Kael muttered under his breath,
"Cold…
It's cold.
Damnation, it's too cold.
It makes me feel like somebody had dumped me straight into the Sea of Serenity, the frozen sector of those moonlit bastards."
The water was so biting cold that it was enough to make him feel as if his flesh were being peeled from his bones; it seeped into Kael's skin like a swarm of invisible needles and each needle stabbed deeper than the last needle.
His body shivered violently, his muscles screamed in protest against the forced movement of his body. The river's current was like a wild creature—fierce, relentless, and that was thrashing his broken body every angle and direction, threatening to drag him from this life taking river and discard his corpse on stone fangs. The currents didn't care who he was, what he had done to survive, or what he still had left to do.
His left hand was clinging to the branch like a man on the verge of death holding onto his final breath. It was the only thing that was standing between him and his demise.
His legs turning—numb, sore, ineffective—due to the thrashed against the cold life taking river, he struggled to keep his shattered body above water.
One stroke.
Another stroke.
Again and again.
Every single stroke made him feel as if he was dragging his soul from the entry gates of death.
The distant shore was so close, yet it mocked him with its stillness-it appeared too near, but it was evoking a feeling that it was a thousand lifetimes away. His heartbeat was like a war drum, each breath carrying a war cry against death itself.
His lungs were burning. His right arm was gone. His strength was drained by the river with every stroke and current. His body was breaking.
With a low snarl, Kael muttered in his mind,
"So what?"
"Survival doesn't care about pain. It didn't care about mercy. And neither do I."
"Right now, the only thing that matters is staying alive."
He let out a bitter, shaky breath, eyes locked on the distant shore.
"At least… there's one good thing in this life taking river."
"There aren't any monsters waiting in this river…. Right?"
Kael kicked harder, using his legs as desperate paddles against the brutal current. Each movement of his legs were sending waves of fire that lit up his nerves like wildfire, with that an agonizing scream started to rise from his spine—but he didn't care, because he wouldn't stop here.
The shore was here. Just a little ahead.
Maybe in five more minutes. No—three. He could make his way there.
He would not die here. Not in a river. Not like a nobody.
wave of pain up his spine, but he ignored it.
The land was just ahead.
Five more minutes. Maybe three.
He could make it.
Once again his heart started to believe in something that was not here in this desolate land from the beginning. If that thing was here it would give him a great motivation that was…
Hope … as the crystal of hope formed in his heart.
But could not stay for long because it was shattered and once again vanished into the mist in just a few seconds after being created.
Because there was something shifting beneath the river. The water was changing.
"A presence. A presence there is a presence in the river." he felt a presence that sended a primal chill that ran down his spine.
In his mind he was wishing that he could smack his filthy mouth shut for all time so that it could stop spilling out jinx sadly but he was unable to do so, as he had only one arm, and which was clung to the branch his life saver.
Once again he felt that presence but this time the position has shifted from before because this time something was lurking beneath him.
It was instinct.
A raw, primal sense—that every prey has that makes them frozen. Like a deer freezing the moment a wolf sets its eyes on it. Like a danger sense.
Kaelvren's breath became hitched.
His eyes drifted downward, toward the shifting darkness beneath the water.
And then, he saw it.
A shadow.
"Is it a titan?
No, I don't think so .."
It was a colossal shape, that was gliding through the depths of the river with a silence that was more terrifying than any kind of noise. It was moving with a predator's elegance—graceful and deliberate that maded it more deadly.
Not a ripple. Not a splash.
It wasn't a fish. It wasn't even a beast.
It's definitely a monster.
Its body was as big as a war shark can be—maybe it might be bigger.
Its form was twisted throughout the water like it was a god of the deep, indifferent, majestic and seemed to be a little bit hungry.
And at this moment, it began to circle around him.
It was Watching. Measuring his size for its appetite.
Kaelvren's hair stood on spiked. As the cold fear curled through his gut like ice in his veins.
A cold realization caught Kaelvren's heart.
That his monster began a hunt.
And he was the prey.
With that
The water chase… had just begun.
And started the desperate struggle of survival.
—
Kael's breathing turned shallow, ragged.
His heart pounded against his ribs like a war drum and eager to burst out of it.
He knew how this would end. The monster beneath him wasn't some mindless predator. It was patiently waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The moment I will slip—I lost my focus, slowed down and made a single wrong move—at that it would take me into his maw.
"Shit… not now…" he muttered through clenched teeth, tightening his shaky hold on the soaked branch that kept him afloat.
His body was battered, his muscles were torn. Skin split. Every heartbeat sent waves of fire throughout his limbs.
He had no weapon. No strength. No plan.
Just a battered body and a twist branch.
He couldn't fight.
He couldn't outrun it in the water.
But he still had one thing left.
That was his mind that the monster couldn't have.
"Move. Now. You damn jackass"
Panic was clawing at his chest but he bit it down hard. Because if he let it win he would die at that point. His breath once again became steady.
Every muscle in his body was still screaming, but he adjusted his grip on the branch, so it could ease his weight over the branch—just enough to keep moving without drawing any attention.
Not erratic.
Not desperate.
If he thrashed, the monster would strike him. If he faltered, the monster would strike him.
So he angled himself toward the shore. Slowly. Silently.
One stroke.
Another.
The current was dragged against him like invisible hands pushing him back, but he kept going.
The shadow of the monster that was gilded beneath the water, unbothered by any kind of resistance, began to move with its terrifying calmness.
It wasn't circling anymore.
It started the hunt.
The monster was drawing closer.