The Crown's Entrapment

'W-What the?! Did I overestimate myself?!'

Xenia's eyes widened as she felt her lungs retch and heave through her closed mouth, the gesture making pain shoot through her chest as she felt her arms flail around through the water.

'This is bad! How far is the surface?!'

Looking up to what would hopefully be her savior, her hopes were dashed when she noticed just how deep she was underwater.

'The sun's barely even reaching me right now!' she inwardly despaired. 'How am I supposed to breathe here?!'

With her lack of breath came panic. The fact that she had nowhere else to go other than up was starting to get to her.

'What am I going to do?! I can't die here!'

Thinking on her toes, Xenia rapidly looked through her surroundings, hoping that she would spot something that would possibly save her from the error she just did.

'Why in the world did I even think that I'd be able to hold my breath this long?!'

Then again, she did go through that training out at sea with Darius and Osman. She knew that she should have larger lungs than this, but for some reason, the very waters around her seemed thicker than usual. She could feel the pressure pushing up against her stomach, forcing her to let go of even more precious air than she could afford to lose.

Gritting her teeth, Xenia felt her options dwindling. The dread in her chest grew with each passing second, her desperation starting to reach a fever pitch as her lips threatened to part just to take an involuntary breath.

'Is… Is this it? Surely, it isn't…'

Despair gripped her heart, and her limbs started to lose strength as she began sinking. Was this truly it? She didn't think that her end would be this ignoble. For her not to die at a trial was kind of stupid, but she would at least die knowing that she tried her best. She even managed to learn how to call on some of her angel powers on demand…. Wait….

Wasn't this exactly what she wanted?

At her epiphany, Xenia felt some of her fights come back to her as she did her best to steady herself in the waters. Still, she knew that for this to work, she needed to focus on the one unifying thing in her that could evoke the same feelings she had back when she first willingly called for her wings.

If her angel blood reacted to stress, then she would just lash out against her own despair.

'Come on! I refuse to die here! I refuse!'

With each inner chant, Xenia felt her back tingle. Seconds passed, and her anger against dying was starting to overwhelm her.

'I REFUSE TO DIE! I REJECT MY DESPAIR!'

Just as she was starting to black out, a bright light engulfed her as she felt the pressure of the waters around her dissipate. Immediately, she took in a deep breath, her body screaming out in relief just before she felt the waters surround her once more.

For a second, she noted just how hot the waters around her were. It was as if the waters around her immediate vicinity had been evaporated by her light just long enough for her to get a breath of fresh air.

And of course, the light also meant that the serpent in front of her had been affected. As if blinded, the massive beast began thrashing around, the waters around it moving with it as its size allowed it to make waves.

'Woah!'

Quickly focusing back on the task at hand, Xenia steadied herself against the artificial currents. Her eyes honed in on the dislodged trident, she dove towards the weapon with uncanny speed.

'Huh, I guess my wings also work underwater…'

Using her new appendages, Xenia flew threw the water, quickly scooping up the weapon before promptly making her way back to Polo's underwater castle. Coming back to where she came from, the feeling of dry air made her feathers shiver as she presented the trident to the guardian.

"Here," she smirked. "I'm guessing I still had a lot of time to spare?"

Seemingly skeptical, Polo grabbed the trident out of his hands. Giving it a cursory look, he gave it a curt nod before turning back to her.

"You had around an hour and a half to spare," Polo stoically replied. "Nevertheless, you did a fine job."

Xenia almost preened, but she quickly schooled her features as she asked, "So does that mean that you'll allow me to use the Lake of Life?"

"Yes, you may."

Hearing the guardian's affirmation almost made Xenia yelp in celebration before she stopped herself from doing so. Of course, that didn't mean that her wings got her memo, seeing as they kept on flapping behind her, getting everybody around her wet in the process.

"You should call those wings of yours off, Xenia," Devas chuckled. He then turned to face Polo, a questioning look replacing his prior smile as he pointed out, "Also, I don't remember that serpent being that docile before. Is there something you haven't told us?"

"Oh, that? That's because we've come to an… agreement of sorts," Polo cryptically replied, a hint of smugness faintly gracing his lips. "In truth, the Princess here did make sense in that I could've just told it to give me my trident back."

"What?!" Devas yelped in disbelief. "You mean I was worried for nothing?!"

"That's your fault. Not mine," Polo smirked. "Also, I wasn't lying in that I was truly unable to retrieve my trident before. Like I said, the serpent and I struck an accord. In return for me lending it my trident, I can call upon its services whenever I am in need of it."

Xenia didn't know how to feel at what she just heard. Even as she saw Devas fly off into a tirade against his fellow guardian, the only thing she could think about was the fact that she would now be able to look into the past. Her efforts had paid off, and with it, she'd be able to help Darius in their search for the truth.

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