Xerephon always had a choice. He could always turn back. But if he was determined to seek out the tidal island, it was best to do it now, while the tide was still low. In a few hours, surely, the tide was going to roll in again and make the island inaccessible for those unwilling to swim the distance (which should include Xerephon for as long as he continues to wear metal armour).
This was going to be a long walk on the beach, and at first it was a little boring, since nothing in particular was moving. But then that in itself started to become a point of suspicion. There were no birds flying over this part of the beach, or any other animals in sight. It was too quiet.
Then, Xerephon caught movement in the corner of his eye. Behind some rocks on his left-hand side, something was scuttling about, as if trying to stay hidden from view. Then in front of him, something else moved quickly between two large boulders. It was small, like the size of a dog, maybe.
Then as the gladiator's eyes scanned over the various rocks in his field of vision they abruptly picked up a camouflaged shape nestled among them.
It was some kind of crustacean or giant insect, roughly the shape of a scorpion, but lacking any claws or discernable features such as eyes or a mouth. Its tail had no stinger, either. It was just some freakish type of monster. And it wasn't the only one on this beach.
As soon as the creature realized it had been discovered, it perked up immediately, rising up on its six legs into a threatening stance. It hissed angrily, and then flicked its tail up and down. The strangely-shaped front of the creature rose up from the ground, revealing a large vagina-like mouth along the ventral side of its body, and it spat a wad of wet sand directly at Xerephon. The earthen projectile had been packed together and hardened by some kind of resin, so that it flew through the air like a dart, striking hard against Xerephon's breastplate. The sand packet disintegrated immediately as soon as it struck the solid steel, but the force of the impact carried through into Xerephon's chest as if he had been hit by a baseball at 80 mph.
The creature immediately scuttled away behind a boulder after spitting its wad. But at the same time, more hissing was heard, coming from the rocks to the left of Xerephon, and another boulder to the right of him, and the old warrior's peripheral vision tracked the movement of two similar creatures scuttling into position to attack his flanks.