You can call me Biff

Liam saw the tentacle moving toward another creature that was near the river. It had drunk some water before but was eating the saplings of some young trees. They should taste sweet to the creature.

Observing the tentacle's actions, Liam concentrated on it and wrote a few words in the air. Then he somehow pushed the words toward the tentacle and then into it.

The tentacle halted its movements. Liam prepared another set of them but had to let them hover unfinished in the air. The tentacle had charged toward Liam, who was a bit unprepared for it. Still, he managed to get away from it in time.

Liam watched anxiously as the tentacle shot itself through the words he had left in the air. They were unfinished and didn't probably sound right but it had halted again.

Liam hastily started on another line of words but yet again had to leave them unfinished.

This continued for some time. The tentacle chased after Liam, who left words behind. Eventually, the tentacle stopped moving as it had gathered up all the words Liam had left for it.

Liam hoped that his words had affected the creature. He was hoping that the creature won't spring a trap on him once he got close enough.

Thankfully it didn't happen and a large ripple appeared in the water. Like something big was emerging. Liam stared at the river, looking anxiously at it.

'How the hell something this large could fit in this river.'

The ripples were growing larger and larger, even forming waves.

Suddenly something relatively small appeared over the water. The thing then opened up and an eye emerged from it. It blinked several times before it finally focused on the shoreline of the river where it saw the two-legged creature.

It blinked again in surprise.

"You look nothing like the other humans."

"That's news to me since I haven't met any of them yet," Liam retorted, still keeping an eye on that tentacle. "You were playing with me before, right?"

"Yes, it was kind of fun, but how can you speak to me?"

"Some existences call me a World Reader."

"I've never heard of something like that."

"Understandable," Liam nodded at the eye. "May I know who you are?"

"The humans call me the Iron Shell." He said rather proudly.

"Nice to meet you, I am Liam," he introduced himself.

"Hahaa! You can call me Biff." He laughed and gave his name.

After hearing that, Liam struggles to hold back his smile and the laughter that was bubbling inside him. He didn't want to offend the creature he had just met, especially one that could talk.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I basically wanted to know if you are like someone I met before?"

"Are you insulting me?"

"I ... I had no such thing in mind," he suddenly stuttered feeling embarrassed.

"Then why, would you say I was like that weak ass snake lurking back there," the tentacle suddenly moved and pointed at the forest where Liam had come from.

"Huh? He's here? Already?" Liam didn't even think that Nio would come this soon, let alone right after he had left. He didn't think he was that curious about him or anything else as he seemed eternally lazy.

"Who the fuck are you calling weak!?" a shout comes from the forest behind Liam. Suddenly trees shook and bent every one way as Nio made his way to the river.

"You, of course!" A chuckling sound came toward the lone hovering eye. "By the way, have you been able to digest my tentacle yet?"

"Of course, I have! What a stupid question!?" Nio entered the open area where Liam was. Shortly his tail whipped, wrapped around Liam, and pulled him away.

Liam was rather startled by this, but soon he was pretty relieved when the two creatures suddenly started to exchange blows. He felt soft fur against his exposed arm and looked to the side. Haru was there, looking at the two giants fight.

"Let's go back to that tree and wait it out. I have a feeling they won't kill each other." Liam was then picked up by Haru. Liam though of complaining about it but let it slide. Shortly after they were taking some meat out of Liam's bag and having a snack as they watched the two giants duking it out.

Half a day later Liam approached the riverside yet again, but this time he was rather relaxed as the two giants were now calmly having a chat. That looked weird and Liam had to cough to clear away the discomfort.

Unfortunately, he couldn't get rid of the discomfort once he glanced at the surrounding. The small clearing where the fight had started was not so small anymore. There were wood fragments everywhere. The giant boulders were now mere rocks. The soil had been dug out and half the river was flowing in a different path. The river had an island in the middle of it and it even had a single tree on it, which had miraculously survived the encounter as many others didn't.

"So? Have you two become friends or something?" Liam asked as he approached the two, one was lounging in the middle of the mess while the other was only showing one of his eyes.

"I don't think it has reached that extent," Nio answered him.

"Definitely not!" There was a slight revulsion in Biff's voice, which Nio seemed to ignore.

"Come closer! We were discussing you and Biff wanted to have a closer look at you again."

"I heard, that's why I come," Liam answered as he felt Haru beside him. She was wary of the one in the water and wanted to stay close to Liam. Just in case she needed to pull him out of a dangerous situation. She was, after all, the fastest and most silent creature on the planet.

"Huh? Why is a Black Menace trailing him?"

"I don't know, his entire existence seems to be shrouded in mystery," Nio droned in exhaustion. "You have no fucking clue what stands behind him or ... above him. You can feel it right?"

"Yeah! Whatever it is, it only belongs to him. I feel as if I tried, it would smite me."

"That's probably true, but there is one exception among the humans on this planet and that one seems to be somewhere down this river. Is there any settlement if I continue down the river?"

"A few, but why do I have this weird urge to protect you?" a confused question comes from the water.

"I have that too, I don't understand that either."

"Ugh? Realy? I thought only the Avatars had that?" Liam rubbed his face and thought, 'I need to learn how to conceal that part of myself.' he added that to his ever elongating to-do list.