Nanowrimo 2021 Day 18 - Word Count and Favorite Bit

Today I added 1800 words to Seek the Oasis, bringing my total word count to 28,828!

She stabbed at an oncoming tentacle with her spear, piercing the flesh. The blood that escaped from the wound with a thick, inky black, unlike any blood she’d ever seen. Whatever this creature was, it was not of this world.

That realization was all the distraction the creature needed to strike her once more. This time, its tentacle slammed into her back, sending her rocketing through the water and into the rocky bed below, knocking what little air she had left from her lungs.

Somehow, it was not fear that entered her mind as water filled her lungs, but frustration. Frustration with her weakness. Shame at her inability to fulfill her promises to Kinri and the children. Resignation at knowing her tribe had been right about her all along. She was a weak, useless little girl, and she would die trying to be something she was not.

Would they mourn her? Or would they assume she abandoned them when she did not return to the tribe? Would they care? Or would they simply forget that she ever existed? The children would mourn her, of this she was certain. But it wasn’t what she wanted for them. The poor things, tricked into thinking the world of someone like her.

Something pressed against her forehead, feeling almost like a kiss. Her vision cleared, and the burning sensation in her lungs lessened. She coughed, water somehow escaping her throat instead of being sucked deeper in. Her vision cleared, and she saw Suugin floating above her. Her eyes widened, and instinctively she gasped, but while no air filled her lungs, the water did not either. Aysel stared at Suugin, a hand going to her throat. She couldn’t believe it; almost didn’t want to test it. She inhaled, and it was true.

She could breathe.

She blinked, unable to stop staring at the giant turtle before her. “Did you do this?”

He nodded his head, blinking slowly in a way Aysel couldn’t help but read as friendly and wise. Suugin turned, swimming down to pluck her discarded spear from the rocky floor below them. He returned it to Aysel, and she could almost believe he was smiling.

“Thank you.”

How strange was it that a god of a people that were not her own believed in her, blessed her? She could not find the words for her gratitude, nor for her disbelief. Instead, she could only steel herself, and turn to stare down her foe.