One moment he was thinking and the next he stood next to a gorgeous woman with his axe deeply embedded into her skull. Her hair was a dark brown, her eyes the same color, skin a porcelain white.

He let go of his weapon. The body fell to the ground with a thump, the lifeless eyes stared into his own. Glassed as they were, Kaius could not look away in his fright. It was only then, after long seconds of processing what had just happened, did his emotions kick in. Hitting him like a runaway wagon.

“No, no, no,”

His hands shook, and heart began to beat wildly. But his emotions were for naught.

Like water rippling, the woman’s image changed. In place of the stunning vision she had been, it changed into a hideous creature reminiscent of a woman. With eyes too big for her head and a mouth filled with large protruding teeth, she looked more like a nightmare the longer he stared.

Like a flitting dance of fireflies, flashes of mana showed around the creature. Though it was as if the pulses of mana was being covered by a blanket. Not knowing what that meant, Kaius filed it in the back of his mind.

His hand still shook as he grabbed the fallen axe pulling it with a sickening squelch. A puke colored liquid dribbled down from the wound. It further made a point clear: This was no human, just a monster. His conscious could rest for just a bit longer.

It struck him odd, to say the least, how the creature had clearly been using magic of sorts, yet he could not see it with his purple power. Was there a reason? Or was it simply he was not focusing hard. Though he felt the white demon without putting any effort before.

Narrowing his eyes in an attempt to focus, he took further steps forward towards the mast. He was confident there would be more of the creature he had slain.

The fog became denser the further from the door he walked. Even with his powers at full blast, he still found a bit of difficulty seeing through it. His legs ached from disuse even more so now in the cold. The ship swayed back and forth every few steps. But his orange well made it easier to trek such unexpected changes; time slowing was a significant factor.

A flash of mana came from his right, he swung without thought. Hoping he would get lucky with another hit.

The creature had shot towards him, meeting his axe head-on. It sank into its shoulder. The thing screamed, making his ears ring. The longer it did, the more hoarse it voice became and the image ripped away. Coming to its senses, it raised claw ridden hands searching for purchase on his skin.

Kaius jumped back and away from the creatures swing. He knew he didn’t need claws cutting him apart. No matter how inexperienced he was, he knew that instinctively.

The creature moved in slow motion. Like it was in molasses. Its swings were delayed, bites always a second late. They danced together for a time that felt like an hour to Kaius, but was nothing more than a few seconds.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

All the while, it bled that sickening colored liquid from its wound. Slowing every few seconds.

After overextending and losing balance, the creature stumbled forward. The axe gave it an extra weight it was not used to. Taking advantage, Kaius took his chances. His attack crushed the skull of the creature, cutting all the way down to its jaw, almost splitting the creature’s head in half.

Putrid gore crawled down the split sides.

Feeling exhausted, he found himself on his hands and knees, emptying his stomach. It was mostly liquid, but his few bites of bread had found themselves on the ground.

He felt another pulse of mana from in front of him. Startled, he got up to a sitting position with hands raised in front of his face. Thoughts of regret and guilt surged in his chest. He should have listened. Taken heed of those with more knowledge. It was only pride and arrogance that lead him to this doom.

He shivered in his spot. Waiting for death to come to his exhausted body. But nothing happened. Opening his eyes, he looked past his raised arms. That only caused him to shake even more and heart to drop. In front of him hidden by the fog--only their eyes showed, glowing red and greens--was too many pairs of eyes to count.

They stood in a semi-circle, their anticipation was palpable even to him. Hissing and shrieking from a few meters away, none dare to step forward. Though a few made feints to trick him.

Reaching out for his axes, his hands fumbled for them. He dropped them a few times before finally getting a tight grip on them. His legs shook as he stood up and his vision flitted from one pair of eyes to another trying to watch them all at once.

His sources of power thrummed stronger every second begging to be released. But, he did not get a chance to use them. The creatures all froze. They looked up to the sky above. Eyes focused on something he could not see. That was until the fog above began to clear.

It was then that it clicked for him. It wasn’t that there was no mana in the air, it was the exact opposite. There was so much that it blanketed the pitiful use of magic the creatures on the deck used.

The axes clattered onto the ground. Kaius’s legs gave up on keeping him up and mouth was left hanging. He tried to speak, but could not find any words as his mouth moved futilely. It was a being he could not have conceived. Its sheer size beyond anything he could have imagined.

It was made of mana, a titan before him with a transparent body. Its eyes, so far away yet pierced into his soul from there, glowed blue. Its hands large enough to hold the entire ship on its palm.

The creatures on the deck scattered back into the waters, but Kaius did not notice. His eyes locked onto the massive being.

Slowly it cocked back its hand readying to back-hand him to oblivion. Coming slower than it had any right to, it streaked forward leaving trails of blue mana in the air it passed. It swung at him and the ship he was on.

The fog cleared with its incoming attack. Running away from the inevitable end the being silently promised to all that stood before it. Within seconds the hand passed through him and the ship.

A gust of wind greater than any he had experienced almost picked him up from his seated position. In its wake, a wave at least three times larger than the ship rose from the ocean around them. A coming watery death.

With a deafening crash, the wave took everything on the deck that stood unfettered. Pulling Kaius to its depths. His sight blurred and body choked on the waters. A blackness crept from the edges of his sight, taking his consciousness.

The last thing he saw was a streak of white rushing towards him.