I didn’t realize I’d been screaming until I stopped. My lungs wore out, and my throat went bone-dry. The seconds of free fall continued, and they went on so long that the urge to scream vanished.
I fell for what felt like minutes, like an eternity, so long that the initial terror passed, and I just waited…waited for my body to hit the bottom and break.
And then, I struck cold water, instantly submerged, my feet hitting first and then my body sinking with a momentum sopowerful, I couldn’t push against it. I screamed on instinct, and then the water poured into my mouth and I started to choke.
My body finally slowed, and I strained my arms as I pulled myself to the surface, drowning at the same time, the water already in my lungs. If I wasn’t close to land, I might drown even if I made it to the surface. I stroked my arms and kicked, having no idea where the surface was in the pitch darkness. I behaved as if I was always just a foot away, so close, just within reach.
Then I finally broke the surface and gasped for breath, coughing and spitting out water, still having to tread water at the same time. My body shuddered as I spit out more water. When my throat was finally fully clear, I gasped for air for seconds, my lungs still devoid of enough of the air I needed to replenish what I’d lost.
I looked around for land, and that’s when I realized I could see.
I didn’t know what I was looking at, but I could make out a bulb of light somewhere on land, looking like a rose that hadn’t bloomed yet. It was aglow with such brilliance, illuminating the surface of the dark lake—and a structure in the distance.
I could see several buildings, which seemed to be constructed of stone and clay and thatch. A fence built of wood surrounded the encampment, but the gaps between the slats allowed me to make out few details.
I couldn’t see a person, but the territory must be inhabited by someone.
I searched for the closest section of shore and began to swim, anxious to get to land so I could take a full breath at rest, so I could take a second to process what had just happened and the next part of my exile.
I finally reached the edge and climbed up the bank before I collapsed there, tired from the swim, tired from the adrenaline that flushed through me. My heart continued to pound in my chest, so hard I could actually feel it. Sand stuck to my wet cheek as I lay there—and I felt the hand against my back.
He’d pushed me.
A man I’d considered family, a man my father had trusted,had fucking pushed me.
I rolled onto my back and looked up at the hole I’d fallen into—except I couldn’t see it. Above me was just a black abyss, endless and depthless. It was so high up that the light from the flower couldn’t even reach that far. “Fuck.”
I finally got to my feet and looked at the structure in the near distance. I’d fallen from the sky without food, water, or weapons, so my only choice was to make friends. But a warning burned in my heart because I had no idea what awaited me there. Would I find friend…or foe? I’d been a queen above, but I could easily be a slave down below. My royal name and privilege wouldn’t get me shit in a place like this—but I wouldn’t have ended up here in the first place if I actually mattered.
The gate started to open, fifteen feet high, and it slowly shifted to the side.
The vegetation was different down here from up above. The dirt had a blue tint to it, probably because it’d never been exposed to sunlight. The trees were straw-like and leathery rather than hearty like those on the surface. There were large gaps in between the vegetation, like growth was far sparser down here in these conditions.
I moved behind one of the trees to peer into the distance. Even with the light from their rose, I had a hard time making out details, my eyes still used to the full intensity of sunlight from the surface. But I could identify figures outfitted in black, moving across their compound as they prepared for something.
It was hard to see their features from this distance, especially when they were fully covered from head to toe, even wearing hoods over their heads. Distance was impossible to gauge in this new world. They seemed to have the height of humans, but perhaps that was a trick of the light.
Had they seen me?
Had they heard my screams?
Had they heard my body splash into the water?
Surely they must have.
In this new world without light and resources, I wouldn’t survive long. There was water from the lake, and hopefully there were fish too, so I might be able to fend for myself once I figured out how to catch something. But I was defenseless against predators without a sword.
I rose to my feet and stepped out of the tree line.
But then, someone grabbed me out of nowhere and yanked me down. “Do you have a death wish?” It was the deep voice of a man, and his grip was as vicious as his tone.
I gave a gasp and automatically tried to twist out of his grasp.
But he was so strong, it was like being surrounded by a snake. I couldn’t move my arm at all, couldn’t resist his strength. My eyes took him in, dressed in all black, a hood over his head to blendinto the darkness. With dark hair and eyes the color of the abyss I’d just fallen through, he looked like he was born of this place. “Who are you?”
He turned to the gate and assessed the situation. “They’re aware of you—which means they’re about to be aware of me.” He finally released my arm and moved away, farther back into the other trees. He disappeared from my eyes when he blended into the dark background.
I glanced back at the gate and saw something that made my skin crawl.
