The water sent set his hair on edge and sent a shiver through Lucas as he splashed into it. He could feel whatever was down there pulling at him like a fish being reeled on a line. Whatever it was, it must be divine. There was no other explanation for the desire he had to plunge down headfirst. He had to know what it was. He needed whatever it was. Brecken floated nervously next to him, clearly uncomfortable in the water.
"Okay, wrap your arms around me. This better work." Brecken shivered. He was obviously not confident with the plan. Lucas wrapped his arms around Brecken's neck and held a tight grip but did his best not to choke him. "Hold on, we are going to plummet like, well, a stone. On three. One."
"Two." Lucas's heart began to race.
"Three!" They both took a deep breath.
Lucas was pulled into the water at an alarming speed. His arms felt close to being ripped from his shoulders. The water rushed by him, filling every sense with noise and pressure. The air in his lungs immediately yearned to be let out and replaced. He opened his eyes to see nothing but darkness as they fell through pitch black. His ears popped under the pressure growing around him. A headache split his head in half.
Lucas looked down to see a light below them fill the water with a blue hue. He couldn't tell how long they had plunged through the water, but his lungs gasped for air. They hit the ground with a muted thud, burying Brecken to his knees in the mud. The source of the glow sat, unmoving, on a pedestal protruding from the muddy bottom, lighting up the ground around it. Stones of various sizes stuck out from around it. As Lucas swam to it, the shapes coming out of the mud became clearer. Thirty or so perfect stone statues of men resting forever at the bottom of the lake.
His body cried out for breath as his head started to feel light. Without time to look at the object, he snatched it up and swam back to Brecken. His mind began to race, doubt and panic creeping in. His body began to shake, and his hands started to ache. As he made it back to Brecken, the Eartheye turned to flesh, and he wrapped his arms around his chest. Head spinning, he projected every bit of energy he had upward.
His ears filled with rushing water again as they rushed upwards, as his vision filled with spots and stars. His lungs burned in his chest. He could feel his energy depleting by the second. Panic set in. He couldn't hold on to any one thought as his brain filled with a terrifying rush of emotion and terror. In the confusion he tried to focus on one thing. Getting them to the surface.
*
Lucas felt a sharp slap to his face. He sat up with a start, head swimming. "Where are we, who are...," he asked, blurred vision hiding the face of the man above him. After a few blinks Brecken's hard features became clearer. Concern marred his face as he shook with remnants of a coughing fit. Lucas coughed himself, water spewing from his mouth. Lake water was no better going out then it was coming in.
"We did it," he said as much to Brecken as himself, gasping between the words. "We did it Breck! We did something that you said was impossible! I told you we could...," a fit of coughs interrupted him. "I told you we could do it," he said a bit quieter.
"You barely made it. I had to drag you to the boat. Father always told me I had no business being in a boat or in water, and I can say now that he was very right. We need to get off this lake. The longer we stay the longer we risk being picked out by the King of All. Hurin and Grum are already at the shore. I saw them go into the tree line just as I caught my breath."
Lucas jumped with a thought. He held the object so tight that his knuckles were white. A perfectly shaped crystal prism sat in his hand, a faint blue emanating from it.
"What is that?" Brecken asked.
"I don't know. But I can feel it calling to me. I can feel my entire being craving it."
