Harlan stood outside the inn. The sun was setting, coloring the sky and clouds in large brushes of blood. At his feet, a large travel backpack was lying. The warrior was looking in the distance, his eyes glazed over. "Two… no three…" He sighed and cracked his neck. "Well, I'd better clean up after ourselves before I leave." He started walking toward the first spot he saw in his vision.
It was near a forest. There was a dirt track, hardly visible, almost forgotten. Harlan scanned the area, the landmarks seemed to match what he saw in his mind. "Let's make it quick," he said out loud. In front of him, the air shimmered. He couldn't really explain what he was seeing. It looked like, at the center of the phenomenon, the world was inverted. Just watching it made him sick to his stomach, and he felt slightly dizzy. A slight frown crossed his face as he said, "I don't think I've seen those before." He took a solid battle stance, his knees bent, and he slowly called the mist to reinforce his already powerful body.
The portal was boiling. Ethereal white smoke was crawling through the air. Then, without other warning, the space reverted. Like a sock pulled inside out. A dozen dark tentacles lunged forth toward the beacon of life. Iridescent purple lines dancing with the dying light on their unholy, rugged skin. Harlan dodged the first few attacks with ease. Then several spikes burst forth at the end of the nightmarish appendices. A maelstrom of slashes tried to overwhelm the man. Harlan moved his feet with precision, slapping away the attacks that threatened his vitals. His eyes were focused, looking for the opening, searching for the weak point. A single line of fire inflamed his cheek, a trickle of blood on his skin matched the red design in the sky.
Harlan clenched his fist. Pink mist condensed around his hand. It took the shape of a single, long, sharp claw. He traded slashes for slashes, pieces of tentacles wiggling on the ground. But more tentacles crawled out of the portal to replace them. The warrior remained unfazed and continued his work. He had found his rhythm now, and it looked like he was the one punishing the anomaly. He shouted, "I can do this all day, come out already!" A viscous throbbing globe was half-seen across the ravaged reality of the portal. Harlan could feel the pressure of a gaze. He smiled, "Now that I have your attention." The one-armed warrior brought a leg up and slammed his foot on the ground. A shockwave of mist power was expelled forward. The tentacles were thrown to the side, like thin branches under a strong wind. The titan rushed into the opening with a battle cry, he punched through the portal. His blade pierced the maddening eye. The world trembled. Then all the tentacles fell on the ground, abject, inanimate objects tainting the beauty of the evening.
Harlan absorbed the mist weapon in his arm, let his battle stance drop, and sighed. "That's one down. Two to go."
Walking toward the next destination, Harlan spoke out loud. "We should really learn to tone it down… I got too excited when I met Gareth." It was dark when he stopped. No need to see the landmark. The burning, pulsing globe of green light was making it obvious. The warrior looked at the shifting green swirls. Death… was all he could think of.
As if answering its name, the portal bloomed like a flower from hell. Dark tentacles slowly wiggled out, thin green fluorescent lines dancing in the night. They spread toward the sky, slithering through the air.
Suddenly, they froze, and then they all turned and pointed toward the human. Harlan was breathing steadily, charging his body, and ready for the next fight. The tentacles recoiled, and the warrior braced for impact. But the charge never came. Instead, all the tentacles spewed a green liquid. Harlan tried to dodge but failed. His body glowed in the dark, covered by the disgusting saliva.
Pain flared on Harlan's body, his nervous system was overwhelmed, and he fell to the floor convulsing. A soft hissing sound sang through the night as his flesh was slowly dissolving in a thin green fog. The titan's body fought the poison, pushing back, protecting the muscles. All his nerves on fire, Harlan forced his body to move by sheer willpower. He set his palm on the ground and absorbed the earth's life force as fast as possible. Slowly, the green glow faded. Leaving bright red flesh behind. Not completely burned, not completely healed.
He rose unsteadily, took three steps back, and looked at the flower of death sensually weaving its arms through the night. "Now, how do I kill you?" He whispered. He took a few deep breaths and forced his eyes to glaze over. The white light in his eyes flickered and disappeared. "Tss, you give me useless visions all the time, and now you refuse to help. Fine, I'll do it the old-fashioned way." He slowly backed away a few more paces and circled the green flower, looking for the weak spot. Then he saw it. A small pulsing bulb just at the bottom of the flower. Beating like a heart.
"Found you, he grinned." The warrior took a low stance and summoned his claw. Then he connected to the life force in the ground, forcing the power to fill his legs until the muscles shone a pulsating pinkish light and streaks of orange lines flared through his skin. The warrior took one last breath and unleashed the power all at once. After a quick sprint, he jumped three meters high in the air, letting himself drop in the midst of the tentacles, his arm outstretched toward the ground.
The heart was shredded instantly by the claw. Harlan slammed into the ground headfirst.
The last remnant of green light faded. The titan turned on his back and looked at the night sky, the moon was rising on the horizon. Small natural night sounds gently claimed the world again. The man muttered, "I think I can rest for five minutes before the last one." He focused on absorbing the mist and healing his damaged body. Then he got up. He tried to wipe the blood from his face, but it only spread more. "Nothing like a beauty sleep and a stroll through the night." He limped toward the last place he saw in his vision.
The monster was already out of a gaping hole in the fabric of space. It was a shifting form of nightmare tentacles, ever shifting. Uncountable numbers of eyes beamed visions of hell outward. The world itself was frozen in dread, all senses drowned in terror. The ground was littered with the corpses of small animals and birds. Their eyes were unnaturally wide, and their mouths and beaks opened in a last silent scream of horror.
Harlan stopped a few paces away, unfazed. He cocked his head on the side and looked at the abomination calmly. Then he laughed, a hearty booming laugh. "Is that all you got? I could show you things that would give YOU nightmares." The titan walked with purpose toward the mass of dread. Without hesitation, he put his arm in it, searching with his fingers. His eyes glazed over, bright burning frost. Then he stopped moving. The muscles in his arm bulged under the strain. Pink light glowed from it. He clenched the abomination unholy heart and squeezed. A loud POP was heard, and the monster dissolved in greyish goo. The world didn't believe it for a second. Then life started again.
Harlan took a deep breath. "I was lucky the incompatibility was in my favor. I'm not sure I would have survived one of the other ones." Then he chuckled, "You almost… scared me for a moment." Still chuckling, he started the walk back to the village.