The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 22 - That Explains a Lot

There's a really big trope in Hollywood that teaches people that if you're falling from a high place all you have to do is aim for the nearest body of water, keep your legs straight and Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt and you're safe and sound. In reality however, I have one word for that–

Bullshit.

Water, like most things in this world, doesn't like being hit at high speed, in fact it has the tendency to form the consistency of concrete if said thing is done. That's why people jump off bridges, they know it'll break them apart on impact, or injure them so severely they'll drown. Les Misérables is a perfect example, dude jumps into a river, dude goes splat. Olympic divers can only do it because they know how to land and even they can break bones and split skin if they're at the wrong angle. I've seen compilations on YouTube, it aint pretty.

However, it was the aid of those videos that meant that I knew to zip my body up in a straight line, so I hit the water like an arrow rather than a flailing mess of limbs, and without too much pain, only a stinging streak of brief agony racing up my sides. But now I had another problem, I was in water and I can't swim a yard, literally. Luckily for me however the high current was easily dragging me along for the ride, all I had to do was try and keep my head above the surface and avoid the underwater onslaught of sharp, pointy rocks that were intent on gouging slash after slash out of my skin.

I gasped for breath as I was dragged along the twisting river, water filling my mouth with every breath, so I choked and spluttered. I felt like I was dying, my lungs felt like they were on fire and my heartbeat was pounding rapidly in my chest. I hadn't felt like this in a long time, and I didn't want it to end the same way it had done before. I closed my eyes and prayed for it to have just been a childhood panic attack, and not something much, much worse.

I opened my eyes and yelled out in shock as I saw a line of rocks blocking my path, sitting jagged and brutal looking above the surface, a fence between the worlds worst raging rapids ride and the seeming calm of the glassy river beyond. Only problem was that it was going to hurt to get there. I managed to brace for impact, but I still couldn't help but howl in pain as I felt a long gash open up on my arm and my head cracked against the hard surface so that the taste of copper coated my tongue. But I got through, but now I had a much bigger problem as I was now completely and figuratively up the creak without a paddle, or a life jacket in my case.

I frantically kicked my legs, forced my head above the surface and screamed "HELP! I can't swim! Somebody!" A wave of water rushed into my mouth and throat, leaving me choking and for one terrifying moment forcing my head beneath the waves. I tried to remember the techniques that swimmers used because my thrashing and flailing wasn't going to keep working in my favour for long. And no, my doggy paddle wasn't going to save my ass either.

The bank wasn't too far away, the current was still flowing, ripping me further down the river, away from safety and possibly away from Shadow and Sheira. Where the hell were they? I hadn't seen them at all since we jumped. Had they hurt themselves on the rocks? Had they climbed out already and I was just being dragged alone down the winding blue road with no hope of being pulled out? Another rush of water forced in way down my throat. I was already exhausted; my arms and legs were aching from the strain and my eyelids were getting alarmingly heavy.

I tried to wave my arms frantically to try and get some unseen person's attention, but there was no one there to see. My head dipped under the water for a few seconds again. The water was a horrible grey, so foggy and so lonely. I don't want to die down here. I treaded water to the best of my memory and frantically screamed out for help, waving my arms like a windmill while my legs felt like they were burning, my head was spinning, my lungs were on fire and–