The waters of the great river flowed ceaselessly from the distant future to the farthest past.
From the farthest reaches of the past, an enormous ship of massive proportions cut through the waters of the great river with an unsettling, serene calm.
The ship had a strange, archaic silhouette, different from any ship made by humans. It was built of ancient, resistant wood with a high level of detail, covered in intricate engravings on its surface that glowed faintly. On its masts were black sails beautifully embroidered with silver thread. On its decks were lanterns that illuminated the ship in the night of Ariel's Tomb.
To anyone who looked at it, that mysterious ship gave off an unsettling feeling of a vessel whose crew had died many years ago.
As the ship crossed the expanse toward the future, more details revealed themselves on the vessel. Parts of the hull had large claw marks. Some of the intricate engravings were damaged and deactivated. The beautifully embroidered black sails had tears in several areas.
Despite the ship's condition, its inhabitants seemed not at all concerned.
At the main bow of the great ship stood a young, lively man with a wide smile on his face. The wind moved his hair and his clothes as it propelled the sails forward. His eyes seemed to gaze into the deep darkness of the horizon.
The man turned his head upon hearing footsteps.
He observed another young man, older in appearance. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with a steely look on his face.
"Cronos, we need to repair the damage to the ship. If we continue at this pace, we won't be able to fix the vessel," the man said with a severe voice.
The man identified as Cronos shook his head with an air of unconcern.
"Don't worry, we've already reached our destination," he replied, turning to look forward again.
The man was about to ask when he finally noticed something in the distance. It was a small black dot floating on the great river.
As the great ship approached, the distant object was identified. It was a small island — something impossible, since the great river had no land, only the great river of time's water.
Yet the evidence was undeniable. The island was small; though it appeared as a tiny sphere, they knew its true size was at least a few kilometers in diameter.
The ship continued approaching until it was close enough, but far enough, to identify the island.
The man's eyes opened wide as saucers while Cronos whistled in impression.
"Wow... that is certainly impressive," he commented with a tone of amused audacity.
What they saw was not an island, but a corpse. A gigantic corpse three kilometers across that could be mistaken for an island.
The corpse was an enormous turtle. Its body was covered in massive steel plates without any breach or vulnerability. The steel glowed faintly under the pale light of the great river, cast by the seven divine suns.
The inflexible steel was opened and torn. The metal plates were completely bent; some even fractured into enormous cracks, as if something had squeezed them with monstrous force.
A enormous wound was on the turtle's neck, spilling tons of blood, staining the great river an intense red. The metallic smell filled the air.
Beneath them, countless nightmare creatures moved toward the enormous corpse, beginning to devour its juicy flesh.
"Give the order to approach the corpse."
The man looked at Cronos as if he were insane. If they got any closer to that dead abomination, the abominations hiding beneath the water would emerge and destroy the ship and its entire crew.
Cronos, reading his thoughts, only smiled.
"Do it. Don't make us do nothing."
With some doubt and reluctance, the man looked at the helmsman, who returned his gaze. After brief gestures, the ship ventured into the blood-red waters, cutting through the river as it advanced.
The countless abominations ignored the ship, focusing solely on devouring the corpse.
From inside the ship, more men and women came out to observe what was happening.
The ship finally stopped a few kilometers from the enormous corpse.
Cronos waited, then smiled and said, "We've finally arrived."
As he spoke those words, the water beneath the enormous corpse began to undulate.
The observers trembled in horror as they saw a vast, terrifying darkness moving and undulating beneath the water.
From the waters, an enormous dragon head of titanic size emerged. The scales of that creature were as black as night itself and as sharp as blades. Its massive serpentine body rose, emerging from the blood-stained water.
Its emergence caused the waters to churn, creating waves that shook the enormous ship.
The sea dragon rose over a hundred meters... two hundred meters... three hundred meters, and its body kept emerging.
Finally, it finished emerging at about four hundred meters in height. Its enormous body was like a black pillar holding up the sky.
The dragon coiled its body, fixing two enormous, pure and brilliant white eyes upon the ship.
An invisible, crushing pressure descended upon everyone on board.
"It's a great creature," said a warrior, fear in his voice. The residents of the great ship felt terror as they felt that creature's gaze upon them.
Had their leader — who had somehow convinced them to follow him — brought them only to a trap to be sacrificed?
"Cronos!" said the man from before, looking at the young man who remained unconcerned.
He grabbed him by his archaic robes with an expression of anger.
"Explain what's happening! Why did you bring us to the territory of a great creature?"
Cronos blinked. His smile only widened.
"Hey, calm down. There's no need to shout, you know?" said Cronos, freeing himself from the grip.
Then he did something that terrified everyone. He turned toward the enormous abomination that was watching them and shouted:
"HEY, YOU CREEPY ASSHOLE, YOU'RE SCARING MY CREW! STOP IT!" he shouted. His voice reached the great abomination, which narrowed its eyes in annoyance.
The inhabitants of the great ship turned pale, praying to any of the great gods to let them live.
Under everyone's terrified gaze and Cronos's amused one, the colossal body of the sea dragon became vague, as if losing its form. Then it dissipated into a dense tide of darkness.
The darkness moved, crossing the distance until it concentrated into a single point, forming the body of a young man with fair skin, hair as black and silky as night, with dark eyes. He wore beautifully embroidered black tunics. Finally, two black raven wings emerged from his back, which he used to fly.
That young man, no older than Cronos, fixed his eyes on him and spoke. His voice was calm but annoyed, and what he said made more than one raise an eyebrow.
"Who are you calling an idiot? Idiot."
Note: This concludes the first act of this story.