So, I Transmigrated Into The Heavenly Realm

7. Cold but Free

7

Dax was still trapped at the bottom of a mysterious and badly lit lake. 

Escape had seemed entirely impossible once he had been conscious enough to notice the shackles around his wrists and ankles but his attempts hadn't been for naught. Constantly wriggling around like a worm, had shaken the chains enough to unscrew one of the bolts anchoring him to the lake bed. 

Now, with a hand free he could reach to pull himself along one of the chains, aiming to undo the rest himself. Just as he had started this mission though, a loud scraping noise could be heard from below him and the three remaining bolts fell. The brass poles their shackles had been attached to sinking below the rocky bottom of the lake. 

'I hope they still have the receipt for those.' Dax thought to himself as the shackles still attached to him fell away, as if someone had just invisibly inserted the key. They too sank lazily through the water until he could no longer see them.

Limbs that were stiff and painful after being restrained so tightly, flapped around as Dax attempted to swim. Uncoordinated flailing was all he could manage to produce as tired and leaden as he felt, though that did not seem to matter as bubbles surrounded him. 

Bubbles that propelled him upwards towards the surface. 

 To freedom. 

Dax found himself rocketing up to the surface of the lake like a balloon full of air. 

Pain the coldness of the lake water had been able to mask thus far was seeping back into his consciousness. 

As his head popped out of the water and Dax sucked in several large gasps of air, he choked when his face dipped beneath the surface as he struggled to tread water. Every muscle in Dax's body was straining  in an attempt to reach the relative safety of the lake shore. The dark rocky pebbles of the shore seemed miles away. 

 All he wanted to do was sleep, his arms and legs were cramping from his previous fight against the chains and he was beginning to feel lightheaded.  Every flail of his limbs caused ripples on the surface, causing the bell suspended over it to ring continuously as each of them disturbed it. 

It's sound though soft and melodic, echoed in the enclosed space of the cave, becoming louder with each toll. It had reformed itself since the  explosion and now looked as if it had never cracked at all. Dax didn't really have either the time nor the energy to register this. Not drowning continued to be a greater guiding impulse right now and hopefully the sound would bring help. 

The last few meters of swimming, where the water was shallow enough that he had to actually support his own body weight felt like torture. Muscles burning after being unused for such a long time.

Grey sand slowly turned into gravel and then to pebbles as he made his way up the lake shore. It crunched underneath him, disturbed by his weight causing him to slip back towards the cold water. Once Dax was absolutely sure that he wouldn't drown if he laid down and passed out, his arms gave way and he flopped down onto the ground. 

The sharp points of the gravel dug into his legs and the uneven surface of the pebbles pressed uncomfortably against his ribs but he didn't care. He could only lay there gasping for air as his body was wracked with tremors and spasms. 

He'd heard people talk about 'manual breathing' before and as he laid there, having to spend absolutely every ounce of concentration to breathe right now, he finally understood what that meant.