A Match of Ice and Fire

Chapter 4: Kaya

As it turns out, the drains might not be the best I've come up with...

I knew these waters would be cold. I've been swimming in them all my life. I knew I'd need to breathe at some point, which is why I'd left space for an air bubble round my head. I knew I'd be swimming with the tide, so in order to get out to sea, all I'd have to do is move with the current.
What I didn't account for were the turtle seals...

One minute, I'm cruising my way to freedom, through the city's underwater tunnel systems, the next a family of turtle seals comes hurtling round the bend, colliding with me head on, bursting my air bubble and sending me into a tail spin. By the time I'd realised what was happening, the turtle seals were gone, and it was already too late. I was being dragged into an underwater labyrinth I no longer had any way to breathe in.

Propelled by the current, I began to spin in sicking circles. Thrown against the tunnel walls with bone cracking brutality,  i think at one point I hit my head. It's impossible to tell. I try to orient myself. But it's no use, the current is picking up, and I can't slow down.

Panic kicks in the exact same moment the cold does. The deadly combination compounds against my ribcage, untill I'm tricked into making my first fatal mistake; breathing in. I start to drown.

All I can see are shades of blue. Dark and light, they flash before eyes, untill all I want to do is close them and give way to the sweet, sweet blackness.
In the back of my mind, however, I know, if give away to the temptation, I sign my own death warrant. I try to focus on the light, where the ice is thinnest. The blues are getting paler. I must be approaching the outer wall. I'm almost out. lunging for the surface, I reach a circle of white, Only to be met by a solid wall of ice.

The exit is sealed, and I can't escape. My lungs are are already full water, I open my mouth to scream, but of course, nothing comes out. No one's coming to help me. No one knows where I am. I try to bend the ice, but I can't focus. Claustrophobic black and purple spots bulge at the edges of my vision, and my thoughts begin to drift.

After all, if I drown here, I don't have to marry the Firelord. I don't even have to meet him. It's very tempting. Then agian, I realise, I could always just not marry the Firelord without having to drown myself. And right now, I much prefer option two.

So in one last desperate bid, before I lose conscienceness, I dig my hands into a crack in the ice and push...