrated fin, dark grey and covered in barnacles, sliced through the surface. It was at least twenty feet high.
"That's not a shark," Elara whispered. "That's a mountain."
Kaelen forgot his fear of the wobbly floor. He drew his stone mace. "Does it bleed?"
"Kaelen, do not hit the Megalodon with a rock!" Elara yelled. "Roric, hard starboard! Steer away!"
"I am trying!" Roric wrestled with the rudder. "The water fights back!"
The massive fin turned. It was coming toward them.
"It is hunting us," Roric said calmly. "It senses the vibration of the hulls."
"Zev!" Elara shouted. "Do you have any thunder left?"
"I am fully charged!" Zev yelled. "But if I strike the water, will I not fry the fish? And us?"
"Don't hit the water! Hit the nose when it breaches!"
The water erupted.
A head emerged. It was reptilian, ancient, and covered in thick, armoured scales. It opened a mouth filled with rows of teeth the size of swords.
It was a Leviathan.
And riding on top of its head, holding reins made of glowing kelp, was a person.
The Rider
Elara froze. "Hold fire! There's someone on it!"
The person—a humanoid with slick, blue-grey skin, gills on their neck, and webbed hands—pulled back on the kelp reins.
The Leviathan snapped its jaws shut inches from The Horizon's hull, creating a wave that nearly knocked Kaelen overboard.
The rider stood up. They were wearing armor made of shark cartilage and holding a trident tipped with a glowing blue crystal.
"Surface Dwellers!" the rider shouted. Their voice was raspy, like grinding stones underwater. "You trespass in the territory of the Coral Dominion."
Elara stepped forward, holding onto the mast. She raised her hands.
"I am Elara Vance! Weaver of Aetheria! We come in peace! We are answering the signal!"
The rider narrowed their black, shark-like eyes. They looked at Kaelen (a giant lion in a plastic vest), Roric (a brooding ninja wolf), and Zev (a bird-man eating a Twinkie).
"You are a circus," the rider stated flatly.
"We are a Union!" Kaelen roared, offended. "And I could eat your lizard-fish if I wasn't feeling seasick!"
The rider ignored Kaelen and pointed the trident at Elara.
"If you seek the Signal," the rider said, "you seek the Drowning Tower. Follow. But if you vomit in my ocean, I will feed you to the crabs."
The rider yanked the reins. The Leviathan turned, creating a massive wake.
"Well," Elara said, wiping sea spray from her face. "We found the locals."
"I do not like him," Kaelen grumbled, adjusting his life vest. "He smells like wet dog food."
"He has a dinosaur," Roric noted with professional respect. "We should follow."
Elara steered the boat into the Leviathan's wake.
"Next stop," she grinned, "The Drowning Tower."