The human species is egocentric by nature ... We like to believe that we dominate the earth, that nature is under our control.... But these are only illusions... We are only hosts on this earth, and we must respect the laws of its true rulers...

Village of Shiru, Japan

00:00AM O'clock, local hour

Japan ... Very old and venerable land of stories and other legends both fascinating and terrifying...

The Mikazuki Valley, or "valley of the crescent moon", located to the south of Japan's great empire, was plunged into the most peaceful night. The ink-black sky had been filled with thousands of stars every night playing their roles. A light wind had risen, making the tall stems of the rice fields sleeping around the village dance. The village of Shiru was small, counting barely more than five hundred inhabitants, but was known in the rest of the empire for its prosperity equaling no other, and also its respect for ancestral traditions. Some liked to say that the inhabitants had made a pact with the gods, thus ensuring security and life in the village. Whenever one of the villagers was asked this question, they said it was a secret.

Apart from the few guards patrolling the deserted streets and providing security, everyone slept the deepest sleep ... or almost. In a modest house in the center of the village was a man lying in bed in the middle of his room lit by a few small candles. He was in his forties, with very short, flat black hair, a serious, closed face, and a small, thin mustache. He was named Ishiro, and was a recognized historian in the country, but also very downgraded by the others historians for his hodgepodge theories. Ishiro had made a specialty of past history, especially those concerning the gods and supernatural creatures who supposedly populate our world without us seeing it.

Ishiro's sleep seemed agitated, the man constantly moaning, turning every two minutes in bed and grimacing sometimes. His hands clenched on the blanket. A powerful gust of wind suddenly opened the window of his room and blew out all the candles at once. Ishiro woke up at the same instant. Sitting in his bed, breathing as if out of breath and his eyes filled with a distinct anxiety. He ran his hand over his forehead, seeing a few drops of sweat. He looked straight ahead as if hypnotized by the fear that haunted him and pulled him out of his sleep. A headache seized him, making him wince in pain. A series of strange and indistinct images jostled in his mind .... A sea agitated by a terrible storm ... And in the middle of this ocean furious, a ship, lost and fighting against the elements to stay afloat ... On the sail of this great ship, a blazon in the shape of a large flower with three petals opening and surrounded by a laurel ... Then suddenly, a titanic form, even larger than a mountain, emerging from the ocean and opening two eyes filled with fire and anger...

Ishiro pushed his blanket up and stood up without losing a moment. Dressed in his kimono, with a lantern in his hand, he crossed the corridors of his dwelling in the darkness and headed for the office room. The relatively small square room, however, contained dozens of large books, mostly very dusty, and other very ancient parchments, piled up in crates or spread all over the small wooden desk standing in the center of the room. On one of the walls was a map of the known world, where several crosses at specific points had been drawn with black ink, as indicating positions, the most common on the coasts. Most of the books on the shelf were about the legends and mythologies of all peoples and beliefs in the world that Ishiro had been able to study: Greek mythology, Scandinavian, Aztec, Egyptian, etc.... Ishiro rushed to the bookshelf and in the lantern light, looking at them one by one, seeming to look for one in particular. And he found it. A thick book with a binder of old brown leather. Seizing it, Ishiro made some clean on his desk by removing some papers and put the big book in which were identified the coats of arms of all the great and small kingdoms known throughout the world, as well as their history. Ishiro spent long minutes flipping through the book, page by page, scrutinizing every coat of arms he saw. The man was more and more nervous as the seconds passed.

- "Where is it ... where is it ...?" he repeated incessantly. And finally, he found it. The same blazon he had seen on the ship's sail from his vision. He read the name written in black ink next to the symbol.

_"Arendelle..."

The shutters in the office window were suddenly pushed by a gust of wind that made Ishiro jump out of surprise. The natural breath swept the room, flying several parchments, one of which took place on Ishiro's lap. The man seeing him, felt his heart leap in his chest. On the parchment was represented a shape exceeding by its size the highest mountains, standing on two big legs, a massive body, powerful and clawed arms, a back dotted with dorsal spines. The thing on the paper was roaring powerfully and Ishiro could almost hear it in his mind, like a terrifying echo from a far away past. Ishiro then felt the wind grow stronger outside, making crack the foundations of his old house.

_ "It already started ..." he murmured anxiously.

On the horizon, behind the large mountains surrounding the valley, the clouds were gradually spreading to reveal a moon full and bright more than ordinary. This gleam attracted the attention of the village guards who contemplated this phenomenon with fascination. Leaning his hands on the edge of his window, Ishiro also watched. His gaze changed then, like a budding determination in his heart. Closing the book with a sharp blow, he left the room, but not to go back to bed.

*********

Meanwhile in the ocean, off the coasts of Norway

The king and queen of Arendelle had never seen such a storm in all their lives. From the deck of the boat, clinging with all their strength to the thick ropes, they saw around them the ocean in its utmost fury. Waves of several tens of meters were formed to come crashing violently, a torrential rain was falling, and the sky was invaded by black clouds spewing thunder. It was like the gods of ocean decided to unleash their fury through their element. Everywhere on the ship, the sailors ran in all directions, some managing to keep their cool and others leaving appear a great fear on their faces, especially the younger and less experienced. 

_ "Tuck the sails before they are torn by the wind!" yelled one of the sailors hanging on the mast. Others came to his call and got down to work, though the incessant rolling and the endless rain did not make their task easy. At the helm of the ship, a sailor used all his might to keep the boat on the cape and prevent it from drifting away. A wave struck and almost knocked him down, but he held on, dripping with seawater.

Heading towards the rear of the boat, struggling to keep their balance, the King and Queen of Arendelle, holding by the hand with strentgh, saw the young moss, the youngest member of the crew, about fourteen years old . The young man was terrified, curled up in a corner and shaking like a leaf. The king came to him and took him by the shoulders.

- "Rise up. A sailor of Arendelle does not fear the ocean. The others need you. Go!"

The king spoke harshly, but also with compassion. The young man nodded and took a breath to regain his composure.

-"Yes your Majesty!" he answered and ran at once to the aid of his comrades trying to shoot at a big rope of the mast. The queen joins her husband and smiled to him. But their smiles are short-lived when the captain arrives, a man of almost fifty-year-old and having a large experience of marine life, sporting a big gray beard. The captain was soaked to the skin but did not care.

-"My king, my queen, you should go down to shelter yourself! This storm has no mercy!"

- "Then we will be too, captain!" answered the king with force against the storm. The queen thought highly of their two daughters, Elsa and Anna, who remained at Arendelle under the watch of the servants and under the protection of the guards. She thought of Elsa, alone in her room and looking out the window at the outside world. And Anna wandering alone in the huge corridors of the castle, with no one to talk with. My god, what life had been left to them. All of this because of the mysterious power of Elsa. Some happy memories came back, however, on this Christmas day where Elsa and Anna, still children, had been able with their parents, to ring the Yule bell announcing the beginning of the festivities. The queen's heart squeezed in her chest by seeing all these memories come back in her mind. The captain's voice suddenly brought her back to reality.

-"What is that?"

The captain took his telescope and watched, under the intrigued gazes of the royal couple. Two hundred meters from the ship appeared what seemed to be a long row of large black rock spikes, protruding from the surface and struck by powerful currents. These rocky points were of a staggering size.

- "Reefs right in front!" the captain shouted towards the man who was holding the helm. The ship swerved left despite the strong currents, to try to avoid these rock formations. Taken by the roll, the queen nearly went overboard, but the king seized her just in time and brought her back to him.

Suddenly, a thump sounded under the ship, which was shaken by a violent shock sending everyone to the ground. The king helped his wife get back on his feet, while the captain and the sailors also came to their senses.

- "We hit a reef!" yelled one of the men, looking over the railing. Suddenly, he disappeared from the sight of all, as if sucked by something.

-"A man at the sea!" cried the captain, rushing with some men to help their comrade fallen into the water. But as they approached, a vision of horror emerged from the icy cold water. A huge and thick tentacle measuring several tens of meters, dripping with drops and holding at its end the sailor screaming in full voice. All on the ship were paralyzed with terror. The water of the ocean seemed to rise and gave rise to a shape as wide as a small island, round and flattened, covered with a viscid and scarlet skin, six round yellow eyes and a jaw filled with a hundred conical teeth. A dozen other tentacles rippled around him.

- "By the gods ..." whispered the queen of Arendelle while snuggling against her husband, also in the grip of amazement and terror.

- "The Kraken!!" yelled the captain. The panic seized the crew who abandoned all their posts, ran from now on to hope to save their lives. The great cephalopod creature uttered a loud roar that tore the eardrums of all. The tentacles hit the ship with lightning speed, catching several sailors in their embrace and pulling them off the ground with violence. The smallest mast was clamped then broken in half like a toothpick and collapsed, crushing three sailors in its fall. Confusion and fear invaded the ship, the shadow of the huge creature rising before them.

- "Majesties, save yourself, now!" the captain almost gave them an order, but anxious above all to see the sovereigns of Arendelle safe. The king at first refused to abandon his friend captain, but he saw in his eyes that he had already made his decision. With a heavy heart, the king, with his wife, fled in the direction of the rowboats, while the captain, in spite of the fear, took his pistol and fired at the giant octopus. The shot was no more effective than a bite of mosquitoes to the creature, who turned his furious glance towards the old captain. How could this human dare to shoot on me? A tentacle crushed the captain with great brutality, without giving him any chance. At least he had diverting attention from the octopus, but for how long?

Two tentacles pierced the hull of the ship as if it were paper and sowed chaos in the shims, destroying some of the foundations, lifting and flipping the cannons like toys, and catching unlucky sailors. On the deck, at the sight of all those men shrieking with fear, seized by these monstrous tentacles, the queen wept, while the king was trying to free one of the rowboats. The queen's hand gripped his shoulder.

- "We can not leave, we have to help them!" she said, in tears. The king clenched his teeth, understanding his wife's helplessness feeling, and answered him.

- "We are the lords of Arendelle! We can not abandon our kingdom! And we can not abandon our daughters!"

The vision of Elsa and Anna, eagerly awaiting the return of their parents, came back in the confused spirit of the queen, who then gave reason to her husband.

-"Majesty! Help me!" The voice of the young fourteen-year-old boy rang out, and he appeared, his face tense with fear and tears in his eyes, running as fast as he could towards the couple. A tentacle grabbed him by the waist and dragged him away to the black depths of the ocean. Seeing this young man screaming to death carried away by this thing, the royal couple was horrified at the highest point.

A rumbling, more serious and more powerful suddenly rang out from the depths. The giant octopus stopped suddenly and turned his eyes towards the direction of the noise. And with amazement, the king and queen saw the big rock spines rising from the water, causing waves and powerful swirls around them. What they took for rock formations was not. These spines were lined the back of a titanic body covered with black scales, rising more and more, so high that it seemed to touch the clouds. Two thick and powerful arms along the body, armed with claws. A lizard tail of unimaginable length. And that head .... That's what terrified the king and the queen the most. A reptile head, a short muzzle and a jaw filled with sharp teeth. Two yellow eyes, almost golden, showing an anger and a force out of the ordinary. The king and queen of Arendelle could not move as the sight of this other creature paralyzed them with stupor and terror. The kraken took a few steps back, almost intimidated. The thunder intensified in the sky and the storm gained strength. The humanoid repitilian creature took a step forward, shaking the ocean, and roared.

SKKKREEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOGGGGHH!

The king and queen had to clog their ears for not become deaf. They felt the whole ship tremble under the vibrations produced by the roar. The roaring of this thing was unlike anything known, and was surely not meant to be heard by humans. It was like the voice of a god from heaven and judging those who heard it. This is the feeling that the royal couple had. The reptilian creature lowered its head slightly, its gaze towards the ship. The royal couple's eyes met that of the creature. Those eyes .... They felt crushed by this look, as if God himself was watching them. The giant reptile, however, did not show any sign of aggression towards them and quickly turned his attention to the giant octopus.

The kraken also responded with a roar, which seemed very pale compared to that of his opponent much more massive. Turning away from the human ship, the kraken attacked, his tentacles hitting the giant reptile to hug him deadly. The humanoid reptile grunted with fury, clutching his huge fists, and threw himself into the fray too. The king and the queen then witnessed the confrontation of the two creatures. Tentacles seized the arms of the giant reptile, but it closed its jaw on one of them and tore it apart. The octopus groaned in pain and sent more tentacles. The body and legs of the giant reptile are quickly covered by the slimy tentacles, the octopus certainly trying to make it fall. But the reptile was much stronger than his adversary, tearing the tentacles one by one in a torrent of flesh and blood. A tentacle wrapped around his big neck to try to strangle him, but the reptile struggled and managed to bite him deeply until he snatched it away. Despite the suffering, the kraken did not give up and bit violently the right leg of the giant lizard, which emitted a roar of pain. The lizard showed an expression of anger and with his fist struck on the top of the body of the octopus, but the latter did not let go on the leg of his enemy. Two more tentacles grabbed the reptile's arms again to stop him from hitting again, and the monster growled in fury as he tried to pull them out with his teeth.

The fight of the two giants provoked even greater waves, striking the ship with great violence. The two remaining masts did not support and fell in their turn after being hit hard by the tail of the giant reptile, who did not realize this because he was too busy fighting his opponent.

-"Move!" said the king, throwing himself on his wife to push her to the side, just before one of the masts fell on the boats and destroyed them. So the couple had no way to escape now, and swimming in the middle of this furious ocean would be a suicide.

With his arms now free, the giant reptile grabbed the body of the kraken, pulling it off his leg and lifting it up as if it weighed nothing. The kraken tried to defend himself by lashing with his remaining tentacles on the lizard's head, but this one resisted. He threw the octopus at his feet, violently. The massive body of the cephalopod lifting a great wave that destabilized the ship even more. The giant reptile didn't finished yet because with one of his feet, he crushed the body of the octopus, then pressed, again and again, with all his strength, to reduce the kraken in a pile of crushed and inert flesh. Sure of the death of his opponent, the giant lizard uttered a powerful roar of triumph, greeted by the also roaring thunder.

On the ship, the king and queen of Arendelle witnessed the victory of the giant lizard, and saw him turn away, without he even lending to them. He had tracked this giant octopus for several days and it was now done. The creature began to move away, then plunged its massive body and then disappears under the surface of the ocean. The king and queen looked around. It was a real chaos and they were apparently the only survivors of the massacre. The lifeless bodies of the sailors all over the deck felt like a knife in their hearts. Suddenly, a wave, much larger than all the others until now, appeared in front of the ship and covered it with its shadow. The couple looked directly into their eyes, their expressions indicating the same resignation.

- "I'm sorry darling .... I love you." said the king tenderly, touching his wife's cheek.

- "I .... I love you too ..." she answered, shedding her last tears. The king smiled, accepting the fate that was destined for them. The couple kissed one last time and hugged each other, as hard as they could, until the wave came down violently, engulfing the entire ship in its veil of icy water, and letting rise to the surface only a few boards and pieces of sails torn, carried very quickly by the sea currents.