Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 34

Angel slowly opened her eyes, waking up to that familiar scene of darkness around her. Though she only cracked her eyes open for a moment, she had to widen them, feeling that she wasn't laying down like she normally did, she felt like she was floating. No, floating wasn't the right word, almost as if she was...sinking. She moved her arms, feeling the thick ink around her as she continues moving them, feeling fluid like water was surrounding her. After a few moments, it finally clicked for her that she wasn't on solid ground or in the air, she was in what seems like to be water, and the worst part was that when she realized it, she felt like ink was suffocating her. She tried to cover her mouth, trying to stop anything from entering it, but it wasn't through the mouth that she felt suffocated. It felt like her body was under a tremendous pressure, and the ink was only crushing her, as if it was telling her not to proceed. She only grunts in pain at the pressure, trying to ignore it and focus on finding Azul, seeing that he wasn't anywhere near her.

"He's below."

Angel looks around in shock, surprised to hear her Mentor's voice after the encounter while she was unconscious. She looked around her, mainly trying to calibrate a sense of direction to figure out which is up or down. Below? She thinks, looking down, thinking that it's the right direction.

"Yes, below. You need to hurry or else the pressure will kill you."

Angel shuddered at the thought and looked down, debating if she should head downwards, just as Mentor said. If she went down, there was a chance that the pressure would become unbearable, but Azul is down there, and he needs help. She mentally sighed, not wanting to open her mouth and let any ink get in, and slowly and carefully rearranged herself, getting herself ready for the diving she was going to. She started swimming downward, trying to focus on her actions as the pressure around her body starts to increase, crushing her on the outside. She grunts in pain as she swims, careful not to let anything in her mouth as she just grits her teeth and push through. Leona's sandification was more painful than this...She tries to think as she continues on, the pressure only becoming more irritating and painful as she heads downward. After a while of swimming, she started to feel weak, though she didn't know if it was because of the time she spent swimming, the pressure around her body, or both choices. She could feel her vision fading away, though it did not really do much since she was surrounded by darkness anyway, but she at least tried to focus on her surroundings, knowing that if she gave up here, there was a chance that both her and Azul wouldn't survive. Where is he...? She stops, looking around to see if there was at least a speak of color that could show her where Azul was. When she stopped, the pressure became more prominent, eventually making her scream as she feels crushed, covering her mouth quickly to make sure she doesn't drown. She didn't have much time. She had to find Azul, and fast. Suddenly, a faint sound was heard, and Angel looked around, trying to pinpoint the sound, only to hear it a little more clearly below her. She quickly got back into position and swam down, the sound becoming clearer as she heads down, the pressure intensifying as she continues. Soon enough, her hand hits something, making Angel confused as she stops and puts her hands on the object and tries to inspect it. As she moves her hands on the unidentifiable object, she feels that the object was big and circular in shape, almost like a pot of some sorts, and found out that there was a space of an opening at the bottom of it and headed there. Though she could not see the opening, she used her hand to figure out if she could enter it, and with the pressure only coming in an unbearable force, she had no choice but to head inside the object, finding out that it was big enough for her body and that when she entered it, that there was no pressure, almost as if it was a safe area excluded from the outside area. She heads forward, trying to make sense of the area until her hand felt cold, almost as if it left the warm water. She quickly hurries towards where her hand is, happy at the fact that she discovered an air pocket when she brings her head up and gasps for air, while coughing up the ink she consumed from screaming. She looks around where she is, seeing that there was a faint light coming from in front of her, but not without going through what looks like to be a tunnel of sorts, and she heads towards the light, eventually finding out that there was a little shore where she was, which she gratefully accepted since swimming took a lot of energy, especially with the pressure crushing her body. Once she approached the shore, she got out of the ink, catching her breath and happy at the fact that if she stayed in that ink for one more minute, she would have drowned from exhaustion. She looks back behind her, with the faint light showing as much light as it could from the distance it was and saw that what she got out of was completely black and she only shuddered at it. The last two times, she didn't have to fight her way to reach Riddle or Leona, in fact, it felt like not was bothered. This time, however, something was trying to stop her, almost making her be unconscious as she tried to make her way to Azul. She thinks for a moment, trying to figure out what or who was trying to stop her, until she remembered what the voice said. A chance...the voice gave her a chance. Was this the chance...?