"Ah, SHIT!"
Rodent winced and threw his hands over his ears as he watched the bridge slam down on the floating platform, which tilted slightly toward the impact zone, though not much else happened after that. Rodent blinked at the eight beams fastened around the floating structure's circular nature—each remaining strong despite time and decay.
"Huh." Rodent dropped his hands and walked toward the bridge. "For being ancient stuff… it really was built to last." He went to the left-lever next, holding the handle and pulling out his friend, which turned into a cane. He had left his food supplies by the first tree due to being close to the Sword. "Say… you wouldn't know anything about this, would you?"
Stick vibrated in his hand as he pressed its bottom against the ground. “I…k.n.o.w…l.i.t.t.l.e…I…j.u.s.t…a.s.s.i.s.t.”
"Ah." Rodent nodded at his friend and looked at the bridge. "Oh, well. Spoilers wouldn't be fun either way."
He carried himself across the bridge, this one narrower as if only a couple of people could pass between each other, but the same was not true of the other bridges. Above loomed the dense foliage of the trees, which, despite being darkened… somehow glowed dimly.
It made Rodent blink as he reached the floating platform, which had a strange cabin in the middle, something like a wheel inside, making him wonder if the platform itself could rotate.
He didn't bother with it as he continued forward, reaching a much larger bridge on the right side of the platform, helping him in his journey to the middle of the forest.
He walked for a while, tree to tree, structure to structure, platform to platform, looking below at the sea of Deskar, how it moved, the sounds it made. Whispers rose from its surface, things Rodent refused to listen to, continuing ahead.
A little ways ahead, there was an opening in the Deskar, a round one that saw to the ground, revealing a stone building made of slabs. It. Was. Huge. The walls of a castle were used for those of a simple hut, as it had windows without glass.
"What the." Rodent stared at it for a moment, some of the roof removed to peer into the building, which looked like a tarnished home. "Someone… used to live in that? Just how big were the people back in the day." Rodent's face struggled with the question. "Wait. If the buildings down there are so large… then why are… all the buildings up here so small—so normal-sized?"
Just then, something happened with the Deskar: whirlpools were summoned but not to a great depth, and something was forming within them. Rodent felt a startling in his heart, and moving toward the center of his current platform, he changed Stick into a pole and held it with both hands.
After that, something fired from the sea, blobs shooting upward and then crashing down on the wooden surface, the splatter coming to retract to a center and rise upward, taking the form of some strange, smooth, bean-shaped thing.
It leaned from side to side and almost spilled over each time, tendrils shooting out across its shape as a part of it thinned as a result.
NEW ENEMY ENCOUNTERED!
MAL'KEE
INFORMATION: NONE
Rodent smacked the side of his head. "Well, that's a lot of help."
The thing, the Mal'kee, shambled toward him, without feet but its bottom splashing forward, and that's how it moved. Rodent glared at the thing and knew that words would not work on it. Instead, he jabbed his pole in its center—the item going cleanly through it as a spacious hole was created in the Mal'kee's chest.
"What the." Rodent's head shook back before he moved the pole around in the creature, which opened itself wherever the pole went. The result was it was never touched, no matter where the pole went. "Hey. Wait. This is cheating! I can't hit you!"
Rodent looked around him. More of those things shot onto the platform, taking basic shapes with a single tendril sprouting from their form, heading toward him in a unified manner. Worse, they joined together, attaching to each other, becoming unison as if forming a wall.
Rodent drew his pole back and approached the tree's base, knowing there was no escape unless he somehow blew through the approaching foes. "No chance any of you will just let me through? Watch and laugh as the sword kills me?"
The things only headed toward him slowly. Bubbles cast throughout their liquid form escaped and popped in the air, playing a single melody note. More bubbles burst as a song was slowly being played. It was a sweetly sinister instrumental that worried the young man.
"Oh, no." Rodent pointed Stick at them, who were all becoming closer. Those who did not join closer to him, the rest forming a wall that followed behind them. The man drew a deep breath. "You guys want to stop playing that song?"
Bubbles blew from the sludge that was their back, at first only being a single bubble, but then two and three came out at a time, increasing the tempo. It was becoming faster and louder as more Mal'kee were shot onto the platform, joining together, becoming one.
"Shit." Rodent's back was against the tree, and he glanced at it, officially out of the room, forced to calm his mind as he held his pole with two hands like an amateur. He looked side to side for a way out of this.
Think. Think. There's always a way. There's always a way.
"Join. Us."
Rodent blinked as his eyes opened.
The Mal'kee in front of him stopped, scattered like pawns on a chessboard, the bubbles coming out their fronts now. Each pop was a single word. The bubbles floated too close to Rodent for his comfort. He stared at them, confused, as he controlled his breath.
"It's. Too. Hard. To. Fight. The. Inevitable." Multiple bubbles came from the numerous oddly shaped things. Despite lacking expressions, it was like they were peacefully and widely smiling. "It's. No Longer. Scary. On. This End."
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Rodent stared at them. "So you all can talk." He blinked, back still against the wall, but straightening. "What are you? What's the deal with you?"
"We. Are what. We. Fear." Soon, the ebony bubbles blowing toward Rodent joined together, bursting as one so two words could escape. Despite being independent, they were all still on the same wavelength. "But nightmares. Stop being scary. When you are. On the side of. The monsters."
Rodent blinked. He shook as his body rejected the information. Looking at each bean-shaped creature, however, he saw colours form on their chest, images playing together in motions. From there, he saw houses and fields on fire, great and dark things approaching and destroying and scared little things in the shadows.
The perspective on each Mal'kee was different, but the events were the same—just a different scene and a different view. Things were starting to click for Rodent as the creatures remained in place.
"The sea. Is scary. When it washes. Over everything." The bubbles came faster and were larger and the sounds upon their bursting lasted longer. "But when. You become part of the sea. Then. You have nothing. To fear. We are together now."
Then, together, they all leaned back, releasing a bubble that removed a great chunk of their beings. All those bubbles joined together above, forming a massive one. Rodent steadied himself, watching the bubble rise and become still in the air.
And a second later.
It burst.
"WE ARE THE SEA. WE ARE THE SEA. WE ARE THE SEA. WE ARE THE SEA."
Rodent drew a breath and recovered, shaking his head as he pushed off the tree. He looked at those gathered. They raised and faced him again, holes in their forms, holes that kept in some, while others shrunk so they could become whole. Disgust washed over Rodent's face.
"You all were scared… afraid… drowning in your fears of what was to be… so you all threw yourselves to your fate." Rodent strode forward in a stumble, holding himself tall and proud, his gaze gathering across those gathered. "It was too much to bear—dealing with your nightmares. So you gave in so the pressure would relent. And now… you are what you fear…"
Rodent's head shook. "How selfish!"
The creatures seemed stunned as they remained in place, their sludge splashing out at their base, retracting and splashing out again so they could always be on the move. Rodent kept an eye on this but focused on where he imagined the source of their consciousness to be.
"I get it! I really do! There's a tidal wave coming toward you, so you become one with the water so you're not as affected by it." Rodent spread out his arms and stepped toward the masses. "But what about the people who are still holding on? Those who are barely making it and are choosing to suffer and endure for the sake of living! Have you seen what's becoming of your world—what all this increased Deskar is doing to it?"
The Mal'kee leaned back and shot out the bubbles that held their messages.
"There is. No stopping. The Deskar." The bubbles floated and joined and popped in a greater flurry. "Despair and fear. They are eternal. All time. Is borrowed time."
"No shit!" Rodent threw back as he got mad. "What? Is pizza bad because there's only so many slices? We have a hunger, and we fill it! Nobody is demanding endless food for dinner! So who cares if we only have so much time?" He clenched his pole harder as something started to fuse out from his hand and into the weapon. "We enjoy what we have! We make the most out of what we're given! We do not cease because something is limited—we just get creative and more appreciative."
The flurry of bubbles joined and expanded and then burst.
"NONE. CAN STOP. THE WAVE. THAT WILL CONSUME. THE WORLD."
"AND JUST WHAT WAY DO YOU WANT TO GO DOWN! ALL OF LIFE IS DECIDING THE LEAD-UP TO YOUR DEATH!" More of this white energy flowed from Rodent's hand and into his weapon, which Stick made no mention of, allowing itself to be infused. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE BY JOINING THE THING THAT WILL RUIN ALL THINGS? OR WOULD YOU RATHER PERISH HAVING GIVEN IT YOUR ALL, NOT AN OUNCE OF ENERGY LEFT, STANDING TALL AND DEPLETED WITH THOSE THAT YOU RALLIED, KNOWING THAT YOU CAN DIE PEACEFULLY AS THERE'S NO CONFLICT LEFT INSIDE YOU!"
Another big bubble burst.
"YOU. DO NOT. UNDERSTAND. WHAT WE. WENT THROUGH."
"Damn straight, I don't!" Rodent returned to holding his weapon with both hands, feeling something different about himself. He still had an improper stance and could not swing with precision—but something else was overflowing that gave him a chance at making a change. "I don't know anything about this world. But I came here for a good time, and don't care if I have to make one myself."
"YOU. CANNOT DEFEAT. THE SEA."
"Why would I want to fight the ocean anyway!?" Rodent fired back while taking a more confident stance. "I'm not a hero. Not anyone special. I'm just here so that a village may be allowed to leave and find somewhere better to live!" He steadied himself for combat. "I never once felt true FEAR in my life! And if I'm going to die… it will be by being overwhelmed… and not by submitting!"
"No matter. How you perish." The bubbles were slower and fewer now. "You. Will join. The sea."
"No."
And with that, Rodent charged forward, swinging the pole over his shoulders and leaving himself open, but none of the tendrils attacked. Instead, the Mal'kee he went after remained still, waiting for the attack that would pass through it once again.
Rodent, with scorn on his face, thought of those in the village, of the Wolf in the Woods, how much he wanted to help them despite how helpless it all seemed, his desire burning hotter than his doubts. He didn't care if he was weaker, inexperienced, or any of that.
He would do what he could and would drop dead if there was nothing left inside himself to give.
His pole swung into the upright Mal'kee, cleanly through as the impacted areas subtly glowed white, eviscerating the Deskar as it was burned from existence. Its incomplete form plopped onto the ground like a puddle, and before it could recover, Rodent stabbed the pole into its center—light shooting through the liquid and shining rays of light from inside.
Seconds later, the liquid exploded and splattered outward, just mere drops now as the explosion wasn't uniformed. Rodent blinked as he breathed heavily, actually defeating one of those things, confused as to how he had done so. Turning to the ones that remained, they remained fixed in point, the thin black blobs that they were, the tendril over their right shoulders wiggling in the air in panic and hatred.
"BRAR! BRAR! BRAR! BRAR!"
At once, the independent Mal'kee slithered toward him, and Rodent shook and stepped back, holding up a hand with a white glowing palm—which seemed to be wasting energy as it pulsated. Stick vibrated in his other hand.
“H.o.l.d…m.e…d.o…n.o.t…w.a.s.t.e…i.t…”
At once, Rodent held the weapon with both hands and walked around the approaching forces, figuring it was better to take them out individually. The problem was that if he swung, he left himself open for one of those things to attack him.
He had a way to fight back.
But still no plan.
And instead of talking to him, the Mal'kee resumed their song from before, as if trying to summon something from the sea.
"You got an idea out of this, buddy?" Rodent asked, turning to swing at a Mal'kee behind him, chopping off the tendril and head of the thing, two more slashes down its body. This sent the remains shooting in two different directions, different puddles, which made it harder for Rodent to stab the pole into them, having to flip his weapon and drop the other end into the second puddle. "Crap. I'm messing this up badly. Where's the goblins I was supposed to practice with?"
“D.o.n’t…w.a.s.te…m.o.t.i.o.n…”
"Right! Right." Rodent nodded. "This attack against them is pretty weak. I need a way to one-shot them. Or else I'll spend too much time hacking away."
“Y.o.u…c.a.n.n.ot…d.e.f.e.a.t…t.h.e.m…a.l.l…”
"Right." Rodent tried to look around the base of the tree that would put an office building in a city to shame. "This is about just reaching the sword. I'm not here to win any battles. Focus, Rodent."
He looked around. "There must be a way out of this."