The Claws of Sharkros

A shop in Falador blew up. Many men had been stashing weapons and explosive potions in their homes. Now they were being put to use.

"Damn knights! You cannot save us! You can't do your jobs properly! And frankly, we're sick of your rule!" a man shouted, hurling a sword which struck a knight in the chest. He collapsed to the floor, coughing up blood. Some of the Varrockian refugees had also joined the riot.

Those innocent citizens that were not in the riot were hiding in the castle, from both rioters and sea creatures. But the sea life had not come... yet.

It has been confirmed. The whole planet could not deny it. The rulers of each kingdom were trying to reassure their subjects, and started building up defences. The freak weather continued, and sea levels rose slightly. The dwarves of Keldagrim were the only ones laughing it off. They thought they were safe, tucked away underground.

But nothing could escape the claws of Sharkros.

Tarqinder and Mark were standing absolutely still. There were three Aviantese outfitting them with various weapons, and special lightweight armour. Tony had been whisked away mysteriously, but when he entered the room soon after, it looked like the room was going to explode. Tony had massive golden armour, covered in spikes and various melee weapons attached. He was holding a massive flail. He was completely covered in golden armour, and even had a horned full helmet.

"If this is the final battle... let's make it one to remember!" he grinned.

"Sharkros has revealed himself and his plot. Such an unexpected move... but nonetheless, he must taken down!" Rax barked from his throne.

"We take you down now, then we will help when the invasion starts. We are always watching - you can rely on us!" Gara squawked.

Before anything could be said, the trio were pushed out of the window. They fell a thousand meters... but they hit a really soft flowerbed unharmed.

"This is Falador, and the invasion has started!" Mark shouted.

"It's a riot, actually. This what Sharkros would have wanted - people destroy each other before he can destroy them!" Tony replied.

Tarqinder looked at Tony, and noticed a small ball of energy and a strange relic in his armour pocket. Tarqinder then dismissed those objects as more weapons.

Farrell opened his eyes. He was so lucky to be alive. He was on the Varrockian wall, and he could only see Phillip Styne.

"What happened?" Farrell sputtered.

"I'm such a great medic. I've helped heal your wounds, and I even gave you CPR. Look around you, there's no one here... only the king and his servants."

"Darako! I-"

"Don't worry about that now. We are about to be invaded by sea creatures, and the Red Mist are going to find a way out soon! I can sense it!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get biz-ay!"

All the world leaders were stuffed into a cramped cage on wheels. Sharkros had arrived at Lumbridge swamp, and already constructed a large wooden cauldron full of rubium and lots of other random materials and substances. Juna the serpent and Madphibian appeared out of the manhole, greeting Sharkros and such.

"Let the ritual begin!" Sharkros ordered, as Juna started chanting. Madphibian kept tugging on the rope that was connected to the cauldron. The contents of it poured into a massive hole created earlier. The hole lead directly to the center of the planet. King Roald and his advisors appeared.

"Oh dark lord, this is wonderful! You'll rule the world in no time!" Roald said, trying to suck up to him.

"Nobody likes a kiss-ass, Roald. And do you know why I needed the world leaders? He requires one more sacrifice. Guess what, you're a world leader..." Sharkros grinned, his eyes glowing.

Roald backed off, as his advisors broke into a run. But they were stopped by sea serpents. The serpents devoured the advisors.

"But we had an agreement! I was to be a god!" Roald stammered.

"You will be no more than food to the lordship" Sharkros replied. But Roald dodged the serpents and escaped down a tunnel. The serpents were too big for it. Sharkros frowned.

"Oh well. When the storm passes, no one can hide..."

"You're insane!" King Vallance shouted.

"Insane? Insanity is like gravity. All it needs is a little push!" Sharkros laughed, then he pushed the cage into the hole. Everyone screamed, as the cage itself splintered on the rocks. Everyone fell to their deaths, except for Duke Horacio, who was holding on for dear life.

"Grab on Vallance!" he screamed, trying to reach Vallance.

"It's too late! Save yourself!"

"But who will rule Asgarnia?"

"I have someone in mind" Vallance winked, as he let go, but the Duke grabbed him again. Horacio managed to climb onto a ledge, and pulled Vallance to safety.

Five minutes later, lightning filled the skies, and something was rising out of the hole. Something big, white and godly...

"Move troops!" screeched General Norcrin. He lead a pod of killer whales with mounted explosive potion launchers. Others included the heavy assault troops, like the blue whales. They were heading for Port Sarim, which had now been flooded...

On the Kandarin coast, sea slugs emerged from the oceans. They were soon to be followed by giant squids and octopi. While a route was found to the river Kelda, with crocodiles swimming up it. Giant sea turtles landed on the beaches of Catherby, supported by crustaceans of many sizes. A great white shark lead many other sharks towards Lumbridge.

But once these creatures had reached their destination, nothing happened. They just stood there, staring into space. Scared citizens watched tensely, wondering why nothing is happening. The Falador riot had stopped, and the rioters arrested. Sir Amik could see whales and dolphins from his window, wondering why nothing is happening.

"They must be waiting for some kind of signal" Amik said aloud.

"I say we attack them now!" replied Sir Killalot.

"And get obliterated by their first wave? No, we wait for them to strike" Amik replied.

Zavistic Rarve looked out of the Wizards' Guild window at the approaching assault. He looked at the black eyes of a crab and winked, a sly signal to his fellow sea creatures. Noticing his hand to be turning slightly yellow he took a quick sip of a tiny vial from his pocket. He checked his hands again, they were turning pink-ish once again. The skin colour potion he had took prevented his skin turning yellow, and the sea slug on his back twitched slightly, adjusting to his robes.

"Are you okay Zavistic?" asked Norbert as he carried in a nature orb on top of a pile of runes.

"Yes, yes," Zavistic said hurriedly. "I'm absolutely fine."

"We have gathered the nature orbs as you asked, but what do we need now for the spell? The ash creeps ever closer and we are running out of time."

"Wizard Norbert for shame, how dare you hurry me!"

"Why I'm sorry Zavistic, I shall not trouble you again."

Norbert hurried away, clearly concerned. Why would Zavistic not give out the next set of instructions? The ash was getting closer yet they were not closer to stopping it. Was something of a different nature occurring?

"Oh, Norbert, I forgot to say; get fire runes, plenty of fire runes!" Zavistic exclaimed.

"Thank you!" Norbert called, shattering his chain of thought as he went to continue the gathering.

As Norbert exited the room, Gregory pulled him to one side. Norbert went to call out but Gregory put his hand over his mouth.

"Norbert, I need you to listen," Gregory said.

"You are but my apprentice, what in Saradomin's name are you doing?" Norbert asked furiously.

"Look at Zavistic, what do you notice?"

"Aside from skill and superiority? Two things you do not possess I would add. Why do you ask? And in fact, why do you waste my time when there are things to be done?"

"Look at his hands Norbert, what colour are they?"

Norbert shook his head in disbelief at Gregory's unusual behaviour.

"Why Gregory you idiot, they are the same as yours and mine," Norbert said.

"Well they weren't! Honestly! They were yellow! I think he's been bitten by one of those sea slugs, it wouldn't surprise me, look out of the windows! More sea creatures are appearing at the sea front again; they're up to something!"

"Gregory, my dear boy, let us discuss this to one side, we can't let this be heard by the wrong ears."

Norbert lead Gregory upstairs to the top floor, it was completely empty as it was being used by wizards using the portals to collect more resources, and no one was coming through at the moment for a collection group had just passed. Nobody was allowed upstairs apart from those teleporting, so no one could hear what was being discussed.

"Thank you for listening Norbert," Gregory said hastily, his hands shaking.

"What is all this," Norbert noted.

"Norbert, the sea slugs are controlling Zavistic, and he's got to be stopp-"

A blast of magic shot Gregory down dead. Zavistic stood beside his corpse and turned towards Norbert.

"Oh dear, look what you've gone and done now Norbert, I think you must have killed Gregory and then turned on yourself; seeing as you've heard plenty from Gregory here, I think it's time you got some rest," Zavistic said.

He shot a death blast at Norbert who jumped through a portal to the Dark Wizards' Tower before he could be hit.

"I'd best not follow, I can't interfere too much; besides, I think the Zamorakians won't react well to seeing a Saradominist wizard," Zavistic said.

Arriving flat on the floor at the Dark Wizards' Tower, Norbert looked up to see a number of Dark Wizards surrounding him, all looking surprised and angry.

"Well what do we have here?" asked one of them.

"I was chased, by an evil- oh, what's the use? You're just as evil," Norbert noted, waiting to be struck down by a powerful bolt.

"Idiot man, we are working together, we are helping cast back the ash in the sky as well!" snapped the dark wizard.

"Oh, well, my apologies. My name is Norbert, or Wizard Norbert as I'm known professionally."

"I'm Wizard Orca, but seeing as we're both professionals I see little point in referring to each other with the 'wizard' title, would you agree?"

"Good point, Orca."

"Thank you, Norbert."

"Actually, no time for pointless wittering! We've got a problem, and quite a serious one at that; Zavistic Rarve, do you know him?"

"Why yes, of course, we may be Dark Wizards but we're not kept in the dark, and we know of his talent and knowledge on this weather that has been plaguing us all for some time now."

"Good, but the thing is, there's something wrong with him, and he's killed my apprentice Gregory and I think he's trying to sabotage our plans."

"Sabotage? Murder? It would seem that a greater force is manipulating him."

"And I'll bet my spellbook those sea monsters have something to do with it!"

"Oh, them? They've sunk the odd boat in the past few weeks but they're hardly that powerful."

"Not kept in the dark, are you? Where's the nearest window?"

"Top floor."

"Well, let's take a quick glance outside."

Norbert, Orca and three other wizards hurried upstairs to the highest level, where a view of the landscape below could be seen; from Catherby to Draynor Village. It also revealed the swarms of sea creatures occupying the land masses.

"Oh my Zamorak," whispered Orca.

"They're probably on your side," Norbert muttered.

"What is it with you Saradominists? Ever since that battle in Ardougne a few months back, you all seem to hate us more than ever! We actually like to keep ourselves to ourselves!"

"Sorry, it's just that I encountered Lathas first hand, he killed my master, the man who trained me; and for that I hold a grudge against all Zamorakians."

"That's ridiculous! So if a warrior killed a wizard you knew, you'd hate all warriors?"

"Well no, but that's different!"

"Is it really? But I don't think there's that much time for sociological debate now, we're going to have to work together to stop this oncoming storm and defeat Zavistic Rarve together, and before you ask, we don't intend on killing him."

"Alright, deal," Norbert said, still slightly uncertain of Orca.

Kumthalatta had managed to escape into a deeper section of the seaweed fortress which led underground, and he was terrified. Thanks to his agility he had avoided being thrown into the pit of fire, but the various others had not been so lucky, or so Kumthalatta thought. He decided he would be cautious, as even he couldn't avoid an assault from too many sea creatures.

"I shall give these fishes a defeat they will never forget," he stated, clenching his fist.

He turned a corner and came face to face with a lobster who looked straight at him, clicking its pincers.

"What do you creatures want?" Kumthalatta asked.

"We want freedom, and revenge," the lobster replied.

"How do you creatures talk? You are things that swim and eat and die."

"You believe us to be primitive? Then you should look at yourself, men build castles out of stone, you build huts out of sticks!"

"But we are superior, we claim this world as our own!"

"And what gives you the right to kill and cook us?"

"It is in our nature."

"You humans have slain my siblings countless times, and when we try to avenge these deaths we are slain all the more."

"Then maybe; maybe our lives have been wrong, our whole world is wrong-"

Kumthalatta did not get finish his thought, as the lobster launched itself at him, cutting his throat with its large pincers. Blood spilled over the floor and into the waters, and Kumthalatta's body was soon submerged as the area was flooded.

Farrell and Phillip ran down the road to Lumbridge. They had just witnessed the Varrock wall collapsing, and the Red Mist escaping. The swarms were flying towards Falador, having just attacked Barbarian Village.

Meanwhile in Keldagrim, the crocodiles had made it through. The Consortium representatives looked out of the window, and gulped.

"Those humans were right!" the trade referee cried.

"We're doomed!" Hreidmar shouted.

The crocodiles deployed onto the land. Many of them had some kind of clockwork launcher. These launchers would launch explosive potions and poisoned daggers. The guards were immediately at the scene, but noticed the reptiles weren't doing anything. The guards decided to stand back, wondering what they were doing.

"Better ask an official! We could get screwed for attacking an endangered species!" a berserker said.

Lumbridge shook wildly, as the residents thought an earthquake had struck. All residents were ordered to get into the safest place; the castle. A massive, white skull rose out of the hole, and it's eyes glowed green.

"Who dare awakens Guthix from his eternal slumber!" Guthix boomed.

"Almighty Guthix! I am Sharkros, representing the animals of the world. Man has ravaged this world, nearly destroying it. Humans have cut down the forests and let the trees burn into the sun. They have polluted the oceans with their waste, and have literally taken our rights and thrown them away, like a wisp on the wind" Sharkros replied.

Guthix suddenly grew a tentacle, and it headed towards Sharkros. He came closer to him, and started probing through the mad shark's mind. Five minutes later, he released Sharkros dazed.

"You speak the truth! It has been two thousand years since I was last awakened. Even though this isn't the second God Wars, what humans have done to Gielinor is unforgivable. What you ask of me is a request I can't take lightly... and I will need some time to meditate over it" Guthix said, peacefully.

Guthix closed his eyes, and sparks were flying all around him. This was a sign he was in deep thought, almost in a dream. Sharkros grinned, and several seagulls came flying down.

"Send the message - attack!" Sharkros screamed, as the birds flew off.

Five minutes later, several human fighting forces stood at main city gates, each person in deep thought. This could be their last moments, but they will become patriots - doing what is right for their nation. The civilians always come first.

But in a very unexpected move, the sea creatures headed further inland. It started raining very heavily, and the water started rising. Many areas were becoming even more flooded. And make a guess who gained the upper hand.

Norbert and Orca observed what appeared to be Guthix, they could not tell if it was Guthix, but they felt a great sense of power nearby, and the ground had been shaking slightly.

"I think we'd best prepare for the battle," Orca said.

"It's not very often I'll agree with a Zamorakian, but now's the exception," Norbert said, watching the sea creatures spilling on to land.

Vials had been shattered all over the floor as the ground had shook, and unusual smokes were wafting around the room.

"Oh bother," Orca stated as he observed the gases filling the air.

"What is this smoke?" Norbert asked.

"It's either our weapon, or our death sentence."