Chapter 8: Gut feeling.

Staring at the beautiful oasis, Jin's mouth almost watered. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He could almost cry, in fact, he was about to.

One step, two steps. Jin's feet had begun moving on their own. Slowly but surely, he made his way toward the holy image he was seeing at this moment.

Every step Jin took, his speed picked up. At his tenth step, he was already sprinting toward the beautiful body of water.

He had almost tripped a few times, but held steady and kept his pace. A moment later, he flew past the palm trees and sprinted over the lush, green grass. His mind was focused only on the water.

In record breaking pase, he had arrived at the crystal clear body of water. Frantically, he came to a stop on his knee's and began energetically scooping up water in his hands.

Bringing the water to his mouth, he began drinking with a scary amount of pace. He probably looked like an animal right now, but he didn't care. No one was here to witness this anyway.

After about a full ten minutes of just drinking, Jin took one last big gulp and then sighed in satisfaction. He was the happiest and luckiest man in the desert right now.

Jin relaxed and fell back on his butt. He then looked around. This place was really beautiful, almost majestic like. It was a refreshing image, the desert couldn't compare.

He once again sighed in content. He let his head fall back and then closed his eyes. He stayed like that for a few more minutes, and then his body's muscles suddenly contracted.

Jin's eyes instantly shot open and looked around. 'Something is wrong.' He took in every detail.

The blades of green grass swayed silently as the hot desert air blew past. The palm trees also calmly swayed, as if dancing.

And in the distance past the trees sand hills covered the horizon, looking almost like the waves of the ocean.

Past that, the looming figure of the massive volcano stood, unhindered. Black smoke was still pouring out of the top of the fiery mountain.

'Huh, I don't see anything out of place.'

He then took one last look around, and then his eyes suddenly widened. 'Wait... this is probably one of the few water reserves in this desert,' Jin came to a conclusion, '...so why is there no monsters here?'

His golden eyes suddenly shot toward the pond of water. There was something deeply wrong with this place. And then suddenly, Jin's body screamed at him.

MOVE!

Jin replied in kind. Without thinking, he kicked his legs to the ground and launched away from his sitting position.

...but it was a little to late.

The surface of the still water suddenly exploded, a fountain of water shot diagonally toward Jin.

In the eye of the fountain a set of jaws, with razor sharp, pearlescent teeth, were flying toward Jin. And before he knew it, the jaws clamped down tightly on his left arm with a hard thud.

"AHHHHH!!!!!"

Jin was in a world of pain. The teeth sank deep into his flesh, and scraped against his bones.

And before Jin could try anything, the clamped death trap suddenly spun. His scream died in his throat, as his left arm was suddenly torn from his shoulder.

Almost fainting because of the pain, Jin moved as far as he could from the pond. He did not dare look at his grave wound, fearing he would actually pass out if he did.

Gritting his teeth to lessen the pain, Jin cursed, he had to do something or he would bleed out.

Cursing once more, his teeth now grinding, a scarlet blaze suddenly blasted out of the gaping wound and instantly disapeared.

Looking at his now stump, Jin frowned, the flesh had thankfully burned shut, but it hurt like hell. Atleast, he wasn't going to die.

Finished with that, he turned his attention toward the culprit, who was now standing at the edge of the pond.

Getting a better look, Jin recognised it as a Crocodile. Only this one was very different. It's scales were a onyx black and somehow reflected the sun. It had six legs that ended in deadly claws.

The most terrifying part of the crocodile though, was it's maw. It's mouth was riddled with thousands of seraded teeth that lined up in two sets of rows. The inside of it's mouth was also completely black, it looked like an endless abyss.

Cursing Jin looked away from the monster's mouth. The bastard was chewing on his arm, a mocking glint flashing in it's eyes.

Jin motioned to summon Blood Taster, but then hesitated. 'Is this fight worth it?' Jin questioned.

He had already lost an arm, what would he lose next? His other arm? His legs? His life? That could very well happen, as he now only had one arm. Jin shook his head, this fight wasn't worth it.

He began moving his hand back to the side of his of his body, when suddenly, the crocodile launched forward. The speed at which it did so, was mind boggling.

Almost too late, Jin stumbled to the right, missing the terrifying mouth by mere inches. 'Luckily I don't have a left arm, otherwise I would have lost it!' Jin morbidly joked.

'...oh wait I did.'

Somehow managing to not fall, he looked toward the terrifying monster that was looking hungerly back at him.

He quickly looked around and scowled. 'I guess I don't have a choice.' His right arm shot forward, red smoke had exploded around his hand.

Cutting the smoke ball in two, Jin raised Blood Taster, covering his head with the black blade as best he could.

The red fur of the handle that covered his hands, fell down, mimmicking blood that flowed from an opened wound.

The crocodile and man stared eachoter down one last time, and then both took action, shooting from their spots.

A second later both clashed, Jin swiped his blade toward the monster's head and the crocodile aimed to bite the man in half.

*CLANG* *THUD*