Camiare: An Isekai

Chapter 31: Bloody Determination

Lufis POV

"LUFIS!!! ARE YOU CRAZY!!! I HOPE YOU CAN SWIM, BECAUSE I AM NOT DRAGGING YOUR BODY OUT OF THIS!" Edward screamed as we plunged into the mist.

"PLEASE DON'T SAY THAT. I JUST REMEMBERED I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWIM. I SHOULD BE ABLE TO DOGGY PADDLE, THOUGH."

"DID YOU NOT THINK THIS THROUGH??!! THAT SEEMS LIKE AN IMPORTANT DETAIL TO ME!"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW TALL THIS WATERFALL IS? I FEEL LIKE WE HAVE BEEN FALLING FOR A WHILE-"

My feet hit the cold water, and in seconds I am submerged. The sudden chilling shock of the water saps me of my energy, stealing my breath. I kick out with my arms and legs desperately as I try to swim towards the surface. The dark water swirls around me, trapping me, depriving me of the vital oxygen I need. My entire body is throbbing, and my lungs feel as though they've been set on fire. Slowly, black begins to seep in at the edge of my vision. My head is pounding, and every cell in my body is screaming for oxygen. I keep fighting until I feel like my head is about to explode, but I have to take a breath. So I do. For some reason it doesn't hurt like I thought it would; I'm not scared anymore, and it's almost peaceful. I begin to fall. I fall further and further into the darkness, until it threatens to swallow me whole. Something grabs on to me, but I can't register what it is. Then, ever so slowly, everything starts to fade away. Painfully, quietly. I didn't want to go out like this, but it was too hard to try to fight the dominating force of nature, so I simply let the darkness take over me.

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I sit up suddenly, sputtering and coughing up water. I roll over onto my hands and knees as my body coughs up the water in my lungs. Pain spikes through me as I place pressure on my knee, but I ignore it. I slowly place my hand over my chest, feeling my heartbeat, struggling to calm down. With one final cough I roll back over onto my back, breathing heavily.

After lying there for a moment, I struggle to sit up, my wet clothes making it a little difficult to detach myself from the rocky ground. I glance down at my injury to see a bloody wound scraped into the flesh of my knee. It's slowly oozing out blood and there's a bluish-purple bruise forming around it. I lightly press my index finger against the center of the scrape and suck in a sharp breath as the pain spirals all across my body.

"Let me help you with that." Edward mumbles as he gets up off the ground, his black hair splattered in wet clumps plastered to his head.

"Thanks for saving me." I say quietly as he kneels next to me, pulling out a wet handkerchief to begin wrapping it around my wound.

"I only did what any friend would do. Think of it as recompense from when you saved me earlier." I wince as the handkerchief turns a deep red, soaking up my blood.

"There you go. It is the best I can do right now. We need to get you back to the Sanctuary as soon as possible, so they can treat your wound before it gets infected." I slowly stand up, biting my lip to push past the black spots that start to contour the sides of my vision.

"How long have we been down here?" I ask, trying to see past the mist, only seeing the branches and rocks that have been washed ashore.

Edward rises to his feet. "I wasn't keeping count. I was preoccupied with resuscitating you." He looked out towards the waterfall, before turning back to face me. "If I had to guess, I would say about five minutes."

"So," I say as I lean against a tree as another wave of pain arcs through my body, "Do you know how to get back?"

Edward shakes his head. "The only way I see is to climb up is that mountain goat path, up the cliff over there." He says, pointing towards the jagged rock face. "However, you are in no condition to climb that." He lowered his head. "And I am not strong enough to carry you."