As the creature grew closer and closer, the certainty I had about the meaning of my visions began to waver. I expected the creature to be large all right, but this was a completely different kind of large than what I had in mind. The shallow waters were supposed to make it more visible and easier to hit with a spear, well that certainly won’t be a problem anymore. Still a few hundred feet from me, I could already see that it was slowly emerging from the water, since the water was too shallow for it to swim in. Realizing the disadvantage a 10 feet deep water would give me, I started paddling back towards the shore, in hopes of reaching a more appropriate footing. I braved a quick glance behind me, and it was about 200 hundred feet away from me, and it already had the upper part of its body visible and I could see ravenous hunger glistening in its enormous eyes. It must have been something over 20 feet tall in height, and who knows how long. Even though it wasn’t the fastest whilst lumbering towards me in shallow waters, It was barely 40 feet away from me, when I had reached the shore. There was nothing on the shore except snow and ice, and the forest was about 200 feet further. Perhaps I should have tried to run away, but my pride got the better of me, and I grabbed one of my throwing spears and aimed for the creature’s head. It was a good throw, A flicker of hope lit up in my heart as I saw the weapon descending upon the forehead of the leviathan; but it was slowly snuffed out, when it simply bounced from its carapace. I was just reaching for a second spear, when I heard the beast taking a very deep breath, I quickly grabbed the spear and instinctively took cover behind my boat. A gust of freezing air, and a volley of icicles were suddenly swirling around me. The cold, was practically indistinguishable from burning, and I didn’t even take the brunt of the attack. When it stopped, My boat was now almost one block of ice riddled with huge sharp icicles, and the creature was only a few feet away from me. Controlled by desperation, I quickly rushed towards the creature and tried to stab it in its more vulnerable looking lower torso, but to no avail, and I only barely escaped the crushing doom of its maw. I kept my distance and tried to find any vulnerable spots, while at the same time dodging any attacks it made with its jaw. I moved to its side and tried to pierce one of its eyes, but I was unprepared for the creature to use its tail. I was swapped of my feet by the sheer force, with which the tail moved. Even with the soft blanket of snow, the following landing knocked the breath out of my lungs, and the tail then started descending towards me, like an odd caricature of an executioner’s axe. Whilst the snow may have eased my fall, it also impaired my movement, and I could see that I would not be able to move away in time…
The tail did indeed land, however no longer attached to the body, for massive heavy battleaxe cut it off, before it could strike. Chaos then ensued, it was my father’s warrior group and they started attacking the creature from every angle. But the creature was not defenceless; three of my saviours were killed by the crushing maw of the creature and two were crushed under its body. Soon the group found themselves overwhelmed and fell back to regain their footing and catch their breaths. I followed suit, but before I gained a safe distance, I decided to try to throw my spear once more, but this time I would aim for the eye. As soon as the spear left my grasp, I knew it would hit my target, and indeed it pierced right through its biggest right eye. I kept standing there appreciating my handiwork, expecting the monster to fall any second now… but it kept standing, and then suddenly took a deep breath. I had nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and the irony of facing certain doom second after being saved from one dawned upon me. I tried to protect my face and head with my arms, but I was certain it would be of no use. The creature was preparing to exhale when I heard a scream behind me. I was knocked face first into to the ground by some unknown force and when the gust of icy death came, I was relatively unharmed. As the cold passed, I looked up and saw a familiar figure standing above me, protecting me with its own body. A figure I knew since my birth, a figure who taught me everything, a figure I called my father. His whole body was frostbitten and pierced by dozens of icicles, and while dropping his axe it slowly fell to the ground. Engulfed in fury, sadness, horror, and overwhelming unknown emotions, I took the dropped axe and charged at the monster. It tried to freeze me as well, but it was too slow; and with a blow of pure fury, I chopped its head right off.