The Elementals of Edgewood

Chapter One

Everything around him was blue. Different shades, variations in light. He was submerged. Beneath him, the blue faded into a deep black.

He floated down towards the darkness. Every limb felt light, his head and mind weightless. The gentle tug of the tide poured the silk water across his body.

Above him, sunlight streamed through the surface, strobes of light illuminating the surrounding blue.

He was calm.

Somehow, he could. His lungs were impossibly comfortable without air. He was aware of his surroundings, yet completely calm. Closing his eyes, he felt the caress of the soft water.

But something changed.

The water around him felt suddenly cold. A shiver uprooted goosebumps all over his skin.

He opened his eyes to see the sun had gone behind a cloud, and the blue around him had been casted in it's shadow. He could sense that something wasn't right.

Suddenly, a rumbling, groaning noise protruded from under him, in the depths of the darkness. It's volume made the water shudder around him, his eardrums rattling. He slammed his hands against the side of his head.

Fear rose within him at the thought of whatever made the noise. It wasn't human. He squinted against the infinite darkness, trying to make out any images of what was beneath him.

Then he saw them.

To his right, deep under him- the darkness gave away no sense of how far- were two, small, almond-shaped eyes. Their bold colour reminded him of a bush fire, a palette of stormy orange. But what made his stomach churn was the determination in them, the power, as they locked onto his floating figure.

"I'm going to get you, George." The words rumbled and echoed in the water, a husky, heavy voice.

Fear coursed through his veins. He had to get out of there, out of the water, away from the eyes.

He looked up at the surface. If he could see where he was, maybe he could swim to shore, away from the creature. He frantically began swimming towards the sky, heart pounding.

But it wasn't getting any closer. No matter how hard he pushed his muscles, the surface stayed in the same place.

Something grabbed onto his ankle. He snapped his eyes down to see a scaly, ragged, claw clasped around his entire leg. He opened his mouth to scream, but only bubbles came out. He shook his leg ferociously in terror but the creature pulled him down into the darkness beneath him.

--

George woke up gasping for air, lungs aching. His bedsheets had tangled themselves around his legs, sticky against his hot and clammy skin. Adrenaline and fear surged through his chest, as he rapidly scanned his surroundings.

He was in his bed, in his room. Not an ocean in sight. His shoulders slumped in relief, head flopping back onto the pillow. He felt a throbbing in his right leg, where the creature grabbed him.

George had been having the same dream for the past week. Every night, he was floating in an ocean of calm, before being dragged into it's depths by a creature with amber eyes.

Every night he woke up in a panicked mess, pain in his leg evidence that somehow his dream...wasn't a dream.

He screwed his eyes shut, pressing his palms into their sockets to try and rid the imprinted image of two orange slits. Eventually, they faded, replaced by a twinkling on the back of his eyelids.

George sat up, running a hand through his damp, blonde curls. Exhaustion overwhelmed him.
He hadn't slept through a night all week.

He walked across the room to his desk, pulled open the drawer, and took out a blank piece of paper. He'd been drawing what he saw in his dreams, trying to figure out what they meant and what the creature was.