At that moment, under the waves, everything seemed quieter.. more peaceful. No flapping of bats wings, and no panicking from the bats following us.

That was, until the adrenaline wore off.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccckkkkkkkk!!!” I exclaimed as my body was racked with mind blowing pain, my leg hurt like never before. I glanced down as I saw a blobby trail of red coming from below me. The shark… was on my leg.

I could feel its multiple rows of teeth digging into my skin, possibly breaking bones as more blood flowed from the wound. Taegan acted instantly. His dagger dug into the shark's head before I could even react, and they were instantly starting to get the dead shark's mouth unclenched from my leg. I just felt like going unconscious, but I knew that it was too risky, after all, then my air pockets would diminish, and they wouldn’t be able to help me. Finally they manage to pry the shark's head away from me, yet many of the teeth are still stuck in the stinging wound, the salt water making the injury hurt even more. Dalyva is swimming to the surface, and as she comes back down, she gives Taegan a thumbs up, and that's all I see before I pass out from blood loss, pain and shock.

When I wake up, I realise I'm on the beach, clearly Taegan and Dalyva had carried me, and my leg is wrapped in bandages I never knew we had. I see Taegan next to me, and then I feel the pain. Tears stream down my face as the pain sets in, it really hurts, and I reckon that this is the worst injury I've ever had. My throat is parched, and I can’t talk. Taegan looks over at me, and, upon noticing I'm awake, hands me a water bottle, and helps me sit up, rolling a log behind me like a makeshift chair so I don't have to use my muscles to sit up. As I sip at the water, my throat becomes manageable, and I look at Taegan.

“Thanks.” I say, truly appreciative that he saved me from the shark. “Also, since when did we have bandages?” I ask, gesturing to my leg. He can tell I'm trying to distract myself by talking instead of thinking of the pain I'm in, and responds. “We attacked a spider that had come near here while you were unconscious, and Dalyva killed it. It dropped these bandages.” He shrugs. Dalyva then returns with two equally long sticks about as long a s my shin area, and starts to put them either side of my leg with the help of Taegan, then wrap it into the bandages using some more bandages she got, making a makeshift cast. I wince as they touch my leg, it hurts, but I manage not to cry out.

I look around us curiously. “So.” I start, trying to be distracted from my throbbing leg. “Have you discovered any other animals that we need to eliminate?” Taegan looks at my leg. “Not anytime soon with that.” He says carefully, and I look at him confused. “What do you mean, I thought it was just a deep cut that’ll heal, right?” I ask, and Taegan grimaces. “Right now, there's probably still adrenaline running through your system, but as it wears off, you’ll realise that you actually got off pretty lucky, as the sharks teeth were just inches from your bone, which also means that unless we get some healing products or Dalyva figures out how to manipulate your blood, you’ll be permanently crippled.” I can see he’s rambling, but don't stop him as I just try to process the words he’s thrown in my face. ‘Cripple, almost to the bone.’

Just as if I had summoned it by my thoughts alone, low and behold the adrenaline wore off. I hissed through clenched teeth as the pain rushed as the floodgates opened, eager to invade my body as I became flooded with pain. I grit my teeth, trying to pull through it but it seems like an endless torrent before a puny pebble. I could do nothing but let it wash over me. Taegan and Dalyva just watched as I writhed in pain on the spot, both of them fixed with sympathetic gazes. “Taegan.” Says Dalyva, barely through the fog of pain can I hear her. “Why don’t…. kill… for Shankhe… cure… -jury.” I didn't catch it all, but enough to get the conversation. Taegan or Dalyva was going to go kill monsters to try find something to cure my wounds.

I fall unconscious merely seconds later as the pain fogs my brain and my body shuts down to heal. I do try to fight it, wanting to make sure that Taegan and Dalyva are always okay, but as I see Taegan look over me with slight worry, I realise the best thing right now was just sleeping. Nothing else could help right now except rest.

————————————————

I watch over Shankhe’s unconscious body. I see him breathe in and out, and then look at his leg, one that has a devastating wound. Suddenly, I notice something, and turn around to find a snake. Quickly drawing my blades, I get into a fighting position. The sand of the beach wraps around my forearms as I get ready to fight the snake. It waves itself from side to side, a tactic to make its opponent confused on where it's going to strike next, but I bet it would strike somewhere easier to hurt, somewhere I could be disabled from easily.

Also known as my feet. Did you know there is a pressure point on the back of your foot, that if you whack hard enough and in that specific area, it paralyses the entire body?

That was what the snake was aiming for. but it had to get me to turn around first, which is why it started to attack me with its buddies. Yes, multiple snakes, possums and even spiders surrounded me and Shankhe, as well as Dalyva. I fought them off the best I could, trying to eliminate most of them, but they just kept coming, attracted by the seemingly easy meal of two worn down humans, and another one unconscious. I was concerned, I knew that the longer we got distracted by snakes and possums- that drop pelts and coins, as well as snake meat- would not be able to heal Shankhe’s leg, and he would permanently be crippled.

Time was ticking. By usual standards, we had 3 hours to find a cure before he permanently became crippled. “Dalyva.” I yell out, and her head turns to me as she’s fighting one of the snakes. “Yeah?” She replies. “I’ll hold off the monsters, you run to try to find a cure, okay?” I say, and she looks at me with concern. “There's heaps of sand around here.” I pointed out, trying to appease her worry. “If the worst happens, I'll just carry Shankhe and run. I'll be fine, GO!” I say the last bit with urgency, and with a last glance to Shankhe and me, she departs. Back to the monsters. They were really annoying, and just kept coming. I think by the time the flow slowed I had killed about 20 snakes and possums. The only way I could do this was one thing, my earring. You see, my earring was a specialisation enhancer, which means it basically increased your mana, and reduced the amount you’d have to use to manipulate your element. It certainly was handy in times like these.

I sat on a rock, drinking slowly and breathing raggedly, trying to recover some energy in time for the next wave of monsters. Wave? Hang on. I started to panic, my mind thinking of what that could mean, and how I just sent Dalyva off. I don’t think it's an easy meal they’re going after.

————————————————

As I run, my thoughts flicker to Shankhe and Taegan, worried for them, even though I know I shouldn't. After all, there are hundreds of monsters chasing me. Wait, no. They’re not chasing me, they’re not even looking at me. They’re running away... From who? I don't know. From what? I still don't know. All I know is that mountain where the rock wallabies resided, is no longer there.

————————————————

As I stand over Shankhe, I look up at the horizon, wondering when this horde of monsters will stop. Just to notice the huge purple mountain that the rock wallabies were bounding on before, not in my view. I shrugged for a moment, thinking maybe the mountain is just not visible from here, but I knew I was lying to myself. After all, when we dragged Shankhe out of the water, it was still there, and yet, we didn't hear a thing even as a massive mountain disappeared.

At that moment, I made a rash decision. Hauling Shankhe’s limp body onto my back, his arms around me floppily but enough, and using sand to make him more secure, I ran. I don't stop, I just run. In the direction Dalyva went, of course. Even when my muscles ached, and I wished to just sit down and stop, I didn't. It was too risky. too dangerous to do that right now, and I don’t think it’ll even be safe when the monsters calm down, as there is still another monster in this room that could possibly be as big as that mountain, and be able to destroy it silently.

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Here's the clincher. We have to defeat every species in this room, including the giant monster. Oh yeah, I was terrified. You think this rambling is me being composed? Hell no, I'm literally about to die, and I didn't even get to see the outside one last time, or fulfil my promise of meeting up with Jargob again. Yeah, it's fine, I’m fine, everything's fine. I’m about to die, that's fineee~~ I am so screwed…

I have an unconscious Shankhe on my back, monsters on my heels, and Shankhe may become crippled if we don't get him a healing potion or some herbs to make a healing potion. Ooo, shiny rock. Not the time Taegan, focus on running. Wait, it could be a mana rock, one we need for a healing potion. I backtrack a couple steps. Nope, just a normal rock. I sprint ahead, not wanting the monsters to catch me as I look ahead and around me. Oh, Pathine herbs. As I run past, I gather them quickly before stuffing them in my dimensional bag. We’ll definitely need those later.

How long has it been? It feels like hours, but I truly hope not. Suddenly Shankhe starts to stir. “Shankhe.” I say, decently loud so he hears me. His eyes come into focus, and he fixes his gaze on me, as I can see he tries not to focus on anything else. “There’s a giant monster who destroyed the wallabies giant rock without a sound. The monsters are running away from it, and we’re running away from them. Keep an eye out for any monsters getting too close and Dalyva.” He nods, and starts to look around as I focus on purely running. “Flash of yellow, 10 o’clock.” I started to run in the direction he pointed out and could see a flash of gold. Yep, definitely Dalyva. At least I know he wasn't lying. “Dalyva.” I yell, and she looks up. Her face lights up as she sees both of us fine. “Oh, you’re both fine.” She says happily. We nod. We all start to run together, well, Shankhe on my back.

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I look out from Taegan's back. Surveying forwards and backwards, I suddenly noticed something. “Veer right!” I yelled in a panic, and they did just in time. They hadn't noticed, too distracted with running, but there was a cliff face that they almost ran off of. “Small hill in front, we could climb that.” I point out. it wouldn’t stop the monsters, but it would certainly slow them down if they were trying to get us as well as run away. As we approached it, Taegan used his specialisation to aid him in his climb and make us lighter. Dalyva however enhanced her body, and used that to scale the wall. She reached the top first, and held a hand down to help Taegan up, me included. As we reached the top, Taegan laid me down, and I just rested my arms behind me so I was propped up, and watched as Taegan and Dalyva collapsed onto the cold stone with exhaustion.

By now I've gotten used to the common throbbing in my leg, but it still hurts, and I know that I can't walk on it, as most of my muscles, tendon and veins are broken. Essentially I can't really do anything and that's a problem. You see, Taegan and Dalyva are exhausted, yet they still need to protect me if any other monsters come up. I mean, it doesn't restrict my spesh…

I go to control my water in my bottle as I pop the cork open, but suddenly get a pang of awareness. The strange thing? It was right below us. Just mere moments pass before it happens again, and I get insanely curious. Clocking my eyes, I focus more on my specialisation and the perception of it behind me. I soon notice that we’re on a cliff, with our bit hanging over the edge with space underneath us. Just then I see something out of the corner of my eyes, and that's when I notice two absolutely monstrously sized legs with bird-like feet descending from the sky. I can’t even see the body as the legs extend, though I reckon I can see some black past the clouds. What could it possibly be?

The cliff we were standing on, or I thought was a cliff, started to rock as a huge wave hit it, and I saw a humongous beak hit the water out in the distance. That’s when I realised what this giant monster was. It was a giant bird. What bird? Wasn’t sure, but I knew it was a bird, and absolutely terrifyingly large.

Back to the cliff, which was wobbling like crazy. I started to panic, thinking we may fall, and hurriedly trying to figure out what to do. On one hand, I could wake Taegan, and it could be a false alarm, on the other hand it might be an actual emergency. Just deciding to risk it, I drag myself over to Taegan’s unconscious body. Tapping him at first, but as the rocking increases I really start to understand the gravity of the situation and shake him hard and nervously. “Taegan.” I half-hiss half say sharply, and he looks up at me half awake, a bit grumpy before he notices the rock tipping from side to side and jolts away, alert and ready for anything.

Despite him still being very tired himself from all the running, and knowing Dalyva is too, he bravely risks his life to wake her up. An angry glare is all he gets, and an open mouth ready to scream at him before she notices the crazy rocking. She shoots up in surprise and fear. “What's happening?” She says urgently, her voice slightly shaking. I point to the huge birds legs that are on the land, easily squishing what could’ve been mountains beneath their feet. “That.” I simply say, letting it explain itself. Her eyes widen, and Taegan too is surprised, alone just because of the sheer size of the bird, when we normally envision them to be small, harmless creatures. One huge tip suddenly makes us slip from our positions, and we’re desperately gripping onto the rock, trying not to fall as the rock almost does. “Any ideas?” Dalyva squeaks out. “We could jump?” I hesitantly say. “I sensed before there’s rocks under the cliff face, and probably somewhere we can sit while we figure out a plan.” Taegan nods, and starts to haul me up, letting me use him as his other leg. “Quick.” He says, a hint of urgency in his tone. “We need to jump. C’mon, Dalyva, this is no time for fear.”

He grabs her hand, and starts dragging her to the edge of what we thought was a cliff, to turn out it was a boulder. That’s what I can see, anyways. Dalyva doesn’t resist, but I know she’s hesitant. It’s almost like second nature for her now, and I get it. We’re being put in increasingly more dangerous situations, and it grows on her to be naturally more wary of things. A small smile crosses my face before I remember what we’re about to do.

We jump off the cliff, adrenaline running through me and fuelling my actions as I stay streamline, making sure to enter the water feet first. Taegan’s next to me, and on the other side of him is Dalyva. As we fall, and land in the water, everything disappears for a moment. The adrenaline, the pain, the noise of the giant birds. Everything. Until we remember why we jumped, and start desperately swimming, Taegan helping me as the salt water got to my wound, and trying to get out of the area where the boulder would fall. Using my specialisation I control the water around us to propel us, and just in time too, as we manage to just narrowly avoid the boulder as it crashes into the ocean.

I managed to propel us to a bunch of rocks under the cliff, and we climbed up them to some sand that was barely wet, the only reason it was is because the bird put its beak in the water and made a giant wave. “Oh yeah.” Says Taegan. “I grabbed some herbs while you were unconscious. Pathine herbs, I’m pretty sure.” Dalyva however takes one look at those herbs, and her face turns to shock. “That’s not Pathine.” She says. “That’s Tren, the strongest poison in the world, said to be able to kill the gods themselves, and a very powerful poison, that if one leaf went into a small ocean, it would poison the entire ocean. Just then another beak came down, and we got sprayed with water, soaking us more than we already were. Dalyva’s face lights up, and she grabs the Tran herbs out of Taegan’s hands. “Give me.” She says, and then picks up a rock, and one that looks like a bowl, ish.

She starts to break it up, a grin on her face. I look over her shoulder, as I’m sitting on one of the smaller rocks, and say. “So, what's your idea?” I ask. She looks back at me. “You can see that, can’t you?” She points to a distinctly more purple area than the rest of it that surrounds this whole place, and I nod. “Yep, I can see it. What about it?” She smiles. “That’s the border. If my calculations are correct, the ocean isn’t big enough to resist a poison like this one.” I look at her shocked. “But won’t that poison us as well?” I ask worriedly. She shakes her head as she continues to grind it up. “Nope, because it’s only if we take it in, and anyways, we have the cure.” She says, bringing out bunches of Pathine herbs from her pocket. “The big birds though?” And suddenly both me and Taegan are looking at her like she’s an absolute genius, because she is. She managed to figure out not only how to kill the giant bird, but also how to make sure we don’t get killed as we try to kill it, and find the right herbs for a health potion. She finishes mashing it up, and goes down to the water's edge of the rocks, which is relatively calm, and starts to harmlessly wash her bowl and tool she used.

The area where the poison touched turned a dark purple, almost black, and we could see its progress as it slipped out into the sea…

We watch the Tren seep into the sea with anticipation, knowing its our only chance of killing every species in the room including that big bird. I watch the black swirl around and give the water a little push as it merges and swirls. I can’t wait for the bird to try drinking it. Suddenly the huge beak comes near our cliff and starts to drink. However happy me and Dalyva were, Taegan starts to panic. “Shankhe.” He says, his tone urgent. “Get on my back, now!” He rushes over to me, and I get on his back in a piggyback, looking at him confused. “Why Taegan?” I ask, as he starts to drag Dalyva and me across the beach. “What do you think?” He says. “The bird will die, and its head will land in the water causing a massive tsunami, and the body will make an earthquake which will support the tsunami. Our best bet is to make it to the desert area as fast as we can.”

Dalyva’s eyes widen and she starts to run on her own, all us realising just how much this is going to be bad. Taegan runs up the hill with barely any efficiency lost, even though I can tell he’s downright exhausted and sore, he persists. I look at him with pure thankfulness, knowing that even some of my friends i grew up with wouldn’t do this much for me, however this person, who knew me only for a week, or however long it’s been, did more than any of my friends ever had. I get that we think we’re brothers, but we don’t know that, it’s not confirmed, and yet he’s risking his life for someone he could easily leave to die and forget about.

Suddenly a huge earthquake wracks the land. Now, a normal earthquake may move a couple small rocks, shake the earth, but not much else. However this one? A big wave of air suddenly came from the huge corpse we could see that reached the clouds, and we all hunkered down, Taegan pulling me off his back just to make sure I didn’t get hurt or blown away. We linked arms, and me and Dalyva put our other arm around a tree, and held each other's hands around it, just as the wind came. It was vicious, knocking down several weaker trees, and making branches fall, including several other things like all the leaves on trees getting ripped off and dust flying up from the ground. We closed our eyes and waited for the mini storm to pass, and eventually it did. Dalyva helped me back onto Taegan’s back, but the problem was that the tsunami had already started, despite our best efforts and their running. Dalyva even enhanced her body, and Taegan used his sand and I used my water to make us lighter so he could run faster. The tsunami however was quickly encroaching, and it was getting on Taegan’s nerves as we were still a third way from the desert..

I turned to the tsunami slightly, just my head so as to not impact Taegan’s running, and focused my will on slowing down the tsunami around us, but I knew I couldn’t hold it for long. 17 metres to go. My focus was starting to wither, and the tsunami started to go faster, but I put my whole attention onto it. 14 metres. Not that many left. My attention wavered, as my energy dipped, but I tried to push through, straining myself to keep the tsunami from hitting us. 9 metres left. Dalyva started to speed up, using the last of her reserves, as well as Taegan as they rushed to the forest's edge. 3 metres.