31. Drowning #2
He may as well have been swimming in tar. His arms and legs grew tired as he found himself sinking beneath the depth of the lake. He managed to rise up just enough to grab a breath before sinking again.
The flashback of his attack played on repeat, each time Kael’s contorted face grinning maniacally as he shoved him under the water. Aeden could have sworn a hand was pushing him under in the lake.
Whatever was happening, he knew he needed to get out of the water, before it was too late.
He couldn’t, though. No matter how hard he tried, is was as if something was pulling his legs. He didn’t know what to do. This was it. This was where he would meet his maker – at the bottom of a freezing-cold lake.
“ Aeden! ” Nyra’s voice reached him though the Weave. She was in a heightened state. “ Aeden, where are you? What’s happening? Aeden, talk to me! ”
Just hearing Nyra’s voice brought Aeden focus, if only for a few moments.
He tried to reach out to her through the Weave, but he took in more water.
He thrashed about as his lungs heaved, his legs aching.
He tried again, desperate, panicked, a looming sense of dread washing over him.
He wanted to reach her, but he couldn’t.
“ Aeden! ” Nyra reached out again, her words dimming like a dying flame. “ AEDEN! ”
Aeden kicked and clawed at the water until he had nothing left.
His movements slowed until he was suspended in the water, quite similar to when he had been inside the Weave.
When he looked up, he could see daylight some fifteen feet above, but around him was darkness.
The feeling of impending doom sank into his chest as he realised there was nothing he could do.
His heart raced, his body panicking as he slowly ran out of breath.
A silhouette appeared, swimming down towards him. He couldn’t tell who it was, but they were a competent swimmer given the speed at which they moved. They stopped for a moment, as if searching for Aeden, then swam deeper until they reached him.
Aeden reached out, desperate for any form of help. Whoever it was grabbed his wrist and yanked him upwards. They moved behind him and pushed back up to the surface, clinging on to Aeden’s chest .
When they broke through, Aeden let out a huge gasp of air as if it were the first time he had ever drawn breath. His arms and legs were still as his rescuer laid him on his back in the water.
“I’ve got you, buddy,” a male voice said. “I’ve got you.” His grip was like a vice as strong arms wrapped around Aeden’s chest.
Aeden recognised him, but it took him a moment in his near-drowned state to put a finger on it.
It was Lucien, a quiet student from the Guardian class.
They had a couple of classes together, but Aeden had never spoken to him.
One thing he did know was that Lucien was struggling to keep Aeden’s head out of the water as he desperately tried to keep the two of the afloat.
“Somebody help!” Lucien shouted. “Somebody help us!” The two of them bobbed above and below water as the student struggled to hold them both above the surface.
As Aeden looked up at the clear sky above them, he continued to take in deep breaths, a slight rasp in his lungs. He kicked his legs but was inadvertently making things harder for Lucien.
“Will you fucking stop!” Lucien scolded. “You’re going to drown both of us.”
An almighty splash came from behind them, and Aeden panicked.
Master Kato had warned them of creatures lurking in the water.
Was one nearby? Was he going to survive drowning, only to be eaten alive?
That would be just his luck. His brain was catastrophising everything, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Every scenario ran through his head apart from the one that was actually playing out .
“ Aeden ,” Nyra said, reaching out through the Weave once again, “ Aeden, I am here .”
“Holy shit,” Lucien said, “is that – is that your Aer-Kin?”
Aeden looked over his shoulder to find a large bulge in the water moving towards them at speed, like a wave was rushing towards them.
“ Grab hold of me ,” Nyra said.
“She wants us to grab hold of her,” Aeden said, his speech slow and pained.
Lucien rolled them both onto their sides as Nyra reached them, her slimline body moving through the water as if she was a sea creature herself. She dipped in and out of the water at incredible speed before diving under the water a few feet away from them.
Aeden felt her clatter into his legs as she pushed them both up out of the water, and he wrapped his arms around her neck as best he could. He checked on Lucien, who had managed to do the same. He lay flat against her bound wings, which were tucked back against her body.
“You came for me,” Aeden said. As he hugged the back of her neck that little bit tighter, the wet, rough scales scratched against his skin, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was he was with her.
“ I’ll always be here for you ,” she said as she began to swim them back to the shore.