near the door, it swung open before me, and bright, healthy sunlight spilled through, pouring into the gloomy moor from the world beyond the door. I laughed aloud. The sunlight spoke of a sane and normal world, and I wanted it. I strode forward, though a small part of me was still thinking, Another damned door that could lead absolutely anywhere. Getting really tired of that . . . I stepped through the door, and fell into an ocean.
* * *
I dropped into the waters like a lead weight, plunging under the surface in a moment, sinking deeper and deeper. I thrashed helplessly as the weight of my armour pulled me down, and the bright light from the surface quickly faded away, becoming a dull green haze. I swam with all my armoured strength, kicking for all I was worth, but it did no good. The sheer weight of my armour worked against me, overcoming all my best efforts.
The green light became steadily darker, the deeper I went. I soon lost all sense of direction, even which way was up. Panic burst inside me, at being so lost, and helpless. I had nothing to orientate me, nothing to see or hear or touch in the cold, empty dark. It was like a bottomless sensory deprivation tank. I could feel my heart racing, hear my ragged breathing, because they were inside my armour. I felt so alone . . . it was actually peaceful. Such a relief, to have nothing to fight any more. Nothing to disturb me, nothing I needed to do . . . But there was. I couldn’t rest, couldn’t give in, not while Molly still needed me. My thoughts snapped back into focus, and I grinned despite myself, under my golden mask. Whenever I weakened, whenever I lost my way, I could always rely on Molly to rescue me.
My armour was the problem. It was allowing me to breathe, but it was dragging me down. It couldn’t help me, so it had to go. I armoured down, and immediately the terrible freezing cold of the dark waters hit me like a hammer blow. The shock of it was nearly enough to kill me. I thrashed my arms and legs, trying to swim, but the cold was inside my head, numbing my thoughts, and I couldn’t think what to do. I tried to concentrate, to make something solid under my feet, solid enough to stop my descent, as I had in the mire . . . But the cold was so awful, so overwhelming, it dominated my thoughts. I couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything else. My thoughts raced in a dozen different directions, and got nowhere. And I had only a little breath left in my lungs, to get me back to the surface.
I seized on that thought. Keep it simple, keep it practical . . . I let a little air seep out of my mouth, and felt the bubbles bump against my face as they rose past it, heading for the surface. Now I knew which way was up. I forced the last of my strength into my legs, and kicked hard. I felt my descent slow, and stop; and then I began to rise up through the waters. New confidence forced more strength into my arms. I could barely feel them through the freezing cold, but I made them work through sheer willpower.
I swam up, and up, and the green light returned. It seemed to take forever, fighting my way up out of the dark and back into the light, my heart slamming painfully in my chest, my lungs fighting me, demanding I open my mouth and take in a breath I knew wasn’t there . . . but once again Drood self-control kept me going. I shot up through the brightening green light, and then my head burst through the surface of the ocean, and I could breathe again.
Bright sunlight dazzled me as I drew in air, and for a while all I could do was just bob there, struggling to keep my head above water, breathing in that glorious air. Still half dead from the awful cold, frozen to the bone, my body was wracked with terrible shakes and shudders, enough to endanger my attempts to stay afloat. But soon enough my vision cleared and I looked around me. I was floating in the middle of an ocean that seemed to stretch away forever. The sun beat down on the peaceful waters,