Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 13 - AWAKE

I swam, the frigid water closing all around me without making me feel cold. I could feel the stinging sensation of it, but not the pain; my muscles didn't seize and it was not difficult to hold my breath.

I probably should only have been able to swim down a few feet, but I found myself gaining strength the further I dove, swimming becoming easier and easier. I came to understand something the closer I came to where I had thought the bell-tone was.

The bell-tone wasn't really here with me in the water. It could have been anywhere; it could have effortlessly appeared to me whenever it wanted rather than making me seek it. But it was the act of seeking it, of overcoming impossible odds and trials, which had made it available to me. In reaching this area, I had passed a test of sorts. A sense of vibrant harmony surrounded me, stopping me in my tracks and seeming to hold me in place underwater.

I saw the water dragon, as I had in my dreams, his enormous face right in front of me. His white eyes pierced through me, then began to glow, so bright it was hard to look at, but I was not able to turn away. The shining white light was suddenly overcome by luminous green, and the voice of the dragon quietly said, "Join me, and we can be victorious against your enemies. Take the strength of my claws, my teeth, and destroy them."

I must have accepted somehow, though I don't remember speaking or nodding. Only that the image disappeared, but the light continued to shine right through me, tearing me apart, stripping away everything but the very core of my self. And then every part of me suddenly burned with energy; there was a vivid sense of waking up, of suddenly being ten times more aware than I had been before.

Everything was so VIVID. I moved forward through the water and it was effortless; suddenly I was not a clumsy primate fighting liquid resistance, but a shadow in the water. Moving forward was as effortless as thought. Where before I had seen a dark, murky expanse of water, now I could peer for miles, gauging the quality of the waters, seeing shifting patches of colours. I spun in an effortless barrel roll; my new shape perfectly used to the water.

It was incredible. Every movement only seemed to take the smallest amount of energy; nothing could challenge or tire me. Along with the vivid intensity of everything I could sense around me, there was suddenly this overwhelming sense of CALM.

The stillness of the water was captivating as I continued to swim further. No one else was here but me, and that was as it should be. But...

A thought rose. Had there not been demons up on the shore above? I knew with sudden conviction that I had to go destroy them.

After that thought, there are some blank spots in my memory. I remember swimming, I remember climbing to the shore, and that's about it.

The only thing I remembered was standing on the shore, still deeply calm and deeply aware of everything around me. All fifteen or twenty demons, however many had been lurking there, were gone. I couldn't remember fighting them off or chasing them away; the information was just irrelevant. They no longer mattered.

The water creature had a mind that I can only describe as spacious. I was so used to always thinking, always paying attention to vague concerns in the back of my mind, constantly victim to the busyness of my own brain.

Now it was so different. The vibrant world so full of information did not scream at me, but ran like an undercurrent in my mind, calming me with the notion that the water was still and I was alone. And so long as there was nothing to worry about, I just didn't. My brain was blank. I stared out at the water, content to sit there for years if need be.

Among the things I did not think of, but simply accepted, was how much my shape had changed. There had been a sudden shift in scale, which should have staggered and confused me: from five foot six inches to looming fifteen feet above the water. My webbed claws, which grasped the edge of the wooden dock, seemed as normal as anything else. Had I cared to consider it, the body I now wore was identical to the creature I had seen in my dreams.