The dragon blew fire into the air, sending horse and rider scattering like leaves. Arrows fell upon the dragon, but were deflected by impenetrable scales – a defense granted by a blessing from the goddess Saraswati.
The goddess based in a city called Mumbai from the new world, a planet named Ganesha. Somebody had made a mistake in giving that dragon over to the wrong modern goddess.
The dragon shook itself and began to glow, in a gold-orange light of fire. Arrows stuck as the sheer power of the dragon blew the projectiles right off their trajectories. The dragon held up a hand and four beams of energy came forth. They struck four of the prayers and lifted them up into the sky.
One of the prayers held down a long spear. The spear opened and out came a manifestation of a golden eagle, with ruby eyes that shone like the sun. It circled, scanning the sky for its assailant. It saw the hundred dragons circling the ship, but they had not noticed it. It looked down at the dragon poking its head out of the quay, and smiled.
As though realizing it had been spotted, the dragon pulled back into its lair. The eagle watched, hovered above it for a while before rising a few hundred feet into the air. It slowly traversed the skies, or at least that is what the eagle thought it was doing.
It was still fire. It wasn't like most other heat-based creatures. It wasn't a monster like the ones that came out of the bowels of other worlds and attempted to drag the world into the abyss. It was fire, and yet, it was something more, something more like what one would see from a god.
It went in search of the dragon; the mere mention of a human attempting to defeat a dragon had made a mess of the ancient gods' minds. And that just wasn't something that was allowed to happen. It traveled with the grace of fire and the unhurried ease of air – but one would be mistaken to think that it did not know where it was going.
It took out a feather from the tail of a peacock. It was a coincidence that the feather was the same color as what had once been the coat of stars. As the eagle flew, it sensed a trace of fear. There was magical energy all across the world, but it was more focused in one specific place. The eagle soared down, spying on a brilliant white ship in the distance. The ship had come here from a new world called Ganesha. It approached the ship with no indication of hostile intent, but it didn't want to be here. The humans on this ship had helped this creature in a previous fight. It tried to appear as it was casually flying by, but it sensed no magic. Something was terribly wrong here.
It did not want to be here. It descended and settled upon a large antenna for the ship.
"Sir, it's the eagle of fire! Thunder has ordered us to eliminate it on sight!
"Captain, we can't—"
"I'm not just going to sit here! It's coming to our ship for a reason! It's not a coincidence! This thing must have been sent to attack—"
A sharp screech cut him short. He heard the quick thrum of the incoming missile. "Duck!" he shouted, even as the missile approached. The missile hit the antenna and set it on fire. There was the sound of rending metal and a loud blast, followed by a cloud of smoke and then the shriek.
The heavy metal jacket of the missile cracked. It had been launched from an end of the dragon ship, and was heading towards the bow but would land somewhere near the stern. It would be below the waterline. The projectile hit the water and exploded in a violent burst of flames. Steam evaporated in an instant, as the missile's explosive gases ignited. A more powerful explosion was coming, but the machine took out the main generator of the launcher. The propeller spun wildly and then sputtered out. The entire ship was left adrift, drifting with the current in the waters of the bay. The hiss of steam was joined by the roar of the fire.
"Diver!"
There was no response. Everyone was busy fighting the fire. Water spewed out by the large pipes that would have powered the engines. The second ship, from the new world, drew close to help. Panic spread. The captain knew that as long as the ship was stuck here it was vulnerable. It had enemies among the humans, and allies that were sorely needed. One of their own, of course, was a goddess. This was an embarrassment, one that would take a while to undo.
"Captain, sir! There's an intruder!"
Far from the bow, a bird of flames that looked more like a quill suddenly rose from the water. It was a flying fish.
The captain turned to see the ship sinking. "For now we obey ship regulations. Everyone, load the missiles into those launchers!" More missiles hit the water, causing even more steam to rise. The ships were threatened by air, fire and water. They were going to sink, and there was nothing they could do about it.
There was the sound of a woman screaming. He turned to see the stern, under a large canopy. A woman had come out. She was a young woman, with a long, dark brown pony tail. She was clad in a black shawl and was carrying something in her arms.
"Captain, sir! A weirdo has come ashore! Get it!"
He looked out at the person who had just come ashore. A man was tossing a spear while guarding a floating turtle. The turtle was covered with a green hide, but it was the size of a large dog. It looked like it had been in the water for ten days. There were four large dark brown spots on its shell; three on one side, and an irregular one near the rear. One of the spots was purple. Black mottled patters covered the rest of the turtle's shell.
"Captain, it's Erle the turtle. He's been carrying around a spear. He has some kind of training. He must have been practicing."
"No, you fool. Captain, sir, it's Erle."
