Page 65 of Synodic

We were standing at the top of a giant waterfall, and it was only now that I felt the water showering against my skin.

I stole a quick glance at the raging ravine. So far down.

Rowen turned to me, his eyes piercing with panic and adrenaline. “We have to jump,” he yelled at me over the roaring of the water.

“We won’t make it. It’s too high.”

The beasts were a talon slash away, almost completely upon us, but the choices were clear: stand and fight with the odds against us, our bodies already exhausted, or jump.

I looked down at my empty hands. I must have left my blade in the body of the dead laith. Now only one of us had a weapon against the four. The odds were not good.

Rowen was right, we had to jump. It was the only option where we stood a chance, however small it was. Surviving a jump this high was slim to none, but I grabbed Rowen’s hand and nodded.

He looked me deep in the eyes as he clasped me back tightly, his free hand grasping his ax.

The laiths closed in, their salivating tongues slithering out of their mouths in anticipation for the spoils of not one body, but two, and all at once they leapt upon us.

24

I was falling.

Rapidly plunging through a wind tunnel that rushed all around me. The air whistled past so fast I couldn’t see or hear anything. All I knew was Rowen’s hand holding mine in a vise grip.

My stomach lodged in my throat as I awaited the concrete impact. I tried to angle my body, knowing it would help me slice through the water more easily, giving me a chance. If there even was one at all.

I braced myself for the collision, catching a blur of white in my periphery, but nothing could have prepared me for the frigid waves that crashed into my body as I hit the water. I shattered through the surface, my body fragmenting into a million tiny pieces as I plunged deeper and deeper into the bubbled abyss.

Water burned as it rushed into my eyes, ears, nose, and throat, drowning my senses. All except for one. Touch. I could still feel Rowen's hand in mine, squeezing so tight the bones in my hand ground together.

I kicked and pumped my legs through the water, hoping I was pushing toward the surface and not just deeper into the void. My lungs were on fire, I needed to breathe, but the waterfall relentlessly churned me in its swirling ball of foam.

Rowen kicked alongside me, pulling at my arm as we warred uselessly against the elemental force.

On the verge of convulsions, I finally broke the surface. One sweet breath of air was all I was granted before I was dragged back beneath the undertow.

A powerful surge of the water plowed against Rowen and me and pushed us into the river’s current, dragging us mercilessly along her raging whims. I could feel Rowen’s grip on me loosening, our fingers slowly slipping from each other’s grasps. I tried to hold him tighter, but it was just our fingertips clinging to one another’s now.

We fought to hold on, but the current was stronger than us both, and it ripped his hand from mine.

If I thought I was afraid before, I was now absolutely terrified swirling in the liquid darkness all on my own. I somersaulted in the water, head over feet as the waves thrashed and pummeled into me like I was a punching bag, bruising me deep.

With all the strength of a leaf in a tornado, I could do nothing but be carried along by the tumultuous waves that reduced me down to three simple words.

Kick. Fight. Breath.

It was my new life; repeated over and over again on a never-ending loop.

Kick. Fight. Breath.

Kick. Fight. Breath.

Lifetimes passed before the current finally slowed and I was able to retake control of my body. I barely managed a sloppy freestyle as I made my way to the bank, my arms and legs dragging with the weight of iron.

Kicking with my last ounce of energy, I stubbed my foot on something hard.

Ground.

Finally, solid ground.

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