Nyx let herself sink into the water, surrendering to it without resistance. Relief came all at once—cold, enveloping, almost intoxicating. From the waist down, her long dark-purple serpent tail slipped beneath the surface, gliding silently into the depths, while her human half drifted down into the cool embrace of the oasis. Her mouth remained open as she drank greedily, desperately, like something dragged back from the edge of death. The water filled her, soothed the burning in her throat, dulled the ache that had consumed her for what felt like an eternity.
A faint shiver ran through her as her thoughts slowly began to return. I almost died… The realization came sluggishly, like everything else. That was too close. Thankfully… it's over now. For a brief, fragile moment, she allowed herself to believe it.
Then something cold and unnatural crept up her spine.
Her eyes snapped open. A quiet, instinctive alarm rang through her body, sharp and immediate. Something was wrong. She couldn't name it, couldn't grasp it fully, but the certainty of it pressed heavily against her mind. Was it the water? Was it her? The question barely had time to form before her body reacted.
Deep below, where the sunlight dissolved into shadow, something moved.
Two yellow eyes emerged from the darkness—wild, unblinking, and rushing toward her with terrifying speed.
Nyx's body moved before thought could catch up. Her arms cut sharply through the water as her tail snapped into motion, propelling her upward with desperate force. For a fleeting instant, strength surged back into her limbs, driven by raw survival instinct. She pushed harder, faster, forcing herself toward the surface.
But it wouldn't save her.
Because the water itself had already betrayed her.
The realization struck like a blow. A burning numbness began to spread through her veins, seeping into muscle and bone, dulling her senses. Her movements faltered, losing their precision, then their strength. The toxin was already at work—paralysis, slow and inevitable.
Damn it…! The curse tore through her mind, sharp with frustration. Of course. Of course it wasn't just water. The oasis, perfectly placed in the heart of a merciless desert, appearing only when a traveler was at their most desperate—it was never meant to save. It was meant to lure. To break the will, to strip away caution, and then to kill.
"How… insidious…"
Her vision flickered at the edges, but her resolve did not.
Nyx forced her body to keep moving, dragging strength from whatever reserves remained. She had suffered worse. She had survived worse. And she refused to die here, not like this, not as prey in some hidden predator's trap. The solution was simple, brutal, and absolute—kill the creature before the paralysis claimed her completely.
The problem was just as clear.
This was its domain. It was faster, stronger, perfectly adapted to these poisoned waters, while she was already weakening, her body betraying her with every passing second. Time was slipping through her grasp, and she could feel it.
"I need to get out of the water first," she told herself, her thoughts coming slower now, strained but still deliberate. "After that… I'll figure something out."
She didn't finish the thought. She didn't need to.
Nyx drove herself upward, each motion heavier than the last. Her tail lashed behind her, sluggish now, resisting the creeping paralysis, while her arms pulled through the water with diminishing strength. The surface felt impossibly far away.
And below her—
The eyes were closer.
Still coming.