Secret Route's keyword: Valkyrie

Viewing Death

61.

The moment the wind blows is the moment Lofty Quartz feels lighter. It is not to the sense of himself being blown away by the wind. It is to the feeling of losing some...one.

Lofty is acutely aware of the loss of hands holding on his arm. Turning around to check, he is stupified by the sight.

A whole mass of land has disappeared, breaking and falling to the sea below, along with the young woman behind him.

Seeing the hand that is stretched out towards him, seeing the shock of that person falling, Lofty immediately tries to grasp that hand, but to no avail.

They are now too far apart.

A scream from behind him reminds Lofty that the person in front of him is not screaming. She doesn't scream to ask for someone to save her. She is only staring, with a hand outstretched, trying to hold on something but can only keep on falling.

What is on Lofty's mind, when he jumps after that person, is to hold that hand.

Lie Cogent. She is the one who offered a hand to him. That hand... Lofty has promised himself, he will always hold it.

It might be a foolish thing to do, jumping after Lie unprepared like this. However, Lofty does not bother to think much about it. The important thing is to hold that hand. The rest will follow through.

Lie hits the water without preparation, Lofty can see it. Frowning to himself, Lofty inhales deeply and prepares himself to hold his breath. He quickly joins Lie to go underwater. Unlike Lie who keeps falling, Lofty immediately manoeuvres himself to swim to Lie's side to pull her up.

When Lofty finally manages to hold her outstretched hand, he feels relieved to have finally done something right. However, his feeling changes soon enough from what he sees as he pulls Lie closer to him, so he can take them both to the surface.

Lie has hit one of the many broken giant rubbles from her fall. The back of her head is bleeding.

Feeling cold inside, Lofty uses a hand to cover the back of Lie's head as he hurriedly swims to the surface so they can breathe first; because it is their priority right now.

When he reached Lie earlier, he saw her looking at him. Now, as he tucks Lie's face on his chest to stop her inhaling more seawater through her nose for a short period of time, Lofty has no idea whether Lie is still conscious.

She is not moving.

Lofty is terrified.

Once they break to the surface, Lofty immediately catches his breath. After which, he checks for Lie's condition. Lie...doesn't look well. Her head is still bleeding. Her eyes are closed. She looks pale.

Biting his lips in uncertainty, because he knows there is a proper procedure he has to go through, Lofty tries to help Lie breathe. Lie is not breathing by herself. It genuinely worries him.

While still floating, it's getting harder to keep themselves up---Lofty needs to go ashore soon, Lofty tries to use his strength to push the water Lie inhaled out. When it is not wholly successful, Lofty does his best to give cardiopulmonary resuscitation/CPR.

After several tries to make Lie breathe while also keep them above the water, Lofty feels a headache caused by his own lack of oxygen. It is not good. He can't keep this up for too long. But... There is no land that he can see around them.

It seems like, when Lofty didn't fight the waves, they have been swept too far away from that place once a cliff existed.

Are they going to sink then?