Still forty feet below the surface, Resh felt a shift, cursing itself for not being more careful, of course, the titan below would have detected its movements, its primary mode of detection would likely be through vibrations which Resh was creating a lot of in its attempt at escape. The behemoth moved as though through the air, the soil hindering it not at all. Rushing up, gravity seemed to not affect it either, propelled through the soil Resh could feel its every movement through the soil they were on such a large scale. Maw poised and Resh froze in its rush upward from sheer panic and overwhelmed by the inevitability of the situation. Resh knew that this was it, it was about to die. There was nothing left for it to do, what could a small Earth Slime do in the face of this!? Resh regressed into its mind, in those final moments its entire life flashing.

Its creation, and move out into the world

It was growing and learning skills

Confronting the Panther thinking it would die

Living and loving the water after the initial fear of it

All those tiny fish just eating at it and Resh eating them in turn

Facing its fear of the soil head-on and overcoming it

Resh was still frozen in fear, it did not want to die. The feeling that gripped its mind did not recede, the Earth Slime did not come to terms with it, there was no moment of realisation or sense of calm. There was only fear, mind crippling, overwhelming, wild and untamed terror, the kind that does not allow any communication between body and mind. Resh did not accept it but it was coming all the same. No course of action could save it.

That lack of movement, that crippling fear that stopped it from moving even a millimetre was probably what kept it alive longer. The thing that was below slowed and continued to creep upward tilting its head this way and that trying to identify where the vibrations it had felt before were coming from. They had gone. Resh’s fear and dread that it had thought peaked continued to rise, pulling Resh’s mind further and further towards the brink. It teetered on the edge of sanity, edging closer with each passing moment. Resh was a prisoner in its own body, while its instincts screamed at it to move Resh continued to struggle against the disconnect the fear had created.

Resh saw one clawed arm trailing through the soil towards it. Resh could not make out all of it but what it saw pushed Resh even closer to the edge. Clawed paws on the end looked like two legs not just one, a torso that seemed covered in dark fur with a belly, the arm alone was the size of the Panther or maybe the Human (Male) and then some. How could something so large be real? Where was the way out? Resh was trying frantically to find it but there was nowhere to escape to even if it could move. The paw on the end of the arm moved closer gauging a pathway through the earth and scraping past Resh’s skin, claws passing through Resh like a Carp through the water. There was no resistance, Resh saw the injury before it felt the pain, Resh quickly did away with its mouth and eyes and nose, not wanting to make a single sound. Those vibrations would be picked up by this creature. Resh whimpered in its mind, praying to the Gods that it had thought to remove its senses to better hide. That swipe which was nothing but a glancing blow nearly killed the Earth Slime in an instant. Resh was reduced to nothing but a sliver of health.

The only thing that had kept it alive was focusing on its Tough Slime Skin in those last moments. With the final vestiges of Resh’s sanity, the Earth Slime had poured its attention into this defensive skill, and it had been rewarded with one of the most expensive talents it had ever received, one that was ideal for this situation and without the dire consequences one that Resh would never have used. The Talent it had gained in those final moments of desperation while being unable to move squeezed all of its mana, health and stamina out of its body. Physically nothing escaped its body but Resh’s synapses fired all out, blood boiled in its veins and cells in its body popped and sizzled. If Resh was not dying before it certainly felt like it now. Unimaginable pain seared through its body each cell triggering the cells around it until Resh’s entire being thrummed with agony. With no mouth to express its situation, Resh’s mind curled in on itself, consciousness retreating and locked up in the further corner away from the sensations. Resh could not believe that what it was experiencing was any better than what dying would have felt like. If anything this seemed worse. The worst part was that Resh had not gained the bliss of unconsciousness. It seemed as though despite everything there was an unknown element of this Talent that was keeping it awake and aware so that it would feel the full effect of what this Talent was doing to it.

You have gained the Talent On the Brink. This Talent will allow you to survive a single attack that might kill you. Can be used only when you have maximum health, mana and stamina and only once per month. Activating this will consume all your resources as well and reduce all core stats by 10%. In addition to this, you will have only a 10% recovery of all resources for the next 14 days. WARNING: You will experience the full pain of the attack and you will be forced to remain conscious throughout.

Resh was left reeling, through the agony and pain of the brush Resh retained its senses and then just as the claw was done with its brutal work and the arm continued through Resh saw what looks like the face of an animal at the top of the arm where it joined to the rest of the body, the image had what looked like a wise face and blind eyes. Resh was not sure what to make of it, a creature in a creature? How could a creature like this come to exist? Was it possible that this being was a collection of smaller creatures and Resh was seeing them all together instead of split apart? That was the extent of what Resh saw as the claw once more descended into the darkness and faded away.

Having experienced the full pain of such a monumental attack and survived by the barest of threads Resh’s mind was finally allowed to descend into unconsciousness. Welcoming the blissful darkness the Earth Slime was finally able to rest. Left with 1HP, 0MP and 0SP and all of its recovery reduced by 90% for the next 14 days. It was safe to say Resh would be doing nothing of note for the next few days.

Resh felt incredibly weak and drained, the ten per cent reduction in stats was a major blow and Resh was already reeling from the complete health, mana and stamina loss. Unconscious, Resh would take more than the 14 days to recover from this, just getting the stats back was weeks’ worth of work and Resh didn’t even know how it would get some of those back. Everything was a game of chance with stat gains. Perhaps it should just count itself lucky right now that it had managed to survive and acquire an end of days Talent that could help it survive such major devastation. Considering how Resh was feeling right now though, it just hoped that it would never have to use this skill again. But 10% loss of stats was better than 100% loss of life. Resh could recover from any setback if it was alive at the end of it.

When Resh did finally wake again it had been a good twenty-four hours and no other recovery had been working, even Zen Meditation wasn’t active. So a full day after the traumatising event Resh now had a total of 28.6/634.0 HP, 27.3/266.0 MP and 19.0/369.0 SP. It was a pitiful amount but Resh would take what it could get. The first thing to do was get out of there, get closer to the surface and wait and rest and recover.

Resh began the ascent, not only was it slower from reduced Speed but its whole body remained sore and stiff, difficult to move. It was an arduous process but Resh continued doggedly on clawing its way slowly toward the sky.