The Deadline

Instinct leaped onto the island, hind legs barely disturbing the sand before it jumped off again, triggering the beast into shutting its mouth.It flew through the air to avoid getting caught behind the rows and rows and rows and rows of teeth larger than itself.

Saif took over, turning in the air to avoid landing on the boat.

Instinct pushed him aside, landing on a small outcropping of rock, barely making it there.

“Stay back, human.” It told him. “You could have killed us.”

“Stay away from the boat, then.” Saif bit back.

Instinct barely dodged another bite, jumping off the rocks and shooting into the air. It tried locating the monster’s eye, knowing for sure that it would be a weak spot.

Try as it might, there was no eye to be found. Aside from the false island and rows of sparkling teeth ready to bite, he couldn’t see the line of where the monster ended and the sky and ocean began.

It found another set of rocks to stand on. The monster followed suit, cutting through the water much faster than its size would suggest. This was no ordinary monster.

Instinct tried harder. It slashed blindly within the monster’s mouth, hoping to cut through anything to bring the monster pain.
It cut at the sands and the tongue below the sand, but it did nothing.
It leaped out to avoid the bite, then in again to slash the coconuts. Still nothing.
Maybe the palm tree? Still nothing.
Instinct went back through the list, again and again, trying every possible solution to taking the monster out, but the beast didn’t even flinch once.

After one attempt, Instinct didn’t leave the mouth fast enough, it faltered, and was punished for it. It got stuck inside the cage of teeth. The monster realized it had been caught, and began tilting its head back.

Swallowing the sand, the palm tree, the coconuts and promising to swallow Instinct too. It jammed its sword into its tongue to hold on, the monster didn’t even flinch. It started flexing its tongue to shake him off.

Saif took control of his body, keeping one hand tight on the sword and unsheathing his nail with the other. The monster continued trying to shake Saif down. Carefully, he waited for the right moment to pierce the beast with the nail.
Not yet, not yet, not ye-there!
The nail wasn’t all-mighty, but it was sharp enough and thin enough to be the right tool. When Saif jammed it between two of its teeth, he used the nail like a crowbar, flexing away from the gums easily. He pushed enough to create a gap large enough for him to slip out from. Saif landed on a large stack of rocks.

Apple blossom. He smelled apple blossom. Looking around, he was able to locate Oppo’s boat in the distance, Yabko waving its tendrils in the air for Saif to find them. They powered forward, though the monster was still too close for comfort.

Instinct growled, struggling with its near failure. It pushed Saif away again, trying to redeem itself. It barely had a second to think before the monster bit at it once more.

The monster roared when it slammed into the rocks, bringing the cluster down. It circled around to the boat instead, catching up to them.
With nowhere to land, Instinct flailed, trying to chart the most optimal spot to continue, but without any rocks nearby and the monster swimming away from it, it came up empty.

Saif finally pushed the weakened Instinct aside, diving towards the monster directly. Rather than aim for the mouth, it aimed at the head.

He was almost bitten, but avoided the mouth with ease. It even used the beast’s teeth as a springboard to leap up even higher.

Saif soared, going high enough that he scraped the clouds. Up here, he used the light of the stars to find what he was looking for.

As a human Saif didn’t go swimming very often. It made it so that when the opportunity did come up, he never wanted to leave the water. First one in, last one out. The single worst part about spending that long in the water is how pruney his body would get. Not just the pads of his fingers and toes, but very part of his skin on his extremities. The texture drove him crazy, especially in the skin between fingers, and wouldn’t go away by lathering on moisturizers.

He would itch the skin until it bled. That’s what happens to humans when they soak for too long.

So, what happens to impossibly-giant deep sea monsters when they spend too long outside the water?

Landing on the dry skin of the monster’s head, he stabbed his nail in to pry apart the dried out scales and set it in them for stability. Finding the unprotected skin underneath, Saif sliced down.

The monster roared, bucking to try and shake Saif away. He got far, using his nail to secure himself to the insides like a mountain climber would. He kept carving through the fish’s skin, then flesh until he dug down far enough to poke through to the inside of its mouth.

Oops. His mistake. Saif was aiming for the brain.

Saif climbed back inside the cavern he’d made and continued making tunnels through the fish’s flesh. He was safe here, unbothered.

Until Saif finally found the brain poked it with his nail.

The monster thrashed hard enough to send Saif tumbling all the way back into its mouth. Instead of swallowing, it spat him far away, ignoring him and the boat in favor of retreating into the deep ocean where it spawned from.

Saif landed into yet another rock outcrop, this time, smacking his head into a sharp corner, cracking his scar wide open.

He screamed, a monstrous noise escaping his open mouth. Trying to grasp at his scar instinctively, Saif ended up plunging into the ocean. The salt water seeped into the crack, causing him to thrash around even more, sinking deeper into the ocean floor.

“Breathe,” Instinct demanded, unable to take over. “We have gills, use them.”
Saif wasn’t struggling with air! He growled, unable to handle the pain anymore.
Instinct managed to take over, barely lasting a second before it disappeared into the Vessel.
The last thing Saif saw before blacking out was two giant pincers reaching for him.

Was this it? Were the bugs ready to take him away?

He wasn’t ready to die again just yet. He had to find Creatures and prove Bron’s innocence! He could die after that with no regret, but he won’t pass without bringing peace.

Saif jolted upright, finding himself on a cushioned bench. He looked around, ignoring the pain on his forehead, the pressure building in his ears and the smell of wet steel.

“Oppo! Get up, the beetle is awake,” Yabko whispered, shaking Oppo from where he slept on the floor. Oppo scrubbed their eyes, sitting upright before properly waking up. “That's great! I’m tired.”
They flipped over onto their other side and fell right back to sleep.

Yabko glared, but Saif stopped them from waking their captain up. Oppo was more than definitely overwhelmed. Saif stretched as he stood, shaking the stuck water out of his ear canal by repeatedly tapping the opposite side of his head. Ugh. He hated this part.

Saif realized he had no idea where they were. He moved to pull out his map, confused when he couldn’t find it. He checked his other belongings to make sure nothing was knocked off him during the fight. Oh wow, everything was dry. This coat was really something else.

Also, he completely forgot he’d handed it to Oppo to navigate.

With nothing else to do but wait, Saif explored the submarine.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Saif nodded as Yabko took him though a tour. “Apaprently, Oppo’s kin helped him bring his boat to life. One of his siblings became a Great of Water and partnered with a Great of Fire, so it was their side-project for a few years to help him reach the trench. You should have seen it! It transformed from a boat into a submarine with a singular touch of a panel! How cool is that!”

Saif nodded, looking around. He made his way to a massive window just above the control center.

“Don’t touch anything,” Yabko warned. Saif glared at it, raising an eyebrow. “Not my words. Oppo made sure to drill it into me to never touch the command console, even though the buttons and knobs are appealing.”

How long had Saif been out for them to both have gotten so friendly?

He looked out the porthole, spying what appeared to be a giant coral in the distance.

Saif finally found his map, which currently pinged them as being just outside the trench’s circumference.

Saif looked back to the coral ahead. A castle loomed over them. This was it.