This is the clean version of this.
So enjoy :)

================================================


It was a warm afternoon when Drarra, a young half water dragon was on a trip through the large lake he lived at.
The water was comfortable and he was diving deep when he found near the bottom, a hidden tunnel in the sharp cliff. It seemed to head under the shore; just like the other tunnel he had found in the past which ended in his home cave above the surface.

Expecting to find another cave or something similar, he came up to take a few fresh breaths of air just to dive down again with large flaps of his wings and surrounded by a swirl of small bubbles for a few seconds. His slim form allowed him to swim fast, despite being only half a water dragon and having a fur covered underside.
So he entered the tunnel which was just as big that he could flap his wings comfortable enough, though he had to use his legs and arms too at some places.
Crystals sticking from the walls brightened up most of the tunnel, much to his delight but also surprise.
Though, the walls were surprisingly smooth and straight, a lot different than the tunnels he knew yet and he began to ask himself how the nature had managed to produce those corridors.
Besides, he passed several intersections whose other directions he decided to examine later, so he followed one way which didn’t seem to end soon.

Gradually an uneasy feeling crept over him in the more and more darkening cavity.
The grey stone and the cold water made him feel more lonely than he ever felt. It even seemed to block his ability to sense other creatures with his mind, though, he wasn’t sure whether it wasn’t just his imagination playing tricks on him.

In addition he knew that he couldn’t stay forever underwater – he had to find air or he would need to turn back soon to reach the surface in time.
Nevertheless he wasn’t ready to give up. Some part of his mind was telling him that it was too dangerous, but another part drove him further, telling him that it would be worth it.

Finally after several minutes had passed already, he believed to see a noticeable brighter spot behind the next corner. He felt slightly dizzy and exhausted, probably by the depth and the more and more used air in his lungs.
Nevertheless, he fortified himself another time to push against the water and himself forward. The long tunnel ended into an almost perfect circular cave of the triple size of his length.
Much against his hopes, it hadn’t any other opening besides the one where he had entered and it was flooded till to the top. At least there were several blue glistening crystals lightening it up. Besides, the stone wasn’t as smooth as in the rest of that tunnel system; the walls and the ground were crisscrossed by thin gaps and cracks.

The young dragon stopped swimming to save his forces and looked around curiously while his glance fell besides on a few big rocks which seemed to have fallen from the ceiling, on a small elevation exactly in the middle of the even floor. First he thought the water was fooling his eyes but after he blinked, he could see clearly a small, oblong casket on the elevation, clamped in the stone. He blew a few little bubbles through his nostrils as he swam eagerly down to it.
It was several inches long and seemed to be made of stone as well but a thin line at about two thirds signalized that it wasn’t a cube of stone but a casket with a lid.

His mind raced as he thought about what to do. He knew he had to hurry a lot already if he wanted to reach the lake’s surface again before he would run out of air deeply in the cave, so he decided to take the casket with him.
He put his hand on it’s top, first trying just to open it, but nothing moved. The lid seemed to be exactly as strong connected with the rest of the case like it was tied to the small elevation.
The dragon looked a little wondering, not having expected it but he didn’t want to give up that casket yet.

He leaned his hind legs against the elevation and put both his hands on the casket to try to remove it. A few bubbles escaped his nostrils again as he put all his forces in the task.
Suddenly he got abruptly stopped as his leg slipped off the smooth stone and touched the ground. He gasped inwardly, barely preventing himself from loosing some air as he felt something cold touching his leg, accompanied by a loud sound of metal hitting other metal. Immediately he went off the casket and arched his body just to see two round clamps of metal being snapped around his leg so they built a ring. The dragon got wide eyed, again filled by that bad feeling he had before in the dark, when he recognized that it was an old trap. A simple one, made by humans – probably from the ancient time where that lake wasn’t flooded and was just a valley – but still it was fortified with a short chain which leaded into a bigger crack in the ground.
The half water dragon and cursed in his mind for being so stupid not to check more exactly the ground behind the elevation. But within seconds, a tinge of panic mixed with his anger on himself.

After he got a little bit calmer, he tried to remove the trap, but it was wrapped around his leg just over the ankles so he couldn’t slip it off in any position and the bolts which had snapped, prevented him from spreading it open even only a very little. Also dragging and pulling at the chain was without any success. Whoever had constructed that trap, he had done a very good job. Even after this long time, it was anchored unbreakable in the ground.

A new wave of panic ran through the dragon’s racing mind. He looked around him for anything what could help to get free but everything he found were small rocks and he knew that through the water, it would only ease all his forces to try destroying the chain with them.

Soon he started to struggle, trying desperately to get rid of the chain, but it was for no use; the tempered metal was too strong and the water still kept him from using his fire or the rocks while his claws were also useless.
The knowledge that he had by far passed the half of the maximal time he could spend underwater surrounded slowly his dragon heart.

He concentrated the best he could to yell for help mentally till some bubbles escaped his nostrils, but he could clearly feel now that the stone was blocking his mental abilities. None could hear him even if someone would have been just on the ground over the cave.
After several seconds looking and shouting around for anything or anyone to help him, he finally stopped.

It wasn’t in his nature just to give up but he recognized that that all was only consuming his forces and with that, the oxygen in his slowly more and more strained lungs.
He hoped that someone would come to help him, but he had to realize that he had nobody told where he was and there would pass far too much time till anyone would miss him actually.
It wasn’t easy for him to accept that he was gonna die but he knew that panic wouldn’t help him either. Everything he could do was to stay motionless and try to survive as long as he could.

Almost naturally, his body cringed slightly, forming a ball where he could float without straining a muscle. He thought in that position he could save his forces the best without to loose his air. So he felt how his butt touched the ground while he closed his eyes, relaxing himself. He gulped inwardly when some air puffed his cheeks.

His blue-green eyes fluttered open again as a small gulp of air seeped through his lips and rose in form of a bubble up to the ceiling. He raised quickly a paw to press it against his snouts tip and started to concentrate now only on holding his air in.

He did his best but only with willpower he wasn’t able to stop the burning feeling from his lungs which crept over him more with every second which passed. Some small bubbles seeped from his weakened mouth between his fingers as his chest spasmed barely noticeable.

The urge for just one more lungful of fresh air grew steady as his body started to twitch against his will. He inhaled the air from his cheeks in and out but it was for no use.
Even worse, it caused him to gasp and gulp some water before he could regain control over his vibrating chest.
Soon the feeling was burning in his mind and he released a few more bubbles through his nostrils, hoping to ease some pain while he clenched his snout shut with a paw.
Also his entire body was shivering continuous now and he felt it getting harder with very second to hold the stale air in.

He knew from other, voluntary but similar long, underwater trips of him that from this state, he had only seconds till his instinct to breath would win and the water would fill his weakened lungs.

The dragon struggled further, now desperately shaking but he had given up his main resistance; air was leaking from his snout in small bubbles. When he opened his eyes a little again, he saw the bubbles glistening while rising to the ceiling… he also believed to see a dark shadow in his field of view over him… but he thought it was just the lack of oxygen already and closed his eyes again…


================================================

NO, that is no snuff or drowning story!
I mean.. if I'd have died, could I have told you this story now? c:


Anyways, thanks for reading and i would be very grateful if you'd comment my creepy art skills or the story :)