The cool water seemed familiar to me, my path through the liquid clearer than I’d ever felt before. Out of curiosity, I called upon my senses, confident that even if nothing happened, I wouldn’t be adversely affected in my pursuit. I couldn’t have been more wrong. For once, my eyes felt sharper than ever. This is what I had been missing all along. Perhaps the answer was more simple than the village had known. The platypus was a creature at home in the water.

I closed the gap, body forgetting the urge for air amidst the danger of the situation, mere feet away from the spike feeder who seemed to have caught on to my presence in our shared submerged state. If I had the air to spare I’d have cursed my luck, but every single breath I had stored was required if I was going to get Levin out of this.

The spike feeder opened its mouth, needle teeth glinting in the darkness, a shrill scream traveling in a warped fashion through the depths. It tossed aside Levin, his body drifting down further and further. The monster faced me with hunger reflected from its dull eyes. In a mighty swish of the beast’s tail, it closed the gap, reaching for me with its spikes outstretched.

I frantically kicked and clawed out of its trajectory, knowing that even one bad hit could ensure the death of Levin, let alone myself. My knife flicked out at it as it passed by, but it was only a grazing cut. Insufficient compared to the honed strength of a beast soul, limbs adapted to gouging out the flesh of their enemies. My knife was nothing to what Levin’s nails would be come if… no, not if, when he mastered his beast soul further.

My current assault wasn’t working and my lungs screamed at me to free them from the absence of air. For the moment, perhaps the best thing I could do was lure it away from Levin. I called upon my electroreception, trying to keep track of the spike feeder as I jetted for the surface world.

Electroreception proficiency: 50%

In normal circumstances I would have loved to see that sign of proficiency displayed in my mind, but this wasn’t normal circumstances. The proficiency was a distraction, not unlike the spike feeder’s form trailing behind me, furiously climbing after my ascent. What mattered the most for the moment was air. The surface was so close, so tempting, so present and yet, I could only sense the claw grasping my ankle faster than I could respond to it.

The last of my air bubbled out, hopes slipping away along with my form into the spike feeder’s grasp. This was the end, wasn’t it? I had been too confident. I believed that my untrained self could handle a spike feeder. All of my hopes, gone to waste in my hubris. At least the village guard could take solace in how right they were. “Oh Perry, what a fool thinking he could help. Platypi are not meant for combat. He should have remained fishing for the rest of his life.”

No. I couldn’t have that. I wouldn’t tolerate defeat, not this close to the surface. I plunged my knife into the creatures hand that was wrapped around my ankle, able to sense its position perfectly with the aid of the violence it was threatening upon my person. My skinning knife dug into its gray flesh, ichor leaking from the wound into the pond, grip loosening just enough so that I could give one last mighty kick.

For a second, there was no self. There was only desperate breathing, gasps for air that my body had desperately lacked, my lungs threatening to revolt if I deprived them of such substance ever again, and yet, I could only take a small remnant with me. I couldn’t leave Levin behind in the depths. He was certainly drowning now, but that was still more fixable than leaving him with the spike feeder. The only issue was that I had gotten lucky once. I didn’t know if I could get lucky again.

Sometimes though, one’s luck persists, defined against their struggle. I felt something miraculous change within me.

Tier 2 Achieved: Spurs awakened, Webbed Feet awakened

My body warped, features of the platypus superimposing upon my form. I had these spurs… whatever they were. Little claw-like protrusions ebbing out from opposite my thumbs, like a sixth finger. How were these little nubby things supposed to harm the spike feeder? Not to mention how my feet had… I didn’t even want to think about it. Not that I really had time to, even if I felt their presence aid my movement in the water with each kick.

Tooltip: Platypus spurs contain a potent venom.

Venom? Those were like poisons right? Was this the out I’ve been given? Not that I knew how fast the venom would act, but there was now hope in the midst of these dark depths, and I didn’t have much time left for other options. Victory was all or nothing, after all. The only question was how to inflict the wound on the beast.

The spike feeder seemed more cautious after it dislodged my knife. Ichor leaked from its wounded hand, trailing up through the murky water. The monster’s eyes were filled with a dark malice, no longer dull in its hatred for me. While I didn’t know how much of that hate was a conscious choice, the spike feeder was still fixated on my form, and for once, the feeling was mutual. The spike feeder had stolen Levin and tried to drown me. That was unforgivable. Only I was allowed to steal Levin or drown Levin.

I desperately gulped down more air, knowing I would have to depart once more. I wouldn’t have a second chance to surface if I wanted to save Levin. I could already sense the beast diving back down once again. The spike feeder was willing to lose me if that meant it could carry Levin away, and I couldn’t let that happen.

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With one last swallow to store in my cheeks, I pushed down into the water, my feet pushing me further into the muddied depths even faster than before. The spike feeder was picking up Levin’s body to continue along the small channel, meaning that if I didn’t catch up or distract it, he was all but gone. I didn’t know how long it would take to return to the surface from within the channel, but from here it was still feasible to get him out mostly intact.

No, I had to become a better target than Levin.

I clawed at my ankle where the creature had grasped me, stressing the wound its spikes had caused in glancing against my skin, deepening the blood flowing into the water. I hoped I could chum these torpid depths, that if I looked more injured it would be willing to attack me, but the thing was cautious. It stared at my form, head contorting further and further to the side. Its beady eyes stared at me as if it was measuring my worth.

A wounded beast lashes out with nothing to lose, and that was certainly true of the spike feeder, if not true of its beliefs in me. Whatever instinct that drove it seemed to be pushing it away from me, even with my other wound— it started making for the channel.

“No,”I gasped, bubbles escaping, the creature instantly turning in response to my lost air. I started feeling lightheaded once again, my reserves lost in the depths of my despair. I had already gone so far, awakening my second tier, and yet I couldn’t get the spike feeder to come to me without giving everything I had.

So be it. If it wanted everything for me to be worth targeting, than I would give everything. If Levin died, I was as good as dead. Losing a guard instead of myself would make life worse than it was. Losing my good friend would make things unbearable. The only way out was unthinkable in normal circumstances. I had to feign my own death.

While everything in me shrieked to stop doing what I was doing, my mind thudding as more and more bubbles trickled out of my mouth, I couldn’t stop. I stared at the spike feeder, seeing it inch ever so closer but only slightly, still not convinced.

If it wanted a performance, fine. I would give it what it needed. I closed my eyes, focusing on my electroreception in lieu of my other senses, thrashing with my hands around my throat. The currents stirred up around my convulsing body before I let them die down, holding the last of my breath deep within. Everything was focused on my senses. If the spike feeder didn’t buy into this, everything would be lost.

One… two… I counted the seconds in alignment with my slowed heartbeat, measuring the spike feeder’s position at every second… seven… eight… how long could I wait…. eleven…. twelve… my eyes opened once more and I twisted my body, lashing out with my hands at the beast.

It shrieked in agony as my spurs pierced its flesh, pushing away in the cold depths, body twitching. Its eyes fixated on me, unable to break contact as it shook further and further, unworldly noises unabating. And then to my shock, its rigid body sank, landing at the bottom of the pond, and my electroreception confirmed the question I had been afraid to think. There was no more movement from it. The monster was dead. No spike feeder was clever enough to feign death like how I had.

I saved Levin! I killed a spike feeder! I killed it in the murky depths, something none of the guards had done before! Now they had to let me in the town guard like Levin…. Shit! My feet kicked off, pushing the wet world around me, my arms outstretched to take his pale body up against mine.

I had forgotten how heavy he was, but in the water, his weight was diminished just enough. If I didn’t reach the second tier, I wouldn’t have been able to carry him further, but that was a moot point. If I didn’t reach the second tier, I wouldn’t have been even able to save him.

My brain screamed at me to breath, lungs desperate to end the suffering I had put onto them but I couldn’t do that. Not yet. Not until we surfaced and the surface seemed so far, even with each kick I made. How was I supposed to make it like this?

Tier 2 Augmentation: Webbed Paws awakened

My hands shifted, and something made more sense. I clawed towards the sky with my free paw, feet pushing in this desperate state and we broke through the surface, yet another achievement bought in the wake of my beast soul responding to me. Maybe that was what it needed all along. Real experience instead of jousting at shadows.

Air had never felt so good before. Each breath was a labor, but a labor I was happy to undertake. I wanted to take the whole sky within me and never run out of air again. I don’t know how I survived that long underwater, but I couldn’t rely on luck like that again. Luck was fleeting. Luck got you killed.

I dragged us over to the edge of the water, rolling Levin’s cold form over the shore, undoing my second tier transformation. Didn’t want to accidentally pierce him with my spur. Who knew what kind of reaction he would have to that?

The issue was how was I going to make him breathe again? For all that my predecessor had taught me, undoing someone’s drowning was not one of them. I had heard the stories of people coming up from the waters, returned from their drowned state, but the stories all lacked the quintessential information of how reverting the damage was done.

In this lack of knowledge, I would have to improvise then. The first thing his body needed was probably to flush the water. Couldn’t have the liquid sitting in him any longer. I pushed upon his stomach, hoping to churn out the water back where it came from.

His stomach sank down, and when I pulled back, his belly shot up once more. Shit. I would have to pump him then, until the water obeyed me. I kept pushing upon him until some of the brackish liquid leaked out of him and his body involuntarily coughed out a fairly sized spurt of liquid, but he still was unmoving. This couldn’t be. I had done so much. I couldn’t lose him to this. He needed to breathe. If he couldn’t breathe, I would breathe for him.

I pinched his nose shut to ensure no air would escape up there and pushed my lips upon his, forcing as much air as I could down into him, again and again. As many breaths as he needed to return, until the point where he coughed more water out, and his eyes started to slowly flutter open.

“Levin? Are you with me?” I cried, draped upon his chest.

“Perry, you’re hurting me, get off of me,” he coughed, feebly trying to push me away from him. Shit. And with that, all of the pain I had been ignoring flooded into me. I doubled over, clutching the ankle I had expanded further, feeling the raw exposed flesh. Just the mere touch of my other skin made me shudder, pain rippling through me. The air upon my exposed flesh seared a pattern of agony into my mind. The pain was too much.

The other wounds built up until the symphony of suffering consumed me, and with nothing else to look to, my eyes shut, the world fading to nothingness.