“Come to me, Manling…”

I dipped my toes into the cold water lapping at the open hatchway. Someone was in my head, calling to me, and it seemed I could not fight it!

I thought I heard Eshami cry out faintly as I stepped down to the next rung on the slimy ladder. “Devon, no!” I was up to my waist in the water already.

“You’re mine, Manling,” came the powerful telepathic boom that had come to both frighten and calm me. “Step into my realm. Yessss…”

Eshami looked frantic. I saw her mutter some quick incantation, then she grabbed my hand and pulled me forward for a forceful kiss before my head dove below the water.

Were I in control of all of my faculties, I might have wanted to linger longer, but Miishlo’s strength was terrible, and even resisting with all my willpower was proving insufficient.

I managed to pull my sword out of its sheath as I descended the slippery ladder. Its warm fiery glow brought me scant comfort. Glowing red eyes followed me hungrily from the dark water.

“You are either brave or very stupid,” the telepathic voice boomed. “No matter, Miishlo shall feast on your brain today!”

I felt a thick tentacle grasping at my ankle. As it did, I felt a wave of pain as my life force was being drained from me. I breathed in sharply, knowing instantly that doing so would be my undoing.

I expected to begin choking, but I breathed in the water like it was as natural as air! My mind flashed back to Eshami, her frantic kiss as I was drawn into the water…

That sneaky elf snuck a water-breathing enchantment upon my lips! Now I had another reason to survive this battle — to give her one giant smooch back for saving my hide!

“You have strong endurance, my land-walking friend,” Miishlo boomed in my head, probably wondering why I hadn’t drowned yet.

Guessing that my chance to act might slip away any second, I dove off the ladder by pushing off with my legs, sending me swimming like a bolt through the water.

Straight towards the beast’s fearsome maw.

I gripped my sword tightly and thumbed a button on the hilt. The glowing blade radiated forth, extending to two or three times its original length. I now had a fiery lance, and brought it to bear upon Miishlo, who seemed to have just realized that I’d broken from his mind-control enchantments…

A green-orange blob of goop shot forth from his tentacles, aimed directly at me. Miishlo looked to have coughed up an invocation, I realized. I’m committed to my charge, however, and cannot dodge out of the way.

I was about to go blow-for-blow with this evil Leviathan, and I was sure I was gonna win!

The flaming sword-turned-lance pierced the mucous bubble before embedding itself into his long, toothed snout. I was disoriented by his angry screams of rage inside my mind even as the mucous clung to my everything, and burned like acid.

“Suck on this, fish-face!”

I pulled on the lance, and braced myself with my legs to pull it out of his hide, only to drive it in deeper than before. I repeated this process over and over, driven by a rage I had never known before. All the while Miishlo was cursing and screaming my name in my head.

“I never should’ve trusted Koriya!” Miishlo barked meekly in my mind, his strength rapidly fading. “But you will find out… when you face… her…”

After a moment the fishy beast went limp, floating in a soup of mucous and gore. My lungs heaved with adrenaline as I yanked the lance from his scaly hide for the last time; I thumbed the button to return it to its normal size and shape.

Exhausted, I paddled back to the ladder and pulled myself up.