Gateways to Casselonia Vol1( Light Novel )

Chapter 3

The hand that was supposed to burst from below the surface of the lake, was immobilized in the blink of an eye only a centimeter away from reaching its goal.

Sorata had put himself in danger in order to save Mizuki from drowning, but ultimately the inexperience of deep diving caught up with Sorata, and he and Mizuki paid for it in the end.

Blub blub, blub blub

The faint sound of rising bubbles underwater made their way into Sorata's ears. His body was slowly emerging from a deep, dark abyss of murky water and clouds of sand.

Then suddenly, like being woken up by the sound of a loud alarm clock, his eyes opened and his entire body regained mobility. He started moving almost on instinct to the surface, limbs and torso moving everywhere hastingly like before. It was the last breath he had, and the surface was within reaching distance again. Sorata was closer than ever to breathing air once more, as he neared ever closer with increasing speed like a torpedo. The bubbles created from slicing through the water made a violent sounding rumble all around him. The light of the sun sunk so deep and shone so much brighter than before into the water, making it look like a heavenly omen calling out.

"Guhaaaaa!" Heavy gasps came out of Sorata's mouth, his head out of the water after a long, torturous ordeal without air.

Sorata's body being tossed around by incoming waves, which was a bit strange since the lake was calm at the time when he dove in. Occasionally, his head became buried under passing waves and it made it that much harder to stay afloat and focus his eyesight.

In the distance, Sorata could faintly make out an enormous towering shape and glowing light encircling around near the top of it. A loud roaring sound of water was coming from the same direction, but everything remained a hazy blur with water pouring down from his hair and the non-stop waves that mercilessly kept up their pace.

"I'm alive, I'm actually alive right now..." He couldn't believe he had just survived drowning. It was safe to assume though from the last thing Sorata saw, that he was without a doubt moments away from dying under water.

Then... he remembered why he was in there i the first place.

"Mizuki! Where's Mizuki!"

Right now, whatever was in the distance could wait for later, he couldn't afford to ponder over something else that could waste time. If Sorata was on the surface, that meant Mizuki could too. Left and right he turned his head, desperately looking for some sign of her. It didn't take long to find a clue. A few meters away hiding behind passing waves, Mizuki's body was spotted by Sorata floating unconsciously face up. The sight of the girl made Sorata's heart pound fast, the blood in his veins running faster, and his eyes locked on to her direction. "Mizuki!" Hopefully she was still alive and only unconscious, Sorata thought as he swam with all his might but there was a chance that she may be floating lifeless by now.

Sorata tried to not think of anything demoralizing, the idea of only him surviving and the girl he liked passing away tugged at his heart relentlessly.

"Please be alive, please be alive, please be alive, please be alive."

The same phrase replayed in his head as Sorata finally arrived beside Mizuki. He took hold of her in his arms desperately and put his left ear over her heart to hear any possible sign of life.

"I can't hear anything..." Murmuring under his breath, a few seconds passed and Sorata's hopes of Mizuki surviving along with him slowly slipped away.

Badump... badump...

Sorata breathed in a load of air into his mouth as he came to hear the quiet sounds of Mizuki's heart pumping underneath her chest. It was pumping very slowly which meant her heart rate was low and could be detrimental to her body just as much as if it were high. He went up to her face to see if she was breathing, and she was, but ever slowly and then put his hand on her stomach to see if it moved, and it did. She was alive, and the fact alone made Sorata smile although painfully because he had just gone through what seemed to be escaping from hell itself.