[ Eric ]

“Tae! TAE!” I shouted as I barged into the room.

[ Tae ]

“What’s up?” Said Tae but I barely heard him because his face was in the pillow.

[ Eric ]

“I got a warning from… Uhm I got a warning!” I wanted to say that it was from Loki but that taboo… might activate and burn like hell again.

[ Tae ]

“Ah! Warning! Wait… what warning?” Tae immediately stood up but then laid down again.

[ Eric ]

“You know… like from the games? Uhm… Like the next wave is coming in two minutes or something like that.”

[ Tae ]

“What are you talking about…”

I just pointed at my tattoo to explain it without any words. Tae was just looking at my tattoo for a minute, then it hit him!

[ Tae ]

“Oh! You mean like a test?”

[ Eric ]

“YES! But I can’t explain much because of that stupid taboo…”

[ Tae ]

“Taboo?”

[ Eric ]

“Yeah, like you can’t say something unless you want to be punished.”

[ Tae ]

“Okay. So what’s going to happen? Or you can’t tell because of the taboo”

[ Eric ]

“I don’t know yet. I was told that more signs will show up.”

[ Tae ]

“Ooh… That’s interesting.”

[ Eric ]

“So you don’t know anything about those tests?”

[ Tae ]

“Yup… I’m clueless. I wasn’t tested at all in a few months that I was here.”

And here I thought that we can prepare somehow for that… As we were talking about what might happen, someone screamed. It was coming from the port. I took my ax and came running there. When I arrived there was an injured man on the beach… or rather shattered… I’m surprised he was able to breathe. Many people gathered around him but I didn’t have time to wait so I walked past them.

[ Eric ]

“What happened to you?” I asked before I saw that he had a missing jaw. With his last strength, he pointed to the bridge. I didn’t notice at first but there was blood on the water. I couldn’t see anything else.

Out of curiosity, I threw the rock and the place where the blood was. Something was there because the water was splashed around. It got quiet after a while but it was still there. I don’t know this world well yet but it is possible that some other species of animals might be here.

[ Eric ]

“Anybody saw what happened?” I asked but there was no answer. Then something else caught people's attention. I couldn’t see what or who. Then from the crowd appeared a man with a cape made of white fur. By him stood two armored guards. When he asked what happened he immediately got the answer.

[Women]

“Wilmar’s hammer fell off the bridge so he jumped into the water for it. After a moment of silence, he came out and ran, covered in blood with many injuries.”

One of his guards whispered something to his ear. Man only nodded and took a few steps back. The guard with long black hair stood on the shore. He took something from his sack. Whispered something to it and then spread a white powder on the water. The powder started to move on the water and created a triangle by the bridge.

[ Guard ]

“It’s there!”

What is there? Did he use some spells? Did he trace something? But it’s underwater. The guard was going to step into the water. Everyone felt the tension and watched in silence. Water was already touching his hips. At that moment the triangle started drastically moving toward him. When a guard saw a triangle moving toward him he immediately took out his sword but before he could attack, he was pulled underwater.

Everyone started panicking. I was one of them for a second but then I realized that he might die in front of my eyes. Without a word I took the spear of the second guard and ran to the bridge. I tied a line to the spear and threw it into the triangle. I tried to pull out the monster but I was too weak to do it.

[ Eric ]

“Help me!” I screamed.

No one moved except the old man with white fur. At least someone… but when he helped me I felt that we were pulling this monster. This old man is stronger than me! The second guard also joined us and we pulled out the monster. It almost looked like a human but his head was like a piranha and his skin was green. I almost puked looking at that…

I was going to order that guard to save his friend but before I could speak, the old man jumped by himself and pulled his guard to the coast. Meanwhile, we tried to not let this monster move. When they arrived at the coast the monster bit off the rope and disappeared into the water.

The saved guard was breathing but his left hand was bitten off. When the old man was yelling for the bandages, all the villagers immediately ran for them. Is this grandpa someone important? Don’t tell me he is the chief of this village…

The old man started to wave toward me. Does he want me to come over to him? Fine by me. But while I was slowly walking he started to scream something but I could hear it. Then I heard a scream behind me. The monster was standing there and guard… his upper body was… melted. I took the sword and stabbed the monster in the head. It screamed so I did it again and again. Until it was on the ground. Then I chopped off his head. For some reason, my head started to spin… My shirt was… burned? By his blood? Or did he have some kind of acid in him? My head started to spin and I fell to the ground.

[ Voices ]

“From the depths of the ocean… IT will come.”