A flash of lightning lit up the sky, revealing the turbulent ocean as the Lady of Lyris rocked from starboard to port and stern to bow.

Tyler fought back the urge to puke as he kept watch on the starboard side of the bridge. He tried to pull the hood of his raincoat further down across his head, but it did nothing to keep the water from completely soaking him.

He lifted his binoculars from around his neck up to his eyes, searching as best he could for the lights of ships and markers in the limited visibility. It was a difficult task considering he was being knocked about the deck, his harness the only thing between the safety of the ship and the certain death of the waves below.

As Tyler peered through his all but useless binoculars, he spotted an odd shadow in the distance moving beneath the surface of the water in between the flashes of lightning.

“What is…?”

He tried to focus in on it, but was startled by a high pitched screech that seemed to vibrate through the charged atmosphere.

In an instant a giant pheonix-like creature dived through the turbulent clouds above, its body cutting through the rain and turning it to steam.

As it approached the waves, fire burst from its mouth, aiming at the shadow below the surface.

In response, the water exploded, revealing a black dragon-like sea creature. It launched itself from the water and at the pheonix, its jaws clamping around the bird's neck. The wave from the explosion pushed the Lady of Lyris sideways through the water, knocking everyone to port of the deck, or as far as their secured harnesses would allow, and almost keeling the ship over.

Tyler's back was slammed into the corner of a a built in storage unit, creating instant pain. As he felt his breath leave him, a low rumbling roar reverberated through him and in the next moment the phoenix was hurled over the top of the ship, snapping the fore mast and taking the topgallant and topsail with it.

“Everybody on deck! Get to the bridge! Stay away from the foremast! I’ll try and get us out of here!”

Tyler could just make out his father's instructions over ship's intercom as he struggled shake the pain off.

To port, the battle continued to rage between the two creatures. The pheonix continued to breath fire, it's flames dancing on the surface of the water, as if the elements had no effect on it. The black water dragon summoned what looked like tens of black glowing spears, launching them out of the water and at the bird, who narrowly escaped getting skewered in mid-air. As the Lady of Lyris attempted to navigate the battle and the storm to get to safety, the dragon seemed to be trying to pushing the other creature away from the ship.

The pheonix seemed to notice this and with a flap of its wings dozens of fireballs flew towards the ship.

“Shit, shit!”

Seeing the imminent danger to his life, Tyler attempted to undo the carabiner keeping him secured to the deck, his hands slipping in the wet weather. He could feel the heat on his back from the incoming attack increasing by the nano second.

As he managed to release it and run for cover, he saw the water dragon launch from the sea and into the air between the ship and the attack; blocking the majority of the fire from hitting the the deck.

Tyler dived for the hatch, trying to get below deck when he was suddenly pushed back by a strong force.

Pain exploded at his side and he looked down to the left part of his abdomen to see he’d been hit by one of the fireballs.

His side was bleeding and burnt.

He felt his legs collapse underneath him as his strength began to leave him, the pain intensifying.

He slid backwards across the deck from the impact of the water dragon falling back into the water below, and before he knew it, he was tumbling over the railing and into the cold embrace of the ocean.