Blood and Water | Neteyam

Stopped Clocks and Final Declarations ∼ 33

Time seemed to freeze completely as Neteyam plummeted through the air. He still couldn't quite comprehend that he wasn't clutching to the net any longer and he felt as if he was outside of his body, watching himself fall through the air in slow motion. He was reaching towards the net as if he was still able to reach it, though from where he was, it felt a thousand klicks away, so far above in the distance, rapidly growing further away and impossible to get to. His eyes were widened in panic and his brain was screaming at him that this was completely wrong, that some mistake must have been made, that nothing was right.

Neteyam plunged into the water, the force of the impact sending shockwaves through his body. His lungs involuntarily expelled all the air as he sank deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. A sick desire to sink to the bottom and never resurface flashed through his mind. Perhaps it would wake him from this nightmare, back to a reality where Tcelia was safe and sound back at the reef. Because surely this couldn't be real life. Eywa couldn't be that cruel.

Alarm set in as he struggled to regain his senses. Him dying wouldn't save Tcelia. He tried to swim towards the surface, but his body felt heavy and unresponsive. Neteyam's mind raced with fear as he fought to regain control of his body. His muscles felt weak and uncoordinated, and he struggled to swim upwards towards the surface of the water.

He could feel the panic rising within him, threatening to overwhelm him completely. But then, a faint voice in the back of his mind reminded him that he was a warrior, trained to face danger and adversity head-on, to persist even when everything looked bleak and hopeless. With a fierce determination, he forced himself to focus, to fight against the overwhelming panic and fear that threatened to consume him.

Slowly, steadily, he began to swim upwards, using all his strength and willpower to propel himself towards the surface. He could feel the cool water rushing past him, the pressure in his ears building as he ascended. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he broke through the surface of the water, gasping for air. The sun beat down on his face, and he blinked, disoriented, trying to get his bearings.

Looking around, he realized how lucky he had been that no one had noticed him falling from the net. The ship was dangerously close to him, no further than a hundred meters away, and the smaller, much faster boat had already made great distance between the larger ship and itself. Something twisted in Neteyam's stomach as he realized that the smaller boat was heading straight for the tulkun herd. But for now, he could only think about one thing: Tcelia.

He quickly dove beneath the surface once again, so that he would go undetected, and called upon an ilu, praying that they hadn't all taken off and fled back to the reef. He squinted, looking around in the water and almost expelled a sigh of relief as he saw a long figure gliding through the water towards him. Neteyam recognized the ilu that approached him immediately. It was Etwin, the ilu Tcelia had bonded with on their first week here and had seemed to prefer her to everyone else ever since. He stroked the ilu as it reached him and Etwin twisted her neck, exposing her queue to Neteyam, almost as if encouraging him to form tsaheylu with her.

As he formed the bond, grasping onto the handle on Etwin's back, something exploded in the water further away, causing a horrible, painful throbbing to ring through Neteyam and Etwin's ears. Neteyam flinched, gritting his teeth, as the noise seemed to pierce through his brain, destroying all his thoughts, his vision turning red with pain. For a moment, he forgot about the terror of falling and the agony of losing Tcelia, his brain unable to construct any meaning behind anything other than pain. Etwin squealed, jerking to the surface to get her ears above the water and Neteyam tightened his grip on the strap by instinct. As they broke the surface, the relief of silence came instantly, the thrum slowly ebbing away. Neteyam shook his head, clearing it and looked over to where the explosion had come from.