1 Just Keep Breathing

Don't panic.

Just keep breathing.

Let the energy flow freely through yourself and the grid.

Hali Nullean kept repeating those sentences over and over as she swam her way through the tunnel of water. It seemed as if it was never ending, although she knew eventually it had to.

According to Professor Aristo, the

tunnel would dump her somewhere outside the City of Beldon, plenty far enough away from her brother, Charles, and his men. Hali had no idea how long it would take to reach the end so she conserved her energy as much as possible. She didn't want to breathe too heavily, and deplete her oxygen supply by tiring out in the never ending shadows.

The real question wasn't whether Hali would escape this tunnel or not. It was a question of whether she would swim or be dragged out sleepy by the current; A question of would she be alive by the end of the tunnel.

The necklace she always wore glowed when it was submerged in water. However, it gave very little light to these tunnels that hadn't seen light for years. Hali kept her weaker arm, the left one, stretched in front of her to feel the walls as there were multiple twists and turns. Somehow she only managed to bonk her head twice against the relatively smooth walls.

Every time the pressure in Hali's lungs started to get uncomfortable, she briefly closed her eyes to connect to the energy grid. She released the stale air she had trapped in her lungs, and waved her fingers in front of her nose and

mouth to pull the water apart in one smooth movement. A bubble of air formed

in front of her, and she gulped it down as she kicked through it.

She measured time by the amount of breaths she took. Just after breath two hundred thirty nine, something pushed past her foot. Hali squeaked out a mouthful of precious bubbles, and jerked away from what had touched her.

Her imagination spun tales about what could be hidden in the depths surrounding her, and she started to panic.

She'd heard stories as a child of a snake that used to terrorize the castle. To kill it, water elementalists filled the old catacombs with water. It's said that it actually survived its attempted drowning and still lives down here, feeding off the poor souls who get thrown in the catacombs as punishment for treason.

It couldn't be true...could it? Hali thought as she pressed herself against the tunnel wall, waiting. She clasped her hand over the charm on her necklace, stiffeling what little light she had. Maybe whatever it was had been drawn to the dim light her necklace gave off.

Large aquatic snakes were uncommon in Beldon, but not unheard of. She didn't dare move the water around her to create another air pocket and fill her lungs with much needed oxygen. She'd read once that many water creatures could sense the water shifting around them, especially ones that lived in the dark and didn't depend on their eyes for hunting.

The water in front of Hali's face moved, tickling her eyelashes, just as something rough raked her shoulder. It darted away quickly after it made contact.

In less than a second, Hali closed her eyes and connected with the cold liquid surrounding her body. She felt the energy the water created as it swirled around her, and rolled off the creature in the dark.

She placed her hands in front of her as if she were opening a drawer with

two sideways handles, and pulled them back swiftly as she clenched her fists. The water between her fingers froze into deadly spikes protruding from between her knuckles like claws.

There was movement to her left, and Hali slashed out with her ice claws as something spiraled through the water toward her. She cut the creature along its side and heard a muffled screech, akin to the noises the orcas make

off her city's coast, as it swam off into the dark depths behind her.

Hali stayed motionless for a few seconds before melting her ice claws back into water, and creating a large air bubble in front of her face that shrunk with every breath in. She let herself float for a few minutes and breathed normally for the first time in what felt like forever. She had to be getting close to the end. She just had to

be.

With new determination, fueled by the hopeful proximity of the exit and the fear of the creature coming back, Hali started swimming again.

It was about ten breaths later when she felt the water shift strangely behind her. She spun around just as something long and rough wrapped itself around her legs and torso. It bent its serpent like body so that Hali folded in on

herself, and the next thing she knew, Hali was slamming against the tunnel wall. She felt the water stir to her right as the thing twisted its body in a loop and came back for another strike.

Hali swooped her hands in front of her, creating a strong current along her body. The creature swam straight into it, and was thrown off balance as the current carried it about ten feet from Hali. It took it all of five seconds to

right itself and corkscrew back towards her through the water. It hit Hali square in the stomach with a hard head, causing her to release what little breath she had stored in her lungs.

Sparks danced in the edges of Hali's vision from lack of air and probably mostly from smashing her head into the wall. The creature accomplished another loop in the small tunnel, and came back at her to finish her off. She

managed to move her hands in a wave and sent it spinning into the darkness from the direction it first came.

Hali desperately kicked her feet in a spiral motion, mimicking the way the water flowed around the creature which was using it's tail to propel its body forward through the water. She felt her body soar through the water at a higher speed than she'd anticipated, and took off in the opposite direction from the creature.

All of a sudden, the water separated from Hali as she fell downwards. She'd picked up enough speed from the spiral kick to shoot from the opening of the cave, covered by a glistening waterfall, and landed further out.

Hali's eyes were closed as she splashed noisily into the pool. She sunk down deep,

before finding enough strength to push off the floor and towards the light shining above her.

Hali breathed in deeply as she

reached the surface, relishing the freshness of air created by the surrounding

evergreens. She gazed around herself for a moment, letting her eyes get used to the light being casted by the full moon.

The shore was close, and filled with the tiny pink and brown rocks Beldon was known for. Hali's hands and knees sank a half inch into the wet sand, as she crawled from the water, exhausted. She flipped onto her back and lay there, looking up at the sky.

She knew she needed to move, at least into the cover of the trees, but her muscles needed a moment. She let them relax as she sucked in deep breaths of pine and wet rocks. Finally, she stood on her wobbly legs and looked down at her boots as she took her first step. Water squelched in between her toes and she quickly shucked her shoes and socks off.

She stood with her feet shoulder width apart, and clenched her fists over the boots. Hali's

hands lifted and with them, the water that had soaked into her belongings did as

well. Little droplets floated in the air as if someone had stopped time during a

rain shower. Hali flung them to the side with a wave of her hand.

She steam dried her clothes by heating up the water in them, and in doing so also warmed her body. Then Hali put her shoes and socks back on. The socks were slightly stale from the water under the castle grounds, and if she was being honest, kind of crunchy.

Who am I to complain though? She thought. She

was lucky she had the socks to begin with, let alone the shoes. If her professor hadn't given her them, she'd still be in her night gown and silk slippers. She shivered at the thought.

Hali looked at the waterfall she'd just fallen out of, and tried to see beyond it to her home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Crystal Castle's spires. She knew her brother was there, Probably alerted to her absence by now. She could just imagine him pacing through the halls, his icy blond hair falling into his eyes. Everyone had always said they looked alike and Hali was afraid next time she looked in the mirror she'd see him, or worse, their mother.

If it hadn't been for Professor Aristo, she'd be dead within the hour. Hali Lynn Nullean would be read off this morning, not in church alongside her mother's and father names, but next to a noose. Her brother, Charles, would sit in their father's throne and pretend to be king.

Hali frowned at the sky. Charles would NEVER be Hali's king.