Hexa shifted some of her weight over the edge of the cliff as she stared down to the water. The stone surface crumbled under her weight and little rocks fell down with a tiny plop. No sound of them hitting the bottom followed.
The ground under her feet disappeared. A loud scream escaped her lungs as she fell down before dove headfirst into the cold water with the first instinct to swim. But she couldn't. Panic replaced the certainty of her theory as she realized she had ended up in deep water without the ability to swim her way out.
She struggled underwater, already running out of the last breath she didn't take properly. She was supposed to wake up before she would need to swim. Why hasn't she women up yet? What if she drowned? Would she wake up?
She breathed the water in. Her lungs burned. She continued to sink to the bottom, unable to resist gravity. But is the pain actually real? Is drowning real? Either way, the pain was going to end and she was going to wake up at the hospital or home.
But if everything she had experienced turned out to be real, that would mean she had left behind everyone she had loved. At least she would finally get to see her mother again.
The water felt so real that the once happy memory, of Aatos pouring water on Hexa and laughing when she said not to, became the ugly truth. Her vision blurred even more. Only the sound of the filled her ears when she could no longer move.
Maya ran towards the direction of the scream she heard earlier. She eventally found her way to the shore. She looked around her, trying to find Hexa. She was sure the scream came from there, and was determined to find Hexa. Then she ran deeper into the water, not bothered by her soaked clothes as she held her breath and looked underwater.
Everything was blurry under the water, but Maya's gaze found the vibrant purple color of Hexa's hair quickly. She swam to her and tried to pull her up, but Hexa attempted to fight it. She didn't recognize what Maya was trying to do through the blur, arms and legs thrashing in panic.
Maya arose from the water to take a new breath, then quickly dove back down. She wrapped an arm around Hexa's shoulders and swam them both towards the surface. Hexa kept kicking her.
Geez. She's going to drown usboth, Maya thought.
When they broke the surface, Hexa coughed and struggled to breathe. Maya brought her closer to the shore, equally angry and terrified. Hexa collapsed onto the sand, coughing violently. Water spilled out of her mouth until the her breathing finally eased.
"What were you thinking?" Maya asked.
"I was trying to wake up," Hexa responded. Her voice cracked.
Is she really that far gone? Maya frowned.
Maya tensed. But she wasn't looking at Hexa. She was looking at something behind Hexa.
"We need to go," Maya muttered.
Hexa shook her head and looked behind herself. The slender silhouette in black robes already stood behind her. The same one from the cursed island that killed Aatos.
"I'm getting the others. Come with me," Maya told her.
"Don't. I'm not going anywhere," Hexa replied.
Maya turned towards the forest. "Just don't trust that thing. The Embercaller is not known for its honesty," she said before leaving.
Hexa's jaw tightened. She turned towards the creature behind her and looked up. She wasn't sure where she was supposed to look. Its hood cast a shadow over its whole face, leaving no eyes visible to meet.
The Embercaller lifted its hand that seemed to be made of something not entirely human. The dark material seemed to shift in place as it moved, the matter casting small black sparks like flames.
"You wanted to wake up," it immediately pointed out.