I woke with a jolt.

  Darkness surrounded me. I tried opening my eyes, but they felt sticky, like they were glued shut by some heavy liquid.

  I tried to move my arms and legs in the darkness. They moved slowly, like pushing through honey, and despite the scales which covered my body, they felt sticky as well. I could feel my right hand wrapped tightly around something, with a dead man's grip.

  My mind was dazed, slow. I was confused. Where am I? I thought to myself. As I kept trying to move, pushing against the almost solid liquid, I realized something was wrong. I’m forgetting something…

  Oh. I’m not breathing. Panic set in as I became painfully aware of the growing pressure in my lungs, and the equally heavy pressure growing my head and ears.

  I used my arms and legs to push off the strange substance around me.

  To no avail.

  I began to throw my limbs in all directions.

  To no avail.

  I tried to pull at my throat and mouth, as though it would create some air space for me to breathe.

  To no avail.

  I was quickly losing hope.

  I didn’t know where was up or where was down, and I was quickly becoming light headed. The panic grew, and my heart hammered in my chest. I’m going to die. I’m going to die and I don’t even-

  Suddenly, I was yanked out of the mud with violent force, throwing me into the air and slamming me onto the ground with immense force.

  The moment I landed on the ground, the force knocked the little air I had in my lungs out, forcing my mud-covered snout open and finally giving me the chance to breathe.

  Panting heavily, and heart beating rapidly, my mind finally began to relax. The adrenaline from that deathly encounter was finally wearing off, and I was finally given a chance to think.

  What happened? Where am I? Who am I? For whatever reason, my mind was hazy, and I didn’t understand or remember anything that was happening. The fact that most of my body, including my eyes and ears, were still covered in mud didn’t help my confusion.

  While all these questions were flowing through my mind, something grasped my lower leg, lifting it up. Immediately after that, I began to be dragged through the ground. Panic once again set in, but was quickly washed away.

  Literally. I was thrown once more, but instead of landing on the hard ground, I landed in some sort of liquid, which quickly surrounded me. It was viscous, but thinner than the mud, enough so that the remaining mud stuck on me diffused away, freeing my senses.

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  Despite that, I wasn’t too keen on being submerged in something again, so I quickly resurfaced.

  The water was shallow enough for me to stand in it, and I quickly shook my head to get water out of my face.

  I finally opened my eyes, squinting as my eyes adjusted to the light. I managed to see the blurry image of a tall figure just ahead of me, standing in land beside a large and twisted tree.

  “Are you ok? You weren’t responding after I pulled you out of the mud,” The figure said, “I figured the swamp’s water would fix your hearing.”

  His voice sounded familiar, like a deep hiss, but my mind was still muddled and pounding with pain.

  “N- no,” I muttered, “I don’t really know what’s happening… who are you?”

  “Hit your head that hard?”

  The blurry figure was becoming more defined, humanoid with woolen baggy pants that were soaked.

  He was a scaly red kobold taller than me, which was no shock because I was a kobold as well.

  I’m a kobold? I thought to myself, remembering a little.

  “It’s me, Jeeh!” He said dumbly. I began to recall who he was. Jeeh, my childhood friend who’d just recently become a village warrior. He now proudly bore a golden ring just above his eye, which he never forgot to flex.

  My head seemed to ache even more, but I replied “Why are we here?”

  “No thanks? Not nice.” I stared blankly.

  “Okay, serious situation, long story short the plan failed.” He said pointing at the staff I just realized I was holding, “The weapon didn’t work on the witches and they released a powerful beast on us!”

  I stared dumbly. It took a moment to process what he just said, and when it finally went through my memories became a little less hazy. One at a time, I thought.

  happened too quickly. A blur in memory, like my mind was clouded with the same thick haze that veiled the swamp.

  I- No, WE found our goal.

  The witches hut, hidden among the thick foliage and twisting trees. Who were we? It was me… Jeeh… and… and…

  REI! My friend Rei.

  “Where is Rei?”

  Jeeh who was just standing there idly, letting me think in silence replied after a pause, “She went the opposite direction as us, to lead the beast away-“

  Boom. Splash.

  We both turned our heads to the noise. It was distant, but loud.

  Boom. Splash.

  It seemed to be getting louder, and I quickly turned back to Jeeh, our eyes meeting, both wide with a look of terror.

  “The beast?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  BOOM. Splash.

  We both began to panic, looking around for cover.

  BOOM. Splash.

  We decided to hide under one of the gnarled trees nearby, which were huge and smelt of rotten meat.

  BOOM. Splash.

  I looked toward the direction of the loud sound, but couldn’t make anything out through the hazy green air.

  BOOM. Splash.

  I saw a foot peek out of the thick mist. I snapped my neck back, holding my breath and grasping my jaw shut.

  BOOM. Splash.

  My back tensed against rotten root, legs bent to the water, hand grasping the staff-

  BOOM. Splash.

  It was nearer now, and my body was as tense as possible, not a vibration escaped me. My eyes were starting to ache from how tightly I shut them-

  BOOM.

  It must have reached land, no splash followed the weight of its steps. I opened my eyes, turning my head to the side.

  BOOM.

  I could see Rei behind another gnarled tree, roots surrounding her like a tattered shroud, scaled head locked in place.

  BOOM.

  The gargantuan steps resounded ever closer, and I could imagine the beasts body once more, sickly green and-

  BOOM.

  I began to panic. It was getting closer, and we couldn’t move without exposing ourselves. But my worry wasn’t for myself.

  BOOM.

  Rei was on the same plateau as the giant, and it was coming closer.

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