The Seaweed Forest… that place is quite dangerous, even for the most experienced freedivers. Even if you ignored the seemingly bottomless pit of seaweed that a diver can easily get trapped in, there were rumors of… something that lured the strongest willed of swimmers to the forest… and to their watery demise.

As expected, a rumor this scary managed to reach a young dragon adventurer named Calbe. As expected, he couldn’t resist this rumor and decided to do his best to find out if it was true or not. It took a bit of exploring, but he was finally able to find this mysterious lake that contained the infamous Seaweed Forest. Now all there was left to do was to confirm its existence.

Inhale...Exhale…

Calbe was busy at the lake's edge breathing and stretching before he took the plunge into the depths below. Despite his self assigned mission to find the secrets of this Seaweed Forest, it's unfortunately been a while since he was able to practice his swimming techniques, so he wasn’t the best swimmer around. As it turns out, fire dragons don't do well in the water, and would usually end up succumbing to the ocean's "deadly lullaby" if they weren’t careful. 

At least, that's what Calbe was told when he was a kid. 

Despite this weakness, Calbe didn't let something like that stop him. He entered the ocean with a confident stride and happily sighed as he grew accustomed to the water. After wading around for a bit, Calbe took a deep breath and dove underneath the ocean, ready to start his underwater adventure.

The dragon continued to dive deeper and deeper. Despite his slow speed, he seemed to have limitless oxygen in those cheeks and lungs of his. Even when he was finally 20 feet below the surface, nearly halfway to the bottom, he didn’t need air yet. And when he finally did reach the bottom of the lake
2 minutes after he dove under? Calbe still had a calm yet determined look on his face, ready to find this forest that was taking swimmer’s breath away, literally in this case!

Being 50 feet underwater really makes one appreciate the ocean and its beauty, and Calbe was no exception. He wasn’t the fastest or most graceful swimmer around, so he took his time looking at the various animals underneath the ocean, such as fishes and turtles. As he continued to swim along the ocean floor, he was mesmerized by the view that the lake had to offer him. He could live down here if he really wanted to-

“Hbblbm…Blbmmplm…”

Unfortunately, Calbe didn't have gills for him to accomplish such a feat. Surprisingly he needed air, even when he was perfectly fine during the dive, but he wasn’t about to complain about drowning in a mysterious lake. However, right before he surfaced, he saw it. A large forest of seaweed that was big enough for him to swim through. Something told Calbe that this was the mysterious forest that he was looking for… the rumors were actually true! But at the same time, he felt a shiver go down his spine. He couldn’t quite place his finger on it, but it’s almost like someone… or something wanted him to swim through that seaweed forest… but why? Was there something in there that he needed to find? Was it a secret test of his breath holding skill? Or something more… sinister?

Regardless of what it was, the red dragon was filled with curiosity and excitement. He didn’t even bother swimming back up to the surface for a quick gulp of air, he just darted in there, his cute red and grey tail swaying back and forth as he did so. He was completely oblivious of the dangers that could’ve awaited him in that forest...

Calbe took his sweet time wading through the forest, trying to see if there was anything of interest in here. Unfortunately, it looked like it was all just a bunch of seaweed, with more bunches of seaweed on top of that. Calbe couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed, what was all that effort to get here worth if there wasn’t anything to find.  It was going to be an long swim to the surface, but Calbe wasn’t too worried about that. Even with his lungs only half full, it wasn’t like something was going to happen that would make him expel all of it, right?

As Calbe swam upwards and started to go out of the seaweed forest, he got his answer… in the form of a couple branches of seaweed wrapping around his right foot and leg. 

“Mmm-?!”

In a state of panic, Calbe let some of his air out. How could something like this happen to him? In fact… these bunches of seaweed weren’t moving before! How was this even happening?! It’s like this seaweed forest was cursed, just like the rumors said! But there wasn’t time to think about haunted seaweed, Calbe needed to escape… and fast! He could already feel convulsions in his chest, pretty soon he won’t have any air left and then…

No. He’ll be free and sucking in that sweet sweet air before then! Although the amount of bubbles escaping his mouth at this rate made him put that dream into question… Calbe desperately pulled at the seaweed, hoping that it would easily break off… no good. Whatever this cursed seaweed was made out of, it was not budging, which was bad news for Calbe, as the air he so desperately needed was only 
50 feet away… assuming he got free in time.

“Mmmph! Mmmmph!”

More bubbles escaped Calbe’s mouth. He only had a little bit of air left, and this seaweed wasn’t budging one bit, no matter how hard he pulled or tried to tug at it. If anything, it just seemed like Calbe wouldn’t just drown faster due to this, he’d drown too drained to even grasp his neck for air.

“Mmph! Mmph! MMMMMPH!”

Through muffled cries, Calbe tried to get help, but there was no one around for miles. Calbe was truly alone in his soon to be final quest, and it wasn’t exactly going to be a walk in the park. Calbe desperately, with all the strength he still had, pulled on the seaweed that had a tight grip on his right foot and leg. During all of this however, that mysterious noise came back… but it was different somehow. Almost as if it were… speaking to Calbe. Trying to communicate with him in a sulty, seductive voice, like a siren calling sailors to her song.

“Rest, Calbe.” 

The mysterious voice tried to convince Calbe to stop and let the water take him. Just like all the other freedivers who dared to swim here. The red dragon refused to listen, as he continued to desperately pull on the seaweed. 

“Why do you still fight? Fall to the ocean’s lullaby, Calbe. It will only hurt if you struggle.”

With another hard exhale, Calbe’s air was completely gone, which he quickly began to figure out. He proceeded to clutch his neck, trying, seemingly in vain to hang on to whatever bit of consciousness he had left.

“You look so adorable struggling in my domain like this… perhaps I should let you go. Just to watch you swim to the air that you crave so much.”

Calbe’s determined look has long vanished, replaced with a look of pure fear and rising hopelessness. His neck clutching was failing fast, and water began to slowly slide into his lungs, Calbe taking small gulps against his will.

“MMPH! (gulp) MMMPH! (gulp) GMMMMPH!”

The mysterious voice seemed to chuckle. “Give in, Calbe. Don’t struggle anymore. You’ll only die tired.”

Calbe closed his eyes and clenched his fists. There was only one thing left to do now. He pulled from the legs with all of his might, and through some miracle… 

Some luck of a benevolent god…

He was free.

“My my, you air breathers are so interesting. No one’s ever broken that kind of seaweed before.”

Calbe couldn’t hear the voice throughout all of this. Right now he was in a mad dash for survival, and thanks to his adrenaline, he was swimming far faster than even he thought he could. He needed to get to the surface… if he could just get some air… then swim to the beach… he could tell everyone about this place… and he could be a hero for warning others about the curse-

“GAAGH! (gulp gulp) GHOOOOOHH! (gulp gulp)”

Calbe wasn’t even 10 feet away from the forest before he started to swallow water. Even his dragon lungs needed to breathe sometime. 

“URK! (gulp) HKK! (gulk) HRLK! (gulp) KAK! (gulp)”

Calbe tried to clutch his neck, but none of that mattered now. He needed to escape… he needed to breathe! He was halfway there… he could still make it!

“URK...HKK...RRK…”

20 more feet! 

His legs began to stop kicking… his arms began to stop moving...

“KA-K...RR-K…”

10 more feet!

His heartbeat slowed to a crawl… 

“Urk...urk...urk...”

Calbe’s right hand managed to pierce the surface… and it would be the last time he would ever feel it. 

“Ghk…………”

Despite his bodies’ best attempts, Calbe’s mind was too far gone for him to properly swim up.
With a weak cough and a few more bubbles, he began to sink back down into the forest, where the mysterious voice spoke one last time to a waterlogged Calbe.

“Oh dear… and you were so close too. It looks like you’ve finally succumbed to the sea’s lullaby. Have a good dream, Calbe~ ”

Calbe’s body continued to drift further and further down the seaweed forest, perhaps to be discovered by another foolish freediver who would have to be made into an example. But there was one good thing about this entire adventure…

Calbe could finally live underwater in the lake like he wanted to.