Life withers. At the end, there, a scant flicker lingers, clinging to the mortal body—it burns bright, even brighter, it hopes.

Cerice had written in her diary. She patted the stallion's neck. Daisy halted.

Amethyst eyes studied the creature at the shore—beaten and bruised by the rocks, dulled by the tides crashing.

Sometimes, life wanes, shrivels, tumbles down into the trenches of misery, bellyflopping into the abysm of death.

Cerice wrote.

The creature—unseen and unknown to her eyes, even though she had researched marine life and lived in more documentaries in her childhood than she cared to admit—lay quiet. Eyes, a dozen of them, wet and red, unblinkingly—stare, and long, for the sea. It hoped naught. Already embracing the loss of the war, it had not fought. Yet. The eyes.

Her horse shrieked. The girl hated standing still and carrying her weight. Cerice rubbed the smooth fur. Did Ersea's horses have fur this thick and soft? Only if she had wondered the question a week ago. Not that it mattered.

She hoped off. Vetting her surroundings for a creeper, a snake, or another snake, anything slithering in the grass. Assured nothing lurked, she dared to approach the dwindling life. Even as it lay flat, its enormousness left Cerice blinking twice.

Again, she was reminded that this world was not hers. Not just the height, or the silver scales that phased in and out into the realms beyond eyes. The flower blossoming, green and vermillion, and silver moss thicken on its back.

Cerice's feet grew hesitant in their approach. Not the fear that it might flip over and squelch her into becoming its companion to the journey into the afterlife, provided such a place existed in this realm.

"Easy," she whispered to the half-a-dozen pair. "I am not going to hurt you." Or am capable of hurting you.

Its back rumbled. The sand and stones beneath her trembled, jouncing between the creaks of her boots as she stumbled.

She would need to shake it off. A hassle. Was it worth it? She didn't know. Much like anything at this moment.

After fifteen minutes, she stood close enough to touch it. One of its eyes was as big as she was. She had been mistaken—about its size, about the rock that might as well be boulders.

"What kind of wave got you here?"

She didn't touch it. It could be poisonous, or she could be poisonous for it. Having not bathed for three days, she wouldn't dare to touch her face with her own hand, let alone a vulnerable thing on the verge of death.

A moment passed. It blinked. The tears polled and fell like a slimy liquid. It clung to its skin, slinking down.

Gross.

"Why won't you pass on?" She asked.

It rumbled. The boulder beneath her wobbled.

"Like an Idiot, I talk to an animal of the sea in a world apart, hoping it understands my language. What an idiot I am?"

Cerice sighed. She looked at the distance she must travel back.

As she turned, another rumble shook the floor. "You want me to stay?" She asked. A smaller rumbled. Cerice blinked twice. "You can understand me?"

The eyes closed once.

The Sword... Heartstone... Curse...

The words twisted in her mind. A wisp of smoke, losing its form, smearing into the fleshy canvas of her mind, the more she tried to hold into them.

"Sword?" the only thing she understood. Not from a voice. Instinct was the more accurate word. Yet, it failed to encapsulate the experience as vividly as she would like. The words simply surfaced in her mind as she thought of them, yet it was this creature's doing. Not only thoughts, the experience she had with them, images she had not seen—indiscernible, but she understood them.

Fascinating. What kind of mystical power still straggle at its dying breath? Was it magic? Did it remain until the last breath, unlike physical strenght?

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Cerice jumped over to the boulder. Circling the creature. "I'll look about, don't move, or I'll have to chaperone you to the afterlife."

The titan rumbled.

At one side, the vines, seaweeds, like hair, cascaded down—glossy and wet, slippery too, but the gloved hand and her clench guided her through. A minute perhaps, or two, and she stood atop the creature. Its belly was flat. A junkyard of the sea.

Water squeezed out, soaking her shoe as she stepped on the green moss floor. "It's not its body moisture, is it?"

Cautiously, she ventured deeper. Her heart thumped like an engine running a hundred miles an hour. She kneeled and pressed her hand. It smelled of seawater. She bit her lips. "I don't want to encounter the waves at night."

A bit of worry crept in.

"The sword. Hearthstone. Curse." A tale. She supposed. This creature must be cursed to live even as it despairs and desires death. Perhaps it deserves it. Not that she could know. In front of her was just a helpless creature, an enormous creature, even so, underserving of this fate.

She sought. Corner to corner, spongy, squelchy, her skin grew irritated under the sun. The sea life was cool from afar, from close, they smelled. Bad. Worse than she imagined. Worst still was her headache that bloomed.

"You better be grateful for my work." She said.

The life lingers, unpardon of its sin. It longs. Stares. And wishes. Was it suffering? What crime is deserving of the curse to be in pain and wounded, unable to pass on? I wonder if I am committing a sin, or if is it an act of kindness. I wonder still if I will regret my decision to help.

She pocketed the dairy. Tied her red braids into a high bun. Heartstone. Was it a magical being thing? Or someone had put a stone in its heart. Nonetheless, the expression waved toward the center, where the heart existed.

There were few boulders over it. How did she miss this, a dead giveaway of its stature, from her horse?

After a few minutes, she found a cave-esque opening in the ground. A hole. Moss and vine dripped deeper into the darkness. It glowed—between golden and white—and beckoned her to take a closer look.

"Should I?" Cerice could tell she was about to make a stupid mistake. What was there to be afraid of? Except it was a hole into a creature at least the size of a plaza, with twelve sets of eyes, and showed her, forced her notion of words, of pictures, of feelings.

On the dairy, she wrote—If this is where I die, and you're the one to find it. Know, I have not been coerced or forced. This is my undoing because of my own curiosity. Curiosity kills the cat, as they say. Though, I am cuter than a cat.

She chuckled at the last bit. A joke. If she were to die, who was to see her face and deem her a liar? No one. But, mark of intrigue, if her words had been a lie or truth, the finder might muse. She would live on in someone's curiosity. An enticing idea, provided another person lived in this world.

"That's enough dilly-dallying. Let's see what you got."

Grasping the wet weeds one more time, she sunk into the dark. Truly a boulderous cave. Her boot, wet and heavy by sand, found some traction on the walls.

Strands snapped. Water sploshed and rippled, by her snappy landing. On her feet, of course. The water was ankle-deep. Black. Smelled like sewer. Her headache throbbed, blooming into vines that wrapped her whole head. Its weight tilted her equilibrium. She fell not. Yet.

A grimace adorned her features as she pursued deeper toward the source of light.

The real reason she undertook this risky endeavor was because it had been more than a week since she came to this place, and this was the first living being, except for her stallion, she had encountered, barring trees and fruits. The flora prospered, fauna not so much.

It could talk. As weird as it could be, and she wanted to, no, needed to learn something from it. For it to give her hope that something existed. That she had not been abandoned in this lifeless world. Perhaps helping it was the only way to learn something. Or continue wandering these barren forests.

She looked up, the cavity was at least two-story high. "I am not walking out this way."

The darkness loomed over her shoulder, whispering something, A hiss. Click of the tongue. Was there someone? Her head snapped at directions, only to gaze into the abyss.

No effort could make walking in water quiet. So, she made none. The water deepened.

The whole place rumbled. She froze. Fist clenched. "No. Don't move," she said. Her scream might startle it.

The glow came from a crevice in the wall. Or was it flesh? Her eyes strained as she tried to make sense of it. The cavity closed as the giant thing breathed. Open again. A bit wider than before.

On the other side, something pulsed. Beating. Glowing. The sword was there, plunged to its hilt. A pin to lock the giant's chains that seemed to hold the heart in it.

Cerice gulped. "How do I get there?"

Tracing along the walls, she looped the chamber. There was no way to get there. Perhaps from this hole. It rumbled, and the creak opened wider.

"No. Don't even think." She commanded herself.

It helped. The reckless bone inside her quivered at the idea of crossing this meter-thick wall that might crush her into a human paste of flesh and bones. It would be pinkish-color if mixed well.

She shook her head. She waited a few minutes. Reading and observing. When the creature quivered, it opened the widest. For a total of six counts, then slowly snaps. The water would slow her. Counting six, she walked sideways along the walls. Checked the distance.

"I'll be tense. Factoring that in, I have a chance."

She waited for the next few minutes. It opened. Her heart raced in her throat. She moved. Her nerves tight, buzzing, like, instead of blood, bees flowed within, stabbing the vein to paralyze her.

Yet, she forced herself to move. The cold canine of the Grim Reaper's scythe licked her neck, dainty and deftly tracing the girth to cleave it off in one sweet swing.

Her foot sunk. Her heart leaped out of her throat.

The crack snapped with a boom. Her cape stuck in it. She stumbled forward. She had missed a step and flung herself forward, saving herself from a worse fate. Nerves in her knees throbbed in pain.

Heaving and gagging, she waited for her heart to return to its spot. To circulate blood in her paralyzed tissue and artery.

The water was warmer. The floor was softer and quivered of life, like a hand against someone's throbbing chest. In her case, her own, right now.

The chains were nailed to the walls, hung loosely, coiled over the heart. The sword sunk into it. A pin to keep the chains in place. All of it was above water, on an altar.

She drew closer. Climbed the steps hidden in the murky liquid. Stood over the sword. Her heart resonated with the trouncing echoes from the chain.

"Sword." She mumbled, her hands clasped on the hilt.

Her heart begged to rethink her decision. Others urged hastily. She grabbed the hilt and pulled it with all her might.

The creature roared. The cavern shook. Her teeth creaked. Forehead red, vein visible from the effort. She pulled.

After the initial burst, it slid out smoothly. She stumbled backward, falling on her back.

The chains jerked free.

Shatter... Heartstone... Curse... Free.

"No," Cerice said. "I have questions."

The creature quivered, displaying its agitation. The light from the sphere of the heartstone quailed.

"I cannot. I am alone," Cerice's voice grew somber. "I need help. Give me something in return. If not answers, then direction. Where can I find someone?"

The light on the heartstone gathered at one point. A trident formed, with a droplet-shaped loop jutting out from the trident's underarm.

It showed her what to do. Indistinct knowledge and images—blurring and melting into her mind.

She placed her hand on the sigil. It seared into her brain, at the same time at the back of her arm.

[Rune Of Severance Awakened]

The window floated in front of her. A golden screen like this was some legendary class weapon. She had seen it once when she woke up here. It said welcome. Since then, it remained veiled.

"What does this mean?"

"Learn by myself?!" Cerice stomped. Its worry crept into her heart. "Fine..."

She could guess it was magic of some kind. That was enough. She would learn about it eventually. It was not her greed that lulled her into this cavern, but the creature's pain. Dangling relief in its face while blackmailing it was cruel and unnecessary.

She took a deep breath. Pointed the sword, as it was the only thing she had, and stabbed it into the heartstone. The heartstone had a black luster to it.

It cracked as the blade plunged deeper. Shattered into millions of specks.

[Great Titan Fallen.

Title Acquired: Titan Slayer

Legendary Quest Available: The Tital Slayer(1/13)

Kill all Thirteen Great Titans]