DC2 Nemesis Prologue: Aquaman

With the passing of Gaia came the chaos of Earth. The skies darkened as the Sun slowly turned black. The ground shook with evil marching ever closer with each step. The forests burned with the fury of the vengeful…

And the seas cried as Hell rained down from above.

* * *

The Black Sun loomed high in the sky, shining down toward the oceans. The waters grew dark underneath the reflection of the once bright star, and the undersea city-state of Poseidonis mirrored the sky above. Throughout the city the atmosphere grew tense and the water surrounding it grew wild, smashing against the spherical domes surrounding the skyscrapers of the city.

King Orin, known to the world above as Aquaman, entered through the domes of the beautiful city, having just been in a meeting with the leaders of Tritonis, the city neighbouring Poseidonis. The Atlanteans in the streets bowed and cheered with awe as the majestic man passed by. His long time friend and mentor Vulko greeted him at the entrance to the palace.

“How did it go?” Vulko asked.

“Very well.” Orin said, walking into the palace with Vulko close behind him. “The darkening of the Sun is worrisome but now that Tritonis is on the same page as us, we should be better prepared for whatever changes the sun changing will bring.”

“Yes, that is very helpful indeed, sire.”

Suddenly, there was a great tremor and the palace began to shake wildly. Orin tried to stay on his feet and Vulko attempted to do the same but was thrown onto his back. The shaking seemed to cease and Orin helped Vulko to his feet.

“What was that?”

Orin ignored Vulko and rushed away. He stared into the distance at Tritonis, which sat peacefully on the plateau across the enormous trench that separated the two great cities. There was a shining bright light that rested above the sister city. The light quickly grew to an incredible size and took the shape of what looked like a tear in water, or maybe even the planet itself.

“What the devil is that?” Vulko gasped, now standing beside Aquaman.

“I intend to find out.”

* * *

Brak, a high ranking general of Poseidonis’ forces, shoved his way through the mobbed city. The citizens had grown into a panic over the mysterious light above Tritonis, and as Brak made his way to the front of the crowd, some of them were trying to leave the domes and go see what the shape was.

“Everyone, stay back! Stay back!” Brak commanded, pushing people away from the transparent dome wall.

Despite his orders, the people continued to try and push past him. A group of city guards rushed to his aide and they managed to hold them back.

“You must listen! You all have to stay inside the city! We do not yet know if that object over there is dangerous or not! And until we find out, you all must keep as far away from it as possible! Understood?” Brak said above the roars of the citizens.

A young Atlantean lieutenant made his way next to the tense Brak.

“Sir, should we assemble our forces?”

“By all means. I have a feeling this is going to get messy.”

* * *

Garth sat in a dark corner of the city, watching one of the dozens of roaring streams that ran throughout the city with great interest. He focused on it intently, not blinking or taking his eyes off of the water. He shut his eyes tightly, and then began to chant to himself quietly, no louder than a whisper.

Some of the water in the stream began to slowly rise up and then merge together into an orb of liquid. Garth concentrated harder, not letting any distractions interfere with his thoughts. He continued to mutter the incantation. More water rose up from the stream and fused with the water ball, which was now growing a few feet wide.

Out of the blue, the ground began to shake wildly and Garth’s eyes popped open. The large orb quickly dissipated and all of the water fell back into the stream. Garth sighed but then stood up and looked around. He wondered what the cause of the quake could be and then set off to go find out just that.

* * *

Orin strode down the steps at the entrance of the palace to find Mera at the door. Orin could tell she was worried but she tried to hide it the best she could.

“Mera, you shouldn’t be here. This could be dangerous.” Orin said sternly.

“And where am I to go exactly?” Mera shot back.

Their conversation came to a sudden stop as another, even greater, earthquake shook Poseidonis. Orin grabbed Mera protectively and leapt out of the way of a chandelier that dropped from the ceiling. There was the crash as other items in the building fell. The screams of Atlanteans could be heard outside. The palace entrance was thrown open and Brak ran in.

“Your highness! We need you outside!” Brak said hastily.

Orin followed Brak out to the courtyard, not knowing what to expect. Was it Black Manta coming to plunder the city again? The Shark? Or maybe the US military had finally ordered an attack? Orin realized immediately after his brainstorm that he was wrong. This was far different than any of the past problems he had faced.

People were pointing at Tritonis which was now nearly completely covered by cloud of muddy water, as if a bomb had gone off.

“It was hard to see clearly because it happened so fast but something emerged from the opening. It was huge from what I saw of it. It crashed into Tritonis,” said Brak, his hand ready to unsheathe his blade.

Horns sounded through the water and everyone in Poseidonis grew quiet. The screen of mud that shielded most of Tritonis seemed to be shifting from one direction to another and Orin could make out tiny mermen shapes rushing in and out of the cloud. Orin turned to his general.

“Are our forces prepared? Tritonis will no doubt need reinforcements.”

“They’re suiting up as we speak, your highness.” Brak said.

“Good. Send a squad of scouts ahead to find out what this monstrosity is.” Orin said to Brak, who gave a quick nod and departed.

“Orin!”

Aquaman turned to find Garth running towards him.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s some sort of attack on Tritonis. Brak is preparing the soldiers. I’m going to be going with them.” Orin said, as Vulko handed him his trident.

Garth’s eyes gazed upon the battle raging on in their sister city. Mermen were circling in and out of the giant mud cloud engulfing the area, throwing spears with such strength that it seemed there was no water to divert their aim. Garth then saw three Atlantean soldiers leave the domes of Poseidonis and set off for Tritonis.

“Scouts. I want to know what we’re up against before I make any attack.” Orin said calmly but Garth could see the anticipation on his friend’s face.

“If you’re going, then I want to be part of the strike force too.” Garth said.

“No. I’ll need you to watch out for Poseidonis if we fail.”

“I’m coming with you. With my powers I could…”

Aqualad stopped himself in the middle of his sentence as Orin raised an eyebrow curiously.

“…heal any of our men if they are injured.”

Orin thought to himself for a moment but then regretfully nodded his head in approval. Garth couldn’t believe he had almost slipped up. Orin could not know how much his magic powers he had gained from his Idyllist ancestors had developed.

The pair continued to watch the battle as it developed with no sign of the scouts that had entered the smokescreen of dirt. Brak stepped up beside them.

“The men our ready on your order, my lord.” Brak announced.

“Good. I doubt that with their old fashioned weapons that Tritonis’ forces will last much longer.”

“Where did our scouts go? It’s been minutes and no word on even what it is that the mer-people are fighting.” Garth said, a bit impatient.

As if by fate, an object crashed through the mud cloud, spinning through the water and collided into the rocky terrain beneath the domes of Poseidonis. Orin stared down at the object and realized that it was a body.

“God… one of the scouts… PREPARE FOR ATTACK!”

The Atlantean forces armed their blaster cannons. Poseidonis was much more advanced than Tritonis, and as such, so were their weapons. Brak drew his sword and moved himself over to lead the dozens of Atlantean soldiers.

“You heard the king-- ATTACK!!”

The legion of warriors poured out of the transparent domes and then, now underwater, swam at top speed towards Tritonis. Orin and Garth still stood quietly in Poseidonis but then Aquaman turned to his ward.

“Be careful, Garth.”

Orin leapt forward and exited through the bubble-like dome wall. In an instant, Aquaman, trident held firmly in his hand, blasted through the ocean’s currents, to lead the pack of soldiers. Garth soon followed and met up with the army a few moments after Orin did.

Aquaman swam at the lead of the army with Brak at his left and Garth at his right as they quickly approached the cloud.

“Garth, take your company around the cloud’s perimeter, surround it and make sure nothing gets past you.” Orin ordered.

Garth stared at him coldly, knowing that Orin just wanted him out of the way. Despite his knowledge of this, Aqualad did as he was told and took a large garrison of Atlantean troops around the side of the cloud, away from the main offensive.

“Here we go,” Orin whispered to himself.

The army exploded through the cloud, unable to see very well for a few moments until they came across a sight Aquaman would never forget. The soldiers rose high above the ancient city and floated there quietly. Orin stared down at the spires of Tritonis with utter shock and amazement.

There was a giant beast clinging to one of the towers of the city. It seemed to be camouflaged, taking on the same colors as the great structure it was attached to. But then Orin looked more closely. The creature appeared to have somewhere around a billion eyes and a wide mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

“What in Neptune’s name is…?”

The eyes, thousands of them, suddenly shifted upward and were staring at the strike force of Atlanteans. Aquaman had only a moment to act. With a battle cry that could be heard throughout the area, Orin descended down at great velocity, propelling himself through the water with ease, his trident raised high. The rows and rows of soldiers followed closely behind him, Brak at their helm.

“Open fire!” Aquaman said, pointing his trident at the creature.

It was common knowledge that Poseidonis was a much more advanced civilization than the mer-people homeland, Tritonis. More advanced architecture, machinery, and most importantly in this situation…

…Weaponry.

The soldiers raised blaster rifles and the area became engulfed with flashing lights of the lasers cutting through the water. The barrage of lasers collided with the monster but seemed to just be bouncing off of its nearly shapeless body. Orin tightened the grip on his trident, growing more and more anxious to see this thing fall.

“Keep firing! Let’s rid this monster from our oceans!”

Then the entire world seemed to freeze. In the matter of milliseconds the creature opened its mouth wide and a strange tentacle with a sharp end flew out of its throat. Orin managed to avoid the attack but quickly heard the cry of someone behind him. The bladed tentacle pierced through Brak’s chest, completely through him and now was reeling him back in to the mouth. Orin hissed with anger and brought his trident down upon the tentacle, cleaving it in two. The end that Brak was attached to dropped slowly down toward the city below, the corpse of the once proud Atlantean plummeting along with it.

Aquaman got closer to the creature, staring directly into its hideous face. Its billion eyes all gazed down at the king but Orin remained unimpressed. He glared right back at the monster and pointed at it with his trident.

“I do not know where you have come from but I swear to you, abomination, I will send you right back!”

The creature, still resting on the side of the tower opened its enormous jaw once more and dozens of bladed tentacles poured out towards the Atlantean troops. Aquaman narrowly avoided one that swept past his face and discovered that his soldiers had not been so lucky. Screams sounded throughout the battlefield as tentacles slashed and stabbed into the troops. Some tried to slice the weapons away but to no avail, being impaled by multiple tentacles.

Using his mighty trident, Aquaman deflected two incoming blades with ease but missed one which pierced his leg just above the knee. He roared with pain but ignored it, tearing the tentacle out of his body, making his way toward the monster. More bladed tentacles shot towards Orin and while he managed to block a few, the remainders slashed across his chest, shoulder, and cheek. Blood sprinkled down his beard but he persisted onwards as a new wave of tentacles approached.

Orin slashed a few away but one slipped past his attack and hit his trident soaring through the water and out of the mud cloud, miles away. Aquaman gasped in surprise, seeing a blade shooting straight towards his face. In a painful maneuver, Orin caught the blade using his bare hands, feeling it slice across his palms. Aquaman gripped the blade tightly, not allowing it to move any closer to its target. Red mist began to emerge from his tightly clenched hands but he would not let go, knowing it would mean the end of his life if he did so.

Aquaman, his face reddened and his adrenaline pumping hard, snapped the blade off of the end of the tentacle. He let go of the sharp blade tip, letting it drift to the bottom of the sea. Orin stared hard at the creature that was steadily and efficiently wiping out his men. Some of the soldiers managed to make a retreat to the towers of the city for cover but many had already been murdered in the onslaught.

Aquaman would not give up. He couldn’t. With newfound determination and incredible speed, he swam through the raging waters leaving a trail of bubbles in his wake. He snatched his trident from where it had fallen and rushed towards the behemoth before him.

“This massacre ends now!”

Orin cut through the waves of those tentacles again, not allowing any to come close to him. Making his way through the web of blades, Aquaman managed to get up close to the creature. Drawing all of his strength to his aid, he stabbed his trident into one of the monster’s eyes, blinding it in that eye. Not that it mattered. It had about nine hundred ninety nine thousand more to go…

The monster let out a high pitched shriek in pain. Orin cringed from the intense noise as the monster prepared for another attack. With lightning fast speed and powerful strength, the creature struck Aquaman and sent him spinning through the cloud of mud and out of the area. The king flailed through the dark water, disbelieving the strength of the monster.

* * *

Around the perimeter of the shroud of dirt surrounding Tritonis, Aqualad swam in place with his squad of troops behind him. His lavender eyes couldn’t make out the figure that had come crashing out of the dust but he was sure it was Orin. Garth clenched his teeth, knowing that this was not going well.

“I’m going in.”

“What? But sir, we were ordered to stay here.” One of the soldiers answered.

“So stay here. But I’m going in there.”

In an instant, not bothering to look back, Aqualad was zipping through the misty brown water encasing Tritonis. His body tense and his thoughts focused, Aqualad entered the ancient city. He usually loved the sight of the majestic city. But today seemed different.

Off.

Perhaps it was the darkness that the Black Sun brought down on the water or maybe it was the bodies of the mermen and Poseidonis troops floating lifelessly around the area. Or maybe it was that giant creature killing soldiers that was making the city seem different.

Giant monsters. Yeah that sounds right.

Aqualad swam over to one of the rooftops of the network of stone structures spread out in the area, watching the scene. Remaining Mer-people and Poseidonis soldiers were retreating to whatever cover they could find. This was getting out of hand. And with Aquaman out of the picture for the moment, it was up to Aqualad to stop it.

* * *

Aquaman crashed into the rocky ocean floor a short distance from the domes of Poseidonis. He lay there for a moment, still and quiet. He could not fathom what had happened. This giant that was attacking Tritonis was like nothing he had ever seen before. It seemed almost unstoppable. But Orin knew better.

Nothing was unstoppable.

The king climbed wearily up off of the ground and floated on his back for a moment in the cold dark waters of the ocean, staring up at the blurred reflection of that black sun high above the depths of the seas. He examined his watery surroundings to find that fish, hundreds of them were zipping past him away from Tritonis. This was not good. It felt like this creature was sending the entire ocean into chaos. Orin knew he had to keep trying to defeat this monster but he had to do something else first.

* * *

Aqualad remained perched on the spire of one of the towers of Tritonis, his hands outstretched in front of him and his eyes closed. Orin couldn’t stop this thing but perhaps Garth could. He began to chant quietly to himself, muttering the incantations of his Idyllist ancestors. The atmosphere around the area seemed to change, some of the water swirled around violently. Aqualad focused his magic on the enormous building that that monster was clinging to.

The large tower that the monster stuck to began to crack as the water pressure around it appeared to grow stronger. The smooth stone surface of the ancient structure split apart in sections as the pressure grew more and more extreme. The billion eyes of the monster stared down at the building in confusion. Aqualad spoke faster and more forcefully as the water circling the Tritonis tower squeezed tightly on the support of the building. Veins began to show on Aqualad’s forehead while he focused all of his energy on that particular tower.

Finally the skyscraper, with the vicious creature still stuck onto it, cracked apart and in a beautiful yet darkening image, it fell straight down to the ocean floor with a bang. Thick globs of dust blocked the outcome of the collapse from view. Garth could hear mermen and wounded Poseidonis soldier’s cheers and then the young man dropped onto his back, exhausted but proud of his victory.

Then, without the warning, the whole world turned upside down once more.

* * *

“You all need to get out of here.”

Aquaman floated outside the domes of Poseidonis, trident grasped tightly in hand. Vulko and Mera were beside him, just having heard about the battle. Orin gazed at the neighboring city, the sounds of the battle had seemed to stop for a moment but now they were back and louder than ever.

“Where are we going to go?” Mera asked.

“There’s an underground sanctuary beneath Tritonis. It was made long ago by the kings of old…” Vulko answered, staring at Orin who remained with his back turned to them. “…Is that what you were thinking, your highness?”

“Yes. Sound the alarm and evacuate Poseidonis.”

Aquaman squinted to find a large mass of shapes swimming towards the domes of the city. The wave of people passed overhead and Orin caught sight of Aqualad with a wounded mer-man in his arms swim by.

“Looks like we were unsuccessful on all fronts.” Vulko gave a weary sigh.

A great roar shook the ocean and Aquaman stared at the ancient city up ahead with a determined expression. Mera placed her comforting hand on his shoulder, worriedly.

“Vulko, you know where the entrance to the retreat is. Make sure everyone gets there safely.” Orin said.

“Yes, my king.” The elderly man began to paddle away but stopped for a moment. “Orin… be careful, son.”

“Orin… no. You’ll die.” Mera said, on the verge of tears, now realizing what was happening.

“Mera, I’m the king of Poseidonis. I cannot allow an intruder to destroy my kingdom. I have to stay. And I have to fight.”

Mera took a step back from him, disbelieving that he could be so foolish. Orin gave a quick sarcastic snicker but his love could tell that there was bit fear in his tone.

“This isn’t a joke, my love!” Mera said, furiously.

“No…it’s my duty.”

“What?”

Aquaman stood perfectly still for a moment, his hair waving back and forth gently in the water. He turned around to face Mera, his face calm and stern, ready for the worst.

“Goodbye.”

And then, under the shadows of the black sun, Aquaman of Atlantis set off toward Tritonis, leaving his family, friends, and kingdom behind to do what most kings would be too fearful to do.

He would fight.

And if he died…

…at least he would die a King.