1 Drowned

Aturu Daniel; citizen of Wuxia.

Formally serving in the nation of wuxia's elite Black Mamba Special Unit, Military Division with a plethora of meritorious feats throughout his service.

He partook in the Global Special Forces Tournament, winning the honor of the deadliest individual combatant, and was acknowledged as "Eagle's Eye" due to his sniper skills.

In a certain special forces mission, a slight error was made; a delay in transmitted orders, and this led to the inevitable, horrible death of his comrades.

Riddled with guilt, Daniel chose to leave everything behind and then left the Black Mamba Special Forces Division.

After retiring, he vanished from the radar, and no one caught a whiff of any information about his whereabouts for a while.

Unfortunately, Daniel kept getting plagued by the nightmares of his comrade's horrible death, and as a result decided to leave the capital city and seek mental tranquility in a secluded backwater island in a remote countryside.

To rid himself of his nightmares, Daniel opted for a much more humble and mentally challenging job than his previous; choosing to become the island's only porcelain repairer.

Daniel chose this specific job because not only does it requires abnormal levels of patience and mental fortitude, but he also saw each piece of work as a representation of the broken mind he was hoping to repair.

On this day however, Daniel decided to go fishing on his boat as it was the last day of the week, and as such came to a stop a little off the other fishing islanders. 

However, three boiling hours later...

Daniel squinted slightly, causing drops of sweat to roll down his temples.

He had come in hopes of catching something grill worthy; however, it seems the heavens had determined he was the only thing worth grilling around.

Not only was the blood coursing through his vein hot, but he was also perspiring rain and buckets.

Ggrrr!

"Crap; if I don't catch something fast, I might have to trouble Gustav for some leftover salad and coconut juice left."

Daniel leaned over slightly, trying to ease his hunger pangs.

"Worst case scenario, I would have to make do with Lady's Betty's porridge once again."

Pprrr!

Upon mentioning Betty's porridge, Daniel's digestive system involuntarily rumbled in horror causing him to look back towards the shore in the distance; if there was previously one dire reason he needed to rush back to the shore, now he had two.

However, just as he was about to turn around;

Wrrrrr!

The sound of his fishing line, spinning out flooded his ears.

Rushing over to the source, Daniel saw his rod being thrashed around by whatever was caught on its hook.

Instinctively, his legs moves in swirling fashion, and in the blink of an eye, he had slipped past the swiveling rod and grabbed it by the base; however, just as he was about to gain control of the reel, the tug on the line suddenly vamped up another notch.

Wwrrrrrr!

The line began to spin so fast that specks of dust began to cloud over the reel. 

A grin tore the corner of Daniel's lips as he breathed out a relieved sigh; he was almost certain that whatever was on the hook was worth his hours of suffering.

"Took you long enough."

He muttered to himself before he grabbed the rod and began to wrestle with his catch.

"Hmph, the grill is over five miles away, why the need to struggle so much."

Daniel snorted as his catch began to move him around, almost causing him to lose his footing.

"Will you s-stop struggling; you're fighting a losing battle h-here."

Daniel tensed his biceps and calves, amped up his power output; however, just as he was about to viciously reel in the fish, the latter all the resistance on the reel suddenly vanished.

"Unh?!"

Daniel was momentarily caught off-guard but never stopped reeling, and it was only when his catch was halfway over that he realized something was wrong.

He didn't suddenly gain any sort of super strength, rather, it was his catch that was rushing over, heading toward him at full throttle.

However, just as it got within range; Daniel suddenly saw the water behind his catch begin to part ways with frightening momentum, as a large dorsal fin surfaced and submerged itself in a blink.

Daniel's eyes opened wide as he did a quick mental calculation based on what he was seeing.

Upon concluding, he realized that whatever was attached to that fin was definitely five times bigger than his catch whose size he had estimated based on their previous tug of war.

Considering the new development, Daniel quickly switched tactics and rushed back to his fishing rod, and with a vice-like grip, he yanked it over with renewed vigor and all the strength he could muster.

Shraa!!!

A massive, 3-meter-long salmon with about a meter girth suddenly erupted out of the water, carrying along with it, gallons upon gallons of water that exploded into the air like a geyser.

However, before he could marvel and salivate his catch, Daniel suddenly his core strength sway off-balance as his boat rocked left and right.

Then before his mind could register the source of the commotion, a massive jaw, so huge it could bite a minivan in half suddenly burst out of the water, heading towards his catch.

"Un-un. You will have to do the same amount of work I have done out here to get your own food."

Perhaps due to his three-hour long suffering, or his hunger pang, or even the fear of Lady's Betty's porridge, Daniel's first instinct urged him to protect his catch from being snatched away.

The moment that thought registered within his brain; Daniel suddenly waved his rod to the right, causing the massive fish which was more than three times the size of the salmon to miss the head of its target.

But despite all that, this massive 12-meter-long fish still managed to bite onto the salmon's tail using its weight and fall-momentum to shake it off the hook and into the water.

Boom! Boom! Splash!

The massive fish landed in the water sending gallons toward everything within the boat; however, for some mysterious reasons, by the time the water fell, there was no one on the boat.

However, just ten meters away from the boat, a fin abruptly surfaced from the water, parting the sea apart with insane speed, and attached to that fin was a human figure who seemed to not only be clinging for his dear life but also yelling something in the line of;

"Give me back my lunch, you twat!"

Apparently, it had taken Daniel just a couple of seconds to slip off his flops, grab his fishing net, and dive straight after them, despite the level of danger the predator which turned out to be a massive, energetic tuna represented.

Daniel dug his fingers into the tuna's gills as he began to yank the salmon from its mouth.

"Give it here!"

He yelled one last time as he gathered all the strength in his body and viciously yanked the salmon out of the tuna's mouth; unfortunately, his actions caused him to lose grip of the tuna's gills.

Oh crap! - was the last thing that left his lips as his body made contact with the viscous sea water at about 400 miles an hour.

Slap! Plat! Slat! Tat!

Daniel flipped and flopped like a tumbleweed on a rocky hot desert terrain.

He felt several bones break, joints pop out of their sockets and limbs twist in odd angles.

Daniel's consciousness blinked off and on for a moment as he realized he was not only sinking, but also drowning as well.

Instantly, he thrashed around to steady himself; however, a sharp pain suddenly warped his consciousness into a blurry vapor, and before he could remember that he was currently submerged, he had gulped a few liters of sea water.

Upon choking, several bouts of pain assaulted Daniel's brain as he began to experiencing seizures; apparently, his brain and nerves were trying to get into some last-minute flight mode.

However, Daniel was already too far gone to care, and simply allowed himself to sink to the bottom of the sea.

Then for some mysterious reasons, he began to feel at ease, despite his precarious situation. It was almost as if he was descending into the warm embrace of some mysterious phenomenon.

It was a very comfortable and warm feeling. Almost as if it was saying;

'All of it; yes all of it... Let it go.'

It felt reassuring. 

[Is this what dying feels like?]

Daniel thought to himself as he descended into the part of the sea where light couldn't reach. 

It had only been about five minutes since he slammed himself unconscious, but at this point, that five minutes was beginning to feel like five hours.

'Burdens... Responsibilities... Emotions... Attachments... Leave it all behind.'

Daniel continued to get these emotional summons; it was like a call that was so far away, yet so close.

Gradually, Daniel began to entertain the thought, and before long, just like any other human, he yielded to it. To him; as long as it took his nightmares away and he could get a little glimpse of peace, then he was willing to let them all go away.

Whilst Daniel thought he was letting go, in reality, the only thing leaving his body was his life.

There was something about drowning or bleeding underwater; the life sucking process occurs very slowly and soothingly.

As he descended deeper and deeper, the water pressure around him only continued to squeeze out more of whatever was left in his body.

Gradually all the light Daniel could see gradually began to shrink and dim until he felt his back hit what seemed to be a marsh, signifying that he had reached the bottom of the sea.