The Evernon Saga - The Journey Of Ascension, A Struggle For Godhood.

Rolling his body like a horizontal whirlwind on the floor, William crossed the 50-something meters separating his original position, from the water. Rolling into the water, William felt the cool, crystal clear water sweep over and across his skin, bringing with it a sense of weightlessness.

'Yes, I'm right!' thought William.

Using the weightlessness provided by the water, William felt less pressure being exerted on him physically. The real physical feeling of lightness overrode the perceived physical feeling of heaviness! All that William felt still, was the mental fear and apprehension towards approaching Joseph.

However, that was going to be his map and compass!

William began to swim forward in a long arc, moving either slightly further or towards the island depending on whether the intensity of Joseph's pressure increased or decreased. Like this, he used Joseph's pressure itself as a guide to skirt around its edge, till he could see Joseph. By then, Magnar still had well over 300 meters left to slowly shuffle, and he looked incredibly fatigued.

With a grin on his face, William swam until he was in a position where he just had to swim straight to reach Joseph. Suddenly, his expression became serious. He had to get to the shore as fast as possible, with as much momentum as possible, before his body got suppressed by Joseph's pressure. If that happened while he was still a ways away, he could drown.

Taking a moment to gather his strength, William had around 50 meters to swim, but this was about to be the most dangerous 50 meters he had ever swam in his life.

...

Joseph felt what William had done, and was now seeing what he was trying to do. It baffled him.

"Never in all my years, have I expected anyone to go about it like this...It's incredibly risky. However, it truly shows the depths of the intelligence I saw in those eyes, the very first morning I met him. After all, he figured out what no one else did. If the boy doesn't make it, I might have to go rescue him myself. In the meantime..." murmured Joseph to himself, as he finished stuffing his pipe, and placed it gently on the rock.

Standing up, Joseph turned to face the direction where William was preparing to come from. He saw him treading water, eyes closed, in deep focus that was uncanny for his age. For once, Joseph showed a rare grin.

"In the meantime, let's see what this young man is made of!"

...

Magnar, off in the distance, was feeling a strange c.o.c.ktail of concern, and dumbfoundedness. He was worried how William was going to swim under the effects of the pressure that made it almost impossible for them to walk normally. Simultaneously, he found it incredulous that William decided to tackle their current predicament in such a way!

At this point, he gave up on trying to struggle to be the first to reach the rock, he couldn't care less. He began to shuffle desperately, faster than before, to the water's edge where William would arrive at. He wanted to be there in case his brother needed a hand.

Even under this fearsome pressure, Magnar would dive into the water without a second thought.

...

After an extended period of time focusing his mind and becoming as calm as he could be, William's heart was still pounding, at the thought of what he was about to attempt.

Suddenly, he started kicking his feet, as he extended his arms out in front of him, hands together, palms facing outward with his knuckles touching, and then proceeded to pull his arms back and to his sides as hard as he could. William could feel his muscles stinging and burning at the sheer explosiveness behind this action.

But the d.e.s.i.r.ed result was achieved.

William immediately shot forwards around 20 meters and was below the water's surface. He was aiming to go as deep as he could, to find out where the ground was, as soon as possible. He wanted, no, needed an insurance.

Underneath the water's surface, William was swimming as hard as he could, not going fast with his strokes. He wanted to maximize his usage of his momentum underwater. All that Joseph and Magnar could see was the surface getting stirred up from the powerful water currents being made underneath.

After passing the 30 meter mark, William came up for a breath, and shot back down below the surface. Moving his limbs was getting increasingly difficult, and he wanted to make sure any movement he did would have generated the maximum momentum underwater, and not be wasted in the air.

35 meters...

38 meters...

42 meters...

At the 45 meter mark, William couldn't coordinate his movements anymore, and began to flail as best as he could. Through this, he could vaguely feel sand being stirred up near his feet, meaning that he was very close to shore! Just a meter or two more and he could use the ground below him to get his footing!

Very soon, with plenty of scrabbling along the bottom, a crouched William managed to get to the shallows near the shore, where the water was around navel height. He was exhausted, and was about to stand up out of the water to take a breath.

Subsequently, as William got into a half-kneeling stance and was attempting to slowly raise his head and torso out of the water, he froze. Just when his head was just barely underwater, he found that he couldn't move a single millimeter further, and his head was just barely beneath the waves. He had forgotten! The pressure was at its strongest here, as Joseph was very close by. The pressure was overpowering his exhausted body. He couldn't breathe!

Oh no.

William felt his throat and lungs burning from the lack of oxygen, whilst he himself was burning with indignation. He refused to accept that he was going to drown face-down while crouching in water! He strained his body to do anything, for his legs to straighten, his face to look up, or even sideways.

Anything! Just for a single breath!

...

Joseph stood a few meters away from his rock, which was around 20 meters away from the water's edge. He was sighing dejectedly as he saw William freeze under his pressure, just as he was about to get out of the water. With his head barely beneath the water's surface, he was in quite a dangerous predicament.

Joseph was considering retracting his pressure, but kept it going as he wanted to see if this near-death experience could trigger any kind of spontaneous growth in William. After all, all the best Warriors in history were forged and tempered into the sharpest blades, by their survival of near-death experiences, the insights they gained, and the lessons they learned from them.

Joseph was hoping to give William a taste of what could await him in the future.

Feeling something bump into his left leg, Joseph looked down curiously. He saw a Magnar that had rolled all the way over here, after realizing that it required less effort than shuffling. Seeing the sheepish grin on his face, Joseph facepalmed.

Directing his gaze once more to the half-submerged William, Joseph began to worry.

...

As William's lung capacity reached its limits, he had to fight his body's impulse to inhale. Otherwise, he would be inhaling seawater! William felt his mind slowly descend into fuzziness, as his thoughts slowed down, and his vision began to swim. Black dots and smudges began to consume his vision, as colors exchanged places, tones and shapes. Everything was a discolored mess. Finally, William couldn't fight his body's instinct anymore as he breathed in deeply, liters of saltwater gushing into and filling his lungs. His eyes slowly began to roll back into his head.

William felt as if his soul was slowly detaching itself from his body, as he felt a frigid sensation cover every inch of him. The warmth that he felt from his own body was replaced by this coldness, that gently enveloped him. Tempted him. His stresses, struggles, and panic, were replaced by a wave of release and relaxation.

As William felt this cool, floating feeling, he realized that he could see himself. His young, developed body, brimming with potential untapped. He saw flashbacks of his childhood, playing out in the field with his friends. Fighting, training, eating, sleeping, dreaming of becoming a Warrior, for all that he had done was done with a driving passion, to become a Warrior.

William saw Joseph, and how he had angered him on the morning they met. He saw how fast Joseph, an old man, had moved. How easily he had hoisted him off his feet and into the air with a single hand.

William saw the herald. He remembered the punch, felt the punch, and the fear that came with it. His body began to shiver. Not from fear, but from outrage.

That strength!

That power that made him feel so helpless, that crushed his mood and fighting spirit. That power that removed him of his control over his very own life! And finally, William's mind went back to Joseph...and his pressure. Pressure?...

That...damn...PRESSUUUUUUURE!!!!

All at once, William forced himself back to consciousness. The comforting cold in its entirety was banished, and William found himself filled with endless rage. He did not hate Joseph. Instead, he hated how powerless he was, and would continue being, if he did not take this step right now!

Warmth began to pulse through William's body as an untapped reserve inside William revealed itself and opened, flowing out and around his body without any restraint, like a dam that had collapsed. It flowed into William's limbs, into his muscles, strengthening them. It flowed into and around his vital organs, sustaining them. William found himself relying on this strength entirely, and his grit, to slowly raise himself up out of the water. Gritting his teeth, William braced himself.

Gradually, his back began to straighten. His shin and knee that were on the floor due to his half-kneeling stance, began to lift off from the bottom, leaving small sandy trails with them. William put his hands onto the knee in front of him, and pushed. Never in his life had he ever put that much effort into pushing something. Soon, his head was upright, and his hair was now visible from the surface, floating.

Next, his striking, golden amber eyes rose above the water's surface.

His nose...

Mouth...

And eventually, his entire torso.

William was now standing upright in the water, as his body glowed with a faint golden light. He had no expression, but his gaze was one of complete, pinpoint focus. The golden energy emanating from his body made the remnant water on him evaporate, and the water around his legs, begin to boil. He gazed at Joseph, now seemingly unperturbed by the increased intensity of Joseph's pressure due to their proximity.

He took a step forward.

...

While all of this was happening...

Joseph's eyes widened when he noticed the lack of air bubbles from William's down-facing mouth, and the fact that his body seemed to lose all strength, with his arms beginning to float. He was flooded with worry, but he suppressed it. With his many decades of sailing experience, he knew that even if William were to drown, he would have ample time to be revived, with little to no repercussions as long as he did it very soon after. He gritted his teeth. In his head he shouted out.

C'mon kid! Show me what you've got!

Magnar, who had just stood up and observed the situation, was exempt from Joseph's pressure, courtesy of Joseph of course. Seeing William in danger, he attempted to rush forward to save him, but was held back by Joseph. Joseph shook his head slowly.

"Wait for him young Magnar. He might have some fight left in him. It isn't over until it's over."

Hearing this, Magnar naturally understood. He knew as well that these kinds of life-threatening situations lead to the greatest growth in both one's character and abilities. But did it have to cause him such pain to watch?

After a while, William's still body twitched.

Joseph took note of this, and watched even more closely. William began to slowly move and resist his pressure, steadily rising up in the face of it. His head slowly emerged from the water, facing in their direction, and his eyes...

His gaze felt like a blazing ray of sunshine.

He continued to emerge from the water, and as Joseph got to see more of William's body, his eyes grew ever wider, and his jaw fell ever lower.

Mana Reinforcement?!

Th-this...this can't be real!

As William stood tall, the water on him was evaporating at a rate visible to the n.a.k.e.d eye, producing a cloud of steam that originated from him. The seawater around his legs also began to bubble and boil. He was covered in a layer of golden energy, faint but visibly glowing.

William began to walk forward.

With every step he took, the splashes of water that filled the air never got the chance to fall back down. They had all evaporated in the air. The water where his legs left were still simmering,, and where they re-entered the water needed only a moment to reach a boil.

He gave off the feeling of a God that had descended onto the mortal plane to walk amongst mere mortals. Even the water of the vast oceans were unworthy to exist upon his skin. The heat radiating from William was so intense that the air around him began to distort slightly, akin to a heat wave.

As William set foot on the shore, he paused for a moment before walking towards Joseph and Magnar. At this point he still had his lungs filled to the brim with seawater, and he was still unable to breathe. However, it had been 3 minutes since his body had twitched and began to slowly rise out of the water.

As William got closer, Joseph and Magnar began to feel the sweltering heat that radiated from him. Magnar stared in ignorant awe, as Joseph grew ever more shocked out of his wits.

This heat surrounding him...it can't be...

Joseph wanted to faint, and wake up in his bed knowing that this was all a dream. But, he couldn't.

The sweltering heat transitioned to searing, as Magnar began to wince as his skin started to get burned. Joseph immediately controlled his pressure to act as a shield around Magnar, providing instant relief. Joseph himself, was entirely unaffected. William was around 5 meters away from them when the intimidating air and energy around him suddenly disappeared, and he fainted on his feet.

Magnar shouted in alarm as Joseph rushed forward to catch him, who also shouted something immediately after.

"William!"

"You rascal!"