"Shit!!!"
Rising from the sands, a grotesque, lanky and multijointed arm the length of a basketball player emerged. The sight of its sinewy flesh sparked a sense of danger in Theo, and unconsciously, he took a step back.
Slowly, the rest of the creatures body emerged, and as it did, its lanky frame dragged across the sand. Its bones and flesh, squelched and groaned with every movement as its bulbous head lacking anything like facial featured stared right at him.
'Can that thing even see?'
The spawn's quiet groans echoed as it took its first step forward.
'Oh hell no!!!'
Theo took another set of steps back, and the creature followed. He continued backing up into the black sea, and the creature still followed, refusing to give him time to breathe and form a strategy. Its featureless face remained fixed as it watched him, its every movement showing its intent.
'What do I do!? What do I do!? What the hell do I do!? This thing's going to kill me!'
For a brief moment, not even a full second, Theo glanced to the side, hoping to find something, anything to use against this disturbing creature he wasn't even sure he could call sentient. The moment he brought his gaze back to the creature, he couldn't believe his eyes as, with nothing better described as inhuman speed, it lunged forward.
Wasting no time, Theo swivelled and rolled away, narrowly avoiding a swipe from the beast. Without thinking, he immediately darted away, peeking back once only to see the beast's animalistic and erratic movements as it chased after him on all fours.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! What the fuck!"
Theo ran with all he had, maintaining the distance he managed to put between them. They got farther and farther from the shore of the black sea, the louder sound of the creature's stomping feet in pursuit echoed.
Theo maintained his advantage in distance only because of the adrenaline flooding his system, numbing all senses and pushing him towards the simple goal of survival. But even that wasn't enough as soon as his breathing became ragged and he began losing pace. He could feel the creature now quickly gaining on him. Desperation clawed at his mind, urging him to think, to find a way to escape.
'But... there isn't anywhere to escape to! Do I have no choice but to fight then?'
Racking his mind, he suddenly felt a sharp, piercing pain across his back. Reaching for it, he felt a warm viscous fluid streaming down. Bringing it up to his face, he was horrified.
"Blood!"
Looking back, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest. The beast wasn't only gaining on him now, it was right on his tail and reaching desperately for him. Its bulbous and faceless head had split perfectly into horizontally, revealing three rows of thin needle-like teeth. The beast was a tall, emaciated humanoid with its body covered in ribbed, sinewy flesh towered over him. Its arms and legs were unnaturally long compared to its torso and were jointed in strange ways.
But what bothered Theo was, the fact that this thing that seemed to have no eyes, nose or ears was somehow tracking is every movement.
'How can this damn thing be following me? It has no eyes!'
He couldn't dwell on that as its thin, clawed hands reached for him again, stopping in his tracks Theo turned raising his hands as fast as he could in a defensive stance, but as if cutting through butter, it swatted them away. In a flash, a stream of red filled his view, seconds later, his gaze fell to the stumps that were ow his hands.
Theo screamed at the top of his voice as an excruciating wave of pain overwhelmed him. He stumbled backward still yelling in agony, his heart racing and the adrenaline surging through him now mixed with sheer terror only serving to amplify the emotion. As he lay there screaming helplessly, the creature loomed closer, its lanky, grotesque form towering over him. The split in its head revealing those needle-like teeth that glistened with saliva that flowed like a stream.
''Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'
The beast hunched over Theo, inching closer and closer. From its mouth, a tongue as thick as an arm slithered out, flicking in the air as if it could taste the fear Theo radiated.
"G... g.. get... get away! Get away from me!" he shouted trying to crawl backward. But the creature was too fast, its long limbs quickly surrounded him and its tongue quickly brushed against his cheek. Its surface, despite the saliva was covered in a rough sandpaper like layer of hardened tissue.
As it rubbed against his skin, it peeled away at it, drawing even more blood, causing Theo to recoil in horror. The saliva left behind by it seeped into the injury and, acting as a centre, a toxin quickly spread throughout his body, numbing his senses and paralyzing him.
Theo could only watch on in horror as the spawn leaned in closer. Its tongue wrapped round his neck, squeezing as tight as it could, and its maw opened wider and wider. Revealing even more rows of needle-like teeth travelling all the way down its throat.
"N... n... No! Please... Please no!" was the last thing he murmured. The numbing sensation from the creature's saliva spread further, dulling not only his senses but also reaching all the way to his brain, making it harder to form a single coherent thought.
His skin quickly changes shades, becoming bluer with every passing moment. His eyes became listless, and his breathing had all but ceased. His mind nearly stopped functioning, and he was on the verge of death with no plausible way back. But in the split second before the spawn's maw closed shut, severing his head, the visage of Maria lying on his bed on the verge of death, the sight of the mysterious man towering over him in his shadowy form.
His entire life flashed before his eyes in that one single moment, and without thinking, he called upon every ounce of his being. A wave of heat hotter than that of any flame he had ever felt suddenly surged through him, and his eyes were filled with life once more. Focusing all that power into one place, Theo flexed every muscle in his neck, wriggling just enough space for himself to take a breath, and in the next moment, let out the loudest scream he could imagine.
The force behind it, combined with the newfound strength, shook the spawn. It screeched in pain and released him, trying desperately to escape, but Theo did not give it a chance. He jumped up, latched himself to the beast with his legs, and screamed even louder. The force and pressure behind it, tore at its flesh.
Its very anatomy was shaken to the core by that scream, and as the pressure within its body grew too much, it began succumbing. It collapsed to its knees and its body grew limp, but Theo didn't care. All he wanted to do was scream. To release all his built-up frustrations.
Very quickly, the spawn's body was crushed by the force, and Theo, who now stood above a mound of mashed flesh, finally let up. In the moments that followed, the words of the world echoed in his mind.
[Candidate, you have slain a Dormant Spawn: Sand Crawler]
[Class: Beast.]
[You have received a relic.]
The waves stopped, and he fell to his knees, utterly exhausted. He had fought hard to survive and deserved some rest.
But this world wasn't about to let him get that rest.
Without warning, his senses, which had recovered just enough, picked up movement. Quickly swivelling in the direction he sensed it, all the will he had was drained from his body. From beneath the sand, another sand crawler emerged. Then another, and another, and another, until dozens of them, nearly an army, were staring him down.
'Oh Fuck me!'
Before he could even think to retaliate, they all converged on him, ripping his body apart until there was nothing left.
For any normal person, this would have been the end of their trial, and subsequently, their life. But as his trial so far has shown, Theo is not a normal person. Within only moments of his death, he once again found himself drowning in the seemingly endless black sea.
'Just let me fucking die already, you goddamned world!'