One Last Dive

When time runs out, belief is all that remains… but belief can cost more than expected.

One Last Dive

Falling Leaf tugged urgently at her brother’s hand. “Come on! There is no time! We have to check the ruins again. I am sure there is a solution there!”

“Come on yourself!” grumbled Charging Bear. “How many times do we have to dive to look at silly marks on a stone circle? There is no power there! No saviour! Grow up! We need to go home and armour up! Look, you can see dust from the beast tide now! You can even smell them! We don’t have time for your childish games!”

“Come on, Bear-bear! Please! I almost have it! Besides, you are my big brother. You would be in trouble with father if you left me to dive there on my own.”

Charging Bear sighed. Didn’t he just know how much trouble there would be if anything happened to Falling Leaf because he didn’t protect her? He could almost hear his father saying, ‘If you can’t look after your little sister, how do you expect to lead the whole village?’

“Leaf! Stop! Listen to me.” Sighing, Charging Bear grabbed his sister and spun her around so that she looked him in the eye. “I will come with you, but…”

“Thank you, Bear-bear! I knew you would help!” Falling Leaf’s smile was radiant.

“But!” Charging Bear continued, as if his sister hadn’t interrupted him. “Just one more time. This is the last. You must swear to me!”

Falling Leaf hung her head and scuffed her foot. Thinking for a moment, she sighed, grimaced, then reluctantly gave her word.

“Alright, Bear-bear. I promise. But the old stories are true! I will prove it!”

Looking at his sister with sorrowful compassion, Charging Bear just nodded once. “Okay, sister, okay. Who knows? Maybe the gods will smile upon you today. But… one. Dive. Only.”

Nodding, Falling Leaf led the way to the edge of the lake. She shucked off her outer robe, fixing her small pouch to her loincloth. She dived smoothly into the cool, clear, water and her brother paused for a moment, eyes saddened. They were not likely to see beyond this day. The beast tide was far larger than normal, and it was certain the village would be overrun. No one would survive, so what would it hurt to indulge her before….

Taking a deep breath, Charging Bear dived after Falling Leaf, following her down to where stones lay in heaps that hinted at a fallen city from times unknown. In the centre of the ruins, on the village side of the lake, lay the stone circle, embedded in the lakebed. Falling Leaf had been trying to clear it for a while now and, truth be told, she had done a good job, even if it was a fool’s errand. He watched as she pulled out a soft brush from her pouch and brushed away at the silt. They only had a few minutes before they lost their breath, and he saw her working swiftly, trying to resolve the puzzle before her promise forced her to concede failure.

Though the blue-green of the water obscured Falling Leaf’s face slightly, he could still see her frown. She had cleared the glyphs and seemed confused. It was clear from her expression that she didn’t understand why nothing had happened. He closed his eyes slowly and re-opened them, pitying her. He knew this would all come to naught, but Falling Leaf had been so determined, so certain. How could he not indulge her?

Swiftly moving to the centre of the stone circle, Falling Leaf brushed desperately at a last small pile of muck wedged into the central glyph. Her brush wasn’t strong enough to clear it, and the burn of her failing breath lent urgency to her actions. Tossing the brush aside unceremoniously, Falling Leaf scraped at the stone with her hands, tearing a nail and her skin. The last embedded clump jolted free of the glyph, with Falling Leaf’s skin and blood being all that remained in the grooves. She raised her eyes to Charging Bear, and he saw the disappointment in the shape of her body. She shook her head no, and he nodded. They both kicked off to head back to the surface for air, when a deep grating sound echoed through the water. A whirlpool sucked Falling Leaf back toward the circle, which pulsed with a blue glow that ebbed and flowed like the waves on the edge of the lake on a windy day.

Falling Leaf screamed, bubbles bursting from her mouth. Charging Bear saw her plummet back downwards. He reached for her, kicking the water as hard as he could, trying to grasp her arm, but he was too late. Falling Leaf hit the stone circle and was consumed by the light. With a pop, the light went dark. Falling Leaf was gone.

Charging Bear punched at the stone circle over and again. He tried to lever it up with his hands, but his lungs were on fire. Pulling himself towards the surface of the lake with desperation, he grabbed a mouthful of air and spun back down, swimming as fast as he could to where he had last seen Falling Leaf. Desperately, he ran his hands over the glyphs, trying to copy what she had done, but there was no reaction from the cold, unfeeling stone. Many breaths later, he reluctantly conceded defeat.

Feet heavy and heart heavier, Charging Bear returned to the village. He could hear the roars and snorts of the beasts and the thunder of their feet as they charged towards the village wall. Hurrying his pace, he raced through the palisade, and the heavy doors were slammed shut behind him and sealed.

“Where is your sister?” his father shouted.

Charging Bear raised tear-filled eyes to his father’s and his father stilled.

“The lake has taken her,” Charging Bear whispered. He saw the pain flash through his father’s eyes and saw his muscles tighten. For a brief moment, the clan chief radiated a feeling of pure death, and Charging Bear winced. “We will find her after,” his father said decisively, pointedly glancing towards the village boundary. Charging Bear understood and nodded, although he already knew that there was no body to be found for the rites and that they would be unlikely to survive to search for one.

“Gear up!” his father ordered, snapping Charging Bear out of his melancholy, and the young man ran to obey. He took his position just in time. The sickening sound of the beast tide forerunners slamming themselves in mindless hate against the boundary wall signified that the battle for survival had begun.

Falling Leaf felt terror as the whirlpool of blue light from the stone plate engulfed her, and she felt herself being pulled away from her brother. The light grew so bright that nothing else was visible, then fell away and she was floating in darkness, yet she could still see. Calm flooded through her, and she looked around. She was suspended in mid… air? Her hair floated around her, her body slightly transparent, and as she tried to breathe in, she somehow knew that she no longer needed to breathe at all.

“Is this the afterlife? I can’t be here!” she panicked. “I have to find the protector. Our town is under attack!”

As the thought formed, her mind tingled, and knowledge filled her like the warmth of the sun on her skin on a summer’s day.

“Oh!”

She grew still. Bittersweet was the knowledge that she would never again be part of the village or walk in her old form. Regret glanced through her, but the rightness of her new being filled her with resolve to make the most of what she realised was her new existence.

Falling Leaf smiled and stretched out her mind, sending it outwards from her body, instinctively knowing how to. She felt the surface of the lake first, then her perception spread towards the village, which she could see clearly, although her new point of view felt somewhat strange. Her will swiftly followed her sight, and she gave a command. The ground began to shake.

The villagers jerked in shock as the earth rumbled. They did not see the smooth stone obelisk that forced its way up from the floor of the lake or hear its pulsing thrum. They did see a shimmering effect as an enormous clear dome spread over the village from the direction of the lake. Confused, they paused as every mutated beast within the dome’s confines burst into flames and perished. Charging Bear stilled.

“What’s this?” His breathing was rough, partially from the exertion of fighting, and partly because, for a brief moment, he felt as if Falling Leaf was with him.

A slow smile passed across his face, even as a tear escaped his eye. Grief filled his heart, yet a sense of knowing filled him.

“Falling Leaf… you are our protector.”

 Inspiration

This piece was written for a 1500 word short story competition based on the theme “Just one more time”. I struggled with the concept far more than expected and spent a long time circling ideas that went nowhere. In the end, this story came from that exact feeling of persistence, pushing forward even when nothing seems to be working.

Although I was unable to attend the event and submit it, I am still glad I wrote it. It is a reminder that sometimes the act of finishing something matters more than whether it feels perfect at the time.

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Summary

A fantasy short story about underwater ruins, ancient magic, and a final sacrifice to save a village from destruction.