Drowning Kingdom: Dev's Story

He had lived every day in the same way, so it didn't really seem to matter when the time came. At first he had struggled, like anyone else would, but the water had just kept coming in, and in, and in...

He fell into a dark place where there was no light. It didn't matter if he struggled or not so he let himself stop. He could see and feel nothing but an empty darkness, but he also sensed he was falling slowly into the deep space of nothing. It seemed to take a long, long time, but he would reach eternity sooner than he thought.

None of it mattered.

He didn't have anyone who would mourn him. Perhaps his fellow divers would grieve, but he had been the youngest in the team, and he had not been close to them. He had not wanted to be close to anyone, although now he could not have said why.

He lived in a damp, dark hovel in the poorer section of the city, sharing a tiny room with two strangers who he never spoke to. There was nothing to say. They slept on the rock floor with tattered blankets thrown over them and the dim glow of the lamps filtering through the open doorway. He had a small, wooden box that was rotting away; inside there was a change of clothes, no more.

Life was hard but it was not very different from the way he had lived before he moved out on his own. The orphanage had been old and decrepit itself, people were always coming and going. The older orphans all left; it was what was expected. But he had also hoped that he would find something. He had no family and no one knew anything about his parents. He had not expected to find family but he had hoped to find something. He could not say what that something was, only that he was looking for it and would know it when he found it.

He thought he would find it if he traveled. He had seen more of the world in a year than most people would in a lifetime but each time he returned to the hovel empty-handed. Even the bright, glittering sun and beautiful scenery of the world beyond his doorstep could not satisfy his hungry desire. Now he did not think anything would, but that too, did not matter anymore.

He began to close his eyes; ready to accept a more permanent darkness than the one he was already in.

A light flickered and disappeared.

“Where are you?”

His eyes snapped back open as his ears strained to hear that unexpected voice again. His whole body was tense even though he could not feel anything a moment earlier. He wanted to listen to that soft, melodic voice again. He wanted to know if it was really the sound of a promise he had heard in that voice.

“Where are you?”, She was calling again. “I can't see you.”

He strained himself forwards, against the falling, to try and find the source of the voice and the light. He wanted to see her; he wanted her to see him. He could make out a glowing light that grew increasingly stronger as it neared him. No longer did he feel like he was falling; he seemed only to be standing a few steps below her. As she approached him, he could make out the soft outlines of a gentle face with concerned eyes. It seemed as though he had seen this face somewhere before in another lifetime, but here it was all the more beautiful and real than it had been then, now radiant with light.

“Who are you?”, he breathed in wonder.

She smiled one of her rare smiles and held out a hand towards him.

I am the one who will bring you home.

He stared down at the hand, unbelieving of what he had heard and seen. He could not remember what a home was but it seemed to be the thing he had always been looking for.