I could not fight the tides.

The minions and the serpents swallow me and sink in their fangs.

My arms flail in a deluge of gel. It absorbs the kinetic energy I throw out and vibrates into nothingness. I’m enveloped entirely. My lungs can no longer draw in oxygen.

I feel my blood dance within my veins like lightning and my organs are performing an orchestra of desperation. I’m drowning.

As my vision begins to blur and the world turns a shade darker, I feel a sudden burning sensation across my skin. It gives me a jump start of energy before I would have hit the breaking point.

Working purely off instinct I send off a surge of electrical shocks all around me.

Light returns and becomes blindingly beautiful for just a few seconds.

I gasp for air as I fall to the ground and am surrounded by slime cores and grilled blue pieces of sludge.

I can feel my heart going a thousand miles a minute. I see the snakes, still unharmed, rise above me and their shadows eclipse the light of the cave almost completely.

I conjure more lightning. I shape it while thinking about my predicament. It’s a sense of danger I’ve never once felt before. It’s the perfect fuel to keep me alive.

It rumbles all around me. A sphere of circulating electricity taking the shapes of eels.

They fry the miniature slimes and singe the cobras, barely keeping them out.

It gives me a minute to get back my breath. I’m closed in from every direction.

Could I dig a tunnel out with earth magic? If the slimes can travel through the walls it won’t work.

The cobras will follow me and swallow me whole. It’s not viable.

I’ll die. Maybe I can make a huge storm of thunder and just make a break for it?

Though if this turn of events is any indication, there’s probably a hoard waiting for me up the stairs. I’ll be overcome and devoured in seconds. I’ll die.

I don’t think I can run. I’m screwed. I have to fight or die. Or will I fight and die?

Am I done? I did all this for nothing? All of it, fighting this hard, dealing with this monotony… putting myself through… I begin to panic. I feel like the walls are closing in.

My world is shattering because of one singular moment. A lapse of judgment brought from cockiness and idiocy. Once my mana runs out, my life will end.

The hissing of the beasts becomes a vicious mockery of my mistakes.

I’ve lost everything for the second time. Reality is slowly eating me from the inside out and relishing every single bite. My body is now drenched in sweat. It’s shaking from fear.

Like a child. I’m like a child again. Tasting my first bite into knowledge. The knowledge that the world is a dangerous and unforgiving place. I’m ruined with this realisation.

I knew it as truth once, but it cuts fresh and deep. Stinging my soul.

My barricade of gold grows bigger and the cobras slink back.

I stare at the wondrous bars of magic brought forth from my pain and circumstance.

Right. I may no longer have the deep-seated anxieties and hang-ups I did before today but… since all of this is happening again right now mentally… it’s ripe.

It won’t be like this after this moment but right here and right now…

I carry with my the joys and pains of life anew. That is the purest form of magic.

I stretch out the barricade a little more and stumble forward towards my nemesis.

The cage acts as a shield against the enemy and with each uneasy step I get closer as the snakes try to break through but are pushed back. I need to measure my strength.

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Keep the fear in my heart as a blade I wield and know that should I drop it, it is the very same weapon that will take my life. My heart is beating like a band of drummers.

This tiny localised storm I’m conjuring from my being is my banner of hardships.

I can’t and won’t let it go down without a fight. I want to win. I don’t want to die.

Very primal and basic feelings but that’s why they are the most fierce.

I slowly begin to build one more fresh emotion. Courage.

Something that only comes out when fear is held in a chokehold.

You have to squeeze it out. Every drop of tempered spirit is fuel for my fire.

I started running. I cut through the flood of adversaries. The smell of burning fills my nose and lungs.

Every step carries the weight of the world for me. My world begins or ends today.

The head of the kraken is right in front of me. It’s a stone's throw away.

I just have to get there and let it all out. It’s my only lifeline. My only chance for freedom.

I begin to dig deep. Trying to use all my fire at once to burn away my weakness.

That’s when it happens. I’m surrounded. My word becomes black.

The cobras hiss in pain but they form a barricade that wraps around my cage of lightning.

They are willing to ignore the pain and accept the damage I deal if it protects their ruler.

If I go full throttle now I think I can break out but I won’t have enough left in the tank to destroy the numerous cores stored in the head, and that’s assuming it doesn’t have any nasty surprises left for me the moment I get a clear shot. Maybe, I can wait a bit. Maybe the snakes will recoil if I gradually up the voltage and I’ll use that opening to strike at the heart…

I wait. I gently build on my power wracked with nervousness. I can’t use too much.

I need to feel out how much I can give away, or else I’ll win the battle and lose the war.

Stick my courage in place with a pin. Just hold out. I’ll get my moment.

It’s hard to keep this much magic flowing instantly. I need absolute concentration despite my sudden mood swings. Casting a singular blast is much easier. Truly deep emotion can be a flash in the pan and let out just as quickly. I don’t have that luxury right now.

I don’t bother to count the seconds that pass by. I can’t let any distraction, no matter how minor, stop me. One misstep and everything I’ve worked for will be nought but smoke. If I succumb to slimes, there literally will be nothing left. Not even my bones for a cautionary tale.

I can’t let my life be literally worthless. I refuse to abide by it at all costs!

Getting worked up seems to give me a little boost. Good. Just hold on.

It feels like an eternity is passing. Time goes slow to torture and tests me.

My breathing becomes ragged. It becomes harsh. I begin to feel my throat and lungs seal up.

Why am I choking now? I try to keep my focus. I try to remember the goal in mind…

Everything is getting blurry again. Why? The slimes aren’t swallowing me…

My cage begins to become smaller. Weaker. Despite my frustration…

Oxygen. I’m losing oxygen. The snakes are suffocating me. That’s why they are doing this!

Fuck, I’m screwed! I’m cooked. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. I begin to lose focus again.

No. Don’t panic again. I’ll really… shit. SHIT. SHIT.

I rack my failing brain with ideas. Nothing comes up. There’s only one option left.

Shoot forward with every last bit of strength left that I can muster.

Yet, I already know… if I do that it won’t make it. My heart knows it.

Still, if the alternative is just falling here and now…

“You bastard. You got me. I lose… but I’m going to be very sore about it.”

Petty vengeance is a good motivator. One last burst.

I’m sorry. To myself mostly. This is as far as I go.

At least I got to the end of the tunnel, even if the road was long and winding.

I focus on my fingertips. Simple may be best. Another huge fireball.

The first and last spell I get to use. Not the worst way to go, I hope.

Let’s make one final cool name for it. One I can be proud to be my last words and last breath.

The sphere between my hands is small. It gives me just a little light within the world of shadow.

My life has always been small. Truthfully, most people are the same, I think.

...That doesn’t matter now. This is my only hope. I’ll make sure it stings.

I pull my body back. I take down the cage and reallocate the bolts of thunder into the fire.

It crackles with regret and bitterness. “Eat this…”

“Fireball: Dragonic Cannonfire!”

My voice is low, small and hoarse from the lack of air. I aim.

My right arm is the artillery. The ball is the ammo.

I lined it up to give it everything I got. I’m about to fire.

A gale cuts past me. A hole is ripped through the snakes.

Light pours in. The head is right in front of me. My gun has a straight and direct shot.

I don’t let the surprise stop me. I unleash my full fury.

It’s over in an instant. The world is glorified by sunlight.

I collapse on my knees. The cobras begin to fall apart.

They become puddles of blue with red cores that roll across the ground like toys.

The empire collapses before my eyes. The slimes lose all cohesion.

I turn around. I need to know what happened…!

I see it. I smile a broken smile. I laugh a crumbling laugh.

“Haha. Hahahaha… hahahahah!”

I begin to cry. What the hell is this?

It’s standing there. My saviour.

The metal mannequin. It’s standing there by the entrance.

With its fist facing out as if it had thrown a punch. That gale that gave me my chance.

It was because of this thing. For some reason… it’s not collapsing like the rest of them.

I was saved by another.