The realm of mist

[Maeve]

Sinbad’s words deafly echoed in her ears as Maeve glanced around at the water now dangerously closing in on them. The little amused smile that had been curving her lips a minute ago slowly vanished. The water now was reaching above her waist and Maeve was seriously beginning to fear how high it would go. She had never been afraid of water before, but since the night of the storm where she had fiercely battled against angry oppressing waves, waves that in the end had swallowed her, her affinity with it had somehow diminished and now that it was threatening to submerge her again and separate her from Sinbad, even if this was but a dream, Maeve couldn’t help the fear growing inside her. It was increasing with every second that went by and she was slowly losing control over it.

Inattentively, she tossed a quick worried glance at Sinbad before returning her nervous gaze back to the rising water, completely unaware that he had actually been talking to her. Her mind was so frantically racing that Maeve didn’t even notice her hand grasping his arm tightly, as if to make sure he was truly there, like a strong and solid pillar that would somehow manage to shield her from the water.

[Sinbad]

She didn´t reply and that was the first thing that warned him. With a slight scowl, he tossed a glance over at Maeve just in the moment when her hand grabbed his arm. He dimly noticed that her grip was tight enough to hurt and he was strangely glad for that. Even though he had accepted that this was a dream, the realism that came with this particular one was... calming in a way. But his calm just stayed for a moment until he saw her eyes.

It wasn´t that the rising water didn´t unsettle him, he was uneasy because of it and had started to think about what could help it, pushing away every thought that warned him that this could become a situation that might separate them in the one or other way (he had become good at pushing unpleasant thoughts away after all). But the way she reacted to it was more extreme, panicking almost and he didn´t even have to think about the why for long. And as the realisation set in he could feel his own heart beating faster to. "Nothing can happen to us." he said, meaning to calm her, not realising that he was partly trying to tell himself just the same. He opened his mouth again, but never spoke. He had meant to say "this is just a dream" but didn´t say that because some part of him warned him not to say these words out loud. Why was this water rising anyways, he briefly wondered? It was up to his waist now but he noticed it wasn´t as high as it had been. No danger, he told himself just as he had before. Not as long as this water just remained water ...

At this very moment he noticed a movement somewhere ahead in the fog, just far enough to be barely visible, a slight rippling along the water, just under the surface.

[Maeve]

Maeve was lost in her thoughts, envisioning all the possible worst case scenarios and battling to brush them all aside, repeating to herself that none of them could possibly play out since it was all but a dream. Still…As she glanced down at the water straddling her waist, something in the back of her head told her that anything in this place could happen. After all, Sinbad was standing right in front of her, so why would drowning be impossible at this point?

When he spoke, seemingly confident, attempting to calm her, she noticed she wasn’t the only one he was trying to reassure. Maeve knew he was probably just as edgy and nervous as she was, except he was having better control over his composure. And that struck her pride. She let go of his arm immediately and tried to regain a somewhat self-assured poise. “I know that.” She cast him one of her confident look as she struggled to make her voice sound as if she was in perfect control of herself. “I mean,” she avoided his gaze and looked around. “We can’t possibly drown in a dream!” As the Celt gave a nervous laugh, the reality she and Sinbad were in baffled her once again, arousing yet another fear inside her. When would they wake up? How? Would the transition be as abrupt as how she had gotten here in the first place? Would they have time to say goodbye?

As she was trying to deal with the maze of questions and fears in her head, Maeve was totally unaware of what Sinbad’s eyes were studying in the distance.

[Sinbad]

Sinbad turned to look at her. The fact that she suddenly withdrew from him and then gave him one of these special looks, one of the looks that clearly told him that she wouldn´t admit himself to have an upper hand or allow him to belittle her, Sinbad was about to counter something, but didn´t when she added the rest. Yes, he thought, they couldn´t possibly drown here, but he didn´t know whether he liked the rest of what might happen and some of this he feared more than the water right now. "Right." he therefore just said, sounding a little more dull and distracted than he had meant to and not as reassuring as he had intended. But he didn´t get the chance to say more, because something caught his glance from the corners of his eyes once more.

"But, you know..." he said, doing a step backwards slowly, just in case, his hand straying towards his sword instinctively. "I´m not really curious about what else can´t harm us here."
The ripple in the distant became stronger, moved towards them and he narrowed his eyes to try and see what it was. It was near impossible to make out in the fog, but as it came closer it appeared to be some... creature. And it was closing in. And quite apparently, it didn´t seem to be bothered by the rising tides.

[Maeve]

Maeve recognized the gesture immediately; the way his hand would slowly reach for his sword whenever there was an unknown danger or threat close by. She could see on his face that whatever it was he was studying so attentively in the distance, it didn’t mean anything good. It meant trouble. Instinctively, her own hand strayed for her broadsword through the water but then it dawned on her that it had stayed on the Nomad the night she had been washed overboard.

Weaponless, her only asset being her magic, Maeve slowly turned around and averted her eyes to get a look at the upcoming threat. Frowning, the redhead squinted as she noticed the strong and fast ripple heading right towards them. Adrenaline began to flow in her veins as her breathing accelerated. “Sinbad…?” The worried and apprehensive tone of her voice betrayed all the questions the simple mention of his name aroused. What was that thing? What were they going to do? What about the water which imprisoned all their movements?

Never taking her eyes off the strange rippling, Maeve took a step backward cautiously, dreading what would emerge from the water and once again wondering in what kind of sick place she and Sinbad were trapped in.

[Sinbad]

Sinbad could feel his body stiffen just the same way it usually did when danger was approaching to get his muscles ready for defense. Even though this was a dream he decided that he was not going to underestimate whatever might be heading their way. Even though whatever it was that was slithering towards them through the water was sure not able to do them any harm, let alone kill them, it was a danger in so far as it could separate them. Once again. And he would do anything in his powe to avoid that.

Drawing his sword now he kept his gaze on the water, trying to make out what it was that came moving towards them, instinctively stepping a bit to the side and in front of Maeve. "Stay close to me." he said with a low voice, without looking at her and at the same time scared that a loss of eye contact could prove fatal.

Then suddenly the rippling was closer, closer, had almost closed in on them and just when Sinbad got ready to slash out at whatever it was, it broke from the surface of the water, spraying a fountain of water where the head broke through and the thing uttered a strangely eery cry. The captain raised his sword on instinct, finding himself faced with a sea serpent that was now rising about two metres above their heads. It wasn´t gigantic, but they were standing in waist deep water, their movements slowed. That wasn´t exactly good. Not good at all.

[Maeve]

As always in a similar situation when there was danger ahead, Maeve felt all her muscles stir up defensively as her eyes remained riveted to the speeding undulation that was nearly upon them now. The sorceress stood completely still, almost frozen in the water that was entrapping her every move. When Sinbad slightly stepped in front of her, motioning for her to stay close, Maeve, for once, gladly welcomed his protectiveness, her stubbornness simmering down rather quickly. Strangely enough, the only thing she feared right now was the possibility of being separated from him (drowning or dying being of little importance to her at the moment). Therefore, having him in her eye range when whatever it was that was creating the ripple would burst out gave her the reassuring knowledge of his whereabouts. Maeve wasn’t about to let her captain out of her sight.

Suddenly, a spray of water tickled her face and her ears cringed at the beastly cry of the thing emerging in front of them. Her brown eyes slowly trailed up to the sea serpent’s head as her mouth slightly gaped open in a mix of awe and fright. Staring at the monstrous creature ogling down at them and with her mind racing in her head, Maeve found herself talking through gritted teeth, “If you have any bright ideas, now would be the time to fill me in.” The sorceress was getting edgier with every second that went by, her feet tensely shifting in the water.

[Sinbad]

Sinbad wanted to reply something, but the beast lashed out at him in that very moment, the scaly head darting forward like that of a cobra, and he just in time avoided ... well... whatever... by slashing his blade at the serpent.
The reptile however didn´t seem impressed. Quite the contrary it seemed more motivated now, obviously eager to test who these strange little creatures were and how it could get at them, because it made a slithering movement to the side, trying to round them in. It moved in the water with the smoothness of a creature born for it and that didn´t exactly help to make Sinbad feel any better about it. As the serpent changed position he moved to the side aswell, one hand slightly outstretched, the other clamped around his sword, eager to stay between Maeve and the creature.

"Well, I got to pass there." he gave back, his voice slightly raised in excitement and anxiety and also to drown out yet another scream. "But I could do with a little less water ´round here to move properly." He didn´t like how slight sarcasm came into his words at the point, but he couldn´t help it.

[Maeve]

When the serpent swiftly darted at them, Maeve held her breath as Sinbad swung his blade to keep it at bay. Protecting her like he was doing was very risky and the sorceress didn’t like it. She didn’t like it at all. She should be standing next to him, not behind. As it was, she realised that if the creature had a go at him, she wouldn’t have any range of maneuver to help him. She had to move.

But then, the flaking creature maliciously slid in the water with its dark eyes nastily gazing down at them and Sinbad once again stepped in front of her to shield her from the beast. At his sarcastic comment about their unlucky current state in the water, Maeve rolled her eyes and replied with one of her own, raising her eyebrow at him, “Really? Tell me something I don’t already know, water expert…” She simply couldn’t resist the tease.

Then, noticing the serpent was trying to encircle them, Maeve decided to move to the opened side slowly where she could get a better view at the ugly beast. She was beginning to feel cornered, her hands were growing restless in the water and her fingers were going crazy not having any sword to clench. Hastily, her browns eyes went dancing around, trying to make out the outline of the snake’s body under the surface, hoping to get an idea of how long it could possibly be.

[Sinbad]

As the serpent kept winding it´s scaly body even more, about to complete its deadly circle, Sinbad became more tense with every second. Maeve´s teasing words didn´t really help much to calm him down, but rather fuelled his fear. No fear for himself, but fear to have them seperated again. His sword gripped in grim determination he was about to snap back something (he honestly had no idea what though, so it was likely to be something less smart but a lot more stupid), but once more the strange place robbed him of his wittiness by doing something unexpected.

Just as if the place had decided to have some fun with him and obey to his earlier words (and without the captain even being dimly aware of this possibility), the ground quivered and - just as if a large plug had been pulled - or as if this world was a disc suddenly raised so the water could quickly roll off the edges, the water vanished, running away from them swiftly. Before he could realise what was going on, it was gone, the sudden full weight of his body making him sway again. Around them, the massive body of the serpent thudded to the ground heavily, giving Sinbad a first sight of its full giant size: a huge snake, covered in dark green scales, still wet from the vanished waters, the muscles body thick as the trunk of a very massive tree.

And by the looks of it, he wasn´t the only one to be taken aback and by surprise. The beast roared in anger at its sudden loss of agility, but it was still dangerous. And they were still encircled.
"What..." was all the captain could say, utter bewilderment speaking from that word, before the beast, disoriented and raging, snapped for him once more, almost knocking the blade from his hand.

[Maeve]

Once again, the mysterious realm reached beyond Maeve’s comprehension of magic. One minute she was straddled by water more than a meter’s high, and the next, she was staggering to her feet on solid ground again as the water was all flowing out God knew where, vanishing in a matter of seconds. Although, the thought of finally being able to move freely came as a relief to the redhead, it was quickly wiped away by the sight that was granted to her. The huge beastly serpent was now fully exposed to them, its wet scales glittering in the diaphanous misty light, its body twisting in rage as its winding agility flowed away with the water. Maeve stared at it, frozen on the spot, not even able to estimate how long it was. A flicker of anger then passed in the dark fuming eyes of the snake, furious to be deprived of his main asset. It was angry now, very angry.

Still a little bit dazed, the sorceress barely had the time to fully recollect her senses when the beast charged at Sinbad once again, more enraged than ever. She neither had the time to check on him after he almost lost his grip on his sword for the infuriated serpent seized the opportunity offered by their destabilization immediately. It darted at them again with striking rapidity, except this time, its deadly jaw aimed right between them, forcing them to retreat in opposite directions.

Maeve stumbled to the side to escape the beast’s snapping teeth and struggled to regain her balance quickly. When she was somewhat steady again, her eyes immediately went for Sinbad’s.

[Sinbad]

He had been able to just escape in time before the serpent had been able to snap for him and his leap to the side looked a little less graceful than it would usually have looked, his body still adjusting to its full weight again.

Sinbad whirled around, eyes darting towards the angry monster that was giving yet another scream before it swung its massive head this way and that, obviously both bewildered and annoyed by its potential prey splitting up but also noticing that this made them weaker. Its wild eyes flickering this way and that it raised its massive body even further from the ground, raising up its front part like an angry cobra and with a hiss it focussed on Maeve who was looking at him this very moment.

Sinbad didn´t waste any time. Reacting out of instinct and the insane fear that this ... thing could in any way harm her, he swungs his sword at the serpent again, the blade meeting the scales, but just ringing off them. To the beast it had to feel like something really small and meaningless was trying to attack it, but he didn´t care. "Hey." he yelled, swinging his sword once more to get the serpent´s attention. "Here, over here you stupid, ugly beast."

[Maeve]

Maeve’s ears cringed sharply as the furious creature lashed out its anger in high-pitched cries of fury. She forced herself to remain as still as possible during its whole raging display, not wishing to infuriate it anymore than it already was with too prompt movements. The only things she allowed herself to move were her eyes, racing frantically between Sinbad’s form and the serpent’s swaying head. Maeve was worried sick of what the beast’s next move would be because so far, it had always launched for Sinbad and if it tried to snap at him once more, the distance that separated her from him could prove fatal. The fear in her chest was so vividly sharp, it was almost painful…

Then, her ragged breathing caught in her throat as the creature’s vicious eyes settled on her. At that moment, Maeve instantly knew what was going to happen. It had chosen its prey. Almost glad that the gruesome serpent would leave Sinbad alone for once, the firebrand felt every single muscle of her body tense as she got ready to dodge out of the way whenever the beast would charge.

As her fingers started twitching, a fireball threatening to form at any second, Maeve caught Sinbad’s movements from the corner of her eyes followed by his yelling attempts to distract the scaly snake. He was risking his life for hers once again…The creature slowly turned its head away from her and Maeve felt her heartbeat reach an unbearable speed at the thought of the creature snatching for Sinbad one more time. God, how she hated that agonizing fear gripping her whenever his life was at stake. She could never get used to it...

The sorceress glared at the beast who was ready to charge at Sinbad. "Oh no, you don't."

Instinctively, a flow of energy travelled down her arm, channeling itself in her hand as a fireball glowed intensely. With the hideous creature’s attention resting on her captain, Maeve immediately seized her chance and launched her fireball with all the strength she had, an angry cry escaping her lips.

The flaking beast received it full force, on the spot right above its eye. Caught off guard by the sudden assault, the snake shook its head vigorously, trying to dissipate the unpleasant burning sensation that had come unexpectedly.

[Sinbad]

His concentration madly fixed on Maeve and the serpent, Sinbad was so distracted that for a moment he had forgotten his own safety. Still standing alert, his sword half raised his eyes had fixed first on the snake, then on Maeve and it had been then that he had noticed the fireball. He had nearly held his breath, almost scared for a moment that the beast would snap before Maeve could fight back, that it was notice that one of the two that it had just abandoned for a moment was planning an assault.

The serpent had been about to lunge for him and that snap might have turned out really badly, but was hit by the fireball full force. With an even more enraged scream, the creature shook its massive head and, obviously blinded by pain and rage whipped its scaly tail that had almost encircled the two of them, so that it made an unexpected swing into the captain´s direction, knocking him down from behind. He had no time to react, but fell, swept off his feet and it was probably just the fact that this had been an accident, no purpose that in this moment he didn´t become an instant prey for the beast which, furious and annoyed had obviously noted that one of the little annoying creatures had tripped over its tail, scrapping a sharp blade across it as it fell. In an instant, the end of the snake´s tail shot forward, seeking to snap around Sinbad´s ankles while the captain was still struggling to get back to his feet.

[Maeve]

It wasn’t long before Maeve realized her fireball did more damage than fixing. In a matter of seconds, right after the impact of her magical assault, the wounded beast, now more enraged than ever and fury shining in its dark ferocious eyes, roared loudly and twisted its scaly body, knocking Sinbad down in the process with its winding tail. A frightful scream escaped the sorceress’ lips as her heart distressingly skipped a beat.

“Sinbad!”

By the time he hit the ground, the adrenaline pumping in her veins had reached the blinding point. Guided by the sheer fear of her captain’s predicament, Maeve rushed to the side to get a better view of the snake’s big swinging tail that was aiming for the sailor. Immediately, another fireball formed in her hand. It was a risky thing to do, seeing what her first fireball had done, but if the monstrous snake succeeded in wrapping its tail around Sinbad’s ankle, who knew then what awaited him. Maeve simply had to get that tail away from him.

However, as she was about to throw her fireball at the beast, the realm’s mysterious mechanism caught her off guard once again and a thunderous rumble deafened her. Just then, the ground started shaking violently and Maeve lost her balance and fell to her knees.