Singularity, Ch. 3: On Fatigue

(Scroll down if you're worried about the rating, explanation is at the bottom for...tiny spoilers' sake I guess.)

He hadn’t rested long. It was foolish enough to let any bit of his guard down so close to his goal, let alone actually sleep enough for it to matter. The more lax he grew, the more he felt his conviction slipping away from him. A few times, his eyes fluttered shut, only for him to remember where he was.

Eventually, Taijinn rose from where he had seated himself, a good quarter mile from the Merewood. His heart felt as though it was slamming itself into his chest–he couldn’t identify if it was from fear or exhilaration. Making his way back to the entrance, the path that wound into the area, he took another step onto that thin dirt road. He didn’t allow himself to pause again when he reached the posts that marked the beginning of the place either, instead surging past them. They were meant to warn travelers away, but they now acted as a source of confidence for the man–if he could enter the Merewood without hesitating, then little could stop him.

Just ten feet from the posts, he suddenly felt as if his legs had given out. He barely prevented himself from collapsing onto the ground, instead falling to his hands and knees and struggling to not be pushed down the rest of the way. Gasping in pain as the force pulled his back down, Taijinn dug his fingers into the hard packed earth and began to wait it out.

It could have lasted seconds, it could have lasted minutes. His heartbeat before seemed like a slight flutter to the pulse that rang between his ears now. But, slowly, the force lifted. He was allowed to push himself up, straighten out his clothes. He looked around–what could have caused that?

The Merewood, he realized. It had judged him, just then, in a far more literal way than he had expected when he had been warned about the place. Somehow, he had passed its initial inspection.

There was no guarantee that he would pass the future ones, he knew. With a sinking feeling, Taijinn became aware of a fact that he had been ignoring: if he wasn’t careful enough, if he made a wrong turn, or if fate just purely worked against him, he could die here. Alone, and unremarkable. Maybe a tool for the next person like him to come along, if he was lucky (or unlucky, depending on your viewpoint).

He continued, but not as eagerly as before.

The Merewood was as grim as he had expected, and if the incident just a few paces back hadn’t proved that, then the atmosphere certainly did. It pressed upon him like a weight not unlike the kind he had just fought against, as if his coat had been soaked through and fabric was dragging him down. He tried squaring his shoulders against the pressure, only to notice the slight tremor running through him, running from the top of his spine down through his calves.

The road soon disappeared. All he had was some vague sense of direction and an unwavering determination. As he journeyed further in, he stayed clear of the eerily still bodies of water he would sometimes see in the distance, for he knew that upon falling in, he was unlikely to ever resurface. When he felt the ground begin to grow softer beneath his feet, he strayed as far away as possible. Every once in a while, when he saw one of those ponds, he thought he would see a flicker of movement from the corner of his eyes. He would turn slightly, each time, but didn’t truly wish to see what was there.

Taijinn stopped for a moment, to catch his breath. Though he had grown tired only a few times throughout his travels, it seemed that the stress had finally caught up with him. He looked around him, to ensure that no one (nothing) was approaching him before setting his hands against his knees and pausing for a moment.

He was tired, simply and purely. A sort of base feeling that ran through him, relaxing his limbs against his will. When he looked up, his eyes had sunken a little lower. He blinked, and rubbed them, trying to wake himself up. Staggering back to his full height, he began again, failing to notice that he was about to thread through the path between two of those sullen ponds that he had seen before. He also did not notice as his footprints grew more apparent, the dirt gradually turning to mud beneath him.

It was only once he began to struggle to lift up his shoes that he released his situation. Panicking, he pulled his leg up and wondered: should he try and backtrack? Continue forward? Sink down into the muck and cry? All were valid options, in his opinion at that exact moment.

(To his left, just out of view, the water began to shift. Writhing, a long tendril rose up.)

How close was he to the water, he asked himself. He couldn’t be more than a hundred feet, could he? Far too close. Closer than he ever should have been. And he was still here, worrying over things instead of taking action.

What Taijinn did not know is that he was not a hundred feet away from the water. Rather, he was thirty feet. The tendril, now with several companions of a similar size, finally extended to a reasonable length, and pulled its abomination of an owner out of the depths.

Taijinn heard the splash behind him, and turned immediately. Seeing what had just risen (it was horrific. For the rest of his life, Taijinn would remember that many-mouthed form, with too many eyes and too many limbs), he bolted, only getting a few steps away before one of the tendrils lashed out and began to drag him towards the water. Digging his hands into the soft soil in his panic, Taijinn thrashed in its grip, crying out into the empty air as he drew nearer and nearer to the edge of the pool.

His grip gave out, and it lifted him high into the air. When his feet lift the earth, he shouted in alarm, kicking them in a desperate attempt to escape from the creature’s grasp. Not daring to look towards its most prominent mouth, the one with rows of teeth going back into its maw, he tried to pry its limb away from himself. But, for each time he struggled, the tendril responded with a crushing force. Air was forced out of his lungs, and he wheezed as it constricted around his ribs.

There was no other choice, he thought as he began to chant. At first, it was careful, only the edge of his voice tinged with fear. Then, as it lifted him higher and closer to the thing’s open mouth, his sped up his words, the language blurring together in one frantic cacophony of sound. As he continued, the whites of his eyes transformed to near blinding violet. Anyone looking towards him could have seen how the glow consumed his features, arcane energy pouring out of him. His hands lifted as if drawn upwards by strings, and as he pressed them to what bound him, his chanting ceased with a deafening silence.

A second passed. His eyes continued to shine. And then, a pulse of force ran through his arms and into the creature. The tendril relaxed at first, letting him breathe once more, before it violently gave way as it bursted into fine ash.

The creature screeched from all its mouths, recoiling its limbs before diving back into the pond, leaving it to its stillness once more. Taijinn plummeted towards the ground as it receded, landing on his feet before stumbling backwards. Not looking back to see if it would resurface, he sprinted away from what had attacked him. It was only after a few minutes that he stopped once more, his arms shaking just as much as his legs.

As the panic faded, he was filled was the warmth of pride. He laughed, loud and open despite the tightness that still resided within his chest, as no one could hear him. It was at that moment, perhaps for the first time in months, that he had felt secure in something. The Merewood had tried him twice, and both times he had managed to free himself from its grasp.

He was powerful, this much had been cemented. No ordinary mage could beat back one of the Merewood’s abominations. He was powerful, and he now was sure of the fact that he could make himself this place’s lord.

Rated 12+ for a scene with minor and no-blood-mentioned violence. A creature is described that could be moderately disturbing, but certainly not horror movie level. Just lots of limbs, lots of teeth, and lots of eyes. Overall, playing it safe with the rating.