The Hammerhead

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Chapter 5: The Water Serpent

From a great distance away, Othenial heard the sound of people screaming in terror, running this way and that from the monster. 

In that moment, Othenial kind of envied them. 

But not for long. Right as the water serpent struck and was about to smash into Othenial, he swung his hammer right at it. 

The shockwave that always seemed to come worked in full force, tearing the water that made up the serpent right off of it, severing its whole head off. 

The now-headless serpent wailed and thrashed around. Suddenly, the water that made up the neck began to flow upward, upward until the head has suddenly been replaced. 

It reared back again. 

Othenial thought a few nasty words as he ducked to the side to dodge it. 

The serpent was simply too big. A gigantic splash of water picked the boy up off his feet and sent him down an entire street. 

When he looked up, he saw that the port was not too far away. 

The port! The thought went to his head illogically. If I can just cut the serpent off from its source of power, it’ll die! 

Othenial hauled himself to his feet, dripping water everywhere, and began to dash down the street towards the pier. 

The monster seemed to understand exactly what he wanted to do. It dove at Othenial, so quickly that it’s head was right next to our protagonist in a second. 

Othenial slammed it with the hammer, full-on. 

Water splashed everywhere. The serpent somehow gave out a cry of pain, despite having no head, and retreated up into the air to regenerate in peace. 

In that time, Othenial got a little bit closer to the dock.

The serpent tried a different tactic. Unexpectedly, it spat a gigantic wave from above, tossing Othenial off his feet - again - and sending off into an adjoining street. 

Othenial snorted the water out of his nostrils, picked himself back up, and continued dashing towards where he figured the docks would be.

The serpent dove once again, but this time, Othenial was ready. He was swinging his hammer before it even started attacking, and beheaded the foe once again. 

The boy swung around the corner and found himself right next to the docks, where a gigantic column of water churned. The bottom of the serpent. 

But now the head had regenerated again. It ducked down towards Othenial. 

He swung. And missed. But instead of trying to sweep the poor fellow of his feet, the beast began to churn around Othenial. Faster, and faster, until he found himself in the eye of a hurricane.

Othenial swung, and swung, and swung, but it did him no good. The water instantly replaced itself the moment it went missing. 

It tightened around him. Soon enough, it would crush the life out of him. 

Othenial realized what he had to do. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

And charged straight into the hurricane. 

Immediately, it picked him off his feet and sent him flying into the air, dozens of feet high, too high to survive a fall from.

He angled so that his body would fall towards the water, and a moment before the deadly impact, spun his hammer between his hands. 

The hammer responded in kind, blowing a gigantic malestorm of wind around, clearing the water away until Othenial had made his own whirlpool. 

He spun harder, and the winds slowed and stopped his fall, until he was just floating in the middle of a funnel in the water. 

He tried to spin again, but the water came too quickly. 

Now, the poor fellow was drowning. He kicked and flailed towards the surface, but it was slow, much too slow. 

Othenial felt an enormous presence rush past him. Great. Now he was drowning, and the serpent still wanted to kill him. 

He felt it rush by again, and he knew that the serpent wouldn’t miss this time. 

It hit him, and it hurt worse than anything the boy had felt in his life. 

But. It had also propelled him out of the water. 

Our protagonist fell onto the docks in a heap, choking water out of his lungs. 

The serpent reared. Ready for the kill. 

In desperation, Othenial threw the hammer at the column of water at the base of the serpent. 

It hit it. The water exploded. 

The ocean did not rise up to regenerate the missing part of the serpent. It flailed and screamed as it sank beneath the water that made it up. 

Bedraggled and waterlogged, Othenial stood up. 

He had won.

Chapter 6: The Apothecary 

If you had been in Rema that day, you would have seen a bedraggled, waterlogged boy staggering down the street, the villagers only just starting to peep out of their houses and look.

A middle-aged sort of man walked out and grabbed Othenial by the shoulder. “Excuse me son, but you’re going to have to come with me.” 

“No.” Othenial grumbled, trying to pull out of his grasp. 

The grip tightened. “I insist.” The man leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I’m not your enemy.” 

All in all, it had been an exhausting ordeal. Othenial gave up. He half walked, half dragged himself along with the man into one of the homes. 

Inside was not what he expected. Beakers, tubes, and bottles filled the room, connected in all sorts of ways, being boiled and freezed and sterilized. Notebooks filled every available surface, including chairs. All sorts of odd objects, from suits of armor to carousels, lay strewn around at random, making it extremely difficult to move around.

The instant both of them were inside, the man decided to start moving anyway, in violent fashion, by jumping up and down excitedly. 

“It’s you! It’s really you!” he almost squealed. “You’re the one the prophecy refers to, right?” 

Othenial looked down at the hammer he was still holding with a choke hold. It seemed to be faintly glowing gold. 

“I guess,” he mumbled. 

The man pointed a finger and said something, and all the water still on Othenial was flung off of him and brought right towards the man’s finger, collecting into a medium-sized ball. 

The man took a gulp from it and sent it whizzing down a hallway. 

Now Othenial was paying attention. “You’re a mage!” he exclaimed.

“Call me the Apothecary,” the man replied with a twinkle in his eye. “Makes me less conspicuous.”

“Why are you helping me?” Othenial questioned as he took a notebook of a chair and sat down on it. 

The man inhaled. “According to the prophecy, our family is foretold to be the ones who will serve the hero. My father once worked for Old King Gengar before he was fired for unknown reasons. And now, here we are.” 

“So how can you help?” Othenial asked, eagerly leaning forward in his chair. 

The man licked his lips and pulls out a small bag, pulling the string to open it. Inside are a collection of glass bottles with stoppers. 

“They’re all labeled. This red ones heals all wounds. This blue one makes you faster and stronger. This purple one - oh, I love the purple one! It amplifies your magic. And this one,” The Apothecary pointed at a black one with a skull-and-crossbones label. “This one is just poison that causes instant death. Try not to mix them up.” 

Othenial swallowed. 

“Now, then! One more thing. I can teleport you to Quantefort.” 

Othenial blinked. “Teleport me? Now?” 

“Yes!” The Apothecary cried in delight. “To a completely safe place, instantly! How do you think the king’s minions are getting around? He has whole squads of mages working for him!” 

Othenial swallowed again at that thought. 

“Quantefort? Can’t you send me any farther?” Othenial asked. 

“No can do. My mama levels were never high.” 

“Well, thanks for all the help anyways.” Othenial couldn’t believe his luck. “Got any more advice?” 

“Seek out my sister in Cobblestown when you reach there. She can help you much more than me.” 

“Now, come here, and take my hand,” 

Othenial shuffled over and obeyed, feeling a bit awkward. 

The man shut his eyes and muttered something. 

And suddenly, Othenial was no longer in the same place. 

“WHAT!!!! HE GOT AWAY!!” 

Spittle was flying great distances from the king’s mouth as he essentially had a temper tantrum in his throne room. 

“Ah, but sir, sir! Luck is his only savior! Give me one more chance, sir, and I will make sure he is never a threat!” Tagonet said, doing a little dance. 

King Gengar flicked his hand dismissively. ”You had your chance,” he spat. Tagonet retreated into the shadows.

“Will the advisor please come forward!” the king screamed. 

A young man in a formal black outfit stepped forward. “A-A-Advisor K-K-K-K-Kevlar, at your service, s-sire.”

“Advisor! What do you propose we do!” the king shouted, turning to face him. 

The advisor paled. “W-w-w-well, it seems that force isn’t w-working. P-p-p-perhaps we c-c-c-c-could lay a t-t-trap for him. A t-t-trap that he c-can’t r-r-r-refuse.” 

“Brilliant!” shouted the king, and it looked like Advisor Kevlar was about to faint. “And what’s the one thing every boy cannot resist!” 

But at this point, the advisor was far too frightened to speak more words. His lips trembled and moved, but no sound came forth. 

The king paid no mind. “Would the Witch of the court please step forward!”

Sergeant Spiker came out of the shadows and stood in front of the king.

“I asked for the Witch, not you, Sergeant. You had your turn.” 

“But I am the Witch,” Spiker grumbled in his low baritone. 

“And I’m a lowly peasant,” the King spat back. 

He blinked, and suddenly, Tagonet was in front of him again. “Ah, but sir, sir, all I speak is truth, truth! The Witch am I!”

“Why don’t you knock of that crap? This is a formal court,” Gengar muttered. 

He blinked, and now it was Kevlar. “I’m s-s-s-so sorry, s-s-sire,” he stuttered. 

“Just go!” the King said, waving a hand. “Set a trap for him!” 

Gengar blinked one more time, and now he was looking at himself in his own royal robes. “As you wish, my king,” the duplicate king said, bowing in overt theatrical manner, and he vanished in a puff of smoke. 

The king chuckled. If she was this much trouble for him, well, just imagine how much she’d be for that hero.

Mama levels, lol

It might be a hint

Chapter 7: Them Two Again

Othenial was standing in a dank alleyway. The Apothecary understood safe, but comfortable? Not really. 

He trudged out of the alley and looked around at Quantefort. It was so big, bigger than any town Othenial had envisioned in his life. It seemed like every building had two stories, and they stretched as far as his eye could see. 

He looked at the closest one he was next to. It looked like some sort of gambling hut. 

And try as he might to not go in, some terrible force compelled him to enter. Call it fate, destiny, prophecy, whatever. It’s fact to me. 

Inside it was noisy, hot, and crowded, three things that are sure to always annoy a person. Othenial walked through people playing all sorts of games, as though in a trance, as though he was looking for someone.

He came upon a table where a simple game of dice went on, and one of the contenders seemed to be doing much better than the other. He had a pile of coins in front of him. 

“That’s it, I quit,” the loser spat, rising from the table and slamming a silver coin onto it. 

The winner laughed, and turned around in his seat. Which just so happened to put Othenial into his line of sight.

The man was not actually a man. He was, in fact, just a boy. He barely looked older than Othenial. He had olive skin and the beginnings of what looked like an actual mustache. A gigantic, goofy smile seemed stuck on his face. He wore a nice shirt and trousers that made Othenial feel a little uncomfortable with his own, more modest clothes. 

“Nice hammer you got there!” the boy shouted at the top of his lungs. 

Othenial winced and shifted his bag so the bulge of his hammer against it wasn’t too conspicuous. 

“It’s alright! I’ve got one too!” And the boy pulled out a hammer that didn’t look too different from Othenial’s, aside from the fact that it glowed red instead of gold, and was maybe a little larger. 

Othenial already didn’t like this kid. “What are you doing? They’re against the law!” 

“Nobody cares! See!” The boy waved his hammer around. Just as he said, nobody cared. “I’m protected by fate! I’m the hero of the prophecy!” 

Othenial was disgusted now. 

“Hey, you look like a good sidekick!” the boy said, still grinning. “Welcome to the team, sidekick! I’m Christopher R. Cavell! Of Rema!” 

“I am no one’s sidekick, you idiot! And I’m certainly not joining any stupid…” 

At that moment, a lovely young woman with hazel eyes and golden-brown hair emerged from the direction of the bathrooms, wearing a pretty turquoise gown that showed off her figure.

She came to the table and planted a swift kiss on Chris’ head. “I’m back, darling!” 

He looked up. “Say hi to our sidekick, sweetheart!” he said, nuzzling her a little. 

She looked up and saw Othenial and gave him a bright smile. Unlike her apparent partner, Othenial felt real waves of kindness and goodness coming off this girl. 

She stretched her hand out. “Hi, Othenial. I’m Madeline,” she said with a playful grin.

“Uh… uh…” Othenial replied. Where did his ability to form sentences go?

“We got a room at the best inn in town! You gotta come,” Chris said. 

And the two companions basically dragged poor Othenial out the door and towards the inn.

Othenial looked around at the room that he found himself in. He didn’t exactly like the companionship that got him here, but boy, was it nicer than the rooms he’d been staying in before. Heck, it was nicer than his own room. The shower had actual warm water.

He set his bags down next to the luxurious bed that Chris said he could take. When he laid down in it, he felt as though he would never be able to leave.

Othenial closed his eyes. Yes, that would be nice…

About two seconds later, the most tremendous smashing sound he’d ever heard burst his bubble of consciousness, and Chris and Madeline cane running into his room. 

Othenial groggily sat up, still not quite thinking straight. “Whatizzit,”

“It’s her,” Chris said, and for once, the boy’s voice was shaking. 

And that’s when the Witch glided into the room.

Chapter 8 comes out next Sunday.

Wow!  Awesome story

Thanks!

Just curious When is the next chapter coming?

good question!

As a matter of fact, I’m trying to knuckle down on the Indieverse at the moment. I’ll have Chapter 1 Ready this Friday (three days)! For now, this and TSOAOU are on hiatus.