The man was falling, and that wasn't good. He couldn't remember his name, origin, or how he got here, but he knew what falling from such heights could do to a body.
A shiver raced up his spine, unsettling and unpleasant. He despised this feeling. Instinctively, he screamed. For a brief moment, the eerie, twisted visage of the creature that had pushed him smirked down at him, before disappearing into the engulfing darkness.
As if guided by unseen hands, the glowing cube trailed behind him, matching his descent with eerie precision. He desperately flailed his arms up and down, mimicking the motion of a bird, but lamented his inability to fly like them.
His clothes flattered in the air, the first time he was aware that he was wearing anything at all. His feet were encased in elegant shoes with curved tips, his lower body wrapped in a wide piece of black fabric, whose end was tucked inside the shoes. His upper body was clothed in a mud-green jacket over a black linen shirt. Two belts were slung around his shoulders, crossing each other on his chest. His short white hair whipped around in the wind, and he was glad it wasn’t long enough to hit his eyes.
He fell for quite a while, most of the way screaming at the top of his lungs in primal fear. The glowing cube following him illuminated his surroundings just enough to see that there was nothing there. With a loud and wet thud, his body came to a halt as his butt slammed against what he assumed to be a body of water. The fluid splashed a little but dampened his fall to a stop. A jolt of pain shot through him, but it wasn't bad enough to suggest anything was broken. Instead of sinking immediately, he descended very slowly, as if someone were lowering him into the water on a rope.
After processing what was happening for a moment, he tried to pull his already submerged hand out to wipe the water from his eyes, but found himself unable to do so. The water, which had soaked his clothes, was heavy, extremely so. And before he could think up a solution, he was already fully submerged in the sea.
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The water engulfed him, cold and heavy, dragging him relentlessly downward. This wasn’t normal, at least not normal to him. He remembered water. It was a wet substance, sometimes cold and sometimes warm, but nonetheless completely harmless to humans. But this fluid was different, almost malevolent. It pressed against him from all sides, forcing his body into a fetal position. Every inch of his skin throbbed with pain, his bones creaking under the increasing pressure as he sank further.
With every beat of his heart the oxygen supply in his body depleted, with every inch he sunk death creapt closer. Was this how he was going to die? Enveloped by something he couldn't even name, his body compressed into a ball like dough on a baker’s table? Panic surged as he realized he desperately tried to extend his arms but found them pinned to his side. The weight of the water quickly grew unbearable. His eyes and drums felt like they would pop at any second.
After only a few moments in this hell he was sure he would die but a dim light penetrated his eyelids and piqued his curiosity. Sure he was about to die at any moment, but something deeply human about him wanted to know what shone so bright in this wet abyss. Could something be living in this ocean of mock-water? Some sort of angler-fish maybe?
Not enough that I am being crushed while I drown, no I have to let some fish chew on me as well, he thought. Somewhere in his mind a little bulb led up bringing an important information back from the oblivion the rest of his memories laid in. Oh wait, fish don’t chew. Being digested alive is even better. If I’m not crushed first. Thanks for the trivia, brain.
Light grew stronger and stronger and he felt something wrap around him. Not like the jaws of some aquatic predator but like a very, very thin rope. Like a snake it slung around his body and began dragging him upwards. Whatever he was submerged in rushed past him, clawing at him and his clothes like it was desperate to get him back down. By the time he finally breached the surface he was only half conscious anymore. He was flung out of the water and something grabbed him by the back of his shirt, holding him a few inches above the water.
With a pathetic wheeze he sucked in as much air as he could, coughting it out and drew in another breath. Water, or whatever it was, dripped from him with almost angry sounding thuds returned to the massive pool under him. He opened his eyes and his jaw dropped.