Cody

About half a week after hiring her, I had visited Tanith a couple of times. Each time, she was doing something new. First she was organizing her new home, and I offered to help out a bit. Honestly, she had some strange books but they looked pretty cool too. Some of them were in a different language though. She always seems to carry around an peculiar silver staff with a snake coiling up it, one purple eye and one blue. A red stone poked out of the head. She never seems to leave home without it and barely puts it down or leaves it laying around.

The second time, she was working on some kind of potion and asked for my help once again. She needed some kind of plant from the market. After a quick visit, I returned with it and she was able to finish it. Tanith thanked me with a drink. The hybrid told me that she made it herself, and it would act as food, taking care of hunger when it was drunk.

Later when I took it, I was pleasantly surprised. It tasted like pie for some reason. I'll have to ask for some more sometime.

Eventually came the latest visit, which was today. Unlike all the others, it was an emergency. I frantically rushed down and pounded on the door. "Cody?" She yawned and rubbed her eyes when the door opened, blue eyes squinting lazily. "What are you doing here at 3 AM in the morning?"

"We need your help. Some crazed Killer Whales are attacking the nearby houses."

With that simple sentence, she was fully awake. "Got it. I need to grab my supplies, you go do what you need to. See you there in a minute." We parted ways and I swam up the the castle gates.

Within the minutes, she was ready. Once I saw her come in, I started to speak to everyone. She swam through the crowd to the front, standing next to the Professor, who acknowledged her with a nod. "Soldiers of Atlantis!" I began by addressing them. "Today, some killer whales are attack innocent citizens! They must be eliminated! Try to stun them! We fight... FOR ATLANTIS!" The last line got them to cheer. If I learned one thing from being a king, it was that if you wanted to inspire the troops, you have to tell speeches like these.

I lead the troops out into the situation, and took it all in myself.

There were four huge killer whales, with one even ENORMOUS one commanding them. Clearly the leader. Splitting off, groups of Atlanteans began to attack. The Professor, Tanith and I all decided to split off and take them all down the best we could. After a while, I struck the final blow on one of the whales with the butt end of my spear, bringing them down, out cold. I scanned around the battlefield to see the situation. The Professor had gone full Hulk mode and was know single handedly taking on a whale, wrestling with it. One group of Atlanteans were almost done with one as well. Tanith and her group of Royal Guards were making great progress with their's. Some sort of rays of light were flowing out of her staff and into the men, their wounds fading by the second.

Magic is so cool.

A loud rumbling came from behind, causing me to whip around.

It was the leader. The biggest one.

"Stupid Atlanteans. You ruin everything." It's black eyes locked onto mine. "Fight me King. Just you and me." I narrowed my eyes, taking a couple of steps forward. "Cody! Wait!" I glanced at the hybrid calling out my name. "You're still hurt from the last fight! Let me heal you!" She insisted. "No!" I hollered back. "I'm fine! Stay with the troops!"

"But Co-"

"Stay with the troops! That is a direct order!"

"Heh." The head Killer whale chuckled. "Such brave words. Well? Let's go."

I charged with my spear in hand, getting the first strike on him. He winced a little bit but retaliated with a harder blow that hit me directly. I shook what I could off and launched myself at him. Though he was inaccurate, his attacks hit much harder than mine. Both of us began to wear out, me more than him. I struck him on his right side but he came back with a blow that sent me flying to the side. I stumbled back. My spear seemed to be much heavier than I remembered.

The Killer Whale came closer, readying himself to strike again. Panting, I tried to raise my weapon to defend myself. Before either could do anything, a dome formed around me, giving off a glow. The both of us did a double take at it. He slammed himself against it but it stayed, protecting me from the blow. Every time he attacked, it sounded like he was hitting glass for some reason.

A warm feeling passed through me. Not an unpleasant heat but something like a hot tub at just the right temperature. Strength and hope returned to my body and I felt better than before. My wounds healed. I whipped around to see if there was anything around.

Tanith was face to face with me.

"Tanith? I though I told you to stay with the troops!"

Her concerned eyes suddenly turned relieved and then something else... Annoyed maybe?

"You needed more help then the troops. Plus, Professor is helping them but Cody. Seriously! You took on the leader of the Killer Whales alone while injured and attacked head on? What kind of idea is that?" I suddenly remember the whale and the bubble. "Wait. What-" I peeked behind her for a crazy scene. Her Staff was in the ground and produced a dome over us, like a protective force field.  "Holy crap man. How are you doing this stuff? Why did I never learn you knew magic like this?"

She just chuckled, swaying just a bit. "I always knew it and you didn't ask. Anyways, I didn't really think this far ahead but I'm going to put the shield down. It's getting hard to maintain and honestly, I'm seeing spots here. Are you ready to defeat this guy?" I nodded, smiling. She picked up the Staff and retracted the bubble, allowing me to attack again.

This time, I was winning, landing blow after blow, barely getting any myself. The thing was, he wasn't stopping. "Come on! Give up already!" I spoke through gritted teeth. "NEVER!" He shouted, even though it was just him and one other follower who was almost out of juice. "FINE THEN!" I gripped my weapon and shoved the end into his head, making him drop. "Stay down!" I ordered him. He growled in response. "You Atlanteans have no respect for us animals! We are Atlanteans too!"

A wave of sympathy passed through me. "I'm sorry man but, you started to attack us. We were just defending. Maybe we can work something out for you guys, make you a nice big place to live?" He didn't respond, looking down. "I'll take that as a yes. Now you just stay here, I'm going to talk to the Professor." I turned for a second and started to walk away.

Shifting occurred from behind, and when I turned my head, the leader was approaching at an alarming rate. I had seconds before he caught up. My mind began to race as he grew ever so closer. His eyes were locked on to me.

When he came near, I jabbed my spear right in his stomach. He paused before crumbling to the ground.

He was dead.

I just stared at what I'd done. Feeling nothing at first, before a wave of emotions came crashing down. "What have I done?" I whispered, horrified. "Cody?" The feminine voice sounded so far away. Bad memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.

It's just like

"You have hurt Atlantis too many times!"

"You took my baby! What do you want from me?"

"Your reign of terror ends here!"

"Oh really? What are you going to do, kill me?"

Last time.

"CODY STAY WITH US!" A voice came out of no where. "CODY SNAP OUT OF IT!" Another voice shook me. No wait. I was LITERALLY being shaken. "Wha-?" I answered half heatedly. Tanith's white face was right in front of me, Pikalus not too far behind. "Whoa! Give a man some space!" I stepped back. Both stepped back, Tanith held her hands up in defense. "Sorry but, you were really out of it. You kinda looked like you were going to pass out. Are you okay?" The hybrid asked. "Yeah, your face went all pale and your eyes were wild. Did you lose a lot of blood or..?" Professor Pikalus examined me closely. I pushed all the thoughts away. Shaking myself, I answered.

"I'm fine."

After everything, we managed to sort it out, creating a new design for a place for the Whales to peacefully live. Guilt still ran through me but for now, I could live with it. Everything was sorted out and everything was fine.

But it still wasn't at the same time.

Could I have solved that more peacefully? The question rang through my head, even as I tried to sleep.

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Here's chapter two. Hope you enjoyed it! Tell me what you think.

--JustAnAtlantisWriter