The mysterious creature leapt into a playful pose in front of Charlie and tilted it's horrific head to the side, it's tongue still dropping lazily, drooling the thick and mucous-like goop. It bounced from side to side excitedly, and waited for Charlie to respond from a safe distance.

Struck by the sheer impossibility of the situation, Charlie was left uncertain on what to do or even how to react. The ugly creature acted like a, playful but overgrown, puppy - even it's tail was wagging from side to side from excitement!

The strange creature slowly and carefully shuffled forward, trying to close the distance between the two without aggravating Charlie. It was the typical behaviour of a dog trying to make a new friend, Charlie had seen it many times already as a human - it was unmistakable.

Yet, how could Charlie bring himself to believe that an alien creature wanted to befriend him on a world filled with nothing but murderous fauna? It was nothing short of crazy!

Charlie was reminded that, sometimes, reality was crazier than fiction - the truth to that statement hopped from one foot to another excitedly.

Slowly, and carefully, Charlie relaxed his body and approached. The creature was suddenly elated and similarly approach Charlie with cautioned, but clumsy, steps. Excited, but careful - the creature was not entirely devoid of thought it seemed.

As soon as the two got close enough, the slimy creature crossed the last bit of distance with a quick dash and rapidly circled Charlie. It sniffed the serpent curiously and nudged him gently, trying to close the final emotional gap between the two.

Charlie was surprised that, while the skin looked slimy, it was actually surprisingly soft and supple. It's skins texture was closer to some sort of porous sponge than that of flesh, but it wasn't off-putting. After a few moments of brief contact, Charlie found himself actually enjoying the sensation of their skin touching.

Charlie's instincts screamed to run away, to keep himself as far away as possible - to stay safe and guarded. Yet the stupid creature acted so curiously, and so gently, that Charlie couldn't help but lower his guard a little. There was something about the creature that connected with Charlie, but he wasn't able to put it into words.

Maybe Charlie was fooled by it's docile nature, or maybe he felt some form of nostalgia for his dead canine pet and this creature played on his heart in some way. While plausible, none of these felt right, though, as Charlie didn't actually feel anything remotely similar. Like those thoughts didn't really belong to him either, but surfaced when Charlie thought about the creature. The sensation was barely there, but it played so strongly on Charlie...

It was almost as if...

A prickly feeling of realisation shot down Charlie's spine as his mind connected the dots.

Mana?

Suddenly the disarming nature of the creature felt different, imposing and frightening. It's presence suddenly felt suffocating, and Charlie wanted nothing more than to run away, but felt frozen in place.

A fool! I'm such a fucking fool! I JUST made a note to NOT be such, a fucking, FOOL!

This creature was using Mana to make itself likeable and disarming, clouding Charlie's judgement long enough to get through his guarded nature, long enough to strike Charlie when he least expected it.

After his realisation, Charlie could feel the Mana entering his body and it's creepy hooks latching onto his own.

It was faint, certainly, but it was there. Once Charlie was able to pick up on the signs, they became obvious. They were unnatural, and had a disgusting sensation to them, like something truly wrong tried to worm their way into his skin.

He had to be careful, the creature had not yet realised that Charlie was aware of its manipulation, but a single mistake would expose him in this critical moment. If he wanted to escape with his life, he needed to come up with a plan.

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Curbing his unease, Charlie reached out with the stub of his tail and attempted to pet the deceptive creature. If it lashed out and chewed on his tail, at least it would give him time to react with a [Hollow Fang] - and maybe take the insidious creature down with him.

But the playful creature did no such thing, and instead nuzzled into Charlie's tail accepting the awkward pet with innocent glee - it's tail wagging from side to side like an excited puppy.

It was a ruse.

It must be.

The creatures Mana was still latched on to his and infected his perception - it must have been! It was too sweet... Too fake.

But, it was so hard to resist, so hard to not give in to the temptation, to believe that this creature was nothing more than a friend. Charlie didn't even realised he had been still petting the spongy creature this entire time, it's gentle purring played on his heart and made Charlie inwardly smile.

No! Get a grip Charlie!

Charlie's mind wavered for a moment, the creatures purrs were like honeyed hugs, radiating warmth and comfort with each pulse - enough to make Charlie wish he could just let go and fall completely into its lulling embrace.

In his last moments of consciousness, Charlie found the strength to look down and laid his eyes onto the creature.

Half of Charlie's body had already been swallowed by the titanic maw of the creature, slobbering on his scales and using its tongue to bring Charlie even deeper with a malicious smirk.

It was difficult to think that fear was a useful part of someone's life. Once you feel fear, you don't wish to feel it again, no matter how brave you were. It's awful. Yet, no one can deny the fact that fear kept one alive. It kept them from killing themselves, kept them away from dangerous creatures, people and places. Fear was a necessity, and Charlie couldn't agree more right now - Fear woke him up from his entranced stupor.

[Hollow Fang] shot out faster than Charlie had ever moved, fueled by fear and the primal desire to survive - pushing Charlie beyond his limits.

Unwilling to make room for its prey to escape, the creature took Charlie's strike without even attempting to dodge. Instead, it tried to gobble up Charlie in one fell swoop as it struck - hoping to yank Charlie down before he could react. The disgusting tongue of the creature was slimy, and dreadfully powerful, pulling on Charlie's entire lower body and attempting to suck him down it's enormous gullet.

Charlie's fang-like teeth held on to the flesh of the creature, their hooked shape locked Charlie in place even with the creatures redoubled efforts. Then, there were the creatures teeth.

The large and sharp looking teeth, were in fact, large and sharp. Their serrated edges dug into Charlie's scales and withered body, scraping against his barely covered bones like a file against soft metal. Mind-frying pain rocketed through Charlie, but it wasn't enough for him to let go. The creature tried to bite down and bisect Charlie, but the slippery serpent dodged between the large gaps in its teeth.

It was only possible because the creature didn't want to bite down through its own tongue just to get the slippery snake. It already had it in its mouth, there was no need to inflict an injury on itself. While painful, it was enough for Charlie to survive.

It was more than enough to survive, actually - as the spongy creature suddenly let out an ear piercing shriek, and collapsed.

Charlie was momentarily stunned by the incredibly loud sound that rocked his body, but was pulled back into reality as both fell onto the floor - and the sharp teeth found their way into Charlie's scales, and beyond.

Quickly slithering out of the creatures maw, Charlie noticed that the ugly thing was still breathing, albeit heavily and with great strain, and clung on desperately to the last remaining shreds of its life. The Mana that connected them could still be felt, but it was fraying away into nothing rapidly, and it's innocence faded with it.

Charlie got up and close to the dying creatures eyes, and felt an unquenchable anger well up from deep within.

A furious [Hollow Fang] shot out and sunk deeply into the creatures hideous beady eyes. The creature let out it's final death-shriek and exhaled it's last breath, as the image of the furious serpent was etched into its dying mind.

Shaken, but holding it together, Charlie slinked away from the still-warm corpse and towards the river. Charlie was leaving, the dangers the river posed were nothing when compared to the hundreds of glowing eyes that peeked over the stone. The final shriek must have alerted the group at large, and they had their sights on Charlie.

They looked so innocent, so curious... So deadly.

Charlie fought against the current with all of his might and traveled as far as his lungs would allow him. It still terrified Charlie, the river, it could hold an untold number of aquatic creatures that could sink him, especially now that he was so weakened. But fear was good, fear meant he still had control over his mind.

When Charlies lungs burned, he would surface for some air and scan his environment. It was hard to keep track of where he was when underwater, the innate light the water gave off made it difficult to judge if there was room to resurface. There were a few times where Charlie cut it close, but he eventually returned to the original caves entrance.

There were large lizards as far as the eye could see, though nowhere near as large as the one Charlie fought. He couldn't believe it, but Charlie was happy to see these simple minded creatures. At least they only wanted to tear Charlie to shreds, drink his blood and bathe in his viscera, and not enslave his mind.

A victory, no matter how small, is a victory.