Chapter 23 Lore
TWENTY-THREE
Lore
A TORRENT OF icy water surged over my head, its chill biting into my skin like a thousand needles. Or perhaps those were teeth.
Dear gods. Did the tentacles have actual teeth in them? What kind of monster lived in my brain to dream up something like that?
Those horrific arm-sized tentacles coiled tightly around my middle, constricting my lungs so hard I couldn’t breathe, let alone scream.
And now was very much a time for screaming.
This was my absolute worst fear come to life. If I allowed myself to think about it, to sink into that fear, I would lose.
I thrashed and writhed in a frantic attempt to break free, but each movement only caused the creature’s hold to tighten further.
I might as well be trapped in an iron vise, its grasp was that secure.
I barely managed to gulp down a final breath before I was dragged beneath the surface. The icy grip of the ocean tightened around me almost as hard as the creature’s tentacles did. Soon I was struggling against both forces.
The monster’s slick, sinewy body cut through the water, pulling me in an endless downward plunge.
The deeper we went, the colder it got.
My muscles seized up and my lungs burned with the desperate need for air.
I clawed at the tentacle, my fingernails barely breaking the strange surface of its skin. Some areas had scales; some reminded me of a whale.
And every part when combined was terrifyingly alien.
My lungs burned with desperation, each second underwater stretching into an eternity. If I didn’t get air soon, I was going to drown.
I had no sassy quips, no books or tropes to compare it to.
Only a growing terror that my life was coming to a violent ending.
This had veered wildly off course from the original story, so I had no idea what would come next. But being on the water, knowing how much I feared drowning, I should have known the dark book would pluck that from the deepest recesses of my mind and toy with me.
It was too late for if onlys.
Now was the time to come up with an exit strategy from this terrible death ride on my own.
I did not want to go out with a whimper, but fighting the monster wasn’t getting me anywhere except winded faster.
Bubbles escaped my lips, spiraling upward in a frantic dance toward the surface that seemed now to be impossibly distant.
Dear gods. I was seconds away from complete and utter panic.
I had taken a slim dagger from the pirates’ stash, but it was in an ankle sheath I couldn’t reach. That option out, I focused on the next.
I tried to latch onto my magic, thinking I might be able to twist the story enough to give me an advantage without leaving the prince.
Maybe I could dream up a mask or set of gills to breathe underwater.
Or even imagine the monster as a fierce, sassy guppy. Instead of whatever peculiar amalgamation this serpent-unicorn-octopus from hell was.
Obviously, this was another nightmare creature from this realm that was only inspired by the original story.
But as I finally felt my powers awaken, I couldn’t go through with it.
If I accidentally shifted to a new story, then I’d be leaving Sloth in the middle of a stormy sea with a monster.
He was confident he’d track me, but he’d need to get out of this situation first. And then what if he couldn’t find me?
It was a gamble I refused to take.
I hoped my decision didn’t come back to haunt me, but something about this moment, this choice, felt like the true test. Would I leave him behind to save myself? Or would I fight for us both?
My mind raced with any other ideas. If there was ever a time to step into some epic main character energy, this was my moment.
But the only thing epic about it was how hard I was failing. Stupid adventure stories and the unrealistic expectations they set.
The pressure mounted around my ears, and the dim light above faded into an inky darkness. Death loomed closer. This was worse than any nightmare I’d ever had about drowning.
Even if I broke free, I’d have to hold my breath for several moments to reach the surface.
My airways felt like lava.
I remembered the time when I was little, the time my fear began. I’d been with my family on the beach; Fable was collecting polished glass with our mother. And my father and I were walking in the water, kicking at the waves.
Every Sunday after we’d visited the library and had come home to cook as a family, we’d venture out to the beach and take an evening walk. It was one of my favorite childhood memories. That Sunday had been different, though; there’d been a storm blowing in, making the sea churn.
One small wave knocked my feet out from under me, and while I wasn’t ripped out to sea, my father couldn’t get to me right away.
It had felt like this. Like my lungs were heaving and my heart might burst.
Panic sank its claws in deep. I wanted to survive.
I thrashed against the monster’s impossible grip, and the icy water pressed against my lungs, urging me to kick harder toward the distant surface.
Fear like I’d never known consumed me.
I was going to die.
And the prince… He said we both needed to survive, or he’d die too.
A surge of desperation had me fighting harder, battling the monster with my bare hands.
I would not go down quietly.
I would curse this realm and the Book of Nightmares and the cruel goddess with my last breath. I would never lose hope. And that had to be what this test was centered on—trying to take my hope from me. I would never give that up.
Ever. I would rather die than lose myself to hopelessness.
Suddenly, a brilliant streak of light sliced through the murky depths, illuminating the shadowy expanse of water around me.
It moved too swiftly for me to make out what it was, but the monster wasn’t happy with this new development. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had just passed the test.
The creature’s massive jaws parted, unleashing a deafening roar that sent harsh ripples coursing through the water.
The sound was so intense that it reverberated along the ocean floor, causing schools of fish to scatter in panicked swirls and the seaweed to sway in turbulent waves. Salt stung my eyes as I blinked rapidly, trying to focus.
And there he was, my prince of icy rage.
He’d come for me. His blond hair was a radiant beacon, slicing through the endless dark water like a golden blade.
He looked like an angel of vengeance, a celestial warrior descending into the abyss with a singular purpose. To free the heroine from the monsters he’d slay.
Just like the heroes in my stories.
Now I couldn’t tell if it was the water stinging my eyes or the sudden prickle of tears. Sloth would hate being called a hero.
But neither one of us had given up hope. I knew with certainty that was the crux of this test. Now we just needed to survive.
As he grew closer, I noticed the ice-cold fury etched into his handsome features. He’d never looked more beautiful or more terrifying.
The prince plunged through the water, his form cutting through the darkness with determination. His dagger glowed like a shard of starlight clenched tightly in his fist as he aimed for the sea monster.
With a swift, forceful strike, he slashed at the tentacle that was coiled around me, squeezing the air from my chest.
Though the creature’s hold remained impossible for me to break, a stronger flicker of hope ignited inside me.
I was not alone.
Somehow, with my valiant sidekick here, this seemed less impossible.
I kept my attention locked on the prince but continued to wriggle, hoping with two of us, the monster might lose some of its focus.
All I needed was to get my hips free; then I could kick myself to the surface.
Instead of attacking the monster like I had been doing, I pushed myself against the tentacle like it was a small window I was attempting to squeeze out of.
I managed to gain a few inches.
The creature let loose another roar.
Sloth propelled himself through the water with powerful strokes, determination on his face as he closed the distance between himself and the monster.
His fist connected with the beast’s slick body, sending a tremor through the water. Instead of letting go, the creature’s grip tightened around me, its scales suddenly slicing into my palms like it had activated armor.
I gasped involuntarily, the last bubbles of air escaping from me.
In a blur of motion, the prince was suddenly in front of me, his eyes intense and focused. His hands cradled my face, and before I could comprehend what he was doing, his lips met mine, not in a tender caress but with a sense of urgency.
It wasn’t a kiss of passion but of necessity, a desperate act to save my life.
I parted my lips, feeling the warmth of his breath as he forced life-giving air into my lungs.
He drew back slightly, his gaze tracing every contour of my face, as if he was committing each detail to memory.
Then, without hesitation, he kicked up through the water, swimming toward the monster’s massive head, his dagger gleaming in his clenched fist.
The creature’s horn lashed out with deadly speed, inches away from striking him, but he twisted his body just in time to evade the lethal attack.
He surged forward again, his muscles straining as he launched himself faster through the water.
On the next pass, he crashed into the back of the serpent’s head and reached around, driving the dagger deep into its eye.
The sea monster’s tentacles finally loosened their grip, and I tore myself free, my heart pounding as I kicked desperately, slicing through the water, trying to distance myself from the creature’s writhing form.
The belt and little pouch I’d secured the phoenix tear in were still in place and I thanked whatever god was looking out for me that it hadn’t been lost in the attack.
I paused, squinting through the murky water, horrified to see the prince still fighting valiantly, his dagger flashing as he slashed at the beast’s other eye.
He was using himself as a distraction to give me a chance to escape.
I wanted to scream at him. Didn’t he realize the damned hero always died?
A pang of fear twisted within me, urging me to stay, but his eyes locked onto mine, silently begging me to go.
Against every instinct screaming inside me, I spun around and swam toward the surface, my legs and lungs burning with the effort.
I hesitated only once, glancing back over my shoulder.
Sloth was now wound up in one of the tentacles, but his expression was anything but defeated. He looked like he was exactly where he wanted to be.
My heart pounded wildly, a deep, unfamiliar terror clawing at my insides.
I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him.
Why the hells wasn’t he trying to escape?
Before I could grab my own blade from my ankle sheath and swim to him, the beast yanked him downward, vanishing with my selfless, idiotic prince ensnared in its death grip.
“No!” I let out a garbled scream, draining the last of my breath, but I didn’t care. I was no longer terrified of drowning. Something far more powerful gripped me as I searched for the prince.
I plunged deeper into the inky water, the coldness enveloping me.
Sloth and the monster were nowhere in sight; they’d been completely swallowed by the darkness.
I pushed myself forward, my arms slicing through the water with desperation, but my lungs burned for air, and I had to propel myself upward, breaking the surface, gasping for breath.
As I bobbed on the waves, a hollow ache spread through my chest, as if I had left a piece of my soul behind in the sea. And then, as if it knew the perfect time to strike, the Liber Noctem showed me another horrid vision.
I wanted to scream at the dark book, but suddenly, I wasn’t just on the water; I was watching from some higher land while someone thrashed in the water.
In my vision, I had no emotion. Nothing but a dark sense of pleasure as I watched the man struggle for breath.
His pain amused me. But only slightly. As if whatever had taken control of me had long since lost the ability to truly feel much of anything.
I shuddered at the thought of being so empty, hollow. Void of emotion. Void of all hope of finding something better.
Just as suddenly as the vision appeared, the book released me and I was thrust back into the middle of the ocean.
I bobbed around, disoriented for only a beat. Sloth was still missing.
I kicked through the water with all my strength, my limbs aching as I plunged beneath the surface time and time again.
He’d chosen to go with the monster. And I couldn’t understand why.
My eyes stung from the salt, scanning frantically for any glimpse of them. But the ocean stretched vast and empty around me.
The ship was gone, the pirates either dead or too far away for me to see, and the frigid water wrapped around my body like icy chains, each second more punishing than the last. Still, I couldn’t abandon him, not like this.
Whatever his plan, whatever his motive, he should have surfaced by now.
My heart hammered as I gulped another breath and submerged once more, driven by the refusal to accept that he might truly be lost forever.
Eventually, my body shook too hard, and I risked hypothermia again.
I had to stop searching.
As much as leaving without him felt like I was tearing out my own heart, I refused to let his sacrifice be for nothing by dying.
He would be highly annoyed.
I could picture him storming the gates of the Great Beyond just to throttle my soul. Or maybe he’d battle the Underworld god himself to take me back just to torment me with an entire encyclopedia of reasons why I made the wrong move.
Anything was possible when it came to my favorite sociopath.
I spotted a smudge of darkness in the distance and used the last of my strength to get there.
Maybe Sloth had already swum ashore.
It was the little lies we told ourselves that could do the most damage. But I kept telling myself he was okay, he was waiting for me, we’d find each other and our adventure would continue. If he wasn’t there… I couldn’t finish the thought.
So I swam, one agonizing stroke at a time, focusing on that little spark of hope in my chest, and prayed it wouldn’t betray me.