CHAPTER 318

ARIA’S POV

The water is up to my waist now, frigid and heavy, making every movement sluggish, as if the ocean itself is trying to drag me down with it.

Finally, I manage to free myself, pushing against the rising tide that threatens to engulf me. The weight of the water presses in from all sides, oppressive and unrelenting. I struggle to find the emergency exit, my lungs burning with the desperate need for air. The jet groans under the pressure, the metal twisting and buckling as it is crushed by the ocean's embrace. The cabin is almost completely submerged now, the last pockets of air rapidly disappearing.

With a final, desperate effort, I wrench open the exit door, the ocean rushing in like a predator pouncing on its prey. The cold shocks me, a jolt to my system, but it also fuels my survival instinct. I push out into the open water, leaving the crumbling remains of the jet behind. For a moment, I am disoriented, the vastness of the ocean stretching out endlessly in every direction.