Cold.

It wasn't something Lo'ak was used to feeling normally. The forest in which he had grown up had always been hot like a kind of cocoon in which he had liked to bask in since childhood. It had always been cozy and warm. He had never had to worry about such a thing before, at least, never this way. Lo'ak had never known the cold could be like this, so hostile and alarming. It wasn't the cold he could feel when he flew on his ikran as the fresh air of the sky beat down on his skin. No, it was completely different. That cold was unpleasant, almost unbearable, and he just wanted that feeling to go away forever.

Why was he so cold ?

There was like a breeze that went through his whole body, penetrating to his bones, spreading like poison in his blood, freezing his insides until there was not an ounce of heat left in him. It almost felt like a burn but it was so much deeper and lingering at the same time. Every one of his fingers ached as his fingernails suddenly seemed to turn to ice and he wasn't even sure he was able to feel his own feet. Lo'ak couldn't move and he just lay there in the middle of nowhere completely limp and inert.

Was he dead ?

Death was supposed to be soothing, at least according to the stories his grandmother had told. She used to say that life was a sacred thing that never really went away, even after what seemed like the end. Death was peace and a new beginning would come as they gave back the life they had been loaned. Mo'at would even say that dying was like falling into the warm arms of the great mother before she guided them into the spirit world where there was no pain nor sorrow, where there they would stay for eternity, to their final resting place.

As a child, Lo'ak had believed his grandmother, word for word, so why did he feel anything but the serenity she had described ?

Lo'ak's eyelashes fluttered several times as the boy awoke from the state of unconsciousness he had been thrust into. It was hard for him to keep his eyes open. His pupils felt numb and definitely sore as his eyelids were forced to stay apart in ways that were uncomfortable and unsuitable for the fatigue that occupied him. His vision was completely blurry and hazy as he struggled to make out whatever was in front of him. At that moment the only thing he could be sure of, despite his scrambled brain, was that it was dark, very dark, much darker than the forest at night and that only made an uncomfortable feeling grow in his chest as the darkness cornered his sight.

Where the hell was he ? He wondered in anguish as he tried to turn his head to the side before suddenly stopping while gritting his teeth and letting out a painful yelp.

Shit. Everything hurt.

There was not a single part of his body that had been spared from the electric jolt that shot through him when he tried to move his neck. From his skin to the marrow of his bones, everything was painful. Breathing had even become a pure ordeal as he tried so hard to get air into his lungs. He could hear a hiss with each breath he took and his throat felt like it had been scratched and cut from the inside with a dagger. He couldn't even fill his lungs completely at the risk of choking as if he were still in the water and it was with frustration that he tried again to reposition himself more carefully this time.

Damn it… Lo'ak thought as tears of pain escaped his eyes without being allowed to as his body protested against the action of his muscles.

The greatest pain he could feel was in his leg and it only became more evident when he tried to crawl on the rock he was on. Moving was pure torture and for a moment Lo'ak even thought he was passing out again just from it. His nerves had kind of been twisted in all directions when the rock crushed him and they tugged at his flesh like they were about to break. He could even feel his veins pulsating in his wound, they were pounding hard and constantly and he could almost feel every beat of his heart traveling up his leg. He had never felt such pain before and although as a rather whild child Lo'ak already experienced a rather astonishing amount of injury, there was nothing that could compare to it.

After some more effort to avoid falling back into the cold water, Lo'ak's face finally pressed against the rough surface in exhaustion as he desperately tried to breathe a little more normally. His breathing wasn't deep enough to be considered sufficient and he nearly lost control of it when he realized that nothing seemed to change that even as he coughed a rather disturbing amount of water out of his lungs. Inhaling seemed to get harder and harder as shorter and shorter hisses continued to come out of his throat and his heart pounded in his ears like his head was about to explode.

Something was wrong. It was even more than worrying.

Breathing hurt so much. It hurt so bad. Why couldn't he breathe normally ?

Calm, stay calm, the boy repeated to himself as he regulated the air entering his chest. He shouldn't panic. It was the last thing to do in this situation. It would only make his condition worse and it was anything but something he wanted right now. His body couldn't take it and he knew very well that his mind couldn't either.

Somehow he had managed to survive as crazy as it seemed and he had no intention of ruining everything now. Lo'ak didn't want this chance to be wasted. He was still there, the pain was certainly proof of that, as was his erratic heartbeat and unsteady breathing. He was alive, Lo'ak tried desperately to reassure himself with the thought as if he was afraid it was just a dream. It all seemed so unreal after being so close to death that somehow he still couldn't believe it.

He was still here, yes, he was more and more aware of it now but it still didn't answer his first question.

Where was he ?

Eyes misty, Lo'ak's gaze wandered for a moment to contemplate his surroundings. The ocean stretched all around him and nothing was on the horizon, at least nothing he could see. Everything was dark and the black landscape painted in front of him did not allow him to see beyond a few meters and even less to see the mainland to which he belonged. The three peaks of the Three Brother Rocks were also gone and all that was left was the endless water and its deadly depth that would probably give him nightmares for the next ten years.

He was lost, the boy realised, even more lost than before and this time he couldn't even move.

How could he even hope to find his family now ?

More tears rolled down his cheeks at the thought and Lo'ak suddenly felt like a child, weak and scared, who just desperately needed his parents to make him feel safe.

He did not know what to do. His injuries were so disturbing and his fatigue so great that he just wanted to burst into tears like he was five years old again when he could still cry without being ashamed of acting like a baby. He wanted his mother and father to be there more than anything. He wanted them to get him out of this situation, to whisper to him that everything was going to be okay and that he could count on them to heal him. He wanted them to take care of him like before, here and now, but he knew they weren't there and that he was completely alone.

He was always alone, his mind reminded him bitterly.

An uneven and wet breathing stuck in his throat like an unfinished sob that couldn't quite get out of his chest. Loneliness and exclusion have been yet feelings he was supposed to be used to, after all he was an alien, an unworthy son, a disappointment. He knew all that... but it was suddenly too painful to bear. His heart was twising horribly in his ribcage and his mind was drowning in the fear that had invaded his entire body. He didn't want to be alone this time. He wanted anything but that.

Help.

He just wanted help.

No. He needed help. He needed it more than anything. He needed someone to come for him. Anybody.

"Dad...", Lo'ak tried to whisper under barely audible breath when a jet of water suddenly came out of nowhere.

The noise that followed was so loud in the silence that had settled since his awakening that he could almost have taken it for a clap of thunder if the ejected water had not immediately started to fall on him like a short rain. Lo'ak's eyes closed automatically as the drops began to fall on his face and his brow furrowed as his bewildered heart tried to process what had just happened.

What was that ?

"What-", his lips escaped as he opened his eyes before widening them when his pupils finally noticed a multitude of faint lights scattered all over the supposed rock he had been lying on all this time.

The lights were so dim even in the dark and his vision was so blurry that he might never have noticed them if the jet of water hadn't startled him in the first place. However, upon paying closer attention, Lo'ak finally managed to make them out bit by bit as the shapes became clearer and clearer. The flecks of light were small and slightly bluish as they traced large and intricate figures along the back of what he then guessed was a gigantic creature. The shapes were soft and soothing in all the darkness, but as his eyes rested on them they seemed to become more and more familiar, as if he had seen them before.

His hand rested on the rough surface and connected with the tips of the fingers some point of light between them. It was definitely familiar.

Now that he could follow the gleams that swept over the creature with his eyes, Lo'ak was finally able to see the appearance of the animal's back as well as the shape of its fins. He had seen it before, he thought as he searched for the lost memory in his brain. It was the largest creature he had ever seen, it wasn't something that could so easily be forgotten. But where had he seen it ? And when ? Before passing out, he only remembered Aonung, the akula, when he tried to escape and then when he almost die—

It was him, Lo'ak realised, it was the creature that had finished off the akula that had attacked him earlier. He did not kill it for no reason or by simple predation as he had initially thought. He killed it for him, to defend him, and now he was carrying him on his back so he wouldn't drown like he almost did.

He saved him.

Lo'ak continued to run his palm over the animal's back as if to pet him as soft and high-pitched sounds occasionally escaped what seemed to be his savior.

Had he been watching over him all this time ?

The relief that spread through his body was indescribable yet so welcome. He had thought he was completely alone like it was the fate he couldn't escape but all the while he had actually never really been. The creature had been there all this time without him even knowing it.

He was never alone, the boy thought.

"Thank you..." Lo'ak croaked as best he could as the soft sound of the animal answered him as if to comfort him or to ask him to be brave for a little longer, and that was all he needed.

Another painful hiss left his throat as Lo'ak clung desperately to the surface that supported him. His head ached like his skull had suffered a shock he was unaware of and thinking only worsened the dizziness that made his head spin like a top. As soon as he closed his eyes, it was as if he were falling into the void but, despite his efforts to stay awake, there was nothing that could prevent his eyelids from closing as everything went silent.