6 Underwater

As soon as I jumped in I struggled to see the past the bubbles and noticed that the pool was even deeper than I thought. I wanted to swim forward as fast as I could, however, an overwhelmingly intense pain starting on my left side washed over me. Slowly, I allowed my body to float back up to the surface. Judging by the time passed I'm fairly confident the offspring will not enter for some reason. As I broke through the surface I quickly looked around expecting to see the menacing glares of the offspring. To my surprise, rather then looking at me menacingly they looked fearful.

Hmm. This isn't good, drawing on my experience from my past life I knew that they wouldn't be fearful for no reason. Most likely there is something in this pool that is much stronger than them. I looked beneath the water. I noticed there was something glowing further down allowing me to see about 30 meters down into the pool despite the darkness of the cavern. I looked all around and couldn't find any kind of creature. Still, something must be scaring the offspring. I decided it's best to wait and see if the offspring move away after a while. As an added bonus I don't think I could swim anyway.

For a while I just let my body float on top. Occasionally I would have to kick to keep myself in the middle of the pool because the offspring would still try to bite me if I got too close to shore. I floated there for what seemed like hours waiting for the pain to recede. I need to get essence soon. So far I've been lucky and haven't torn a muscle. Most of the pain is coming from from cramps, soreness from sudden exertion, and a bruise on my left arm from blocking the offspring earlier. Most of the pain fades with time or at least decreases to a manageable level.

After recovering, I decided I would try to find another way out because with my grain being ruined after being in the water my sources of food were limited. Also, who knows how long the offspring might stay here.

In the end, the pool was my only way forward. If a creature is in this pool, but I can't see it, there must be underwater tunnels. I took a deep breath and dove underwater. I kept my eyes open trying to spot any tunnels or any danger. After diving about 15 meters I saw a tunnel to my left. It was fairly large about 8 meters in diameter. I quickly swam towards it. I knew I wasn't in the best condition so i needed to find another source of air quickly.

I went into to the tunnel and continued moving forward using what appeared to be glowing algae to see my way. I had gone another 15 meters in the tunnel. My eyes began to sting and I could feel my lungs burning due to lack of oxygen. I knew if I turned back now I could get back before I passed out, but would I have the strength to get this far again? Determined, I pushed forward. After about another 10 meters I could see the tunnel start to angle up.

Oh thank god! I hope this leads out my lungs started to burn even more. Frantically I swam forward desperate to make it before my strength failed me.

I swam furiously, finally, I could see a glossy rippling barrier above me, I knew that meant there was air. Struggling with my tired sore muscles, stinging eyes, and burning lungs I finally broke through the surface.

"HHHHUUUUHHHHH" I inhaled a huge mouthful of air. Panting, catching my breath as the burning in my lungs slowly subsided. I eased over to the shore and pulled myself out of the water. Collapsing, I laid there just letting the feeling of being alive wash over me. Maybe having come back from death made me braver than before. I would never have done something so risky in my past life. I always chose to play it safe. Things can be different now, I don't have to live the meaningless life I did before, always at the mercy of others. I don't know why I was given a second chance but, I swear I will make the most of it.

I began to look over my belongings. My kodachi was strapped to my right hip and my knapsack strapped to my left. I opened the knapsack finding a sloshy grain like mess. Uh, you would think they would have given us a resealable package for the grain. The grain and meat were ruined, I didn't know what was in the water and didn't want to risk consuming food that had been soaked in it. The picture of me and Brad was completely unrecognizable. After emptying the knapsack out the only usable items I still had was my plastic I.D, the bottle of water, my dad's broken watch, and the pocketknife Mike gave me. Other than that I had completely soaked clothes and boots as well as my kodachi and it's sheathe.

This is a problem, I need to find a source of heat and a food source, or I need to leave this cavern soon. With the dampness down here I will probably never dry out. While I could find and kill more offspring eating the meat raw for food, I'd really rather not.

For now, my best option is to continue to move forward. I took a 30 min break to return to the best condition I could. Afterwords, I gathered my things and looked around me to see what my options were. The pool seemed to come out against the cavern wall and the cavern extended into the darkness opposite of it. I headed into the darkness. I stayed vigilant, there was no guarantee that I was out of danger and I still hadn't seen any evidence for why the offspring would be scared. I didn't want to get surprised again, that was how I ended up in this condition.

I walked forward slowly, this cavern was different from the one with stalagmites, it had a flat floor and the ceiling was higher than I could see in the dark. As I continued forward I could start to see the walls coming together on my sides. Eventually, I got to another tunnel about ten meters wide. At least it wasn't a dead end, all my efforts would have been in vain.

I continued treading lightly through the tunnel, trying to make as little sound as possible. After a couple of minutes walking I could see the slope start to angle up. Hope sprouted in my chest!

Maybe, just maybe, this leads to a way out. As I climbed further I got more excited, it took me a week to get out of here before, if I could be out on the first day losing my food and being soaked was totally worth it. Others wouldn't, but I know what plants were safe to eat in Agartha. As long as I can get out of here I'll be fine.

As I got further along in the tunnel I felt a subtle breeze blow by. Yes!! Now I know an exit must be nearby. Finally, I saw the tunnel widen into a large cavern filled with stalagmites. Light from the opposite end of the cavern illuminating the area.

As I looked further into the cavern I noticed something large wound between the stalagmites. Suddenly my entire body went cold as ice.

It felt like the hand of death had gripped my heart.

This can't be possible, I was so close.