I had nowhere to run, I had nowhere to hide, so I did what I could. I grabbed the upper half of that maw with both hands, kicking me away from the lower half. It swung me about as it reared up, the jaws thundering shut just a hair from my knees. It was a large reptile, its maw just as long as I was, with thrice that length of body behind, running with surprising speed through the mud and shallow water. It had a rough skin like a tree, with horn plates running all over its body, especially around his eyes and nose, which I now used to find purchase with my hands. I hung on for dear life, wrapping around the maw with legs and arms, keeping it shut. It struggled against my grip, trying to break it, but failed to open the mouth again. Suddenly it stopped and started to roll around in the mud, with force and speed. And I lost my purchase. I got shoved under the mud and away, pressed down by the weight of that reptile as it rolled over me. I struggled to find my feet again or to even begin dragging me out of the mud. But I managed and robbed away in haste, always expecting the final shadow to fall over my head. When I was free to move I turned.

And I saw the beast laying there lazily, ten feet away or so, its mouth wide open as if to wait for prey to jump into it. It had turned sideways a bit, and the slitted eye of his stared at me with cold and lifeless interest.

I made a careful step back and then another. But the thing did not flinch. It was as if that reptile had made his move and now was content with waiting for another opportunity, letting me get away. It would not waste energy chasing me. Or would it? Would it wait for me to turn my back?

This creature was incredibly limited in its range of movement. If he failed to catch something in his mouth, he only had the roll left in his arsenal.

I took a look around, more careful now to watch out for the eyes lurking just over the surface. They were there. Dozens. And I was sure to have missed a lot of them. And some of them were drifting in my direction, I could see the water moving behind their hidden bodies in a calm wave. They did seem to avoid the overly muddy areas, though. It must be easier for them to move in the water or it was there, they could find more and more easily caught prey.

I threw a look at the reptile that had attacked me. It had not moved a muscle still.

And then all of them turned, gliding away into the waters around them, disappearing without a sound beyond the gentle splashing and squelching of the mud. They were all gone.

That was when I noticed the gentle wave of water approaching from the distance. Barely noticeable, but my senses were sharpened because of the reptiles, and so I saw it clearly heading...towards me. Oh, I knew what to fear in mudlands and marshes. Spirits-damned everything! I headed to shore fast, I knew the hidden ones to be out here somewhere. But the water was to shallow to swim and to deep to make more speed then I could achieve with my wading and hopping.

I heard water rushing behind me and shot a glance back. It was another reptile lifting his head, water running down his head like a waterfall, grey as if the centuries had scratched away the paint and scarred from thousand battles it looked like a dragon from ancient times, and maybe it was. Not unlike those smaller ones in statue, but this one's head was enormous. The beast was as large as a ship, and not one of those small river barges either. And I could only see the head. Thousands of teeth grew crookedly out of the chiseled and scaly maw. It was a horror I never knew, the horror of being nothing more than a food source among others. This was without the doubt the King of these marshes and had been for a long time. It shared the passiveness with the smaller reptiles, though. It just watched me from afar, judging my worth as a snack against the trouble it would have to go through to get me. Finally, it sank back down and the wave retreated before vanishing completely.

I just relaxed when I could feel firm soil under my feet again. And I was not safe still, because the smaller reptiles had appeared again, watching me, trailing me idly with their evil little lifeless eyes and lazy strokes with their heavy tails.

I hid in a little grouping of meager bushes and just observed for a while. I wanted to know If either the White Beast or Thousand Teeth had somehow pursued my trail. But all I saw was reptiles sunbathing with their mouths open. A few of them even laying halfway up the shore. I still could not figure them out, I knew nothing about reptiles and their behavior seemed so alien to me.

When after an hour no one showed up I got to my feet. Time to thoroughly test the reptiles apparent stupidity.

I approached one of the more isolated ones, who was on land and hid in the foliage. It did not move a muscle. I somewhat knew how fast they were, so I judged a safe distance for me to easily retreat with my improved Core Skills and threw Zero in its general direction.

Zero rippled with force as he went through the motions of his [Chain Lash], striking across the opened mouth. I could see no visible damage, but the reptile exploded forward with force and surprising speed, but since Zero was just laying there, it had nothing to bite. It just bristled itself a few moments, staring around. This was too good to be true. Although the guttural sound that came out of the reptile was impressive and feral.

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"Zero. “ I said and watched as the chain was creeping ever so slowly closer to the mouth of the reptile, finally coiling a bit and wrapping around. The reptile thrashed, rolled, and slammed his mouth shut, but that made Zero just tighten up his [Fetter]. Then silence again. The large beast just sat still, mouth bound, looking evil. This was it?

I walked up to him, carefully, still nothing. Finally, I took the Ravenbeak, aimed carefully, and rammed the armor-piercing spike through the part of the head I assumed its brain to be.

[Wyldmarsh Crocodile defeated! Reward: 3 Ep!]

----------------------------------------

The thing was still way larger than me, and had the toughest hide of any creature I had ever encountered, even topping the [Stonehide] of the Magmaworms, or mine for that matter, so that bringing it back to camp was a nightmare in its own right. My sword had problems cutting the scales, and I did not want to ruin the edge, so I tried dragging it along, even going so far as to improvise a stretcher with two slim tree trunks and Zero, so I had to shoulder only half of it, even with [Improved Strength] only being able to drag it a couple of steps before I had to drop it. When I returned, a good part of the day was gone.

I had no way to be sure, but I had been at it for hours, and only a few were left that day to be productive. But I felt nothing of the sort, I felt exhausted and not just physically. I sat down beside my trophy, ringing for breath, and trying to calm my trembling muscles, when Cogar came out of the hut, obviously intrigued by the creature.

"What a strange beast.“ He said. "Look at those scales. Our warriors would fight for shields and armor made out of them.“

I nodded, exhausted but also proud somehow. "And there are dozens where It came from. And even better: They are easily hunted. Well if you have a chain and a hammer. Not sure if your axe could split this skin. They seem to be ambush predators, very fast and stealthy for just a couple of feet.“

"They live in the marshes?“

I nodded. "And they are not the only ones. And I saw the White Beast while you slept your meal off.“ 

Cogar grew serious. "And? What did you see? Speak, man!“

"It is huge and battle-proven. That tree over there? It would reach the top of it if it would stand up on its hind legs. It has arms like an ape but stronger, a skull like a bear, but different and large enough to swallow you whole, and appears big, heavy, and slow. But that was deceiving, I bet. I saw him investigating the refuse in the river. I think I lured it away and got it something else to concern itself with for some time.“

"Something stupid?“

"Well it was the smartest thing I could come up with.“

"And...“ He gulped. "What about my chances?“

"It has thick hide and fur all over his body. You will have trouble splitting that as well. I reckon it would shrug off arrows and even spears, if not for his eyes. It is huge, it will be fast and it has manual dexterity in his fists. It can climb and move stuff out of the way I think.“

"In two days I will have my hand back. The clash will come soon after, I feel. What of its eyes and mouth? What of the traps we spoke about?“

Now it was my time to think. "Something tells me that stakes will just break under that weight. Smaller ones on a flexible branch aiming for his eyes though? A shot at blinding it is well worth the effort. Maybe thicker trees could be sharpened as for him to impale himself on them.“

"Slingtraps?“

"I have only my chain to even try and hold that thing. And I fear the beast would rip it apart. A White Beast should have the intelligence for that, don‘t you think?“

"I agree. I just try to be thorough. It is still bad.“

"I have two good news for you. One, you look good. I kind of thought you would starve on the way here. You seem to tolerate that nightmare meat. Two, I have another contender for the biggest beast of the land.“

Cogar had patted his returning belly on the first half but grew attentive at the end. "Really? What have you found?“

"One of those.“ I said, gesturing to the crocodile. "But ancient and huge. A real menace. I call him Thousand Teeth, for obvious reasons. Like a dragon of old.“

"Oh, if we could just find a way to pit them against each other.“

"That's exactly what I was thinking...“

Suddenly it was dark as if all light had been snuffed out.

There was a moment of panic and disorientation, but soon we stared up to the sun, shielding our eyes. There was a formation, looking like a satin black seven-pointed star, that was covering the sun, the whole sun, which shone just as a corona around the star in a magnificent display of beauty and terror. The land had been plunged into almost complete darkness.

Cogar swore: "What is the name of all totems....“

"I know what that is.“ I interrupted him in awe. "It is [Eclipse of the Eternal Star], the famed and mightiest Skill of the Emperor of the Sun. He is in battle.“

"And has to use his best Skill.“ Cogar finished my thought. "Sarhain the Grim.“

Then we looked at each other in shock and horror.

"That is a mistake...it could be dark for days!“

"My clan!“

"The creatures of the deep will run amok...“

"I have to warn them, I have to warn all of them.“ Cogar murmured and returned to the hut, grabbing an armful of firewood before he entered.

I had nothing to do but to stare into the sky, watching the symbol of the strength of my empire blaze in all its literal glory. And I could not help but cry, for that symbol meant that the Wyldlings had fought for at least the gate of the capital. And there was an enormous mass of land between Ravenrock and that city. Which, as proven by the blazing star in the Sky, had fallen to the Grim. So little was left. And I finally got what the Wanderer had tried to tell me. There was nothing I could do.