Saying 'sea monster' instead of 'shipwreck' would surely lead to a massive fine and possible imprisonment, but at this point, who cared about the consequences?
At the Icelandic Coast Guard headquarters, the operator hung up the phone and laughed with his colleague. "James, you won't believe this. That guy called back. Said he's encountered a sea monster and needs rescue."
"A sea monster? What kind? A mermaid? Did you ask him if he needs 'support'?" James joked.
The phone rang again. The operator answered, his expression shifting from amusement to confusion. "It's him again. Now he's saying his ship is sinking."
James shrugged. "If he says it's a shipwreck, log it as a shipwreck. If he's lying, it's his career on the line, not ours."
The operator, realizing the wisdom in this, followed protocol. The call was logged, and since the vessel in question, the Yggdrasil, belonged to a major Nordic fishing corporation, the patrol vessel Odin was dispatched to investigate.
When the Odin arrived on the scene, however, the sea was calm and the sun was shining. The Yggdrasil floated perfectly intact on the horizon.
"Where's the shipwreck?" a rescue worker on the Odin, a man named Fink, grumbled. "Damn fishermen. I hope they fine them into bankruptcy."
"Easy, Fink," Captain Venneland said over the radio. "You're a coast guard now, not an eco-warrior. Leo, take us closer. Something's not right. She's too quiet."
"Maybe she's a ghost ship," Leo, the helmsman, chuckled.
"Alright, jokes over," Venneland ordered. "Leo, drop the sonar buoys and hail them on the public channel. Fink, Nelsen, you're with me on the lifeboat. We're going to go aboard and see why they're wasting our time."
As the lifeboat was lowered, Leo activated the sonar. The moment the system went live, the emergency alarm blared, a deafening, continuous shriek.
"What is it, Leo?" Venneland's voice crackled over the radio. "Did you find survivors in the water?"
"I... I don't know, Captain," Leo stammered, staring at the sonar display. It was a solid mass of red. "The system is reading... a single biological entity. But that's impossible. It's too big."
"How big?"
"Hundreds of meters, at least!"
"Check your equipment, Leo. It has to be a malfunction," Venneland commanded.
Just then, the radio crackled to life with a hushed, terrified voice from the Yggdrasil. "...this is Captain Yano. How many ships did you bring? Do you have heavy weapons?"
Leo forgot the sonar. "This is the Icelandic Coast Guard. Tell us your situation. We're here to help."
"Do you have missiles?" Yano's voice was a strained whisper. "The big ones."
"No," Leo replied. "This is a rescue vessel."
"Then you'd better save yourselves," Yano said, and the line went dead.
Leo relayed the bizarre conversation to his captain. Venneland was just processing the information when the Odin was rocked by a massive wave. And then, the world went dark.
A colossal shape rose from the sea, blotting out the sun. A head larger than their entire ship, covered in black scales like jagged mountain peaks, emerged from the water, casting them in shadow. The sheer divine pressure of the being radiated outwards, freezing the men in place. Even Venneland, a hardened veteran of foreign wars, felt his courage evaporate, replaced by a primal, debilitating fear.
"Jörmungandr," Fink whispered, his body rigid, the name bubbling up from some deep, racial memory. The World Serpent of Norse myth.
Leo, in the control room, finally understood. The sonar wasn't broken. And Captain Yano wasn't crazy. But a missile wouldn't be enough. You'd need a nuke to even scratch this thing.
Leo, watching through the serpent's eyes, realized the demigod aura was too much. He was here to create a spectacle, not to paralyze his audience with fear. He consciously suppressed the divine pressure.
The moment the pressure lifted, Venneland snapped into action. He leaped into the lifeboat, started the engine, and began throwing flares and any loose objects at the serpent's body, trying to create a distraction. "Leo, get on the radio!" he screamed. "Call HQ! Tell them we've found the sea monster! Request immediate backup! Repeat, we need backup!"