Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 5-

Day: 1

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Corinna surfaced from the water. Coughing and gasping, she flailed her arms and legs frantically, treading water, keeping herself from drowning. She looked up at the sky and saw above her the portal from where she fell. A silhouette of a figure hung from a rope, bathed in light. The light flickered then faded, and the figure fell as the opening in the sky closed.

This was it. There was no turning back now.

Looking around, Corinna found herself in a world of darkness, only able to see a metre ahead of her once her eyes had adjusted. She hoped that there was land close by. Otherwise, she would die within a few minutes of arriving. Following the direction of the tide, Corinna swam to what she hoped was the shore. Fortunately, the wind had settled into a lulling stillness, granting her more control of her own movements.

'Everything will be okay', Corinna repeatedly told herself. She will find land, shelter and food. She knew that other people had survived in the Eternal Abyss from watching the publicised footage, so why couldn't she?

Something grabbed her ankle and pulled her down. Corinna kicked her leg, freeing herself momentarily, but she was soon dragged down again after she managed a small intake of air. She looked down at what was holding her captive, then screamed, swallowing a mouthful of black water. A corpse-like creature stared back at her, its skin peeling off of its face, cheeks sunken inwards, flesh stretched and moulting off into floating clumps, eyes white and diluted. Around the creature's ankle was a rope tied to a large rock, acting as a weight, preventing it from rising to the top.  

More of the creatures emerged, drifting closer and closer, their mangled hands of peeling flesh clawed at her skin and golden hair, mouths gaping open, revealing their rotten or missing teeth. Corinna kicked one of them in the face, its teeth breaking even from such a weak force, then kicked another that had grasped hold of her arm. Now having seen them long enough, Corinna recognised them to be water nymphs. They were feeble and frail creatures, only in numbers were they strong enough to hold her. She had to getaway.

She rose above the water to breathe, swimming towards her original destination. With the rock weights tied to their ankles, the water nymphs could not follow her, but there were others. The entirety of the seabed underneath the sky opening was inhabited by these creatures. And all of them wanted Corinna. She continued to swim forwards, gulping in short gasps of air whilst attempting to evade all attacks and assaults, then failing and being dragged down countlessly.

With the last of her energy diminished, her legs and arms weakened and her eyes closed, her body slowly drifted down into the black water, now belonging to those creatures.

*

The monster dived into the water and grabbed the young woman. Recovering from the shock of this sudden appearance, the water nymphs retreated back then snarled at it, groping at the blonde's unconscious body, attempting to reclaim her. Drawing a dagger from its belt, the monster sliced one of the creatures' throats, and another with its talons. They clawed at the monster's ankles, dragging it down with them to the ocean depths, down into darkness. Retaliating, once again, the monster hacked off the hands that clasped around its ankles so tightly. Knowing when to yield, when they were defeated, the water nymphs retreated as far back as the rock-weights would allow.

Pivoting around, the monster threatened the circle of creatures with its dagger, making sure its dominance had been realised, then kicked off from the seabed, propelling itself back above the water. Keeping the young woman's head remained above the water, the monster swam to shore, cradling her in its arms.

Dragging its wounded leg with jolted steps, the monster reached the coast, then laid the girl on the grey sand. It stared at her, at her white dress, at her freckled face and body, at her golden hair. Such a long time ago it was when the monster had last seen the sun. It tried to remember what exact colour it was. Was the sun as bright and as yellow as her hair? The monster took a step back, gazing up at the black sky that was void of light and of colour. It looked back at where the portal had been before, where it had almost escaped.  

This girl had prevented it from escaping, from freedom, from seeing the sun again. It may never remember what colour the sun was now because of her.

Because of her...

The monster stared at the young woman's unconscious body. It then looked down at the dagger in its hand.

Should it kill her?

Should it spare her?

Should it let her go?

Should it make her suffer?

The monster gazed longingly back at the sky, where the light had once shone, where freedom had closed on it, where the girl had caused it to suffer even longer in this rotting world of darkness.

After a moment of deliberation, the monster decided what to do.