Rize knew that waiting another second would spell his end, so he instantly turned around and started swimming as fast as he could to the other side. He had to reach the shore and leave before the fish grabbed him. The moment it did, he would be dead.
'Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I have never swum before! This is bad!' His arms moved frantically. At the same time, he looked behind him and couldn't really see anything, not even the bubbles he saw earlier. A feeling of dread crept under his skin as he realized what that meant.
'I don't know where it is!' He quickly submerged his head beneath to look for the monster. However, much to his dismay, the lake was far deeper than he expected, so anything beyond several meters was completely invisible. He was swimming in a vast sea of blue, shrouded in complete mystery, with the large fish swimming somewhere in it.
Rize gripped his sword as he emerged again and continued swimming, trying to find his way again. 'I can make it! I think I can make it!'
His hope was high as he closed the distance to the shore. He was only a dozen meters away, and he could escape. At that moment, Rize felt a chill run down his spine as he quickly looked down, only to see the fish swim beneath him before disappearing into the depths.
Rize's heart leapt out of his chest as the adrenaline kicked in and he tried to continue swimming. But before he could even make another meter, the monster emerged again, swimming toward him like a bullet. Rize instantly grabbed his sword and thrust it into the water right as the monster reached him.
The sword poked its nose where the injury was, making it swim back in pain as blood seeped into the water. Rize used that opportunity to continue swimming as fast as he could. However, before he could make it far, the monster returned and attacked with even more aggression.
Rize instantly tried to hit with his sword again. However, as if the fish was expecting that attack, it dodged it quickly and attacked from a different angle.
'Shit!' Rize panicked as he tried to slash with his sword again. Yet, he was a split second too late. The monster latched onto his foot, clasping around it tightly. Rize felt the razor-sharp fangs sink into his skin.
"AAAAGH!" He screamed in pain just as the monster dragged him underwater. Suddenly, Rize couldn't breathe anymore as he was being dragged to the depths of the lake. His teeth clenched.
'You… bastard!!!' He yelled as he tried to stab the monster on its side. However, the immense speed of the fish and Rize's pain made it extremely hard to deliver a strong blow. His stabs barely passed the surface and didn't leave any serious damage.
At the same time, Rize started feeling pain in his chest as he was running low on oxygen. When the monster bit him, he screamed, which expelled all the air in his lungs, so he was drowning rapidly.
'I think I have swallowed water… Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! There is no way I'm going to drown here!' Rize's eyes opened wide as determination flared in them. He didn't intend for this to be his end. Not when he had finally gotten another chance at life. Not when he was working so hard to survive this brutal world and live the life the original Rize could never get.
He wasn't going to let it be the end. Gripping his sword tightly with both hands, Rize lifted it up as he stabbed down with all the power he had left. This was very risky, as using this much energy meant he might not have enough to swim to the surface.
But Rize didn't care as he stabbed again, and again, and again. The blood gushed out of each injury, and the fish flinched as it swung him left and right and in circles while the boy tried to hold on. He felt like his foot was about to get cut off.
However, as if some sort of demon possessed him, he kept stabbing the monster relentlessly, riddling its body with holes, shallow and deep. He used every ounce of energy he had left. Water invaded his lungs, and he was slowly losing consciousness.
'Come… on… please…' He begged in his head. 'Just… die…'
As he stabbed another time, the monster's mouth finally opened wide as it released his leg and swam away. The blood trail it left behind was very long. The injuries had finally piled up, and it couldn't resist it anymore.
Feeling himself getting freed, Rize instantly started swimming up to the surface. He was a few dozen meters away from the surface, so he needed time to make it back… Time that he didn't have.
He swam as fast as he could, but at the same time, he was completely depleted of oxygen, and his eyes were growing hazy, and his body was growing weaker and weaker.
'I'm close… I'm… I can see… I can… see… the light…' Rize's hand stretched up as he tried to make it. But his eyes turned pitch black, and his energy waned. 'No…'
He was falling unconscious, merely meters away from the surface. He realized that, but he couldn't do anything about it as he lost all power to swim.
'I'm… drowning… It… hurts…' He thought to himself. Everything started disappearing all around him as he started descending again. His mouth parted open as he felt the water invade his body.
The feeling of death seeped into his consciousness and for a moment… Rize just gave up. He had tried his best, and he failed. He couldn't even survive for more than a year in this world. He thought he would finally be able to become something great. Something he would be proud of.
Yet, all he got was this. Dying in a small lake deep in the forest. Nobody will find him, and certainly nobody will remember him. Even Geralt would probably try to find another candidate to train to be the princess' bodyguard.
That idea somehow hurt him more than the feeling of suffocation. To be forgotten again by society… Why? Why was he cursed to be such a person? To be obscure? To be so forgettable and pathetic?
'It's… not… fair…' His last trail of thoughts were those three words before he finally closed his eyes and let death take him.
However, as everything was about to shut down and as the last trail of consciousness he had was fading, he suddenly felt something shocking. Rize's body was yanked out of nowhere and pulled up to the surface at a rapid pace.
Emerging, the boy's eyes opened again as he found himself lying on the ground near the lake. For a second, he couldn't breathe, but then, all the water came rushing out of his mouth.
"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!" He coughed violently as he leaned to the side, taking deep gasps of air. For minutes, he struggled to breathe. But he eventually regained some sort of control over himself as he looked all around him.
"What… happened… How… did I get out?"
There was no one around him, and yet Rize could swear he was pulled out and thrown on the shore.