The hand yanked me down so fast my ears felt like they were going to explode. The water hit my face and chest like ice, like.... knives.
I couldn't even kick right because whatever had me was dragging me like I weighed nothing at all. My lungs burned, really burned, that kind of panic burn where your body starts screaming before your brain does. I tried to shout but all I did was swallow more water and choke on it.
I twisted my wrist, fighting to pull free but the grip wasn't human. It was icy, hard, thin, almost like bone wrapped in skin, and panic shot through me so sharp it made my head spin.
I forced my eyes open even though the water stung like hell. Everything below me was pitch-black except for this faint glow around the thing holding me. It wasn't the guardian, it wasn't Kael. It was smaller, way thinner, and completely, absolutely wrong.
Its eyes glowed blue-white, two needles of light cutting through the dark water. It wasn't swimming, it wasn't even moving its legs, the water just… obeyed it.
I tried to yell "LET GO," but it came out as a pathetic muffled choke.
The creature didn't stop. It just stared at me, and its voice slid into my head again, sharper this time, like claws scratching the inside of my skull: "The ritual wakes, you wake with it."
I thrashed harder, kicking, clawing at its wrist, at its face, anything, but its skin was smooth and cold like polished stone. My fingers couldn't get a grip on anything.
Then a shape shot past us above, it was blur but careful look….. It was Kael.
He dove straight down, slicing through the water like this wasn't even new to him. His eyes found mine, wide and terrified.
Kael never looked terrified.
He pushed toward me fast, but the creature yanked me downward harder, almost like it was mocking him. My lungs were screaming now. The pressure around my ribs tightened till it hurt to even think. I tried to push upward, but everything was blurring and darkening at the edges.
The creature hissed in my mind again: "She belongs to the blood."
I kicked it so hard, right in the face. It jerked back, but it wasn't enough to let go, but enough to throw its focus off. Kael slammed into it immediately, punching underwater like he didn't care if it barely worked.
The creature hissed so violently the water around us rippled.
Kael grabbed me and shoved me upward. "GO—!"
Before he finished, the creature clamped onto his ankle and dragged him back down.
I reached for him but the current tore me away, sucking me into a narrow water tunnel so strong I couldn't fight it. I spun, my limbs slamming against the rock.
"KAEL!"
It didn't matter, no one could hear underwater but still screamed his name.
Kael fought...God!!!!!. He fought but bubbles were exploding from his mouth as he punched again and again. The creature twisted, reshaping into something else, its limbs stretching too long, its face bending into something wolf-like but wrong, so wrong it made my stomach roll.
Kael's movements slowed. One jerk..., two. But he was running out of air.
I reached for him as the current pulled me away, but all my efforts were useless.
The tunnel ripped me down the passage, spinning me like a leaf in a storm.
The last thing I saw was Kael disappearing into the dark while that creature wrapped itself around him and dragged him deeper.
I screamed underwater until my throat burned.
The current slammed me into stone, flipping me again and again. I hit a wall, and the pain... omg, it exploded and I gasped by instinct, stupid awful instinct.
The harder I tried to get a hold of myself, more water was rushing into my lungs, and my vision became white and blur. I couldn't see anything at that moment.
My fingers touched something, it felt like an opening. A crack in the rock and I could feel AIR leaking through it.
I shoved myself through, scraping my shoulders raw. The tunnel spat me out into another underground pool.
I broke the surface with a gasp so violent that it hurt. I coughed, hacking up half the lake, my lungs seizing and my arms were shaking.
I dragged myself onto a cold stone floor and just lay there, breathing like every inhale was a fight.
Then I heard footsteps. Fast footsteps coming straight towards me. I rolled into my side trying to see who it was.
It was Selene. She was soaked in water, walking towards me as blood covered her lips.
"Elara!!!!!, thank God. Where is Kael?!"
I shook my head, barely getting the words out between coughs. "Something took him… something pulled him…"
"What thing?" she demanded, gripping my shoulders.
"I don't know," I gasped. "It knew my name. It….it talked, inside my head…"
Selene's face changed instantly, not in annoyance nor sarcasm but fear….., real fear.
"That's impossible," she whispered.
"I didn't imagine it," I snapped, voice cracking.
"I didn't say you did," she muttered quickly, helping me sit up. "But if that thing is awake… then Victor is not in control anymore."
My stomach twisted hard. "Where are the others? Riven? Victor?"
Selene swallowed. "Victor's still up there, Riven's alive but he's hurt but he is in a very bad state."
My heartbeat stuttered. "Kael…"
"We'll get him," she said fast, like she needed to believe it. "We're not letting him die."
A low growl echoed from deeper in the cavern. That wasn't the guardian, not Riven and neither was it Victor. We didn't know what it is.
Selene froze. "Damn it… it followed you."
Cold slid down my spine. "Selene… what followed me?"
She didn't answer.
She stepped in front of me and pulled me behind her, bracing herself as a shape crawled out of the dark. It looked thin, its limb was long as it was dripping wet.
Its glowing eyes locked on me like I was the only thing in the world worth noticing.
Then the voice hit my mind again, sharp enough to make me flinch: "You cannot break what you were born to complete."
I couldn't breathe again as the creature stepped closer
Selene whispered as she was still staring ahead, "Elara… run."