• Laughter, smiles, and a picnic lunch. These were the things floating through Lumina's mind, as the child of dark gray skin could be seen in her own memories, Jumping off a ledge into a great pool of water. Though she wasn't the only one who was here to enjoy some of the simpler pleasures that the underdark had to offer. Several other children had joined her, and as her body began to descend from the ledge, and get closer to the pool of water, she observed them all, if only to see if she had succeeded in getting their attention. Life was hard in the underdark, between parents that worshiping a god that was half spider, half elf, and one hundred percent bent on destroying the surface. Having to learn how to either cast magic, sneak past everything without being seen, or learning how to ride a giant spider. And being taught that the surface, and everyone one it were destined to be ruled by you, simply because of where they were from. It had become hard for anyone to get some time alone to just have fun and be a kid.

    Both Lumina and her friends had both silently figured out that this was more than likely going to be the last time that they would be able to get together like this again. Though the thought of that made her sad she had decided to live in the moment as she could feel her toes dip into the cold water, knowing in her mind that a moment later her entire body would follow. The could against her toes sent a shiver up her spine as a moment later she would be submerged into the water. Her head looking upward in excitement as she looked to the surface of the water she wanted to see the streams of white water from where she broke the water.

    She took a moment to just sit there in the water, curled into a ball and look up as she saw the surface get further and further away. Staying in till her breath was running short she began to try to pull herself up to the surface. One strike, two strokes, three strokes, but she wouldn't move. A panic began to overcome Lumina as she began to run short of air her legs felt heavy, like something was holding them down. Her arms could move, but they too felt like they were being held in place. Held in place by what seemed like the weight of the world, the young girl let out what seemed like a desperate cry for help, as she faded into the darkness of the water.

    A cloister of air bubbles escaped from the lips of Lumina as she had awoken from a pleasant dream turned nightmare. After she caught her breath she looked around to find that she was in a situation no better than the one in her dream. Her feet had been caged, and her hands molded into some sort of goo. She looked about her at her surroundings, she saw sand, a large pearl, and some rocks, which were being used to house the mold that held her hands in place.

    It was only a few moments later, when she was looking about in a panic, that she noticed a fish swim by her head. A moments pause to think would be all it took for her to realize that she was in water of all things, and as she looked up and couldn't see the surface, she knew it had to be deep. It wouldn't be until she took another moment of contemplation before she realized that despite her current location she had no trouble breathing, and it was at this moment she realized that whom ever was behind this had intended her to stay alive, and not die from something as simple as drowning.

    A burble of air escaped from her as she screamed and struggled to free herself, flailing her arms and legs with no avail, as she could hear the clashing of her metal foot locks through the water. Taking a moment to catch her breath she would try once more as a shallow echo of her effort could be heard. A few soft tears escaped her eyes, though this went almost unnoticed given her current situation. Her long white hair flowed in the water as she could see it curl around her and sway in the motion of the ocean, and she took a moment to think about how she would escape from this.

    Looking around she saw a few of the marine life swim about her, having been attracted to the sounds that she had made. Some of them were quite beautiful with their colors, shapes, and sizes, though there were a few that caught her attention more than others. The fish that had become the focus of her gaze were those with particularly sharp teeth. She thought for a moment at how she could use this to her advantage and she remembered that carnivorous fish could find prey by smelling their blood in the water, or something like that.

    With this thought in mind she looked to both of her hands and deciding that her right hand would be more useful than her left, she thought about just how to do this. With no tools at her disposal and only limited mobility to begin with she began to wiggle the index finger on her right hand around. Although it would take several minutes of her time to do so, she was able to maneuver her index finger so that it could touch against her right thumb, and she began to scratch her thumb with her index finger. With as much vigor as she could given her situation she could feel the burn as her nail broke through the layers of her skin, and the go began to cover it, the salty sensation of it causing her to cringe in pain. Even though she didn't like what she was going through, it seemed worlds better than the alternative of just giving up.

    Of all the pains in the world, the slow one could possibly be the worst, or at least to Lumina, they certainly seemed like it. Though through perseverance and determination she had accomplished her goal as her thumb began to slowly bleed from a section of skin that she had scratched nearly raw. Time would pass and it would slowly begin to seep into the slime that was used to restrain her and she could see that parts of it were taking on a red tinge, that part of her plan had at least gone right. Now all she could do is simply wait and see if results would happen.

    She waited... and waited... and waited... and waited some more. And while she waited she thought about her life and what she had done with it. She remembered that boy from years ago, and the romance that they shared, and remembered how it in the end, it ended disastrously. She remembered the kids that she used to play with, and how she used to love the water, and thought about how her opinion of it would likely change if she ever escaped from this damned thing. She began to remember her parents, and how much of a pain in her hand they were. And with that thought in mind she wondered how they could have been a pain in her hand, and realized that the pain in her hand wasn't a memory but of the current situation. With a quick startle she looked at her right hand to see a fist the size of her fist beginning to nibble at her hand as with a quick flick of her wrist it shuttled off and her plan had indeed worked. an opening in the goop she wriggled her hand around until with what seemed like a sudden pop she had freed her right hand from the majority of the gelatinous clamp.

    With her hand free from the majority of the green gel, she gave one hard yank as it slid free from the remainder of it's slimy embrace. A personal victory as her options of escape now became ten fold. Now it was just a question of how to free her other hand. Looking around she had thought about using the same plan twice, however with her now free hand still bleeding she worried about attracting something much larger than a fist sized fish and decided to try something different. Looking down at the chains that held her feet in place she looked at the chain closely as she noticed that the metal used to tie it to the rock beneath had began to rust ever so slightly on it's surface, and that the little amount that was there might be enough to help her.

    Bending her body as much as she could Lumina tried to grab hold of the rock that was used to hold her right leg down, and though it took a few tries, she gave up on grabbing the rock and instead pulled on the chain to lift the rock out from the sand. Bending her leg so that the rock would have some extra room while she lifted it she tried her best to toss it over her left hand though her first attempt failed as she rolled her eyes and tried again. 5 tries, a scream of frustration, followed by a whelp of pain from her leg bending into odd places, she finally succeeded as the chain now laid over top of her left hand. Beginning to move her hand from side to side and pulling on her right leg, she began to slowly use the rusted flakes to try and cut her left hand free as it would soon be free from the rock as well.

    With both her hands free her task had become significantly easier as she simply let herself float for a moment to let her leg work it's way back to normal. A few minutes rest and she began to think of the final stage as to how she would escape. "I could try to swim with the rocks still on", she thought to herself. Though this plan was quickly dismissed as she realized just how hard it would be to lug the rocks behind her. So, she had only one choice, break the chains. Picking up the rocks that held her down she began to use them to try and break the chains that held her. Picking them up and slamming them down as hard she could. Though try as hard as she did with the water slowing the rocks momentum she knew she would never succeed. And the slime left on her hands made the rocks so slippery that she could hardly hold onto the rock anymore. And that's when she figured how she would escape.

    Reaching upwards she placed her hands against the slime that had held her before. Not to happy that after all her effort to escape she so quickly went back to touching this thing, she used her nails to try and scoop as much of the gunk as she could. Gathering as much as she could in one hand she used the finger tips of the other to scoop the gobs of green in between the grates of her footholds, and began to rub the slime against her ankles.

    Her feet sufficiently slimmed, she began to give quick pulls of her feet to see if they would slide. No such luck. But determination, and the will to not spend her life as a prisoner made her determined. Pulling herself down till her footholds touched the sandy floor she grabbed the chains so as to lower her body into a squatting position, with her legs as curled as they could be. Closing her eyes and counting to three, she knew this was going to hurt, a lot, as she pushed her legs strait and tried to jet off of the ocean floor with all her might.

    A scream of pain was let out as she reached the brink of what her holds would allow, her eyes clenched together as hard as they possibly could as she could no longer feel either of her feet. Lumina's eyes opened slowly she feared that she had mangled her feet so much that she wouldn't be able to use them, and would be left with little more to do than wait in her shackled doom. She was unfortunately right, she couldn't feel either of her feet because she had twisted the bone in a manner that her feet were almost completely parallel with her ankles, though looking past her feet made her almost forget about what she had done to herself.

    Lumina looked past her feet to see the ocean floor slowly drifting further and further away from her, she had done it, and was ready to leave this watery hell as she used her arms to paddle her way to the surface. She would feel a ringing in her ears as the pressure would begin to rattle her skull and her vision began to blur. She pressed on with all of the force that she could, though her eyesight began to not only blur, but redden as she could feel the inside of her head begin to feel like it was being crushed. The last thing that poor Lumina would see is the light from the surface, before her vision would become engulfed in red, as if her vision had been washed over with her own blood. Her capture had known that she was nearly infamous for her ingenuity to escape, and had planned for her to do the same with his trap. So leaving her to think that simply being shackled and restrained was the trap, left the real trap to kill her, free from her mind. He knew that in her excitement to be free, she would forget that any body rising from the bottom would be killed from the rapid change in pressure to the body. Poor Lumina would escape, but not with her life, as all that could be seen from the surface as her glowing white hair, draped over her body, like a veil, to hide the dead from the rest of the world.

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    Not being able to decide if I wanted the character to live or not, I actually wrote two different endings to this!
    The ending where Lumina survives is below.
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    Lumina looked past her feet to see the ocean floor slowly drifting further and further away from her, she had done it, and was ready to leave this watery hell as she used her arms to paddle her way to the surface. She would feel a ringing in her ears as the pressure would begin to rattle her skull and her vision began to blur. She pressed on with all of the force that she could, though in the end it would prove to be a fruitless endeavor as her eyes would soon close, and she would be left to the whims of the merciless ocean and it's many creatures.

    Hours would pass, though to Lumina it would seem like only moments as she felt a warm scraping feeling against her face. Awaking in a drowse she would see what seemed like a field of sand. Remembering a similar image when she had awoken previously, she had worried that she was still where she had began at the bottom of the ocean. Though thankfully her fears were unneeded as she had washed up on shore to an island that she could not recognize. Concluding that it couldn't be much worse than where she came from, she began to drag herself into the jungle like forestry that was before her, praying that her day would somehow get better than it had been.
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    Which version do you prefer?