Heart of Demise.

I'm starting to feel the strain.

"..."

For a second, all of it faded away. The ensuing moment was filled with black, and I didn't even realize it. It was so short, but when it ended, I was confused.

It was... hard to breathe. Actually, I couldn't breathe at all. Yet, despite that, I was relaxed. It was dark, but not black. I saw a small glimpse of brightness, and looked up. My toes were pointed towards the sky.

I tried to move in this deep blue abyss, which proved to be quite difficult, just so I could get my body back into its proper place. After that, I began to slowly move my arms and legs, just hard enough so I wouldn't sink and lose the distance I made.

Then, upon the arrival of a dense and punishing pain, bubbles burst from my mouth, and I realized the danger of the situation I was in.

I jerked my head up, staring at the light, and flailed my arms through the thick water. I flailed, and flailed, and flailed, and though I knew I was getting closer, the light seemed to be running away from me.

Wait-- no. It wasn't that the light was fading, it just was being replaced.

As my oxygen depleted, as the strength in my limbs faded, and as my lungs felt like they were rupturing, darkness invaded the corners of my vision. Pure, unfiltered darkness. At that moment, I came to a single conclusion;

I wasn't going to make it.

Before my head would poke out of this body of water, I would pass out. I would sink to the bottom of the lake, and I would die. It was that simple.

Of course, that didn't mean I was going to stop. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I can stop. I was running on instincts, on this desperate desire to survive.

And... who would've guessed it.

...

...

...

Despite that, it looked like--

...

...

...

I wasn't going to--

...

...

...

"HUAH! CAH--!"

I gulped down the air that blessed my face. I was swinging my arms against the water, trying my damn hardest to make sure my head wouldn't go anywhere near it, all the while only having a single thought; breathe.

Breathe. Keep breathing. Breathing means you're alive. Breathing means you're fine.

It wasn't so smooth, obviously. Water was erupting from my sockets, my nose, everything. I coughed violently in between breaths, and felt like passing out the entire time. But, eventually, it steadied. I calmed down, as much as I could anyway, and looked around me, seeing the thing I wanted the most.

Land. Solid, dry land.

I beelined straight toward it. No hesitation. Plunging my body deeper in the water in a sick twist of irony. It was slow, it was agonizing, I probably could've dropped dead at any moment, yet I still made it.

Once I entered the shallow waters, my leg hit a rock, sending a paralyzing shock of pain through my entire body.

"Ngh!"

My hands hit the shoreline. I figured that, since my legs couldn't do anything, I may as well use my arms. So I crawled. I crawled flimsy, weakly. Like an insect that lost half of its legs, I writhed, and tried so hard to live.

It felt like hours passed by, even though it was hardly five seconds.

My hand touched something soft; grass, and the dirt under it stuck to my hand. That didn't matter right now, though. I just kept crawling.

Every lift of my arm hurt more and more. It gradually became slower, then I moved less with every pull, then I stopped entirely and collapsed. In more ways than one, I was awfully like a fish.

"Haaaa-- haaaa."

The air came easier, but it hurt so much more than before. I laid there thoughtless for half a minute.

"Haaaa... Eh?"

I looked at my hand, more dirt visible than skin.

"Haaaa... I-- I did it. I'm alive..."

I flipped over on my back and gazed at the sky. Rather, the mass of clouds concealing the upper layers of this pit.

"Haaaa... Haaaa... Haaaaaaaaaaaa..."

The last labored breath came, and I finally started breathing normally again. Despite this, I was still tired as hell.

"...Where even am I?"

I struggled but managed to get into a sitting position, seeing the area that could've very well been my grave.