Kidnapped to Another World

Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Night of Day 12 since entering the gnome's warren.

Dream state of the demon item box

After what seemed like a full minute of falling somehow we all splash into an underground lake...I think. How could I be sure? Or was it an open waterfront? The water is ice cold but somehow I manage to stay conscious. My body feels a bit numb. Somehow I kept the axe, but it was close. My near panic nearly made me drop it.

I'm lucky though. If I'd been holding it close to my body it would have hit me in the face on impact with the water from above. I think the only reason it didn't is because I had my arms above my head. As things happened it did barely graze my ear though. This is a classic example of something similar to not running with a sharp pencil or scissors that you learn when you are young.

It takes me a few minutes to swim back up to the top of the water. While desperately swimming upwards to what I think is most likely the top I have to be careful not to drop my weapon but it feels heavy as I pull my way up. In the end it's almost like I'm pulling a sack of rocks to the surface. I want to give up as my air stretches tight in my chest. We'd fallen for awhile and so we'd gone deep under the surface. I'm lucky that I remembered which way felt like it was up.

I'm lucky I didn't drop my weapon in the water. And it's hard to swim while holding one.

The others soon come to the top too. I think I got there after they did.

"Shun! Shun! Where are you?" I hear as my face and head break above the water. It took me a minute for my ears to clear so I could hear it as I sputter and desperately fight for air.

"Air..." I croak.

It takes me a minute to recognize which of the two the voice came from.

"He's over there!" Fox Girl calls out.

"Sunghee, Fox Girl can you swim?" I called out to be sure. I'm not sure if both of them can swim. It's rare that people can't but I have to be careful in assuming so.

I'm relieved when I hear Sunghee call back first, "I'm treading water. Weird though, I think this water tastes salty somehow." She saves her breath.

"Silly humans. Don't drink salt water. Fox people are born to fish while swimming as part of our instincts," Fox Girl also seems to be OK. Yep, she still has her pride so things must be OK.

I hear both of them are close to me, but maybe about thirty feet away. How did they land so far away from me in the water? Was that because of the box? It actually helped us not kill each other landing in the water but it was annoying because I couldn't tell where they were. We were less than five feet from each other when we started to fall. But it's hard to tell where they are since it's so dark.

That's another thing...why was it so freaking dark here?!

But then I have a bad feeling.

"The current! It's pulling us somewhere!" I said. More than seeing it I can feel it. It's like there's a strong undercurrent. I'm fighting just to stay where I was in the first place. It's not a fast current but it's a very solid deep flow.

"Stay there, I'm coming to get you guys," Fox says. "Just tread water!"

"Yeah, as if I had a choice," Sunghee says. "Something isn't right about this place."

The others are also alarmed, except for Fox Girl. I think she's desensitized to trouble and danger though so she doesn't count. Quickly we start to get closer to each other first. They both call out and I swim towards their voices. Not only are they getting closer, but they are both really afraid.