“What the heck is that thing?” I shouted as we ran away from the beach.

“How should I know?” cried Noel as she followed me.

Loud thumps and the sound of sand being pushed in the air followed us. The shark monster wasn’t using any magic, but if it really was a two star monster, it was only a matter of time until we were pelted by hail or assaulted by a water jet.

“Do you think it’ll follow us all the way into the wasteland?” I shouted.

“I don’t think it’ll need to,” said Noel

The monster’s strange footsteps were getting closer. Noel was right, it was going to catch up to us soon. Noel and I tried to come up with a plan. My heart was beating crazily and my nerves were strung high. I tried to calm myself down as much as I could before giving the signal to split off. Noel ran to the left and I rushed to the right. The monster didn’t miss a beat in following after me.

I took a sharp turn back towards the beach. I figured the monster’s long, spindly legs wouldn’t handle sharp turns as easily as mine, but the monster gave out a cry before launching itself into the air. As a massive shadow loomed over me, I rolled to the side and made a small wall of sand rise into the air with earth magic. The shadow pummeled the wall of sand before crashing into the ground. I coughed as sand washed over me.

Digging the sand out of my eye, I dodged backwards as a long pole-like fin pierced the air in front of me. The fin threw aside the cloud of sand, giving me full view of the menacing monster that was snarling at me. I launched a fireball at the monster’s face, but it opened its teeth and spewed out a ball of salt water. The salt water fizzled as it struck against my fireball, creating steam. The shark monster bit into the steam, letting white vapor flow out through the gaps between its teeth. If its purpose was to intimidate me, it had definitely succeeded.

But I had also succeeded in my objective. I took a deep breath as I saw Noel rush from behind the monster. I cast my ‘still life’ magic with my hands outstretched towards the shark monster. The two star monster froze mid-snarl, with its rows of large, sharp teeth mere inches from my body. My gaze was stuck on its beady black eyes and arrow-like nose.

Noel jumped on top of the monster’s head with a flint knife. The Dragon’s Tooth was in my hands, since Noel didn’t usually like holding onto it. Noel struck the monster’s face with her knife but it only left a small scratch on its skin. Noel tried again and again but the monster’s skin wouldn’t break.

Realizing she had to change tactics, Noel stabbed the knife into both of the monster’s eyes, before throwing away the knife and forming two fireballs, one in each hand. She pressed the fireball into the monster’s nose and mouth, doing her best to keep adding flame inside its body. She yelled as she fed more and more fire into the monster’s head, but nothing seemed to be happening. Smoke rose from inside its mouth, but the monster’s skin remained unbroken. If things were going according to plan, its entire head should’ve been on fire.

Noel grit her teeth and brought a rock to her hand. She raised the rock up high and swung it at the monster’s head, but it didn’t look like it did anything. We were running out of time. I couldn’t hold my breath for much longer and Noel needed to jump off the monster’s body before it regained its movement.

Besides, stopping a powerful two star monster for so long had depleted my energy reserves. I wouldn’t be of much use in a fight if the monster wasn’t down by the time my spell ended. Noel jumped off the monster’s body and landed in front of me. She took a deep breath and stretched out both of her arms. I took a deep breath, undoing my spell, and Noel cast her own motion freezing magic spell.

The monster lurched forward in the moment between our spells, getting dangerously close to our position. I slumped to the ground, taking deep breaths, as my mind raced to think of a solution. I stared the monster’s open mouth, with its rows upon rows of frighteningly sharp teeth. I picked myself off the ground, and took stock of my magic energy reserves. I doubted I could use more than a couple minor spells.

I started by using magic hands to reach inside its throat, but I didn’t find anything I could exploit. I wasn’t even sure how this thing breathed, since it seemed to have both gills and lungs! I left a pebble near the base of its throat, just in case that might do something, but I needed to do something else.

I gathered the last of my magical energy and guided a small flame deep down its throat. I tried to release it near its vital organs, but I wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough, since the flames hadn’t charred the inside of its mouth despite Noel’s best efforts. I grit my teeth as I ran out of options. Noel’s magic would run out soon, and then neither of us would be able to use any spells. We’d have to fight this nightmare inducing monster the old fashioned way.

Wait, that was it!

I grabbed the Dragon’s Tooth tightly, and took a few steps back. Then I ran forward and threw the microlith spear into the monster’s mouth. It passed through the rows of teeth and lodged itself into the back of the monster’s mouth. I jumped forward, grabbed the spear, and pulled it out. I had to put my hands inside the monster’s mouth, staring up at its nose and facing its many, many teeth directly.

I stabbed the Dragon’s Tooth into the two star shark monster’s mouth, repeatedly. In, out, back, and forth, I pierced its skin as many times as I could. Sweat poured over my forehead. I breathed heavily as my limbs began feeling as heavy as lead. Its teeth almost pierced my skin a couple times, but they never drew any blood.

With one final thrust, I broke through the back of the monster’s mouth. The Dragon’s Tooth was lodged in too tightly for my tired arms to pull it out, but I still dug my feet in and pulled with all my strength. The spear came out with a nasty squelch, and I tumbled backwards into Noel. Noel gave out a sharp yell as her spell was broken and we crashed into the ground a few feet away from the monster.

The monster lumbered forward as if by inertia. Apart from its injured eyes and some charred skin, it was hard to tell if the monster had been hurt at all by our attacks, at least from the front. It was only when the monster raised one of its pointy legs and tried to pierce the sand, that we realized we’d won.

The monster’s legs fell against the sand but failed to pierce. Its other limbs collapsed under the weight of its own body, as the two star shark monster fell flat on its front. A large hole grew out of its back, right above its fin, with small pieces of flint embedded within its flesh.

With a rapidly beating heart, and quick, short breaths, I turned to Noel. She looked just as tired as I felt, but her eyes were bright and she was sporting a massive grin. We fell backwards, our backs flat against the wet sand. The bright blue, sunny sky stretched out above. The smell of the salty ocean spray cut through the disgusting smell coming from the monster’s corpse.

“You know, I think these shoes are worth it, after all,” said Noel.

“I know right? It’s much easier to run in these,” I said. “And they look cool, too.”

Noel chuckled. I began laughing too. We spent some time, lying on the beach, laughing at nothing as the sound of waves crashing against the shore in the distance drowned out our laughter.