Fortune smiled upon Ann that day, as her unconscious body floated, relatively safely, to a sizable sandbar. Too small for any man made structures to be built on it, it was also devoid of all natural life. Unlike the typically cartoonish depictions of a tiny island with only a single tree, this sandbar was devoid of even that luxury. As a result, Ann's blue and lime green body stood out like a sore thumb against the uniform sand.
A gentle breeze caressed the sandbar, stirring up the sand and rousing Ann into consciousness once more. As silently and softly as it had arrived, the breeze died down, its only purpose seeming to be waking her. Thunder and lightning rumbled in the distance, as the worst of the storm seemed to have passed the sandbar, and was still on its way to the city.
Ann sat up, groggily opening her eyes. The world around her didn't seem solid, and constantly shifted between two images. One was a beautiful island resort. Clear blue sky, with an enormous neon arrow pointing towards the ocean, the word, “HOME” flashing on it. The other image, a completely empty sandbar. The mainland was barely visible in the distance, where it was still visibly storming, and the entire sky was dark.
Clutching her temples, Ann shakily rose to her feet, trying to focus. The soft sand bunched up between her toes, and she clenched them tightly, hoping to get some extra purchase to stabilize. Images flashed through Ann's mind, occasionally melding together.
Stepping forward, Ann's foot slips in the soft sand, bringing her down to a knee. She squints her eyes, the images before her refusing to stay consistent, constantly shifting. She doesn't know what's going on, but she does know figuring out where she is takes top priority.
Another slight breeze brushes over the sandbar, tussling Ann's neon green hair slightly. With great trepidation, Ann crawls on all fours until she feels the sand get wet beneath her knees. She feels around the sand blindly, smiling widely when she feels the actual water amongst the wet sand.
Crawling a bit further anxiously, she quickly feels the water level growing deeper, and, grateful to have enough, she reaches her hands forward. Opening her eyes, scoops, and splashes a handful of water into her face, hoping it'd help clear her vision.
“WHAT THE FU-” Ann screamed, finally breaking the silence she'd been exhibiting for an unnervingly long period of time. The ocean's salty water stung her eyes terribly, and she thrashed about violently, waiting for the pain to subside.
Relief did eventually come, though rather slowly. When it no longer stung to even slightly open her eyes, she braced herself, and forced her eyes open. Her vision had stabilized, and for this she was happy.
The happiness lasted fractions of a moment however, as her mind tried frantically to explain what she saw. Rubbing her eyes didn't change the image, and neither did pinching herself on the arm.
A vast ocean of blood spread out before her, occasionally bubbling in the distance. The sky had taken on a much more sinister appearance, and was colored a deep amber.
“Holy...” Ann said to herself, before turning around, hoping that the view would be different.
While the blood ocean still spread before her, the view behind was much more dangerous-looking. Lightning and fireballs rained from the sky, pitch-black clouds twisted violently in the sky, as angry monstrosities flew about.
Most importantly though, in the middle of all this was Densmore, her hometown. As though it were protected by a holy biome, the city was whole and intact. The landscape in the surrounding distance was mostly burning, and if not burning, then charred from having previously been burned.
Ann wanted to get home. She didn't feel safe being this far away from shelter, and she wanted to get off of this stupid...
With a start, Ann looked down. The terrifying effects of the world seemed to have reached her own location. What she had assumed to be sand, ended up being millions of tiny gray skulls. Digging her hand into it, she picked up a handful. They didn't appear to be normal human skulls, but were very similar. While a relief, she still shuddered and tossed the handful out into the thick, red ocean.
With strengthened resolve, Ann stomped onto the beach. Hundreds of the skulls shattered into dust beneath her soft sole, but she paid it no mind as she forced herself to run forward into the blood ocean. Her feet pounded into thousands more of the skulls, grinding them into dust as well, before the crimson ocean was deep enough to slow her run to a walk. She didn't know what she should do once she arrived back home, but she wasn't one to stand around and wait for something to happen.
No matter what, she was going to approach this situation the way she approached everything she had ever done.
There was no time to feel unsure. There was no time to worry about the consequences. She was ready to kick ass, and she wasn't going to let a bunch of scary imagery slow her down.
The trip through the blood ocean began rather uneventfully. The thick blood churned around her thighs, as she slowly powered her way through. There were few natural waves created by the blood, which, combined with the fact that the level hadn't mysteriously risen past her waist, was a welcome surprise. The less of her body and clothing that would be stained from the trip, the better.
Then, she felt it. Something was slithering around her legs.
Ann shuddered. She didn't like that feeling in her situation.
It slithered again, slower now, before choosing to reveal itself above the liquid. While she was thankful it wasn't some perverted old man, it was rather short-lived, as a terrifying beast rose out of the liquid. It turned its head, with glowing eyes to face Ann, and opened it's mouth, roaring at her.
Shaped like an ancient sea monster, it had a thick body with four fins and a long neck ending in a small head. Rows upon rows of sharp teeth filled that head, and Ann shuddered at the thought of those teeth ripping into her flesh.
The beast would have been the stuff of nightmares. It should have caused Ann to empty her bowels and weep in her final moments before a bloody death. Unfortunately, for the creature, it had a rather noticeable issue stunting its ability to intimidate her. It was an issue, well, with its size
In that it had hardly any. Ann could have held it in her fist, and was about to, had it not dived back under the sea. Content to ignore the almost strangely adorable monster, Ann took a step, and felt something brush her inner thigh.
Surprised and offended that it wouldn't leave her alone, Ann plunged her hand into the thick, waist-level blood. She grasped around blindly, her hands opening and closing blindly, finally squeezing when she found her target. The small beast wriggled in her hand slowly, apparently not used to being manhandled in such a way.
Ann lifted the beast out of the water, and brought it to her face angrily. It struggled to break free, occasionally roaring at her. Tightening her fingers on the tiny thing, she enjoyed its deep roars of pain while its flippers flopped uselessly through the gaps in her clenched fist.
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To anyone else, it was a strange sight. A woman slowly walking through the ocean, heading towards a city that was still being bombarded by a storm. Still several miles away from her destination, the water had yet to reach past her waistline, for one simple reason.
She was absolutely enormous. She could have passed for a normal sized woman at first sight. After all, this far out in the ocean, there wasn't a single thing to compare her size to. The sandbar she had awoken on was bare, completely lacking in reference points and until now, her trek through the ocean had been uneventful.
Now though, now there was a full-sized whale in her hands. She didn't appear to be getting along with it either, as her face glowed with rage. She squeezed her mighty fist eliciting a groan from the mighty animal, and a sinister smile from Ann as her eyes seemed to burn intently.
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Small swirls ran through Ann's eyes as the ancient beast tried to break from her grip. Had it not been so pathetically tiny, it would have posed a serious threat to Ann, and anyone else out in the blood ocean for that matter. To that end, Ann wanted to prove her superiority to the beast, much in the way it would have done to her, if their sizes had been reversed.
The ineffectual thrashing and roaring of the beast only brought a smile to Ann's lips. She slipped her tongue out from between her lips, licking them in anticipation. It didn't exactly look tasty, and the fact that it was still alive should have made Ann reconsider her actions.
She didn't though. Ann's mind was made up, and she knew what she had to do. She was in a terrible, hellish landscape, and survival of the fittest was to be expected until she could get her bearings. Most people would agree with her logic.
Still, even they would be surprised when she opened her cavernous mouth, presenting it to the monster. She exhaled deeply, her breath washing over it, further inciting anger I the beast, before she moved its body towards her open mouth. It's angry writhing continued to grow more frantic, as it seemed to sense her intentions, and had no desire to travel down that terrible throat to her belly.
It would be lucky however, as it was still far too large to be swallowed whole. Its death came in a flash, as her teeth chomped down with astounding force.. The beasts entire upper body disappeared into her mouth cleanly, and the lower half of its body spewed a fiery, bubbling blood, that sprayed Ann's hand, but did little to negatively impact her smiling expression.
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The angry giantess holding the whale continued to examine it critically before opening her mouth wide, as strings of saliva formed around the roof of her mouth and tongue. It looked as though she were going to try her hand at eating the still sizable mammal in one go, a dangerous feat even for someone of her great size.
Her mouth came down slowly over the portion of the whale sticking out of her hand, and she held it there for a moment, seeming to ponder her course of action. Perhaps she was having second thoughts, and planned on saving the whale, allowing it to return to its natural habitat. Maybe she remembered that certain species of whales were endangered, and allowing the beast to live would be a great help.
Before any further justifications could be made though, her white teeth came down like a guillotine, cleanly cutting the top half of the whale off, and ending its struggles once and for all.
She smiled over her actions, and chewed the massive chunk of flesh, her powerful teeth grinding it into little bits. Her smile, bright and happy as it was over her choice, quickly faded. Something about this wasn't very pleasant, from the way her eyes bulged and the intense frown she made.
In one smooth movement, she tossed the remaining whale carcass off to the side, and started spitting chunks of whale flesh into the ocean, scraping her tongue with her fingernails, not appearing to have enjoyed the flavor of the whale.
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“I've made a terrible mistake.” Ann thought to herself as she continued to chew chunks of the beasts flesh, hoping its flavor would improve as she did so.
It did not.
Inhaling deeply, Ann spit the contents of her mouth out into the blood ocean, losing her grip on the monsters body as she did so. The taste still lingered, and she scraped her tongue with her fingernails. It hurt, but it would prove a worthy endeavor if it helped get rid of the flavor.
It did not.
Out of habit, Ann bent over and did the only other thing that came to mind. She didn't stop to consider the sanity of her actions, but the aftertaste was so intense, she may not have cared anyway. Scooping her hands into the ocean of blood at waist level, she pooled a handful up to her mouth and let it all fall onto her outstretched tongue, praying it would counteract the flavor currently ravaging her taste buds.
It did not.
However, it wasn't the type of reaction she was expecting. The liquid dripped from her tongue in a way blood shouldn't have. When pooled around her waist it had the thickness and consistency one would expect from an ocean of blood, but once it was actually out on her hands, it felt much more watered down.
“WHAT THE FU-” Ann screamed as the overbearing salty flavor took its toll on her taste buds at a delayed rate, effectively wiping off the previous flavor, but causing Ann to convulse violently as her body rejected it.