keep swimming!
You swim for your life, as the elephant is swimming after you at a surprising speed. She sees you beneath the water, holding her trunk above it so she could breath freely. She stampedes over the see floor with a glare of murder in her eyes. She takes a slight curve around a tree root, peeking from the ground into the river water, and an idea forms.
You swim as fast as you can away from the monstrous woman, until you find another tree close to the river. You dive in, holding your breath and with the rope you still held you tie it quickly and firmly to the roots. Ganesha has found you at last, lunging her trunk down on you and hitting your hind leg, it hurts very badly as precious bubbles of air escape your lungs. You use the opportunity to tie the rope to her trunk, which, despite the resistance, you were able to quickly do it, and swim away, Ganesha tries to wriggle it free, but struggles as she, too, runs out of breath. In a last chance tug at the root, she manages to pull the tree into the water, hitting her badly on the head, and drowning her for good.
You climb out of the water, gasping for air, your left leg – broken, but you have to return and save Tal – you just know he would have done the same for you. You see a faint glow in the river, and motes of glowing violet rising up from the water into the heavens.
“…So this is what death really looks like on this planet…” You ponder to yourself.
Written by PrinceZahn on 22 November 2017
