River of Fate 1

Just as Xiao was settling into the voice chat, he felt an inexplicable pull. The sounds of the chat faded, replaced by a rising intensity of hymns and chants. It was as if the voice chat was a portal, dragging him into another dimension.

In the next moment, he was weightless, suspended in a void. The sensation was both liberating and disorienting as if the boundaries of his physical existence had dissolved. There was no up or down, no sense of direction.

He floated in an endless, featureless expanse, a strange mix of serenity and confusion enveloping him.

Time held no meaning here, and his worries seemed to drift away into the ether. Xiao's mind struggled to find anchors of reality, but everything felt distant and detached.

Memories and thoughts floated past him like mist, elusive and insubstantial.

Suddenly, the dreamlike calm was shattered. Xiao felt the quickly increasing sound of waves. The noise grew louder and louder until he felt wet. He noticed he was actually in the water.

A jarring splash of cold water and the harsh grip of powerful currents were dragging him. Snapping out of his trance, he realized he was in a river, being swept along by its relentless flow.

"What is happening? I should be back in my room, in a voice chat with Epiphany. None of this makes sense," he thought, panic starting to creep in.

The icy water surged around him, pulling him downstream toward an unknown darkness. The bone-chilling coldness seeped into his very soul, gnawing at his bones. It felt as if the water was stripping away his will to fight, eager to engulf him completely.

Desperate for some relief from the wuthering waves above, Xiao remembered reading that the roots and stones in the undergrowth of rivers can be extremely strong bases of support in such scenarios.

He took a deep breath and dove underwater, hoping to find a hold.

Beneath the surface, the river carried a dense stillness, a foreboding silence that contrasted sharply with its rushing current. Despite the freezing cold, an unnerving sense of serenity tugged at the edges of his consciousness.

This was not the calm of resignation, but rather a focused clarity that allowed him to see beyond the immediate danger.

Underwater, Xiao's surroundings transformed dramatically. The chaotic surface world, with its roaring waves and relentless current, faded into a shadowy, almost tranquil realm.

The water was murky, a dim greenish-blue, with particles of silt and debris swirling in the current. He could see thick, gnarled roots snaking down from the riverbanks, anchoring into the rocky bed.

The roots twisted and intertwined like the fingers of ancient giants, offering potential handholds.

The riverbed was littered with stones of varying sizes, some smooth and rounded, others jagged and sharp.

Patches of aquatic plants swayed gently, their long, ribbon-like leaves brushing against his skin. Fish darted past, their silvery bodies flickering in the faint light that penetrated the depths.

"Stay calm. There has to be something here. I can't let the current take me." He reached out, his fingers brushing against a thick root.

He gripped it tightly, feeling the rough texture scrape his skin but relishing the solidity of it. "Okay, I've got a hold. Now, breathe. Just breathe."

The water pressed in on him from all sides, cold and unyielding. His lungs burned as he fought the instinct to gasp for air. "I can do this. I just need to find another hold, something stronger."

He pulled himself closer to the riverbed, using the stones and roots for leverage. Each movement was slow and deliberate, his muscles straining against the current.

"This is just like that time I felt lost after Mom died," Xiao thought, fighting the current. "But I found a way through then, and I will now."

His mind raced back to that dark period after his mother's death, a time when he felt adrift in a sea of grief and confusion.

Yet, he had found strength in small things—a friend's encouragement, a teacher's kindness, his own determination to push forward. Those memories gave him a renewed sense of purpose.

"It's almost peaceful down here," he thought, a fleeting sense of calm washing over him. But he quickly pushed it aside. "No time for that. Focus on getting out."

Xiao's eyes scanned the murky water, searching for a path to the surface. He spotted a series of roots forming a natural ladder up the riverbank. "There. That might work."

He began to pull himself upward, his movements slow and methodical. Each grip on a root or stone was tenuous, the river's force threatening to tear him away. But he persisted, driven by the need to survive.

As he ascended, the light grew brighter, the sounds of the surface world becoming more pronounced. He could hear the rushing water, the occasional splash of fish, even the distant call of birds. "Almost there. Just a little further."

Finally, he broke through the surface, gasping for air. The cold night air hit his face, a stark contrast to the frigid water. He clung to a root, his body trembling from the effort and the cold.

The river still roared around him, but he felt a small victory in having surfaced.

Xiao clung to the root, his breath ragged. As he scanned the riverbank for a way out, he noticed a faint light in the distance. "What is that?" he wondered, a mix of hope and fear stirring within him. "I need to find out."