To swim or not to swim, is the question. But before I can answer the question, I first have to ask, can I swim? The answer is simple.

I cannot.

Nobody ever taught me how to swim from the moment I can remember. My parents were never really big on me going out of the house, much less going into a body of water. I once asked my mom why I can't ever swim, and she answered it logically.

“You’ll be devoured by a Leviathan.”

Once i heard her answer i was a bit confused about what a Leviathan was. A good thing to note when i asked that question was that i was only at the ripe age of seven. So my curiosity was not unfounded because when i did try to swim, my sister stopped me before i could even get a foot in the water.

It was depressing to say the least. Nevertheless, I heeded my mother’s words and stayed off any big body of water.

Well… That is until now.

“Mr. Lucius, i don't think this is a good idea.”

“Relax child, it’s easy, it’s just like casting a {Hellfire}.”

“But I don't know how to do that either.”

I responded with an anxious gaze, yet he ignored my reaction and continued his insistence. After I tried resisting a few more times, Mr. Lucius gave a sigh and snapped his fingers.

My surroundings suddenly changed to that of vast oceans stretching to god knows where. I surveyed my surroundings and all i could see was the color blue, shimmering under the sun.

Terrified, I look to see where I was standing on top and noticed that there was nothing below my feet. Only more water. I tried finding Mr. Lucius but in my line of sight, he was nowhere to be found.

“I’m here Cosmo.”

Veering toward where the sound was coming from, I saw that he was floating above the water in his normal size. He gazed up into the sky as he reclined his back on his chair, coconut drink in hand and a steaming fish in the other. He signaled for me to come and so I tried every so cautiously as I tried walking on water.

Carefully taking a few steps, slight shock was on my face when I saw that my feet landed on the solid ground. How that’s possible is beyond me for now.

Standing at his side, i asked him where we were. He took a sip from his drink and said in a relaxed manner.

“We Cosmo, are at the place where the fun begins.”

Puzzled by what he said, I look around and notice that there was nothing here. Only an endless body of water stretched everywhere in sight. But for some reason, i heard a terrifying sound in the distance. Is a sound akin to a roar?

“ROAR!!!!”

Yup, it’s a roar. In the distance, i saw a serpent-like figure making its way toward us. I realized that the creature had the head of a dragon but there were no wings on its back. It instead had fangs longer than my own height as i can't imagine how sharp it must be.

Judging from how it had the advantage when it was fighting another equally terrifying monster, I’m guessing that its teeth are the least of my worries.

Rigidly moving my head to Mr. Lucius, I asked with a terrified expression.

“So… um… Mr. Lucius, what is that?”

He gazed at the current battle between the serpent-like creature and a giant octopus with a keen interest in his eyes. With an entertain expression on his face, he replied.

“That serpent-like creature is a Leviathan. While the other one is a Kraken. Pretty rare creatures for contemporary standards. Im suprised that any of them is still alive.”

His words made my heart skip a beat. I shuddered at the possibility of those two creatures arriving in Eaglevein City but when i thought of Mr. Samuel and Mr. William being there, it eased up the growing anxiety in my heart. Though there was still a little bit of fear left.

“So uh Mr. Lucius, can I ask why we are here again?”

Without even looking at me, he responded.

“A Test.”

“Test?”

“Yes to test you.”

Puzzled i asked.

“Wait didn’t i already pass your test?”

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Taking a sip from his drink he said.

“Oh yes you did but that was that and this is this.”

Dumfounded by what he said, i wanted to ask more about it, he said.

“Alright, pep talks over. Your test for this one child is pretty simple, Survive.”

After saying those words, he then disappeared. Looking at every direction, he was nowhere to be seen. I even shouted his name but i heard nothing reply back. I shouted even more trying to make him appear, but for some reason, the ever-shining sun was gone and was being replaced with a looming shadow.

Slowly Turning to look at where the shadow was coming from, i noticed that the Leviathan was boring down at me with his slit pupils and blue gaze. He let out a subtle growl at me yet just by his size it sounded like a roar in my ears.

Fear overtook my body, freezing me at my feet. The Leviathan stretched out its head so that it was basically in front of me. His ocean-blue gaze bored down onto me, preventing me from even lifting a finger, and just as i was about to accept my fate. The Leviathan spoke.

“What is your name child.”

Its voice echoed into my very being. My primal instincts honed through the constant suffering of being forbidden to eat desserts by my parents shouted at me to run in the opposite direction. Yet my body refused to listen to my commands.

My teeth clattered as I felt my back begin to feel wet. I answered despite my legs shaking.

“C-C-Cosmo.”

The Leviathan didn't reply and continued observing me. Seemingly looking for something as seared his sapphire-like eyes into every part of my body. Just as I was about to break the life-threatening tension, it responded.

“I see.”

It turned away before I could say anything, diving deep into the endless ocean and going to who knows where. It was only after several minutes of being frozen still that was i able to calm my nerves down. Taking a few deep breaths, I began to clear my head and think about what just happened.

But the more I think of it, no logical answer came up in my head. No reason to keep me alive and no reason for it to ask my name out of the blue. Questions kept popping up into my head with no clear answer. The Leviathan only left confusion in its path. Oh and a half-mauled Kraken corpse

I look to see the current miserable state of it and i even felt a slight pity for it. Though I doubt it would pity me in turn if I was in the same position.

All of a sudden i remembered that Mr. Lucius told me before leaving that my test was to survive. I thought that it was surviving the Leviathan but it already left. So maybe he was mentioning that i need to survive long enough to pull myself out of here.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Just as i was about to continue with that line of thought, a humungous shadow covered every part of me, and thinking it was the Leviathan, i turned around with some joy in my heart. At least it won’t eat me at first sight.

Yet when the supposed Leviathan came into view, I notice that it wasn’t the Leviathan. Nope. It was the Kraken. The Kraken almost fully healed as there was some residual damage on his body, but healed enough to completely crush me.

Maybe it’s also friendly like the Leviathan.

“ROOOOOARR!!!”

Yup not friendly. So without a moment’s notice, I used {Lightning Movement} in the opposite direction and made a break for it. It was apparent that it wasn’t too happy with my actions as it extended all of its tentacles toward me. Using the technique once more, I jumped up and dodged the incoming attack, moving toward the tentacles of the Kraken.

Running on a tentacle for a moment, I used {Lightning movement} once more to propel myself to anywhere but here. And once i landed in solid water, i dashed again as far away from it. Spamming {Lightning Movement} like it was my last.

Once i used the technique several times already, I noticed that the Kraken was nowhere to be found, but I’m not naïve enough to think that it was gone. Because judging from its ‘face’, i knew that it was not happy with being treated like a chew toy by the Leviathan.

And so armed with that information, I began running like there was no tomorrow. Well given the situation, it might be true.

While running, I notice the subtle vibrations below my feet, and thinking it was the Kraken i looked down. Ding ding, wrong again. It’s not the Kraken. This time what was moving toward me in an upward manner, was a shark?

If it was just a shark i would be glad but the shark I was seeing was not just a shark. No. It was indeed a shark, but multiply the size by like a hundred times and you get the thing chasing me.

Terrified, I used {Lightning Movement} to zigzag preventing the shark to get a one-up on me. But while i was admiring my genius, the water burst right in front of me, and surprise surprise it was the Kraken. The water drenched every part of my body yet i paid it no heed since it was glaring at me with those blood-red eyes, clear with its desire to swallow me whole.

The water burst again but this time it was behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to guess who it was. It splashed once again drenching my whole body and I ignored it again. Already numb to the feeling of being chased by a gigantic monster, I gave a sigh and readied myself again to use {Lighting movement}.

I would love to use another technique besides this one, but Mr. Samuel isn’t exactly generous when giving out secret techniques. He reasoned that i wasn’t ready and that I should master the movement first. But i told him that i already mastered it and didn’t believe me.

Helpless i could only agree for now. And due to my helplessness, I’m now stuck in a sticky situation. So i disappeared from my spot as i used {Lightning Movement} appearing a hundred yards away from the monsters.

And so the chase began with me constantly using {Lightning movement} while the two Monsters continued to chase me.

…

The sun shone with such brightness in the sky that it was almost blinding. Below it, the sea glimmered as it reflected the sun up above. The sudden thought of barbecuing some meat popped into my head as i wanted to enjoy the scenery in front of me.

Slight problem though. A Kraken whose sanity flew out the window and a shark who was smaller than the Kraken, but big enough to swallow me whole and then some. For reasons i do not know, they continued chasing for a few kilometers now.

A few hours has passed since my encounter with them and yet no matter how much I ran from the sound of death knocking on my door still sounded about. There was no land in sight and by my estimates, I have already crossed tens of kilometers already. The situation seemed so hopeless to be honest.

That is until I saw a figure flying towards my direction on the horizon. Their figure was familiar as I saw it every single day I was trained.

Her burning aura seemed to have created a path of a devastating fire.