Chapter 35. At Least I Kept My Glasses
They say drowning is peaceful at the end. A gentle surrender as your lungs fill with water, your mind drifting away into darkness.
That was untrue.
There's nothing peaceful about the way your body betrays you, fighting against itself in blind panic. The way your chest spasms, desperate to draw breath where there is none. The way water seeps into your ears, muffling everything until all you hear is your own thundering heartbeat and that horrible, hollow rushing sound.
The pressure crushed him from all sides, icy water forcing its way down his throat, his nose, into his lungs. His wrist throbbed where Helios had gripped it - probably broken, the bastard. The pain felt distant now, inconsequential against the burning in his chest.
Strange, how clear his thoughts were. Wasn't he supposed to be unconscious? The broken crystal's magic had torn them apart, scattered them through... wherever this was. Ocean? Lake? Did it matter?
Ah? There it was.
That peace they spoke of. As his consciousness began to slip away, the panic subsided, replaced by an almost gentle lethargy. For a moment, just a very little moment, it didn't feel so bad after all.
Maybe they were right, after all.
The darkness beckoned, promising rest. Release. Just let go...
What am I even thinking...
[Indomitable Will]
A pulse. Deep in his core.
Blue light rippled through his veins.
Again.
And again.
His mana transformed, crackling with desperate electricity. Every cell screaming to live.
There was so much he hadn't done. So many words unsaid. So many promises unkept.
Not like this. Not so soon.
The pulses came faster now. Each one stronger than the last, pure survival instinct converting his remaining mana into raw electric life force.
His heart stuttered. Then burned.
Neurons fired like lightning storms in his brain, adrenaline flooding every pathway. Muscles seized. Lungs spasmed.
Wake UP.
His body remembered what it meant to be alive. What it meant to breathe, to fight, to burn against the dying of the light.
Another pulse. Stronger. Brighter. Fury incarnate.
WAKE. UP.
[Using Iron Lungs]
[Fluid Control (100% capacity)]
His eyes snapped open, a scream tearing from his throat and echoing strangely through the water. Clarity was forced back into his mind, even as his body revolted against the impossible situation. He could think. He could move.
He could fight.
A faint glow pulsed somewhere above - or was it below? Direction had lost all meaning in this watery void. But it was light, and light meant hope. Surface or salvation, it didn't matter. Anything was better than drowning in this endless dark.
Something moved in the darkness behind him. The water rippled with its passage.
[PUSH]
The spell launched him through the water, his body cutting through the pressure like an arrow. The light grew brighter, closer. His lungs burned despite Iron Lungs' effect - the skill could only do so much. Spots danced at the edges of his vision.
The thing followed, faster now. He could feel the currents of its pursuit, the water churning in its wake.
Just a little further...
The water exploded around Adom as he burst through the surface, launching into open air. His body convulsed violently mid-flight, stomach heaving as water erupted from his mouth and nose. The sky spun sickeningly overhead, stars blurring into streaks of light. That first desperate gasp turned into wracking coughs that tore at his raw throat, each spasm sending needles of pain through his chest.
His lungs felt like they'd been scrubbed with glass. The electrical aftermath of his mana conversion left his muscles twitching and burning, nervous system still crackling with residual energy. The broken wrist screamed back to life as the adrenaline began to ebb.
Too much - it was all too much.
His stomach lurched again, expelling more water as he fought to stay conscious through the sensory overload.
The stars kept spinning. Or was he the one spinning? Direction seemed like a distant concept as his brain struggled to reorient itself after the near-death experience.
Then heard it through water filled ears. The sound of water below, something massive following his trajectory.
Adom managed to twist mid-air, liquid streaming from his clothes. His heart almost stopped again.
A fish. No - calling it just a fish would be like calling a dragon a lizard. Scales like polished obsidian gleamed in the moonless sky, each one larger than his palm. Its maw gaped wide enough to swallow a horse whole, rows of teeth glinting like daggers.
[Force Wave]
[Significant use of Mana reserve in one spell: -158]
The spell burst from his hands, the concussive blast catching the creature's snout. The impact thundered across the water's surface, sending Adom rocketing higher as the beast recoiled.
[Identify]
Great Carp
Level: 75 (in water) / 35 (out of water)
"hack -rp?!" The sound ripped from his abused throat, half-word half-gag, before the reality of his situation hit him - he was still airborne, and gravity wasn't known for its mercy.
[Levitate]
The spell sputtered and flickered, his mana control shaky from the trauma. A hoarse, broken scream tore from his throat as his stomach lurched at the height.
The carp crashed back into the dark water below, but Adom could barely focus on it - his vision swimming as he fought to maintain the spell through trembling limbs and violent coughing fits.
He veered wildly through the air, overcorrecting each tilt and spin, his fear of heights making every second an eternity. The shore seemed to drift and sway before his eyes. His concentration slipped, the spell faltering - dropping him several feet before he desperately caught himself again, bringing up another wave of nausea.
When he finally reached the shore, his landing was anything but graceful. The spell gave out entirely a few feet up, sending him tumbling and rolling across the ground. He ended up sprawled on his side, retching water, his broken wrist cradled against his chest and every muscle screaming in protest.
After several attempts, he managed to push himself to his hands and knees, immediately regretting it as the world tilted sideways. Water dripped from his hair and clothes, joining the puddle forming beneath him as he fought for each breath.
Adom retched again, bringing up the remains of this morning's breakfast - bits of half-dissolved pancake and bacon that now tasted like ash on his tongue.
Something felt... wrong. Different. The air tasted strange - too thick, too still. Where was he? Where were the others?
His head jerked up, survival instincts screaming despite his exhausted body. The movement sent the world spinning again, but what he saw through his blurred vision made his blood run cold.
The sky... that wasn't the night sky. No moon. No clouds. Just an endless expanse of deep, dark purple stretching overhead, dotted with stars that seemed too bright, too close. Stars that didn't move quite right.
His breathing quickened as he forced himself to look around, fighting against the tremors that still wracked his body. The shore he'd collapsed on was black sand, coarse and glittering with strange minerals. Behind him, dense vegetation loomed - trees too dark to be natural, their leaves seeming to absorb what little light reached them.
The far shore, if there was one, remained hidden in darkness, but the curved coastline suggested a lake rather than a sea or ocean. The water was wrong though. Too dark, too still. Like liquid obsidian stretching into infinity, broken only by the ripples from his emergence. No waves. No wind.
The surface tension seemed different somehow - he could see where water drops had fallen from his clothes, the way they sat atop the surface a moment too long before merging, as if the liquid were something thicker than water.