At night, torrential rain started pouring down till streams of water overflowed into the lakes, ponds, and rivers.
At midnight, the surface of the Nymph's pond undulated as if boiling, and then all the water seeped into the ground, disappearing altogether.
Underground, several streams separated, and as if led by separate wills, traveled to different locations, meeting with different water reservoirs.
After several hours, they coalesced into one and traveled toward the East, toward the hometown of Lyle.
Night or not, the Nymph could see clearly, since she didn't need to 'see'. She could sense everything in the vicinity until a certain distance. And what she saw near the town left her horrified.
Deformed beings of unnatural proportions mindlessly roamed across the forest. Beasts and animals and humans, none were spared. All morphed into calamitous monsters, brutal and savage.
Some were chasing the living, viciously attacking them. They ate some parts and left the rest to transform slowly into their kind.
To say nothing of the beasts, even humans had lost their minds, acting like savage monsters.
When the Nymph sensed the energy they possessed, she shuddered to no end and felt suffocated, even though she had no need to breathe.
She fell to her knees and clutched her head and screamed. Her body undulated incessantly, and she burst into a shower that fell to the ground. It seeped into it and finally stabilized, but she was already unconscious.
…
Gargantuan waves blasted the rocky shore, spraying cascades of white foam into the air. The force reverberated through the rocks, sending a deep rumble through his chest, who was standing firm on the edge, unperturbed by the ocean's warning.
He was the walking abomination, the very shape of death.
"You have no place among the living. Return from whence you came!" The ocean thundered in all directions.
"I came from the ashes. Help me return... if you can..." The man said with a sigh.
"With pleasure!"
The whole ocean churned and roiled, and tsunamis of waves came crashing on him. Yet, it did him no harm.
Boom-Boom-Boom!
Huge jets of water soared skyward out of the ocean, disappearing amidst the clouds. They seemed to bloat the sky and the sun until it all came tumbling down. Bolts of water shot with catastrophic might, nearing the man in a blink, tearing open a huge gash into his body.
Yet, not a ripple of death loomed over his face, nor a drop of blood spurted out of his body. More droplets came crashing down on him, tearing his body asunder. Asunder they tore until nothing seemed to remain of him.
Yet, in the next instant, his voice whispered in all directions, sweeping a terrible dread to all living beings.
"I hope you can handle this beast within me."
Black vapor whirled into a gigantic cyclone, soaring toward the sky. It widened to several kilometers in a flash as the pitch-black mist swirled into a cataclysmic storm. Lightning crackled and thunder boomed, making the world tremble with its might.
…
When the rain had settled down the next morning, Lyle sat in the cave, staring at the empty pond.
The Nymph took her water and escaped? After so much boasting? She was sure acting as a mother should.
Instead of caring for her children through thick and thin, she ran with her tail between her legs? Even he was not afraid of those monsters that much. Okay, maybe he was, but he stuck to his mother because he believed she would protect him no matter what.
But his thoughts were halted when a tiny stream of water started in the middle of the pond. In no time, it was full, and the Nymph arose into her shape, breathing heavily as if suffocating.
"Oh, you returned, and here I thought you escaped, oh so afraid of the monsters." Lyle looked at her, squinting his eyes. "Oh, you also need to breathe out of water?" He asked an obvious question.
To which the Nymph flapped her mouth close. "No, I was gathering mana."
Lyle again squinted his eyes, not believing her words. "So, where had you gone?"
The Nymph widened her eyes once again, remembering what she had seen. "I… I now remember! He- he came to me..."
Lyle could feel the instinctual fear behind her quivering voice.
"Who came to you, and for what?"
"He! Came to ask me for death... yet, I couldn't! I- I don't remember... But I couldn't defeat him. It was my complete annihilation!"
"And this energy... It's the same as him. He has finally raised the dead!" Her form undulated as if shivering.
Lyle stared at her with a poker face. "Can you explain that?"
"I…" She calmed herself down and continued, "I went to collect my memories from the nearby water reservoirs and also checked out the situation in a town toward the east."
"Wait! Do you mean my hometown? How is the situation? Has the calamity cleared up?"
"I don't know about your hometown, but the number of monsters you mentioned was staggering, to say the least," she answered.
Lyle's face fell in helplessness. "And who were you talking about?"
The nymph shuddered, just remembering the form of his. "He is the one, the real walking abomination, the very shape of death! He brought this calamity upon this world."
Now Lyle also shuddered, imagining another horrifying monster. "Who, who is he?"
"If I remember correctly, he called himself… Apocalypse!"
Lyle's face fell, and he shivered. "Is he going to eat us all?"
"Yes, until someone stopped him."
"Who's gonna stop him?"
The Nymph blinked. That didn't cross her mind. She stared at thin air in a daze for a few moments. Who can kill death? That was a stupid idea since he was already dead! But there must be something that can counter death…
Her eyes lit up, and then she stared at Lyle with a smile on her face.
Sensing the foreboding, Lyle cried, "I'm just a helpless little kid!"
"Boy, your training starts tomorrow!"
"Nooo!"
And then she had to spend some time convincing him that magic was much easier to train than a sword. She was going to make it a breeze.