- Prologue -
I'm… drowning.
The water is tightly bound to my wrists, dragging me down like shackles. The weight of it feels so heavy on my chest. It's crushing me. Embracing me. I'm being dragged down so far that I can't even see the light anymore.
Let me go! You don't know what you're doing!
No! You're my prisoner now! And I'm never letting you go!
I feel myself falling apart. It hurts. The feeling of being torn apart from the inside claws its way through me. But I won't let myself. I can't fall apart. Not so soon. I hold myself together, clutching myself violently, holding myself in.
The farther down I go, the heavier the water is. I try to swim up, but I won't let myself. The water just pulls me down, down, down… is this what it feels like to suffocate?
You don't have to do this! We can defeat them, together!
Don't you see? It's not about that! I'm going to keep you here; we're going to stay trapped here together! I won't let you hurt him anymore!
It's so dark… it's so cold…
I finally reach the bottom. I'm never going to see the light again. I'm never going to see the light again. I keep trying to swim back up, and I refuse to let myself. Instead I just hold on to myself, comforting myself, restraining myself. I scream, but the dark, empty ocean won't let any sound escape. The dark, empty ocean won't let me escape.
Struggling against the crushing weight of the water feels so useless, but I can't stop myself from trying. I futilely persist, I hold myself back, I silently scream. I hold my face in my hands and laugh at the absurdity of my fate.
I'm drowning.
I'm drowning.
Am I going to drown forever?
