A stifled scream was heard from the young man, as he covered his bloodied face with his hands. As he composed himself, a maniacal laugh escaped his throat.
"Damn it, so this is my power.!.! It's..... insanity, but why does it hurt so much.!.!"
He continued to laugh as he looked up into the sky. Infront of him layed the lifeless body of a man he hadn't known but was forced to take the life of, because of cruel circumstances. All for the path of power to be opened before him, his own, and that of the world, everything and everyone, belonged to him.
---
The world around was covered in darkness, the sounds were low and muffled, it was cold, and the air seemed none existent. But the reasoning was simple, there was no air, at least not here... in the depths of a beautiful and great lake.
The moment his eyes opened, they were assaulted by the cold water, he gasped at the pressure, causing his lungs to be filled. He quickly grasped his throat as he violently jerked and thrashed around, his consciousness was waning, already giving in to an inevitable demise.
Here in the depths of a lake, no one could save him, they wouldn't even know he was there, dying in its cold embrace, forever resting in its heart.
All he could do was struggle under the weight of the water as his body greedily invited it in, his vibrant eyes flickered violently as his body struggled to adapt and overcome the situation, but it was all for not, and soon he would be nothing more than a motionless body falling deeper and deeper into it's stomach.
There were no thoughts circling his mind, only pain and water, and soon even those things felt like nothing more than a forgotten memory, leaving his mind as he finally lost consciousness, and floated in the endless darkness.
---
In that same lake, there seemed to be one other person swimming through its depths, although this person seemed to be faring far better and had adapted to the gruesome situation she had found herself in much quicker.
Floating through that same endless darkness, Lamia opened her eyes to a powerful assault of water, flowing into them. She closed them tightly as the burn began to spread, and quickly covered her mouth, before she could gasp from the pain. She floated aimlessly as she tried to assess the situation, her surroundings had changed in the blink of an eye without warning, where she once stood before a young newly awakened, was now nothing but a seemingly bottomless pit of deep dark water.
She had no inkling as to why or how she had found herself here but she knew one thing she must not have been alone. She wasn't alone before, and was resting and gaining her strength in the soul of another and yet that person was nowhere to be found, at least it seemed that way, but she knew he had to be somewhere close. Why?? The answer was simple, if she had really been transported somewhere without him, her soul would've simply re-entered her own body, which was no where near any source of water, but was still deep in that hellish cell, rotting away, guarded by angels of high status.
Gathering her thoughts, and coming to that conclusion she knew she had three tasks two complete. The first was to quickly escape the water, to catch her breath. The second was to find and possibly save the poor bastard whom refused her help, if need be. And lastly to save herself from these depths and find some form of solid ground.
With those tasks in mind, Lamia quickly readjusted herself in the water and tried to remain as motionless as possible, she closed her eyes, and stretched her senses as far and as wide as they would go in her current state, which she quickly found was much weaker than it should've been, but she had an inkling as to why that was the case.
In a matter of seconds she found a space far beneath her that was void of the deep pressure she felt around her, it was the surface. But far above her, she could feel it, at the very edge of her senses, there was something moving violently in the water, its life force growing terribly weak by the second, it was him.
She quickly spun herself around and aimed downward towards the surface of the water, her strides were deep and fast, she knew if she wasted even a second, not just her own life but his, would be lost.
Moving with tremendous speed she finally made it to the surface and continued as hard as she could, reaching for refreshing relief of air. But the world was too cruel to her in that moment because the moment her hand touched the surface of the water it fold it towards her, allowing her to crash into it and bounce back down, like a ball hitting a wall.
She looked up momentarily confused, moving closer to it, she reached her hand out and touched it. The water wouldn't let her leave, it was as if a barrier had been placed over it, forever trapping her, and yet she could see, so clearly, the raging storm on the otherside.
She banged on the surface of the water, but no matter how hard she tried, the invisible wall wouldn't open for her, even after using some of her essence to force her fist through the water, the wall stood there staring back at her as if she were nothing more than an insect.
She screamed out in frustration, but after realizing what she'd just done, she quickly covered her mouth, she would run out of air soon, and she'd only made it worse. Then a thought had entered her mind, there was someone else here, someone who had already began to run out, someone whom would possibly be dead in a matter of seconds if she didn't do something.
Using quick planning, she quickly flipped herself upside down and place her feet onto the surface of the water, she focused on not just her senses to try and locate the weak lifeforce, but she focused all of her strength and essence into the soles of her feet as well as the muscles in her legs, and using almost everything that she had she forcefully pushed off the wall and dived deeper into the abyss.
Although her range was limited, and her senses had yet to find him, at the rate she pierced through the depths, it wouldn't be long before she did. And sure enough, it had only taken a few seconds before her senses caught a glimpse of him at its very edge. Although her eyes were closed tightly shut, and the water was impossible to pierce with out some kind of special ability, she could see him very clearly through her senses, and what she saw made her body grow cold.
He was floating far below her, seemingly lifeless, or at least moments away from being so. His body had grown terribly weak, and she could feel her own losing out along with his. How long did she have before her power drained completely, how long before he was truly lifeless, and what would happen to her should that come to pass.?.?
Would she die as well, would her soul forever drift aimlessly beneath the barrier of this place, or would she return to the torturous life she had found herself in before he took her away.?.?
These thoughts plagued her mind, are she opened her eyes and effortlessly cut through the darkness, her eyes glowed darkly as their white radiance deepened into a grayish hue. Shapeless claws of aura formed themselves around the tips of her fingers, as she forced her hand out infront of her, twisted her body and began to spiral towards him, like a torpedo with her claws forming its head.
Her speed was nothing short of incredible, as she effortlessly tore through the water reaching him faster than any living being should be capable of. With the gap between them closing at tremendous speed, she reached her hands outward clawing at the water creating what seemed to be fissures in the water, as if she were cutting into the very atoms that made it.
She slowed herself down enough, in order to grab him without the risk of crushing his body and killing him on the spot. The moment she grabbed him she twisted in the water trying to slow their descent, then while holding onto him with one arm, she reached out the other and clawed at the water once more, this time she held on, creating what seemed to be an invisible spring, that inevitably shot them in the other direction, back towards the surface.
Although they were covering ground with amazing speeds, was it fast enough, would she be able to make it in time, her eyes had already reverted back into their normal blue color, and her claws had to be reverted back into essence in order to preserve her strength, but was it enough to save her, to save the both of them. Even still what would happen once they reached the surface, would they even be let through the invisible wall that threatened to keep them there forever. All she could do was pray and hope by the grace of god that they would be able to make it out.
Mere seconds felt like hours as she cut through the water towards her savings grace, but soon enough her prayers were answered. Moments later she could finally see the grew light of the storm brewing above the surface.
Her muscles were tired and sore from the endless torment they had undergone in such a short amount of time but she persisted, using every ounce of her strength to swim towards the surface. Their speed had long since decreased, she was unable to keep it up, do to her low reserves, but her body refused to give in, not just yet not when salvation was just at arms length, and soon enough her efforts were rewarded as the surface parted ways for the two of them to cross over.
As if some higher power had watched her struggles and decided she should be awarded, the first gift she was granted, was the sight of land, far off into the distance.