31
My lungs fill with water as I scream into the dark, damning sea.
Cold stabs into my skin, stealing all my thoughts and strength as I try to swing my sword through the unforgiving water. The pins and needles shooting through me weaken my grip, and the creature’s thrashing rips the steel from my hands.
My fingernails dig into the slick skin of the tentacle wrapped around my waist as I kick and twist in a futile attempt to get free.
The creature’s grip only tightens, adding pressure to my chest that I can’t escape.
Their panic, my panic, mixes and collides in my soul with as much heaviness as the sea is pressing on my shoulders.
My hand stretches above me, reaching toward them and the last remaining ray of sun that cuts through the black abyss this beast is pulling me deeper into.
I attempt to comb through my despairing fright, find some power, find more strength, yet all I find is cold.
Everything is freezing but also scorching.
The salty water is searing my eyes that I can’t force shut. They search the darkness.
The cold shocks my nose as it rushes up my nostrils.
My chest burns as my lungs beg for breath.
I try to hold my arms up, keep fighting, keep clawing, but they become too heavy for me to hold.
A ripple of power pulses around me. The screech of the creature holding on to me is the only sound that pierces the deadly silence and my ears pop.
Another shock wave hits it, and it lets me go, but I sink.
I can’t move as my vision blurs, obscuring the dark shadow that swims above me.
My body convulses as my panic surges once again.
A massive eye rolls toward me. Its black pupil dilates as its bright, glowing white irises light up the darkness. The weight of its gaze tries to hold me still as I thrash against the tentacle coiling around me.
“Everything is okay, Thayla Godrun. You are in safe company now. Hold on.”
The soft, feminine, yet ancient voice impales my scrambling mind. I can’t slow my thoughts down enough to respond.
That wouldn’t matter anyway.
Faster than the wind cuts across land, this creature soars through the sea.
A weird, unfamiliar sensation zaps through me as I’m lifted up.
A gasp that nearly shreds my lungs to pieces rips out of me as I cough up water. I shiver as brisk air slams into my freezing wet skin, and my knees scrape across coarse rock. I don’t have the strength to hold myself up as I tumble to the side and my stomach revolts.
I throw up what feels like gallons of water and my body trembles with the aftereffect.
“The God of Discovery has requested your company, but rest assured, you are still safe. You may let your companions know. I will be back when I’m done helping.”
My head rolls to the side and I catch the quickest glimpse of pearly white skin sink back beneath the surface of the water.
“Wait,” I croak as my hand flops out toward her, but it’s pointless.
“V, Seismet, can you hear me?”
A frantic hoot crosses my mind and my eyes squint shut.
