Richta stepped back, knocking a lamp from the wall which splashed into the shallow water and cast an ominous shimmer about the walls and ceiling. The reptilian creature twisted in a snarl. Richta froze as their eyes locked; one the predator, the other prey. It’s bumpy upper lip quivered in disgust, then turned back to Tamerond as if he were the only real threat in the room. Who was this if Unkel Bo had already been slain? One of the townsfolk? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to stay to find out.

“Don’t leave me,” Tamerond said. “Not with this thing. We may be enemies, you and I, but we are men all the same.”

Richta scrunched his nose as he disregarded his former commander’s pleas and sloshed through the flood waters to the hallway. Tamerond yelled for him to stop but Richta kept moving. Even the hallway was underwater now and when he opened the front door he saw that the mansion had sunk a foot below the boardwalk. Man and beast fought in the main room behind him, but he cared not for the fate of either. He exited the mayor’s home for what he thought would be the last time.

Climbing up onto the boardwalk, three soldiers startled him. They approached, bracing against the storm winds and sheet rain. “Hey, have you seen—” the lead soldier stopped, noticing Richta’s eye patch almost immediately. “Who are you? Where did you get that armor?”

“Mygal, looks like he’s been fighting. This man might be trouble,” the soldier on the left said.

Richta cursed himself for having forgotten to sheath his blade. Three soldiers? He had barely fought back Tamerond and that was one man, but three? Even if they were to be less skilled, he’d eventually be overwhelmed, especially in his current state. The pain in his side flared up again as if it, too, had forgotten to hurt until being reminded. Of course, Richta had his paralysis ability, but it only worked on one person at a time and could never be used on the same person twice. He’d have to make it count.

“I’m not your enemy,” Richta said, with little belief that he’d actually be able to talk his way out of this one. “There is a creature in that house with your commander and he needs your help. I suggest you heed my warning and assist him at once before he is slain.”

The soldiers glanced at the sinking mansion. The only thing holding it up at this point were the thick ropes connected to the tide columns to either side of it. “Yeah, right. I’m not falling for that one,” the one on the right scoffed, raising a short sword in a fighting stance.

An inhuman scream erupted from the mansion’s open doorway. Water was rushing inward into the dark depths like blood spilling down a dragon’s gullet. Suddenly, the boardwalk behind the soldiers—near the town’s entrance—shuddered and bulged, nearly knocking them off their feet. Snaps erupted as something beneath the boardwalk pushed up against it, splitting the wood down the middle. The four men on the boardwalk forgot their differences as they stared stupefied at the footlong spines cutting down the center like scissors sliding through fabric.

The column of spines sent chunks of wood flying in every direction. The men had nowhere to run, their backs were toward the end of the boardwalk, plus they were wearing armor, if they dove into the surrounding flood waters, they’d likely drown before freeing themselves from the heavy metal. One soldier had the right idea and jumped into the mansion’s open front door. Richta considered following him but the spines slipped away and vanished. The two remaining soldiers turned to look at Richta, slowly backing away from him.

“What? I already told you, I’m not your enemy,” he said.

However, it wasn’t him they were afraid of. The giant crocodile emerged at the end of the boardwalk behind him to circle around and face them. When Richta realized this, it was already too late.

~~~

Ian, don’t let Elek win, a soft voice whispered in his mind.

Your efforts are pointless, a louder voice rasped.

The blood in Ian’s veins boiled and his bones ached as if on the verge of breaking. He screamed from within his wooden prison, the Energy pulsing within him like waves of fire. Pressure from the roots grew greater and greater as they squeezed him, but something had to give and it ultimately wasn’t going to be him. A root broke away to stick in the ground, then another and another until the pressure released in a sudden explosion of splintering mangroves.

Yes, awaken my boy. Let me see you, the loud voice said.

Ian, no longer impaled, stumbled forward and fell to his hands and knees. He landed with a heavy thud. He either weighed a ton or it was more simply the sudden weakness stemming from a deep soreness in his muscles. He puked into the mud, a small tinge of blood in his bile. The world warped in and out of focus as his vision adjusted to a strange greenish film that outlined the surrounding landscape. Something rested on the front of his face and tried to shake it free. It wasn’t until he looked down at the two arms holding him upright that he knew something hadn’t changed with the world, but with himself.

Beautiful, the voice of Unkel said. You might be my most pure child yet.

Ian bemoaned the sight of his clawed hands as he lifted them up to study their reptilian nature. The skin had molded itself into the thick hide of a crocodile just as Unkel Bo’s had. Crawling on all fours, Ian scrambled to the water’s edge and peered into the rippling reflection. What he saw was not himself, but that of a monster, an elongated snout rimmed with teeth like something out of a nightmare. The voice came behind him this time instead of inside his head, “Ian, you must fight it. Fight the corruption inside you before it takes your mind and not just your body.”

The crocodilian turned to see the mangrove spirit standing at the center of the camp. She glowed green and blue, the light emanating from within her skin, pouring out from what he’d thought were tattoos. The longer he stared at this ancient being, the more he saw his mother and her delicate features. She opened her arms to him, smiling as she awaited his embrace.

He stood on two powerful legs, his tail sliding in a half circle in the mud as he turned to her. When he stepped forward, the hope of her assistance was ripped from him as a root shot through her ghostly midsection and she stood wide-eyed, her mouth agape. She dissipated like blue mist upon the wind and her light faded to nothing. The dark figure of Unkel Bo took her place, red eyes hovering over a toothy grin.

“Finally, I’ve been trying for a long time to get that crone. Thank you, boy.”

The crocodilian roared. The power in that angry display enlightened Ian to a world he’d normally avoided; a world of violence and hate. His muscles grew taut and the sensations along his scales allowed him to feel everything around him like a spider sitting upon its web. There was something else, something more about his awareness that he was picking up, yet it was all so overwhelming.

“It feels good doesn’t it? Power is a wonderful thing. You’re no stranger to it, though. You’ve had access to it for a long time. The problem is that it’s been the wrong kind. The other side is dainty and weak. They don’t truly understand what it means to have power. This is why they will always lose. It’s one thing to hold power, but another thing entirely to wield it. And I’m going to be up front with you here, the purpose of power is to destroy, to snuff out the Light wherever it rears its ugly head. Are you ready to help me accomplish this?”

The crocodilian closed his eyes. He could feel the entire swamp like an extension of himself. He could sense every lifeform cowering within the roots and branches of the mangroves. The only spot where he couldn’t feel life was in the direction of Yonledo, a black hole in his awareness as if it’d been cut away. However, that had been the case, had it not? The humans built Yonledo out of the strongest wood they could find to weather the storms, wood that came from the mangroves. It all made sense. The corruption had manifested itself in this world via the mangrove spirit, taking over her ability to spring forth life, blending the tendrils of Darkness with that of an already adapted form of coastal vegetation.

“Are you even listening? I asked if you were ready to assist me in taking over this world?” the dark figure growled.

The crocodilian opened his yellow-green eyes, the dark slits narrowing as they focused on the shadowy figure that resembled Unkel. It wasn’t the former hunter. It was nothing but a cowardly projection of a being that was afraid of extinction. A being that could be defeated like any other.

~~~

William Yitlin stared at the ceaseless waves lapping inside the broken room of the cabin. His vision was blurred, but he need not see clearly to know that something moved along the surface of the bay waters. Not a something, but multiple somethings. And with his powerful skills of deductive reasoning, he quickly came to the conclusion of what those somethings were.

The crocodiles finished their meal, the red-tinged pool vanishing with the tide as if it had never occurred, no evidence remaining that the soldier had struggled, or that William hadn’t helped him escape. Each crocodile turned to him in unison—three in all—their nostrils lifted above the water like small crafts floating toward a similarly charted destination.

William couldn’t move. He remained there on the floor of the bedroom, shaking and in denial. He rationalized that it was all a dream, that if he could just remember why he’d decided to come down to the swamp in the first place, then he’d be able to understand how to get himself out. Everyone knew that crocodiles attacked people in the swamp. Literally everyone.

~~~

The crocodilian lunged in a dive at the dark figure, mouth agape, claws outstretched. Roots from the heart of the swamp snaked past the smirking foe on either side, snapping audibly around the crocodilian’s limbs like whips to freeze him in mid-air. The dark figure dissolved into a wet shadow that slid across the mud to materialize once more next to him. Ian, still conscious within the crocodilian, racked his mind over how to defeat this supernatural threat.

“I’m disappointed in you, child,” the dark figure said, the unkempt beard bristling against the crocodilian’s shoulder as it spoke. “I thought you would be mine by now. What’s holding you back, eh? It’s her, isn’t it? She got to you too soon. I knew I should’ve destroyed her outright when I had the chance. But she was good company before you humans arrived.”

Ian thought about what the mangrove spirit had said to him before he changed, about his friends being in danger. Who did she mean? Richta? Yonledo was a blank void to him, the mangroves there long since dead and rotting. But was that a bad thing? If Ian couldn’t feel them there, then he’d be protected from the dark figure’s awareness. He’d need to figure out how to destroy the heart of the swamp which would hopefully take this sinister version of Unkel with it. How would he escape? He couldn’t move—

Then he felt it, the cup in his belly was full again, even after depleting not long before. The Energy was refilling in his reptilian form at a rate he’d never thought possible. Could he teleport? It was so close he could almost taste it. There was only one way to find out.

“Look, I don’t want to kill you. But if you don’t comply then I will be forced to—” the dark figure cut off as it realized that the crocodilian was no longer in its grasp, no longer in its awareness. It was as if the creature had simply vanished.

~~~

The three crocodiles converged on the cabin. William searched for his glasses on the floor of the bedroom. Maybe if he could see, then maybe he’d figure out that his eyes were just deceiving him and none of this was real. A loud snap of jaws and a hiss filled the room as one crocodile was angered by the proximity of the others, its territorial nature kicking in. He cringed at the sound, realizing that just because he had bad eyesight, didn’t mean he couldn’t hear the hard truth.

William couldn’t find his glasses, but he found the door. He tried to pry it open, but a crack in the frame had jammed it shut. He pulled and cried out for help. A crocodile slid up into the room and knocked the bed toward him, pinning him in the corner. He turned with his back to the corner and recoiled as the three large crocodiles fought over which one would have first dibs. Eventually, one that had a red streak down its spines batted the others back with its enormous tail and won sole rights to its latest feast.

He wanted to scream for help, but knew he didn’t deserve it. Not after what he’d allowed happen to the soldier, and what he’d caused to happen to the mayor. This was his penance for his cowardice and conniving nature. Or if not a punishment, the culmination of his near misses from his time as a cartographer coming back in full force to finally end him.

The crocodile opened its mouth and crawled partially onto the bed. He closed his eyes—not that he’d see it eat him anyway. A familiar warping sound resonated in the small room, one that he hadn’t heard in weeks but recognized immediately. Ian Merstellar? He jostled his feet and heard a crack beneath his shoe. William picked up his glasses, cleaned them off with his shirt, then placed them on.

With cracked-but-clear vision, William gaped at the unbelievable. It wasn’t Ian, but a massive crocodile-man thing. It grappled with the croc, two clawed hands keeping the jaws from clamping shut just before William’s face. It pulled the animal back and when the creature was cleared from the bed, the crocodile-man let the jaws go to wrap two massive arms around its neck. With a great heave of immense strength, it tossed the creature from the bedroom to land onto the others. It hissed at the roiling animals who fought one another in a ball of anger. Eventually, they drifted away, the dominant predator having established its territory for now.

William gulped as the crocodilian turned to regard him in the corner. There was a sense of cognition in those inhuman eyes, an awareness that the clerk came to recognize later, but in that moment was too scared to notice. The strange beast nodded to him as if they were old acquaintances, then leaped into the water and swam in the direction of the mansion.