Chapter 15: Drown
Winds drifted and created more ripples on the pale-brown lake.
The smell of this lake made it give the impression to its admirers that a massacre of malformed bird and reptile ferns had taken place here: but the shells were lacking to confirm in fact whether any rotten eggs had been broken here or not.
The waters near the shores of this lake were a mixture of green and brown. The former was found in areas with many semi-aquatic plants that had their roots exposed in direct contact with lake water, while the latter was found in the absence of these same plants.
Trevor was near the green water parts of the lake.
From where he stood, he could see that entire trees were submerged: only the fragile dead branches that rose out of those murky waters displayed their pitiful existence.
Trevor also saw how the vegetation in the area surrounding this like water was much tighter, to the point where he couldn't move in a straight line for less than a few meters. If he hadn't been careful enough, he would have already tripped over those huge roots and fallen facedown on the ground: filling his mouth with dead leaves.
'Hey Trevor, what are you up to now?' Aicanhir noted from within the mini-dimension that his partner was still as stone during the storm. The human in front of him was showing the same familiar look that made the Golden Sun of Dawn shiver through his body.
Trevor then looked inside his makeshift bag, the items inside would be the key to his mission success. There were vines tied to makeshift ropes, there was part of the dry rations, there were two bottles of water: one full and the other empty, and finally there was the lighter.
The moment the young man stopped watching the environment to check his makeshift bag, some green leaves near a bush next to him stirred.
'Trevor!'
Trevor jumped back even without the warning.
In front of him, in the exact spot he had been seconds ago, something green was flying.
It had the same color as lake water.
It had the same size as small bushes.
It had the same rhythmic beat of wings as a hummingbird.
'Moth? No…' Trevor's thoughts froze.
He felt another presence behind him! His knees buckled and bounced like springs.
Another insect that looked like a cross between a moth and a butterfly appeared. The two were fellows of the same race, hunting together. Needless to say, such behavior was anything but normal before the calamity: flying insects of this sort should generally be as loners as science fiction writers.
The world did not care for the kicking of the weak.
Reality was just one, and Trevor would have to be strong enough to live in it!
His old war companion was also present, the young man held the poison spear firmly but made no unnecessary movements.
In the fight between two male lions for the harem of lionesses, the real winners were the microorganisms that would infect both their bodies after the battle to the death. Trevor didn't want any harem, much less be a lion.
His decision-making proved right when another creature emerged from the lake water.
What followed was a loud noise that could be compared to a car window being scrubbed with a plastic squeegee or a wet cloth. Mixed with that sound was also the grunt of a frog.
It was a mix between hippopotamus and frog, it had the body of the latter and the head of the former. The size of that thing alone was bigger than several sports cars put together, and the silver lining to it was that getting to where Trevor was, would require some trees to be felled in the process.
Ever since a certain infamous drug trafficker was dumb enough to bring some of the deadliest animals on the planet to the Vast Continent for the purpose of building his personal zoo, those caged monsters had broken free and reproduced like a plague: threatening all local life and swallowing everything that was ignorant of its threat and dared to stand in its way.
Trevor's blood froze.
Trevor turned to run without even considering blinking.
Every thousandth was important, and the sound of several tree trunks falling into the sea of leaves that covered the red terrain was an important alarm to his ears. Green water rose into the air along with the earth, creating muddy projectiles that fell from the sky like meteorites.
Above Trevor, a small black dot appeared out of nowhere.
That black dot slowly grew into a giant shadow.
Trevor threw the spear away and grabbed a long vine to launch himself forward.
BOOM!
The ground exploded!
The air was compressed until it became solid as stone!
Those two flying green insects had turned to pulp a long time ago!
The giant monster that Trevor was unaware of the name surged behind him like thunder itself. There was no time to panic, and the young man knew it all too well. Aicanhir, however, was not able to force himself to remain calm.
'You shit! I told us not to come to this green side!' The Golden Sun of Dawn did not spare curses. His mouth was like a machine gun: firing in sequence his growing unhappiness.
'Rather than complain, show yourself some use!' Trevor ran in the direction he'd thrown his poison spear as he moved with the agility of an old ape through this uneven and treacherous terrain.
The guara did not conform to his partner talking nonsense, and showed an argumentative capacity comparable to the level of political candidates during the electoral period to confront him!
'Use? You are the useless one! You ass! I told you we should test our superpowers first! Look where you stuck us! From the beginning, you made the wrong decisions that brought us here!' His fluffy white ears were pricked up.
Trevor reached the poison spear, but there was no sign of happiness in his face.
The monster behind him wasn't gone!
Trevor was still hearing its noise!
The young man didn't turn to see whatever was going on behind him for obvious reasons. Every second wasted in these futile acts was like walking on thin ice during summer. Still, if he did so, he would be able to see what that monster was doing.
The truth was, the thing was eating other insects. The monster's red tongue appeared to be made of chewing gum: capable of stretching over great distances and being as sticky as hot glue.
Every time that red tongue moved through the air, dozens of insects were seized by it. The monster showed no prejudice or racism towards these insects, everything in front of him was liable to be devoured as long as he moved.
Trevor ran until he could almost stop hearing the noise of that monster's crooked teeth tearing at the succulent flesh of its poor victims. As that massacre noise became softer and more distant, Trevor allowed himself to look back.
The pair watched the monster together, each having a different opinion about this sequence of events.
Aicanhir wanted to make sure that his opinion entered the ears of this reckless brat and made him regret his actions.
'You're lucky, holy shit! No, it would still be wrong to say that! You are the incarnation of the lucky lady lover itself! If that thing looked at you for a few seconds, you would have turned into food!'
Trevor nodded without adding anything to it.
'What is your problem? Do you like to taste death or something? Wasn't your goal to find your father? How are you going to do this if you're dead?' The Golden Sun of Dawn twitched the corners of his mouth, exposing his white teeth.
'I need to risk it, even if I die in the process, it will be worth it. From the start, I've been against the clock, so even if the path in front of me is made of thorns, I'm going to step on it. Even if that path doesn't exist, then I'll create it myself.'
Trevor's nerves of steel showed no value for his own life.
Unlike those strange dreams he had when he went to the dark world, these were his true feelings. Trevor knew this could be a sequel resulting from the experiments that had been done on him, but the lad didn't care.
'With each step I take on this infernal staircase, my dangers will only increase, not decrease. Only when I attack first, kill first and steal first will I have a chance to find my father. All of this has a lot of risks.'
Trevor's eyes were cold as ice.
'So, Aicanhir, I hope you don't insult me.'
The wind blew through his hair, making it fly backwards.
Aicanhir was silent, inside the mini-dimension, his white tail quieted.
'Very well, Trevor, these words of yours, empty of feelings and full of intentions, managed to deceive me. Still, you haven't explained to me why you haven't tested our powers until now. That was an undeniable mistake, don't waste your time trying to convince me otherwise.'
Trevor smiled, saying nothing.
The scene in front of him changed again. The monster that was having an open air feast in that part of the forest, got tired of waving its huge tongue and started making its way back to the lake. Nothing dared stand in the way of this titan.
Its four legs stamped on the red ground and left deep footprints behind.
The closer to the lake, the deeper these footprints became in the red soil.
With every step the monster took, the ground beneath its feet became less compact.
Soon, it got to the point where these deep footprints turned into small little puddles.
The lake water, which permeated the ground and filled the Titan's deep footprints with water, was soon pushed aside as a large body entered its midst. The principle of material bodies not occupying the same place was displayed with mastery when the water that was pushed away created small waves on the surface of the lake.
'What are you going to do now?' The Golden Sun of Dawn asked as his head rested on his front paws, the guara was lying on the floor of the mini-dimension.
'Let's wait for this creature to leave first, after that I'll approach the lake to collect the water needed to fill the bottle I brought. I don't want to stay here any longer than necessa-!'
Trevor felt the tip of his nose stinging.
The young man frowned.
A cheeky little flying insect was bold enough to have the courage to draw his blood right before his eyes, literally. He was then forced to scratch the tip of his nose with the back of his right hand, as he couldn't afford to let go of the poison spear.
The insect flew off before Trevor could take revenge on this annoying creature.
Droplets of red blood formed on the tip of his nose and dripped onto the floor.
But Trevor ignored the few drops of blood that fell onto his black boot, as another unprecedented development took place. In the center of the pale brown lake, Trevor saw the waters ripple before they began to grow until they turned into a tsunami!
The hippo-toad monster was small as a marble in a basin of water in this situation. The end of the world rose before this poor creature's eyes when the flood threatened to crush the kingdom of the living.
Under the shocked gaze of this toad-hippo monster, the little giant saw a shadow at the bottom of that huge tsunami. This shadow moved slowly, but its size was such that it was easily visible, even through the tsunami.
The toad-hippo monster roared in fear!
Its plump body bounced back with incredible speed!
That deep shadow moved along with the tsunami and drowned everything in its path.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone