I stole a deep breath and held it right before a wave crashed over my head, the texture lacking temperature and giving me pause once more.
This… doesn’t make any sense.
I should be wet. Cold.Shivering.
Yet… I felt… nothing.
It didn’t matter, because I was falling, looking up into a cloudy sky before water rushed over my head.
I could also see, almost as though that bubble around me acted as a magical shield.
My lips parted on a tentative breath, my mind fully prepared to cough. Except I didn’t imbibe water; I inhaled air.
Blinking, I glanced around, startled by the sea-like environment. Not only was there a strange source of light—which shouldn’t exist this far underwater—but I wasn’t alone.
Sea creatures,I marveled, eyeing the humanlike beasts with fish tails. Some of them reminded me of the sirens I’d come across in Ajax’s dungeon, but the others seemed different. They also appeared to be avoiding the vortex swirling around me, making them too far away for me to see their auras.
Still, I tried to spy any colors surrounding them.
Only for everything to go pitch black in a blink.
My eyes widened as a subtle glitter invaded my vision. No. Not glitter.Scales.
Is that a fucking water dragon?
I kicked my feet instinctually, wanting to get as far away from that thing as possible. Except there was nowhere for me to go, the whirlpool having too tight a grip on my form to allow me to escape.
Not that I even knew how.
I was trapped in this damn portal-like swirl, sinking lower and lower into the sea.
Am I going to hit the bottom?I wondered, looking down.How are there still glimmers of light around me?Now that the scaly creature had moved, some of the sunbeams trickled in from above. Yet I had to be at least fifty feet underwater by now with how fast I was sinking.
This… defies logic.
I should be drowning.
Yet this magic bubble was protecting me—apart from propelling me downward instead of upward, anyway.Where are we going?I asked it.Why are you yanking me to the bottom of this ocean?
Follow it, yes, that’s it,my mother replied, her words not making any sense. They were an echo in my head, whirling around in slow repetition, almost as though she were underwater with me and speaking through the waves.You’re doing so well, Cami. Keep going.
I frowned.What?Her praise suggested I was doing this somehow. But how?Why?
Darkness continued to ebb and flow, my surroundings murky and bright in sequence. Breathing felt labored, mostly because it was unnatural. Yet oxygen flowed without issue, my temperature remained regulated, and there were even some familiar scents around me.
The latter had my brow furrowing.
Hold on…
That… that shouldn’t be possible either. Hell,noneof this should be possible. But… that fragrance…
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, the aroma of minty aftershave mingling with pine needles infiltrating my senses.
Ajax,I recognized, my eyelashes fluttering once more as I looked around for the source. Only, I was still lost in this sea of perpetual darkness.
A dream,I thought.I must be dreaming.
Unless it was another trick of the mind.
