"Woah…" I muttered.

What was…did I just develop some kind of superpower? Magic? But, hold on a second—inferior? That's gotta mean just the basic version, right? Not that I am somehow weaker in my understanding. That's gotta be it. And why is it telling me like this is some kind of video game? What sort of—

But then the world came crashing back into me as a wave of water splashed my back. I turned, seeing the giant ornery lizard only twenty feet from me. Then, and I'll swear to any god you want, the thing fucking roared. And it was loud. The sound shook the whole damn area. What looked like hundreds of birds startled and rocketed off to a place of safety somewhere else.

Well, hell, I gotta do this—it's now or never. Like…super never.

With my entire conscious thought, I acted on the newfound understanding.

"May the…marsh allow my passage o'er fluid terrain."

I felt a sudden, intense rush of energy, both familiar yet so alien, originating from the base of my skull—the exact spot I’d been magically branded or whatever had happened to me. It wasn't painful like before, but it felt like a deep, resonating pulse, an echo of a power I had never known I possessed. A lightbulb moment struck me hard: this power source had significance at this spot.

Then, the sense of what I'd just done began to settle in. Spells? Magic? No. Somehow I knew what it was called. Galdur. A mere—what?—hours ago, those were just concepts relegated to fiction or childhood fairytales. But now? I'd just chanted some words and felt something... otherworldly course through me. The rapid shift from my mundane reality to this fantastical one was bewildering. And why in the hell was it so…easy? Shouldn’t it have been harder than saying a few words? What if someone just muttered them on accident? Wait…the pain. Right. Nevermind.

Galdur was the power that lived in this world. Lived in the swamp. Now it lived in me.

Maybe there’d be something in this place, a spell or what-have you, that could cure my condition? You know, set me right as rain and maybe get this monkey off my back. Because, still, even with the shit I was dealing with in the immediate, I couldn’t help but think about how this might exacerbate some long-dormant issue in my body. I mean, what if my numb arms came back?

Shit.

As I was thinking about it, I realized my arms did feel a little tingly.

Great! I’m here learning wizard nonsense only to be taken out by early-onset ALS.

But I couldn’t think about that—I really didn’t have the right moment for health concerns. Though…the juxtaposition of it all—a regular, everyday normal life (despite some intense medical frustrations), had now transformed into one where I was conjuring magic to evade a monstrous creature.

I tried to wrap my head around it, the sensation of casting... It felt like trying to grasp water with bare hands, elusive and slippery. A part of my brain screamed at the absurdity, wanting to reject the impossible reality I was now faced with.

Yet, even as I internally grappled with the concept of this…fantasy and all the newness of this realm, another part of me was pragmatically latching onto it. Because, well, when you're about to be a monster's dinner, you don't question the lifeline thrown your way. You just grab onto it and hope it's strong enough to protect you. But that was neither here nor there—I was about to be eaten!

With a leap, I propelled myself upwards. The sensation was exhilarating as the magic flowed through me, guiding my every movement. My feet touched the water's surface, and instead of sinking, I felt solidness beneath me. This sensation was not unlike standing on a very taut waterbed. I stood on the water, and the sheer impossibility of it all made me mutter, "Woah," again.

But the moment of awe was short-lived. The monstrous creature was right there now, barreling down on me with open jaws.

"Gah!!" I screamed. Thankfully, I'd never been the type to freeze in dangerous situations. Louisville was a rough place at times—especially my neighborhood. Still, I guess this was worse.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Instinctively, I tried to run, but the ability's resistance was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. My legs felt heavy, and my movements were sluggish. It was like trying to sprint through a dream where every motion felt slowed down and exaggerated. This would not do. I didn't have time—the ability apparently was only good for…well, waterwalking. I needed to figure out how to get a hold of something like watersprinting or, hell, even waterskipping.

There wasn't time. So, instead, I dove. Not an actual dive; that would be foolish in such shallow depths. Instead, I launched myself straight to the right, springing myself off the surface and over in an arc. It turns out it didn't matter how shallow it was, though, because as I hit the water, I didn't sink. I slid a little, lying on top of it like it was completely impenetrable.

The thirty-foot long reptile slammed down with its snout, apparently thinking it was getting a meal out of me and not realizing I was precisely ten feet away from where it was drilling for my guts. But I knew it wouldn't be for long. So, considering that most animals weren't stupid enough to confuse nothing for a meal, I scrambled up and tried to make my way to the bank only another thirty feet away.

Waterwalking stayed active despite my not paying attention to it. I had this vague feeling of sleepiness, though. It was similar to how I usually felt when reading something before bed, and my eyes got grainy. Was that the spell? Was it tapping into something? The base of my skull started to feel sore, but the sensation continued.

Of course, I thought. The woman in the vision had needed to say words to end the spell.

Would it continue until it drained me of energy unless I said those words? What if I was somehow unable to speak them? Would it suck me dry until I was all shriveled like a raisin? It was best not to think about that now. Mainly because the black scaled beast was wheeling in my direction again.

"Shit!" I hissed and tried to make a break for it.

I managed only short, quick steps, each sending ripples across the water's surface. As I continued, I realized that while I may not be fast, I was still moving, gaining ground—er, water—on the looming threat behind me. The trees on the bank loomed large and inviting. Their gnarled roots, which spread like skeletal fingers, seemed to beckon me. Some arched up high—perhaps higher than the height of the beast itself. If I could reach one of those, maybe I could pull myself up to safety. I could hear the creature's heavy splashes growing closer and closer, but I didn't dare look back. Then it roared again, and I could feel myself starting to panic.

Suddenly, an idea formed. With its tension, the water beneath my feet provided an almost frictionless surface. Rather than attempting to run, I tried a different approach. Planting one foot firmly, I pushed off with all my might and leaped forward again. But this time, I stayed low, allowing the tension of the water to send me sliding across its surface on my stomach.

It's working!

At the angle I'd used, I'd essentially turned myself into the human equivalent of a rock skipping across a pond. The sensation was surreal, gliding along, my torso barely touching the water.

The city bus-sized creature, not expecting my sudden move, lunged. Its maw snapped shut right where I had been a heartbeat ago. The cold rush of displaced water as its elongated snout slammed into the surface again splashed against my back, chilling me to the bone. The rivulets of luminescent green woven into its black scales flared, almost as though they were angry on the monster’s behalf, and I turned back to face my goal: freedom. Maybe.

I was almost at the bank but could hear the monstrosity’s pursuit continuing. But, shit, I now realized that it was very likely that this thing was both a water and a land animal. I hit solid ground and rolled, pushing myself up just as ten-yards of pissed off lizard reached the bank behind me. As I suspected, it didn't stop. Instead, it simply heaved itself onto the ground and kept after me. I sprinted away, my body feeling like it was being sapped of all stamina and endurance as I continued. I couldn't keep this pace up. I'd lose all steam before I even attempted to climb. So, I'd need a backup plan until the coast was clear.

Desperately searching for an escape, my eyes caught a small gap between the roots of one of the trees. I dove for it without a second thought, squeezing into the narrow space. Moments later, Croczilla’s jaws crashed into the roots where I had just been, its teeth scraping and gnashing in frustration.

The prehistoric water monster roared, a sound so deafening that the air vibrated. Its hot breath seeped through the gaps in the roots. I pressed myself further into the recess, praying it wouldn't find a way to reach me. After a moment, I was able to turn around; the monster was still there at the roots, angrily trying to burrow into the sanctuary I'd found. But the trees here were ancient, and their roots were thicker in circumference than an SUV. The monster, for all its strength, couldn't break through, and it was too big to fit between the gaps.

I heaved a sigh of relief and felt myself laughing—likely because of the ridiculousness of how close I'd come to being this thing's snack.

"Ha!" I roared defiantly at the massive beast from the safety of my alcove. "That's right, ya sumbitch! You can't get me now!"

The monster roared, futilely slamming its bulk against the roots. I caught my breath, gasping for lungfuls of oxygen as it continued its assault on the tree, not abandoning its attempt to reach me. But I was feeling so tired.

"Oh," I said aloud to myself. "I'm still casting the spell, I think."

The spell was still pulling from the area at the base of my skull, but where before it was like a fluid flow…now it was like sucking up the last remnants of a slushie through a narrow straw. Like it was down to the dregs. Hurriedly, I spoke the words I'd heard the woman say in the vision.

"Marsh, uh…release my, um, stride."

A dizzying, nearly euphoric feeling filled my head as the flow of the spell was caught off. I closed my eyes and felt myself crash backward, completely tapped of whatever I was feeding into Waterwalking from within myself. But soon, the moment's bliss faded, and a different sensation blossomed into existence.

The veil of exhaustion descended upon me rapidly, each breath feeling like a laborious task. I was bone-tired, the kind of fatigue that seeped into your marrow. Every muscle ached, my lungs burned from the rapid breaths, and a dull throb pulsed at the base of my skull—the epicenter of my salvation. My eyelids grew heavy, and the world around me blurred and faded.

But in that cocoon of gnarled roots, exhaustion overpowered fear. The creature's furious roars and the reverberating thuds of it slamming against the tree became a distant, muffled lullaby. My thoughts turned sluggish, and the monstrous growls sounded farther away as if I were sinking deep underwater. The ceaseless, rhythmic assault on the tree became almost soothing. In the dim, filtered light, I could still see the creature's shadow as it continued its relentless pursuit of a meal it could no longer reach, and even in my state of near unconsciousness, a part of me marveled at its tenacity. It wouldn't give up easily. And apparently, neither would I. That was good to know about myself. But for now, it was over.

With one final, weary exhale, my world went dark, and I surrendered to the depths of unconsciousness. The distant roars of the beast were the last thing I heard.