《Path to become a Sea Dragon God》


 Chapter 1

    Ryuji was just an ordinary 14-year-old boy with brown eyes and brown hair.


    One day he was wandering through the woods near his home, when he stubbed his toe on something hard. He held his foot jumping up and down holding back tears of pain as he cursed into the empty forest. After the pain subsided, he looked down and saw a small, key half-buried in the dirt.


    It was an old key, its surface covered in dirt and rust. Despite its outer appearance at first glance, the key gave off a special vibe. When he picked it up, a mysterious voice echoed inside his head.


    "Do you wish to become a dragon?"


    Ryuji thought that it was just some kind of silly question. He laughed and said, "Sure, why not?¡±


    He never would have thought in a million years that those three words would change his life forever.


    Nothing happened at first so Ryuji just shrugged it off and continued walking. Suddenly, a sharp searing hot pain shook his entire body and he collapsed and started writhing on the ground uncontrollably for what felt like ages but was only a few minutes.


    As the pain slowly faded, Ryuji gasped for air to steady his pounding heartbeat. After a few minutes of laying down on the ground, he stood up, his legs still shaky from the ordeal, and looked around to see three glowing balls of light buzzing around him, their soft light pulsing rhythmically.


    He couldn¡¯t understand them, yet something deep inside told him they were connected to the cause of the terrible pain he just went through. Maybe if he followed them, they would lead him to the answers of his growing whirlwind unanswered questions.


    Curious to see if any of this was real or some dream he made up, he followed the floating balls of light until he arrived at the loading dock of a grocery store. There was a back entrance for employees only which was kept locked at all times. Instincts told him to insert the key into the door if he so chooses to precede.


    Hesitant at first, Ryuji almost turns back around but pauses and lets his curiosity get the best of him as he quickly inserts the key into the lock and it turns. Filled with nervous excitement he opened the door to reveal a dark cave lit up with luminescent moss.


    As he stepped inside, the entrance shut behind him, leaving only a dim glow from the moss growing on the cave walls to light his way. The only way forward was an ominous looking tunnel filled with dark murky looking water at the opposite end of where he stood.


    His guts told him that if he wanted to get out, he had to swim down that water filled tunnel all the way to the exit. If he failed, he would die.


    Ryuji¡¯s stomach twisted and he gulped, feeling a little nervous. There was no way forward except through the underwater tunnel. This left only two choices for Ryuji: Stay in the cave and slowly starve to death, or have a chance to survive by swimming until he reaches the end of the underwater tunnel.


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    Ryuji took off his shirt and shoes, looked at the dark entrance of the tunnel and gulped. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, closed his eyes and dived into the freezing dark water and started swimming.


    The first tunnel was long, but he kept swimming on until he arrived at another cave. He broke through the surface, desperately gulping in air, his chest heaving. His vision blurred, and his lungs burned from the desperate lack of oxygen. He had barely made it. He swam to the bank and lay down to rest for a bit, breathing hard.


    After catching his breath, Ryuji looked around. The little glowing balls were still flying around him. With the dim light they gave off, he could tell that the bank he was on was only a few feet wide and the cave ceiling was just barely high enough for him to stand. The ceiling sloped down until it hit the floor.


    As he was studying the area he was in, he noticed something on the wall. He stepped close to the spot and the floating lights flickered closer to the wall, as if they could read his mind. They illuminated the spot, revealing a map carved into the wall.


    It showed the cave and tunnel that he just came from as well as the chamber he was in right now. It also revealed that the tunnel he swam through was sloping down; there was another tunnel heading even deeper into the earth.


    He wondered what he got himself into. Would he be able to get out alive? Maybe he shouldn''t have let his urge to satisfy his curiosity get the best of him.


    As his expression grew darker with each thought, the glowing orbs around him bounced around emitting a soft hum. It almost felt like they were trying to cheer him up and give him some encouragement.


    He slapped his face with one hand and then shook himself out of the gloomy thoughts that were creeping into his mind and decided that there was only one thing he could do if he wanted to survive and make it out alive.


    He looked around for the next tunnel and found it with the help of the luminescent orbs. He jumped into the cold water and swam forward, not looking back in fear that he might give up.


    The next tunnel was longer, but this time he kept his eyes open. The lights flew alongside him as he swam, lighting up the dark water as he swam, keeping him company along his journey.


    Just as he felt his chest aching, almost about to pass out, he came to another chamber and broke through the surface and swam to shore panting once more. He pulled himself onto the solid ground and fell asleep completely drained of energy.


    After a while he woke up and the glowing balls danced around him and the wall. He took a look at the wall and noticed another map, just like the last one but with an additional tunnel, the one he just swam through and another entrance hinting to another waterway he had to travers.


    Ryuji sighed in dejection and tiredness. His body was aching all over. He hadn''t had so much exercise since the school year ended. His stomach growled, indicating how long he had gone without food. He wondered if he would ever make it out alive, or if he would end up starving to death.


    The orb then shifted towards a pile of moss growing on the floor. Ryuji blinked at them, confused. He crawled over to the moss pile, too weak to stand up and walk. The lights bounced in the air excited as he came closer.


    Suddenly, Ryuji had a feeling that they were trying to tell him to eat the moss that was in front of him. He gagged, repulsed by the idea of eating moss which he didn''t recognize, but the hunger gnawed at his stomach forcing him to take a handful and shakily stuff it in his mouth.


    To his surprise, the moss wasn''t as gross as he thought it would be, slightly slimy and very chewy. As long as he ignored the texture and pretended to be eating a salad, it wasn''t all that bad.


    After the first bite of moss entered his mouth, he quickly grabbed more and more handfuls and stuffed his face with the moss. The texture was off, but he was too hungry to care.


    After satisfying his hunger, he succumbed to his exhaustion once more and fell into a deep sleep.

 chapter 2

    Ryuji woke up after an unknown amount of time.  He sat up and realized that he felt better. His muscles no longer ached with pain and he felt somewhat stronger, and lighter after resting.


    He looked around the cave watching the floating balls of light sparkle and dance around him with their now familiar comforting glow.  He wondered how much time had passed by since he first entered this place, but decided that time was the least of his worries at the moment.  He needed to focus on getting out of this mysterious place.


    Ryuji closed his eyes, took a death breath and plunged back into the water, sending a rush of bubbles up to the surface.


    He opened his eyes and noticed something different about the water. It was no longer freezing.  Instead, it now felt pleasantly cool.


    He swam around the pool for a little bit, the glowing balls flew alongside him in the water as he swam.  He went up to the surface for air then headed into the next tunnel, continuing his journey forward.


    And so, Ryuji swam and swam, moving through one tunnel after another.  When he reached the surface and entered a new chamber, he would catch his breath, rest, eat some moss to curb his hunger and gather strength, then head back into the water once more.


    As he continued swimming, his strokes grew stronger with each passage.  He felt more and more comfortable underwater with each passing moment.  He was no longer nervous like before.


    Each new tunnel forced him to test his limits.  Hold his breath further and further.  Swim further without air or rest, but it didn''t bother him anymore.  In fact, he felt joy in pushing forward, testing his body¡¯s limits before collapsing from exhaustion each time.


    As Ryuji swam, he grew more comfortable in the water.  With each dive, he found himself needing to go to the surface air less and less.  Sometimes he just swam right through the chamber without surfacing for air.


    At first, he didn''t notice anything different but as he continued subtle changes to his body were revealed.  His lungs no longer ached from lack of oxygen.  He only came to the surface when he felt a twinge arise from his chest every now and then to remind him that he still needed air.


    He felt more and more at ease as he continued traversing the water filled tunnels with only the glowing balls of light as his companions.  He didn''t know what they were but his instincts told him that there was something special about them.  They felt alive.


    On and on he swam, further and deeper. The further he went, the darker it became, until the only sources of light were the glowing orbs that danced around him.  Their soft glimmer was the only thing lighting up his path.


    It felt like the deeper he went, the more the world around him faded, leaving him surrounded by an endless darkness, but he didn''t fall into despair.


    The lights kept him company, their vibrant hues bouncing up and down, lifting his spirits up and encouraging him to continue whenever he started to show signs of feeling down.


    With each passing moment, he felt more connected to them. The thought of returning home was slowly fading to the back of his mind, no longer top priority.  He wanted to explore this place more and get to know what the lights were and how they were connected to everything.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    As he swam down the tunnels, he noticed something strange happening to him. His vision was changing. The darkness that should have made him unable to see no longer blinded him. Even the areas untouched by the glow of the lights were no longer concealed by the darkness. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was enough to swim through the ever growing complicated tunnels with newfound confidence.


    On and on he swam.  As he continued swimming through tunnel after tunnel and chamber after chamber, the changes grew more pronounced.  His vision sharpened.  He could now see his surroundings which were once hidden in the shadows without the help of his new glowing friends.


    Somewhere along the way in one of those many water filled paths, a sudden, persistent itch appeared on his neck.  Without thinking much about where he was at that moment, he stopped to give it a scratch.  This relieved some of the itchiness as some dead skin fell to the bottom and revealed bumps on his neck.


    A rush of panic flooded through him, and without thinking, he opened his mouth, gasping in shock.  A second later he realized his mouth was open.  He closed his mouth and grabbed his neck expecting to be choking on the water, only to find out he was perfectly fine.


    He held his breath, or what was left of it anyways and hurriedly tried to reach the next chamber.  He didn''t want to run out of oxygen.  The familiar feeling of suffocation clawed at his lungs and his vision blurred, starting to fade out.  The lights bobbed around him frantically, clearly worried about him.


    Just as his consciousness was fading away, he heard a steady, calm voice urging him to breathe.  He wasn''t sure if it was a hallucination from the lack of oxygen going to his brain or something else.


    He didn''t understand what the voice was telling him.


    Breathe?


    Underwater?


    Surely he would die if he tried to breathe underwater, he thought.


    The voice told him to breathe again and Almost as if possessed, he took a quick breath still expecting to choke on water, but instead found the pain in his chest disappear and his vision became clearer again.  He took a bigger deeper breath and sighed in relief.  He wasn''t going to drown.


    Suddenly his eyes opened wide with shock.  He was breathing. Under water.  He was surrounded by water and was breathing perfectly fine.  He tentatively touched his neck as he remembered the unfamiliar bumps.  He touched his neck again and breathed in and out like normal.  The ¡°bumps¡± moved in rhythm with his breathing.  It was then that he realized he now had gills.


    Ryuji was shocked.  He couldn''t understand what was happening to him anymore.  His ability to hold his breath longer had seemed natural, like something anyone might experience after spending so much time pushing their limits and holding their breath for a long time.  He attributed his improved vision, being able to see in the dark more clearly, as something like his eyes just adjusting to the lack of light in the enclosed area.


    But getting gills was something different.  It was something more than just adapting to surroundings.  Something in him was changing and he wasn''t sure what to think about it.  He didn''t quite understand what was happening.


    Panic rose within him as he realized that he now had gills.  The feeling on his neck was too real to be fake.


    Questions started to fill his head.


    Did that mean he was no longer able to go on land?


    Would he be stuck living underwater from now on like other sea creatures?


    What would happen to him now?


    Would people notice he was missing?


    Maybe he shouldn''t have followed the lights.


    Thoughts of doubt filled his head as he continued to worry about the sudden change to his body as he slowly drifted off into an uneasy sleep, forgetting to swim to the next chamber and get onto solid ground.