Drinking Moonlight

I hadn’t gotten to witness many transformations, but I knew that the man before me was one of a kind.

The reason was beyond simple, of course. Not the fact that his armor was the only one to have fur on his cheeks, head as well as some of his limbs. Not because his staff that came along as a weapon was longer than his own body. And certainly not because of his color scheme — if anything, dark blue and black was a surprisingly similar combination compared to mine.

It was the fact that where his visor was, there were four glowing eyes. Along with it, he had an extra pair of primate arms, as well as a monkey’s tail — completely alive and moving, by the way.

It was the first time I had seen a transformation that actually made a human monstrous aside from myself. But this feeling welling within me was by no means fear.

If I could see myself in a mirror, my face would have probably had a wide grin. Even I didn’t know myself why I would have this joy. Perhaps it was due to finally finding another that “shared” all of my pain? Or perhaps, the toxin had finally started to make its way in my system again.

But it was indeed elation that I was feeling. Every fiber of my being screamed to cross blades with the one before me.

“Duna!” I yelled with all my might.

“I shall not give you the joy you wanted, Vritra!”

The man was the first to make his move. Jumping from dune to dune, he was exactly like his appearance — an agile monkey with nimble steps. Not only that, his tail and staff were like extra limbs as the man expertly used them to push himself further compared to his regular jumps, as well as creating unpredictable patterns along the way.

I couldn’t see where he was coming from. Left, right, there were too many quick turns in rapid succession. The man moved like lightning, and this rain that I called forth was even acting as a hindrance for me rather than aiding me — the sudden drop in temperature as well as all the water meant that my infrared was especially limited.

Because of this, it wasn’t such a surprising thing that his staff landed straight on my face. The hit was much heavier than I expected from such a flimsy staff, however. Was it because he spun himself before delivering the blow?

Nonetheless, the result was the same. Taking a blow to the head, I plunged down to the sandy ground. But the man was never letting me recover in the first place. Before I knew it, my back and ribs had already suffered from not just one, but multiples of the same hit. But I knew that none of these hits were fatal. For one, my armor could take them relatively well, but more importantly, none of these hits, except for the first on my head, was enough to move me even a smidgen.

This guy was undoubtedly holding back. But for what?

To persuade me? That would be too risky; after all, I could fight back.

To keep me alive for something else? Would have been better if he had just knocked me out from the start.

But whatever it might be, it was a chance for me to fight back. So I had to take it with everything I had.

While I was still struggling against the hits, I grabbed onto my sword. There was a slight delay between each of his strikes. I had the “pleasure“ to find that out through my body already. And so, I just needed the timing.

Three… Two… One…

“Now!”

I swung my sword as hard as I could. However, the timing was a bit off — I was just a fraction of a second too early. I still made contact with his steel staff, but the force wasn’t nearly enough due to the sword already having gone most of its trajectory. Instead, my wrist almost cracked because of the reverse impact, and from it, the sword was flung away like a swatted fly.

However, the attacks had also stopped.

Instead, I was grabbed by the back collar, and lifted into the air. Faced against Duna, I couldn’t see his expression through his mask, but I could tell that the guy was enjoying it.

After all, he was still twisting around his staff as if to flex on me.

“Oh, I do adore a good showing of power struggle,” the man let out a cheeky laughter. “Well, O’ Great Serpent, have you considered what’s best for yourself?”

“I…”

“Oh no he doesn’t!”

From the side, I could see a single flare light up. But before it could reach my spot, it had already been extinguished… or rather, exploded thanks to a couple of monsters acting as a shield.

“Do you still forget that you have been severely outnumbered, Your Highness?” Duna mockingly gestured with one of his arms towards Arja and the rest.

I needed to get out of this situation. However, I couldn’t figure out a plan yet. My sword was taken away, and my movement was limited. I could try fighting bare-handed, but there was still a limit to how much damage my claws could do to the same kind of armor I wore. And not to mention, if the attack was a failure, I would certainly be dead.

I needed something else. Something that could pass as a weapon, makeshift as it might be.

At the same time, the rain turned heavier.

There was once a great serpent, Vritra. It sucked all of our world’s water dry and stored it upon itself.

Those lines suddenly jumped back into my mind. Immediately, I knew what I had to do.

Vritra wasn’t a creature known for “calling for rain”. Far from it. It wasn’t something that created water, it was something that stole water.

In other words, control. If Arja could control fire, and Hava could control the wind… then my theory would have to be true.

I focused on my hand. I didn’t have anything else to relate to, aside from Arja’s showing off his fire control, both in and out of his armor form. A smooth, flexible control over fire, as if dancing with it…

No. He had said it himself. It was nothing more than parlor tricks. Something that he could do in his sleep, but not necessarily something battle-ready. In order to fight, I needed that one.

A fierce and strong blow. A fire coming from the dragon’s mouth.

I focused my mind, thinking about that scene I had seen. The vividness of his fire. The power of that dragon’s blow.

I could feel it. The water was slowly forming around my hand, taking the shape of not a dragon, but a serpent’s head. The fangs it bore were even spinning on its own, like a drill made out of pure water.

But for some reason, Duna was still looking elsewhere. Was he not paying attention? Could he even afford to do so in a battle? Wasn’t his opponent right here in front of him?

No matter. If he had chosen to let down his guard, then I would gladly take that opportunity.

I was ready for my strike. All it took was one final blast, and I would have won.

But that blast never happened.

At the most important moment, the snake dissolved itself. Along with it, I could feel my scales retracting from their enlarged size — a process so painful, it was like being sliced a thousand times with the same knife. Yet, there was no blood. But the result was far worse.

I could see my arms again. My scaly, scrawny arm that wasn’t human or monster.

I could feel the rain on my reptilian skin. I could vaguely see others again in their natural colors.

I had finally transformed back from my armored form, at the worst possible time.