“But, now that we have the two shards, how exactly do they work?”
As Andomiel stated the question, heads rose then fell in the room, but it seemed Urd had an idea.
“It’s a long shot, but I think if we take these shards, together with the ones we already have to the upper deck, I think they just might resonate.”
“Resonate? What do you mean?” Pharda asked.
“I recall reading about the legendary Life Crystal, it contained powers that involved a form of magnetism or attracting energy. If these are its shards, they should react the same way.”
“Well, let’s try it…”
The group made their way to the upper deck of the airship and stepped out into the cool morning air, it had been a fortnight since they had left New Alexandria, and one of the rare moments when they had stopped to rest. Gathering their wits together, Pharda, Urd, Andomiel, and Tempest pulled out their shards.
As they approached one another, the stones began to glow their individual colors, but then began to flash an intense white. The light was so intense it was all the braves could do not to look away from where the light was coming from.
An intense white flash, and the light was gone.
“Wh…what happened?” Pharda said, half-blind.
“Look up.”
There it was, an intense pulsating energy, situated above their heads. The kind of light that could burn itself into the mind.
“HEY! This must be the light that old manuscript was talking about!” Pharda exclaimed, “This’ll lead us to the next shard!”
Just as Pharda said this the pulsating light plunged past the bow of the airship at incredible speed. It was all everyone could do to keep their eyes on where it was going.
“Cid! Follow that light!” Andomiel ordered.
“I’ll take her as low as I can, but if that thing plunges into water, I can’t take her any further; she’s an airship, not a water ship…”
As if it was a bad omen, the light dove into the depths of the sea beneath them, but what occurred next was beyond their imaginations.
The light seemed to cut through the water like a razor, and a small eye of dry ground, barely visible from where they were positioned, revealed the gate to the Water Shrine.
“We jump. NOW!”
The group performed what appeared to be a suicide dive into the small vortex the light had just made.
“If I’m alive after this, I’ll kill you Strife!” Urd said. And dove off.
Despite the depth, the landing was surprisingly soft, but that fact wasn’t encouraging considering they were now staring at a 2-mile vortex of water surrounding them by forces unknown.
“This is NOT good, Pharda…” Urd said cautiously.
“There it is…the Water Shrine…,” Rose said.
“We have to be careful, that vortex could collapse any minute…” Andomiel said, readying his sword.
“Let’s go, everyone…” Pharda finally said.
The temple seemed to consist of a limestone substance, still wet and salty from the ocean, but virtually undecayed in the past hundred years.
“We move quickly, that vortex won’t last,” Strife warned.
Moving in a quick-step march, the party made its way down deeper into the underwater complex.
“The shrine seems pretty straightforward…no big turns or anything.”
“All the same, be careful Pharda, who knows what kind of creatures or traps are here.” Andomiel warned.
As the group walked on, Urd slightly cringed and stepped away from the group.
“Urd, what’s wrong?” Fenris asked.
“C-can you…swim?” she said timidly.
“Of course, all dragons can swim, we have an amphibious nature…wh--,” Urd stared at him, interrupting him mid-sentence.
“Oh.” Then quietly whispered, “Well, if worse comes to worse, I’ll swim for both of us.”
She smiled, “Thanks, Fenris.”
As the group marched on, it became seemingly clearer and clearer to Pharda that there wasn’t going to be any Fiends, or Traps of any kind.
“Well this is boring, we come all the way down here for the shard, and there’s no one here.”
“We should be cautious all the same, Pharda, who knows what will happen once we obtain the shard.” Tempest warned.
A labyrinthine set of halls barred themselves against the Braves, each path more confusing then the next.
“I don’t think wandering about the halls looking for the shard will do us any good. We have to use the shards we already have to accomplish this.”
Using the shards, the braves once again encountered the same intense light that had lead them down into this dark water trap. Aura flickered for a moment, and then flew at an incredible speed, such that the Braves could barely keep up.
“Pharda, that light better not lead us into any traps…” Urd said mid run.
Left. Right. Right again. Round a corner. Down a flight of stone steps. It was getting so confusing, that Urd thought, no, she knew they would be completely lost by the time they could find the shard.
A few short corners later, and they had found what they had be looking for.
“The Water Shard!” Pharda exclaimed. And nearly yanked the thing off the its pedestal if it weren’t for Andomiel throwing him to the floor.
“What the heck was that for, Andomiel!?” he said dumbfounded, and somewhat mad.
“Are you dense? Don’t you remember what Strife said? There could be a trap…”
“Are you kidding? We ran all the way down here and there wasn’t any trap…do you think anyone would bother with one considering the fact that its deep under the sea? With this maze surrounding it to boot?”
Andomiel knocked on Pharda’s head like it was an unripe melon, “Hey, clueless, did it ever occur to you to put two and two together? The fact that it was underwater, and now isn’t? The maze, which we needed the aura to help us through? And the fact that this place is called the ‘Water Shrine’? The Water is the trap! If we grab that shard, the whole place will probably be flooded, and since we’re in the middle of the maze, how exactly are we supposed to get out when it’s flooded!”
“Err…I guess I never thought of that…”
“So how do we grab the shard?” Urd asked.
“Sometimes, the most subtle approach isn’t the way to obtain what you want. The water may be the trap, but it is also the test, we must be able to brave its currents back to the surface to truly claim the shard.”
“Are you nuts?! We could drown!” Rose said, “And to think I was starting to have some respect for an old fart like you!!”
“Your respect for me is irrelevant: if you wish to get this shard, you will have to go through the water trap.”
“Ohm, man, I HATE water!!” Urd whined.
“Don’t worry, Urd, remember what I said…I’ll do the work for you, besides, if you need air, guess what I found,” Fenris pointed at the ceiling of the maze, and sure enough little alcoves designed for air pockets were cut into the rocks.
“When this place is flooded, we’ll have some air space for a time, when we’re up for air, we can think of a way out of here…”
The group sheathed their weapons and prepared for the swim of their lives.
“Urd, how long can you hold your breath?” Fenris asked.
“Um, a minute, I think…,”
“I’ll tell you what, when you hold onto me, you grip me harder when you feel like your running out of air.”
“What’ll you do?”
“I’ll just have to swim faster…”
“Well, guys, here goes nothing!!” Pharda said, and took a deep breath before taking the shard off the pedestal.
At first there was a complete stillness that filled the hall, which was a lot less scary than what they had expected.
That is, until they heard the rumbling.
“Everybody, hold on to something! We need to stay together or we’ll be swept apart!!” Pharda ordered.
Urd immediately jumped on Fenris’ back, while he shifted his weight to compensate. Just then a powerful current burst through a nearby wall, instantly filling the room with water.
Luckily, just as Fenris predicted, the structure contained air pockets, and the group swam to the surface.
“Ghuuuhh!” Urd gulped for precious air, as the current had caught her by surprise.
“We’ll need to find a way back through to the surface!” Andomiel shouted over the flooding. “Fenris, you seem to be the most able swimmer, we need you to lead us back.”
“Are you up for this, Urd?” Fenris said over his shoulder. “Me taking point, I mean?”
“Just as long as you stop at every air-pocket along the way, I’m fine! I’ll just hang on for the ride.”
As Fenris dove into the water, he quickly surmised that they had to head left, down a corridor. The water was nearly black and difficult to detect which path to take, so Fenris used the walls as a guide. After a time, he felt a tug on his waist from Urd telling him to head back up to an air-pocket. Luckily there was one nearby.
“Ghahh-hihhh!” Urd sucked in as much precious air as her little lungs could handle.
“You okay?” Fenris said behind him.
“The sooner…we get out of this…the sooner…I’ll be dry…,” she said between breaths.
Along with the two, he noted the plash of the other group members surfacing for air.
“Everyone okay?” Fenris asked.
“I seem to remember this path when we entered it, I think we’re going the right way…,” Pharda replied.
“We can’t stay down here for long, the water pressure will get deadly pretty soon, we’re approximately 2 miles below the surface, we need to move.”
Everyone agreed with Strife, if they didn’t get back up to the surface, whether they had oxygen in their lungs or not, they could get crushed by the pressure of the water.
After the respite, all the Braves dove back under the water, with Fenris leading the way. Surprising for Urd was the fact that he was an expert swimmer, he, at this point seemed to have no fatigue whatsoever. And, due to his massive wings, he was able to glide in the water, similar to a manta ray.
With what little light that was detected, Fenris managed to eke out a path towards the entrance of the shrine, but as he noticed, the rest of the trek was two miles upwards, to the surface. Finding a nearby air-pocket he spoke to the others:
“Guys, I’m afraid there’s no air from this point on, and we’ve got two miles to go…up.”
“But how are we supposed to breathe? And swim two miles?” Pharda said, “My arms and legs are already tired…”
“I’m afraid resting isn’t an option, we’ve been down here long enough as it is, the pressure’s starting to affect the way we think, making us fatigued.”
“I…I’ve got an idea…,” Tempest said, albeit exhausted from the swim, “If I summon Pandemona down here, he can create some air bubbles for us to breath in…”
“But you can’t, Tempest!” Rose shouted, “Look at you, you’re already tapped out enough as it is, you won’t be able to swim for yourself!”
“I’ll carry her!” Strife interrupted, “If she passes out, I’m counting on you, Rose, to provide Aero spells for her, got it!”
Tempest stared at Strife in wide-eyed shock, she hadn’t expected him to say anything. She thought he considered her big enough to take care of herself, but apparently there was some inkling of caring in that icy heart of his.
“Yes…,” Rose said meekly. “God, please protect her…,”
The seven braves, despite exhaustion, despite fatigue, despite the intense pressure on their bodies, prepared themselves for the swim of a lifetime. Pharda was already practicing inhaling deeply, as was Andomiel, Fenris didn’t really need to warm up as he had something similar to “gills” as he called them. Strife spoke, for the first time to Tempest in a gentle tone.
“Tempest, I promise you, we will make it to the surface.”
“I…” Tempest was taken aback by his noble words, “I’ll prepare the summoning.”
It was, it seemed, Rose who was the most concerned for Tempest’s wellbeing.
Fenris was the last to speak.
“Urd, you hold on tight now, I’m going to swim as fast as I can…and trust me, I swim—very—fast. You ready back there, Tempest?” A nod in confirmation was all he needed.
Tempests’ words flowed out of her like divine poetry, “Source of the wind I summon thee, force of…” at this she weakened, but continued, “force of tempest, come to me, in darkest hour, in time of need, give us the gift of air to breathe, come forth!”
The strange creature appeared at her beckon and spoke, “This world is not my element, but now I see you need my aide, very well…,”
The creature spun in place, under the water, and produced bubbles about it, each swirling towards their heads, and surprisingly, like a sort of individual air-pocket, the bubbles wrapped themselves around their heads.
Immediately after the being disappeared, Tempest went limp in the water, a casing of air placed about her head. Luckily, she was still breathing the portable air bubble she had made.
Strife scooped Tempest in his arms…Pharda hadn’t noticed before, but her frame was so much smaller compared to Strife or even Rose for that matter…her swordsmanship seemed to make her appear bigger and more muscular than she actually was.
“We swim, now!” Strife ordered.
This time it was Strife who took the lead in this lengthy swim up to the surface, with Fenris and Urd in tow. The party was aware that the spell Tempest had cast would only last for a few minutes so they swam as fast as they could.
It was apparent after about 50 leagues that their air bubbles were being breathed out, and that they would need to hold their breath again, which was risky, and with Tempest passed out, she would need all the oxygen she could get, so it was up to Rose to provide the Aero spells.
“Come on!” Rose urged, “You have to wake up, Tempest!”
It was all Rose could do to maintain her stamina and mental concentration. Casting and maintaining the Aero spell and swimming was a lot like walking and chewing gum.
None of which she was very good at.
Then suddenly she noted a tightness around her chest, and the thinning out of her oxygen reserves.
“I’m running out of air!!”
She began to panic swimming further up, but it wasn’t working, and she had also noted, that the rest of the group were running out of air, and actually had been for some time.
“No air! They’re passing out in the water!”
She knew she couldn’t call for help, that was impossible, so she concentrated on her thoughts:
“Please! If one of you summoner’s creatures can hear me! Please help us! I don’t want my friends to die!!”
And then, due to lack of oxygen for an extended period, she blacked out.
