"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author Notes-

Chapter 09: Mortal Danger

“Come on, give it here!” One of the twins extended his massive hand towards him.

Zephyr looked back. He was running out of space. Behind him was nothing but the sea.

‘I could jump into the water… no, I'm not great at swimming, and they would just catch me when I return to the shore.’

There was nowhere to swim anyway, and going too far away from the docks would be dangerous.

‘The only option is to run at them and try to pass by… if I can do that, I can continue to run and leave the village. They won't follow me outside the village.’

He waited patiently until one of the boys got close to him and made a grab for the bag.

“What?!” the twin exclaimed.

Zephyr used his full weight to tackle the giant boy and made him lose his balance.

A loud splashing sound could be heard as one of the twins fell from the docks into the water.

But when Zephyr tried to get past the second boy, he was welcomed by a giant fist to the face.

“Argh!” Zephyr groaned and fell on his butt, barely avoiding falling into the water.

“That's going to cost you.” The twin who punched him said with a cold tone.

“Bring him here!” Thomas shouted from the other side of the dock with exasperation. His little patience was running thin.

Zephyr felt blood coming out of his nose and ran to the sides of his mouth.

‘My nose is probably broken…’ He thought with a certain calmness. This was not a new experience for him. His uncle had already broken his nose four times before.

He pushed past the pain and stood up but was probably grabbed by the massive boy and restrained.

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“Stop moving!” The boy increased the strength of the hold as Zephyr almost made him trip.

His twin brother was lifting himself out of the water, and he didn't look happy at all.

‘It's over…’ He had no choice but to admit defeat. He was now going to be beaten, and then they will take everything from him. The money that he took years to accumulate and all his traveling supplies.

‘What am I going to do?’ he wondered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the water ripple and move.

At first, he thought it was just caused by the giant boy getting out of the water, but he was already out.

“Wait… what's that?” Zephyr asked.

Just now, he saw something dark moving out of the water but could not discern what it was exactly.

“Shut up!” The boy holding him shouted.

“That's not going to work.” The other one was looking at Zephyr with narrow eyes that promised vengeance.

“Ahhhh!”

They were all startled by the loud scream coming out of Thomas's lips.

They saw that he had fallen on his butt and was pointing at them with a terrified face.

“Sir, what are yo-” The twin who had just climbed out of the water did not have time to finish his question as he was hit by something with tremendous force.

His body went flying back into the waters, leaving behind a splash of his blood.

Zephyr and the boy holding him moved their heads to look behind them and saw the one responsible.

“W-wha… what is that?!” The twin stared in horror at the creature that attacked his brother and released his hold on Zephyr, who then fell down.

Zephyr was not much better. He could not believe what he was seeing.

The sea monster was as terrifying as the stories he had heard the villagers tell, if not more terrifying…

But the weird part was that Zephyr was familiar with this creature. He had seen them before. The fishermen call them squids and they're considered a rare catch.

One time he even got to try one that was being roasted. It was one of the most delicious things he had ever eaten.

But those were the size of his arm, while this one was as big as a house.

“A sea monster!” Thomas shouted.

He was the first one to react and was also the furthest away.

So Thomas turned around and ran as fast as he could.

The monster showed some intelligence and went for Thomas first as he was the most likely to be able to escape given that he was almost at the entrance of the docks.

If he could run for a few seconds, he would be too far away from the water for the sea monster to catch him.

But this creature was not willing to let any of its prey escape. It had waited far too long for something to eat.

One of its tentacles moved at lightning speed and wrapped around Thomas's ankle.

The boy screamed for help at the top of his lungs.

But it was very unlikely to receive any. These parts of the docks were very far away from any of the houses, so no one would hear him.

While dragging Thomas back to the waters, the monster used its other large tentacle to attack the large boy next to Zephyr.

It wasn't much of a fight. The large boy might have seemed like an impossible opponent for Zephyr, but for the sea monster, he was just food.

The large tentacle wrapped around his torso and started to squeeze him.

While both boys were being killed, Zephyr took the chance to run.

He got past the large boy and the tentacle crushing him and continued to run.

“Help!” Thomas shouted to him.

Zephyr ignored his pleas and jumped over the tentacle dragging him into the water.

‘I can do this! Just a bit more!’ His hope increased when he saw the end of the dock. Just ten more steps and he would be out of the creature's range.

The monster's main tentacles were currently occupied, but Zephyr appeared to have forgotten that squid have ten arms in total.

The other eight ones were not as powerful as the two main tentacles but more than enough to knock a defenseless young boy.

Zephyr felt an impact behind him and before he could react, he was back on the ground.

A wave of pain invaded his mind, and he was unable to move now.

Whatever hit him had broken some of the bones in his left leg.

He turned on his back and was able to see what had hit him.

Two more tentacles were hovering over him now, ready to tear him apart at any moment.

“Ah…” He glanced at the monster.

The two other boys were nowhere to be seen, so they must have been dragged into the waters already.

And he was next.

‘I'm going to die like this…’ He lamented.

So many things he wanted to accomplish. His journey was going to end before it began.

[Host is in mortal danger… initiating system…]