...and then he is falling, getting sucked into a whirlpool, by the looks of it. It drags him down, and down, and then- he's in a vast ocean, surrounded on all sides by water.

Okay, water. Luckily, he can breathe water. He is pretty sure that the landing point was not supposed to be underwater. Or near an ocean for that matter. No reason to panic, he will just go up and figure out what to do from there.

Up, up, up, up, up...

It soon becomes clear that reaching the surface will not be a matter of minutes.

...That is weird. Light doesn't go that far underwater. Maybe this world's oceans are much cleaner or something? Or maybe he somehow picked the wrong direction. It has been a while since he was in a body of water this deep. Maybe his sense of down is messed up or something. He did just go through an experimental portal.

After experimentally testing a few other directions, it becomes clear that this could become tedious quite quickly. The water is a pleasant temperature, not too hot or too cold.

Swim. Swim. Stubbornly swimming.

This kind of boredom is exactly why he doesn't swim as much as he is able to. He can't believe dad grew up in a place like this. He takes a moment to collect himself. Checking his things, fastening things, so they don't float out of his pockets.

Starvation is the main issue here: he can't drown, freeze to death, and he can drink saltwater just fine. By then his people ought to rescue by then.

So the main issue is actually being bored out of his school. Ugh. He will swim, maybe he will be able to find the bottom of this ocean? Is there a direction that looks darker than the rest?

From this vantage point, all of the directions look equally dark at a certain distance.

No sign of... anything besides water anywhere? He will keep swimming, since that is more likely to get him to come across something than standing still.

After about an hour he notices what might be a slight increase in temperature- but he could just be imagining it. What's more obvious is some approaching shapes in the distance.

If he wasn't unusually perceptive - and unusually perceptive about things regarding temperature - he would think it was his imagination. But those approaching shapes are more interesting. He goes towards that.

Sharks! They're sharks. They don't find him particularly interesting, although they do observe him as they pass.

He wonders if the part of him that isn't giant makes it more or less likely for them to find him tasty. How many sharks? He tries to appraise the chances of him winning in a fight in case Areus decides to try raw shark meat as an emergency food.

There are three sharks, and they are bigger than the average human- he might stand a better than average chance.

See, the thing here is that he is so bored, that being in pain sounds appealing. But again, animals never make that great of fighters. Areus might follow them from a safe distance, but he doubts that will result in much of anything.

The sharks feed on some fish. They do not attack him.

Below, at the edge of his vision, there appear to be seaweed tendrils drifting in the current.

Areus can't recall if that is the sort of that usually happens in the open ocean, but regardless he will just take a look, maybe the seaweed got stuck on something?

As he gets closer, it becomes clear that the seaweed is growing out of a rocky surface underneath it. He can see various plants, fish, and smaller creatures flitting about and growing from this porous, white stone.

Finally! Something new! Also confusing, but more importantly: new! He goes around the thing, if only to explore it. Maybe he can figure out what the fuck? Is the deal with this place.

The rock, which is host to seaweed, snails, starfish, prawn, rockfish, maggots, and more. The rock appears to float entirely independent of any larger structure. Although it takes him ten minutes to circumnavigate it, in that time, none of the native life seems to pay him much mind. Besides seaweed, mud, invertebrates, and a few fish, there is nothing much here to capture his notice.

Nothing much is still better than nothing at all. He will at least take a rest here and assess the situation. He will find some place to sit, or float, or whatever.

Since they haven't figured out how to fish him out from this ocean - heh - then it's the kind of mistake that will take a day or two to solve. Aren't they trying to figure out how to communicate with people through worlds? Maybe he will get news sooner than a day. Still, ugh. Since no one popped up near him, it's quite possible that he is the only dealing with that. Small mercies. Also, lucky bastards.

No point in moping. This place is not interesting enough to hold his attention for two days, but he can at least make use of it. Do the various marine life look edible? He can hunt for something.

The fish might be safer to try if frozen properly, but otherwise the risk of parasitic infection remains too high. Much the same is true for the invertebrates. It might be possible to process the seaweed in some way for consumption.

...He will wait until his soggy rations are gone before eating anything.

Okay, he will try keeping this rock in sight and then carefully navigate around. Maybe there are more rocks like this one nearby, but he doesn't want to lose this one just yet.

Keeping this rock in sight does not allow him much freedom, but he can circle the perimeter of his visual range. Eventually he does spot a speck in the distance that he could not see before.

He observes the speck in case it's just a fish or something, but eventually decides to investigate anyway.

It does seem to be moving, after enough observation. As he approaches, it begins to resolve into more individual shapes; a group of things, all moving in the same direction.