I woke up, and the first thing I felt was that I couldn't move.
It wasn't like being paralyzed; it was like being made of stone. Everything was dark, and I could feel a freezing liquid pressing against me from all sides. I tried to reach out my hand, but I couldn't find my fingers. All I felt were short, heavy stumps that hit the ground with a dull thud.
I was underwater.
I tried to gasp for air, but my chest wouldn't expand. It felt like I was trapped inside a thick, bony cage that I couldn't escape. My heart was beating so slowly it felt like a hammer hitting a wall.
What is happening to me? Why am I so heavy?
The water was dark and silent, but then something changed.
Above the surface, four spots of blue fire lit up. They weren't lights; they were eyes. As my vision adjusted, I saw a massive, white skull looking down into the water. It was so big it made me feel like a speck of dust.
"Is this the one?" a voice rumbled. The sound was so deep it made the water shake. "The successor is just a pebble. You can't even crawl out of a pool, can you?"
I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell whatever was watching me that I didn't belong here. I wasn't a "pebble." I was a person. But no words came out, only a quiet, dry hiss that vanished into the water.
I looked around the dark bottom of the pool. I could see the shapes of broken swords and old, rusted armor half-buried in the mud. This was a grave. And I realized that if I didn't move right now, I would just be another piece of trash at the bottom of it.
I didn't have any strength left. I didn't know where I was. But I wasn't ready to die again.
I dug one claw into the mud. It took everything I had just to move my leg.
One inch. I was slow. I was heavy. But I wasn't going to stay down there.