Chapter 3

So he remained still.

The initial warmth of his body was soon replaced by cold again.

He dared not move from his spot.

Now, his clothes were soaked through with mud, no longer reflecting the moonlight.

Aydin looked at his clothes and the condition he was in.

He was scared and exhausted, feeling his body could endure no more.

One moment, he was wallowing in self-pity; the next, he was attacked from behind. Teeth sank into his flesh, sawing through his back muscles. The robe that had been on him, now caked with mud, dragged him towards the deeper parts of the swamp.

Once again, Aydin lacked the luxury of devising a plan or even taking a deep breath. His mouth was inundated with a mix of mud and water. He was dragged into the mire with such ease that any semblance of resistance seemed nonexistent.

In a fleeting moment of desperation, Aydin surfaced above the water, gasping for air, only to be choked by the sludge filling his mouth.

He continued to struggle until part of his robe tore, offering him a brief respite before the pulling force intensified.

He was aware that being dragged further into the depths of the swamp would spell the end of his struggles.

While coughing and gasping for air, he attempted to unfasten the three buttons on his robe, his small hand trembling with fear. As he managed to undo one button, the creature that had ambushed him began violently shaking its head from side to side, intent on dragging Aydin deeper into the swamp and away from solid ground.

Aydin had come to realize that any attempt at salvation was futile. As he fumbled with the second button, he understood that by the time he reached the third, it might as well have been in vain. Nevertheless, he persisted and managed to unfasten it.

Amidst being tossed from side to side, and yanked backwards, his lungs clogged with mud and dirt, he succeeded in releasing the button. This act granted him a momentary respite before he was jerked back once more.

He now accepted that it was too late to even try for the third button.

Exhausted from the chase, his lungs screamed for air, and his body was battered.

He awaited his fate, hand resting on the final button, not attempting to undo it. His thumb pressed beneath, hoping to tear it away.

To his surprise, the button did give way. Perhaps it was the creature's insistent tugging that applied excessive pressure, not Aydin's own efforts.

Aydin's moment of relief was fleeting before he was submerged once more.

The creature pulled, while Aydin struggled to maneuver his arms, aiming to extricate himself.

Once free, he rose to find himself chest-deep in water.

He looked back to see what just attacked him. He saw a creature with a long body of fish and long mouth with full of teeth. He saw that the creature was wriggling back to deeper part of water with his robe. It had no limbs.

Temtor.

The splash of water in the wake of Temtor was enough warning for Aydin to get away from the water.

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He couldn’t swim into it, even if he could, so what he did was walking, and using his hands to open a path to dryland.

He tried, but to his dismay, he understood that it wasn’t fast enough. He knew, it was matter of time before Temtor leave the cloth behind and resume its attacking. Yet, he didn’t give in.

While he semi walking and swimming to dry land, he was also coughing out all the things that got into his mouth.

Moments passed, and he was getting closer to the dryland. He didn’t hear any splash anymore, and that was more ominous than that splashing.

He was waist deep into the water, and his feet found more purchase on the ground. Yet, the threat from behind was getting more unbearable.

He tried to speed up, yet he never gets that satisfaction.

He looked back, which he wished he didn’t. He saw a ripple, unhurriedly, was coming toward his location.

With newfound vigor and fear, Aydin, tried again to escape Temtor.

He tried and tried, and all that brough him was to get knee deep in water.

He looked back to where Temtor was, and he knew that he wouldn’t make it back to dry land.

He looked around a precious moment to see what could help him, and he saw a branch of tree was hanging above the water.

Without thinking the possibility even making it or not, he walked towards that branch.

He had a goal, and he walked toward that goal. It was almost twenty walked away from him.

He saw that he was getting closer with each trying step. He looked back while walking, and he saw the top part of Temtor broke the water. It was moments away to catch up to him.

He put all his energy to his last two step and lunch himself at the branch. At least he thought he lunched because that murky water wouldn’t allow such action with such a speed.

However, it was enough for him. The moment his hand touched the branch, it gave him an exuberant feeling. The feeling he had was so good, that he forgot about his coughing fit for a moment.

He pulled with all he energy he saved for the upper body.

It was still not good enough effort.

He saw that Temtor was just a moment away from capturing him again.

In last effort before it becomes too late. He tried removing his feet from the water, at the same time, the Temtor opened his maw to get a purchase on his prey.

The upper jaw of Temtor was just below Aydin feet that was raised together.

Aydin that saw his life was a moment away to be dragged into the water, without even thinking or knowing why, he dropped both feet on top of the Temtor.

That caused the Temtor to close its mouth. However, Temtor was powerful enough that by having that much weight on jaw, while it tried to open it again that, it truly lunched Aydin up.

There was moment of weightlessness that Aydin felt while he was midair hands-on tree trunk. In that moment, he decided to loop his feet around the branch.

Since Aydin looped his feet around the thinner side of the tree’s branch, it made the branch bends toward the water.

In that moment, the Temtor lunched itself toward Aydin again. This time, it was targeting his back.

Aydin arched his back up and made parallel to the branch, which bought him another moment.

To his horror, the branch couldn’t handle that much stress and broke, yet again, casing unexpected landing on Temtor’s mouth that was getting ready to lunch itself again.

Aydin, by this point that every action of his was desperate attempt, he let go of the branch, and tried to grab the broken branch that was hanging limply.

Meanwhile, the Temtor created splashes in the water by wiggling its entire body. Droplets scattered in all directions, and where the Temtor's body had been, a temporary void in the water formed due to its movements, allowing Aydin a fleeting view of its entire form.

Ignoring that, he grabbed the broken branch and put it between himself and Temtor.

The Temtor lunched itself at Aydin again and didn’t care about the branch coming to his mouth.

It snapped its mouth, and the branch was cut in half. Yet, because of the momentum it had with whole body, its mouth smashed to Aydin and threw him a few walks away.

He landed five steps away from Temtor, and any air left in him was knocked out.

The water now reached to his ankle while he was sitting.

Aydin didn’t wait and ran towards the tree to get cover there.

A maddening splash was happening right behind him, but he didn’t look back. He ran the few steps and jumped behind the tree in angle.

When he was behind the tree, he was trying to do two things at the same time —Coughing and breathing.

He took a deep breath, which caused him another coughing fit.

While he was breathing and coughing, he looked behind the tree to see where the Temtor was.

He only saw Temtor was wriggling to get back to the direction of water.

Then, something big silently dropped from above on the back of Temtor and biting down.

The clashing and wrestling were in frensy pitch. Water was splashing where those creatures were wrestling.

Aydin didn’t wait to see what attached Temtor. Whatever it was, it was way more dangerous than Temtor, because the Temtor was his prey.

Putting his hand on his mouth to lower the noise that he was making by coughing, he ran to another direction.

He ran where the fire was.