Loyal Riptide

Part 2 Chapter 14

       The gushing water in the tunnels seemed to have died down a bit leaving Hizashi and the rest of the Aenon soldiers treading water under the water where no head space is present in the tunnels anymore. Her heart was racing with her eyes darting all over the place trying to find Dorian only to find soldiers and disarmed bombs. Why did she listen to him? He is gone now because she was too weak to hold up all the water, the crystal far too weak from lack of practice using it.

If only Yoko were still here she would have been able to hold up that crystal like an immovable boulder and save Dorian. Only that was dead, gone like Dorian if she doesn't find him soon. She ordered the Aenon soldiers that lingered in the tunnels to spread out and look for the human king not as some petty request but as a harsh order as West Gate couldn't afford to lose the entire monarchy. Soldiers began to swim out some going through the other flooded tunnels and the rest swimming out through the hole in the tunnels that led out to the ocean. 

She joined the team searching the tunnels and she kept swimming until the tunnels began to elevate and the water levels slowly but surely lessened after every stroke she took. Eventually she was able to walk on solid land with the compact dirt sinking beneath her booted feet. If anything if Dorian was washed away from the water it would have sent him all the way over here... Or one of the other endless tunnels. She quickened her pace, jogging through each tunnel hoping to hear the sounds of life.

After spending a good ten minutes searching she was met with a drop off where more ocean water was found. Except this time another hole in the tunnels was found in the that drop off. She figured that was how Taura managed to get out after placing the bombs without using the main entrance. She hopped into the drop off and swam near the bottom to see another layer of tunnels flooded with water, which she only assumed leads back to where she was at the first hole.

She swam out of the hole and gasped and her heart shattered. Dorian floated not far from the hole with his arm raised slightly as if he was trying so hard to make it to the surface before he lost oxygen. But it looked like he didn't make it in time. Hizashi grabbed the back of his shirt and swam frantically to the surface and launched themselves onto a beach with a hard thud on the sandy shore.

Dorian laid on his back motionless with his lips and finger tips purple and blue. Hizashi was breathing too fast and she didn't know what to do in this moment as she never had to try and recover someone from drowning as it was impossible for any of them to drown. She clenched her fists and brought them together and slammed them over his chest over and over again.

"Please... wake... up!" She pleaded with tears in her eyes and spoke between slamming her fists. She kept on striking his chest until her fists began to blister and she flopped over with a sob trying to catch her breath, but she can't. The tears was never ending with them falling down and staining her pants and the sand beneath her. How could she let this happen again? First Yoko then her father and now Dorian, all of them were gone and she was there during it all. Was she cursed? Was it all her fault?

She heard coughing and hacking ringing in her ears and she glanced over to see Dorian on his side trying to get the water out of his system. Hizashi came to his side and held him in a tight hug which he returned and rested his head back on her shoulder. "How did you get out?" She asked her voice only a whisper. "That hole you most likely found me in... I made that hole... Before I went under I used the Heart of the Fire to explode it open." He explained slowly through panted breaths. "Are the bombs--?" 

"Yes, they are all disarmed." Hizashi replied before he could finish. She heard him let out a long slow sigh, "can we just lay here a bit?" He asked and Hizashi complied, laying her back on the warm sandy beach under the rising sun.

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      Taura plunged Loyal Riptide at Asa who quickly sent her trident away and move out of the way before materializing it again before it hit the grass. Taura spun herself around to be met with Asa lunging onto her and sending her over the edge with vines between her blistering palms. Taura used the vines to prevent her and Asa from falling into the ocean and rammed Asa into the side of the cliff where was small ledge allowed her to stand up on.