24 He had to make a choice

Lucyndth dived deeper into the water, and started to swim. He stopped and looked around for Xinyung, the tip of his feet barely touching the bottom, sinking in the mud. Lucyndth panicked. This was too long for anyone to be underwater. Xinyung probably couldn't breath. He probably drowned by then, Lucyndth thought, while tears started to roll down his face.

Lucyndth wanted give up. That was until he saw small waves starting to form. That's when a horrid creature came up. It's screech was ear bleeding. It screamed in pain as it's mouth drooled blood. It seemed like a dragon from chinese traditions. A water dragon, Lucyndth thought. Aren't these things usually peaceful? Lucyndth attempted to back up, but his foot got caught in the mud at the bottom. Lucyndth stood in fear as the dragon like creature squirmed and wiggled around, like it was trying to come free of something. Lucyndth looked closer at the horns of the beast.

Long brown hair was covering the face of Xinyung. He held on to the the log fur on the beast, It's tale splashing around in the water. The dragon was trying to shake free of Xinyung. Lucyndth watched in horror as the two fought. He couldn't believe that he was just playing in this water while such a creature was lurking underneath. At no point until did the creature make its existence apparent until now.

Lucyndth stood, a deer in headlights, and watched the battle in front of himself. HE couldn't see exactly, but he could've swore that he saw a smile on Xinyung's face. Why would he be smiling in a situation like this? The Dragon made a quick attempt in trying to swing Xinyung off of his back, causing the start of a great wave. Lucyndth didn't know how to react. He couldn't move, so how was he supposed to get away from the great wave? It would surely crush him. Surely, Lucyndth thought. Lucyndth squirmed and struggled to get his foot free from the mud that swallowed it. He had a little time to get himself free, for the wave was forming in the middle of the lake.

Of course, this is all happening in the period of seconds. The wave was now fully formed, and was heading straight for Lucyndth. He gave up, the huge wave rushing towards him, covering the stars above him, dulling the reflection of his eyes. He was going to die. He was definitely going to die. Death. Lucyndth thought back to when he first came to this world. Of course, by memory and not by birth. He still couldn't remember how and why he was drowning, but he was. He was going to drown again. Even if he does figure out a way to swim and not drown, he won't pass the wave. It was going to crash down and kill him.

Xinying held onto the beast. He was so busy making sure he didn't get hurt, that he didn't notice that his son, as he now decided to call Lucyndth, was about to die. During this great battle, he glanced down over the wave he created and saw the fearful eyes below him. Xinyung's eyes grew wide along with Lucyndth's. This was his fault. It seemed like time froze. Lucyndth made eye contact with Xinyung. They both saw the fear in each other's eyes and knew that it was over.

Xinyung looked down at the beast that he had a hold of and looked back at Lucyndth. It felt like time was getting slower and slower. Xinyung sighed and jumped off of the monster's back and dived into the water. Lucyndth shut his eyes tight and the wave came down, pushing him down into the water using it's mighty force. All he felt was pain. The muddy water suffocating him under the night sky. Muffled voices. Smaller waves came after the bigger wave. Lucyndth's vision became blurry. This was the end, he thought. Lucyndth passed out.

The wave crashed, and there was no sign of Lucyndth. Xinyung was panicking. The beast was screaming behind him, begging for another battle, but he didn't have time for this. He had to save Lucyndth. He told him not to follow him. Why did he disobey his orders? Xinyung started to swim for Lucyndth, but the dragon wasn't going to let him go that easily. It looked around the water for his enemy with it's blurred vision. Xinyung was swimming underwater, out of the terrible beast's sight. He opened his eyes, but he still couldn't see through the foggy water. Where was Lucyndth? He wasn't anywhere to be seen. Xinyung came out of the water. Being so focused on finding Lucyndth, he forgot that he needed to deal with the monster behind him. The dragon screamed, reminding Xinyung that it was behind them. Xinyung hurried and went back underwater. He couldn't fight the dragon and save Lucyndth, and he didn't want to use his powers to the extreme in front of Lucyndth. It might scare him. He had to make a choice.

Xinyung closed his eyes and came from out of the water. He then used his powers to levitate out of the water. This was what he had to do. It was either and tries his best to act weak to gain Lucyndth's trust, or save him from dying. He decided to take the latter. His eyes turned black. The world around them went silent. The dragon's screams were silenced. Xinyung took a breath and closed his eyes. Time froze. Waves stopped crashing. The howling and screams of various different beast ceased.