Everything in Yafutoma was as unusual to Vyse as it was amazing. He was startled to find that everyone had black hair, brown eyes and pale skin, whereas in Valua and Meridia people differed a lot more, and people in Nasr grew darker the further south one went. It was more like Ixa'Taka in that sense, he supposed, with styles differing between clans rather than individual people. Aika's hair in particular was cause for much speculation among the Yafutoman people, who thought she ate gratuitous amounts of orange vegetables to turn it that color.
They were each given a guest room to sleep in and Yafutoman clothes to wear. Vyse found that his bed was little more than a mattress on the floor and while at first he was dubious about it, he found it to be quite comfortable. Equally as comfortable were the clothes he was given; he wasn't sure what they were, really, but they looked to be a blue robe-like shirt and wide, loose-fitting black pants. He decided to wear them in place of his sailing clothes for the time being, but left his eye patch on.
He was not surprised at all to see that the others had been given a change in clothing as well. Enrique was swathed in long black and gold robes similar to Lord Mikado's, and he attempted to wear his beret with it until Aika determined it a fashion disaster and snatched it off his head. Aika herself was clothed in a red dress that Fina called a qi-pao, close-fitting with a long slit up one side. It wrapped around her and was decorated all over with a rose pattern sewn in with shimmering thread.
But it was Fina's outfit that really stunned Vyse. She wore a sweeping, shoulderless robe in sky blue tied at the waist with a large golden sash. The sleeves of the robe were long and almost flowed seamlessly into the skirt, which brushed around at her feet. It was decorated with a dragon swimming through the clouds, wrapping its way all around her. She smiled shyly as she caught him staring at her and he quickly turned away.
Like Nasreans, Yafutomans sat on the ground to eat. Yafutoman food ranged from cloudy soups to all kinds of noodles to gingered meat, raw fish and plenty of rice. They drank their loqua warm and, as Enrique had described to them, ate not with knives and forks, but with two sticks carefully pinched between the fingers. Enrique himself picked up the art of stick-eating rather quickly and Fina didn't have any problem with it at all, but Vyse and Aika eventually gave up, grasped a stick in each hand and scooped their food up that way.
The next several days were spent in such a manner, learning and discovering Yafutoman culture. Enrique was curious about Yafutoman writing so Fina attempted to teach some of the language to the three of them, explaining that each symbol meant a word or a group of letters, and that they were read top to bottom instead of left to right. It was difficult to memorize, however, and only Enrique stuck with the learning, often trying to hold small conversations with Moegi. To their surprise, she knew some basic Valuan, but she refused to explain how she learned it. Nevertheless, the two spent much time together after that, having simple conversations in a mixture of Valuan and Yafutoman in the garden.
Aika noticed many children in Yafutoma flew small paper craft attached to a string in the sky and wondered what they were. Fina explained that they were called kites and that flying them was a popular form of entertainment. When Aika saw that some of the kids were making a game of knocking their friends' kites out of the sky with their own, she made one for herself and joined in.
There were other forms of entertainment as well, from plays to puppets to a beautiful, fluid dancing that Aika and Fina tried to learn, but what really intrigued Vyse were Yafutoma's soldiers. They were not heavily armored like Valuan men and they were not sharpshooters like the Nasrean guards; instead they wore only what they needed to protect themselves and wielded their swords as if they were an extension of their own bodies. As Vyse watched them do practice drills outside their barracks, he realized just how different their style of swordfighting was from that of the West. Whereas Western fighting was often composed of furious slashing, powerful blows or quick, precise stabs, the Yafutomans swung their blades in long, fluid, sweeping arcs -- it was more like a dance than actual swordplay.
"They're called samurai," came a soft voice from beside him. He turned to see Fina walking towards him, smiling. "And they live and die by the sword."
Vyse slid off the fence he was sitting on and grinned a little. "They're so different from the Valuans..."
"In a way." She canted her head thoughtfully, gazing out at the warriors. "You could compare them somewhat to the Valuan knights from a few centuries ago. They are bound by a strict code of honor and they live by that no matter what. Because of this, they command much respect in Yafutoman society."
"And here I thought chivalry was dead." He laughed a little, leaning against the fence, and beckoned her over to join him. "Do you think I could learn how to fight like them?"
"I think you could do anything if you tried." Her smile was warm. "You've already accomplished so much. I've told the Elders a lot about you."
"The Elders? Your elders? Silvite Elders?" He blinked. "Why?"
"Because I want them to know that I haven't been doing this by myself." She reached into her robe and pulled out the strange device he had seen her handling in Ixa'Taka, turning it over and over in her hands. "I think part of the reason why Ramirez changed so much is because he was cut off completely from our homeland. So I try to stay in contact with my people as much as I can, and I tell them of our adventures and our progress."
"And what do they think about us?" Vyse asked.
"I-I don't know, really. They call everyone who lives down here the Island-Dwellers, but they don't speak often of the Island-Dwellers." She frowned a little then, clasping the device to her chest. "They're growing a little impatient, though. I asked Lord Mikado that we put our cultural relations on hold until we're able to get the Blue Crystal."
"So that means...?"
"It means we'll leave tomorrow for Mount Kazai. I-if that's okay."
He laughed a little. "Of course it's okay. Fina, the moon crystals are why we're here! We're doing this for you. This cultural stuff is just a really neat bonus."
"Do you mean it?" She beamed, watching him hopefully.
"Of course I do. I'd never lie to you," he replied.
"Thank you, Vyse. I owe so much to you." She hesitated, then stepped forward and gave him a small hug.
"Hey...if anyone owes anyone anything, it's me owing you." He hugged her back. "If it weren't for you, I never would have been able to do all this. Everything I've ever dreamed of is in my grasp! So let's not stop now. We've still got a whole world to see, and many things to accomplish together. Tomorrow we'll make quick work of that mountain and we'll be out of here before Valua even realizes we were gone from Esparanza."
A gentle breeze picked up from the north, tousling the trees and sending flower pedals gently drifting down around them. Vyse's eyes met hers and he fell silent, suddenly at a loss for words.
"It's very beautiful here, isn't it?" she asked quietly, finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah, it is," he replied, distractedly.
"Oh! But don't let me keep you." Fina smiled, tucking the device away. "You were planning on studying with the samurai, right?"
"Nah...That's okay." Vyse offered a hand to her, and she blinked at it quizzically. "I'd rather go on a walk with you instead. The sun's almost set, so now's the perfect time to enjoy the scenery."
"Oh!" Fina was surprised, but she quickly slipped her hand in his. "I would like that...very much."
Both Vyse and Lord Mikado knew that a Western ship could never reach the summit of Mount Kazai, so instead the four of them were assigned an escort from Yakaido to take them up instead. A woman named Kirala was their guide, and she reminded Vyse a lot of Aika in the way she acted and dressed. She was more than happy to take them on board her ship, and brought with her several coils of rope, some construction tools, and an armful of stones for reasons Vyse couldn't even begin to guess. She spent most of the three-hour trip talking to Fina, and more often than not the Silvite couldn't get a word into the conversation edgewise. Vyse heard the Yafutoman name for their ship, Derufinusu, come up often.
Mount Kazai emerged from the water majestically, almost perfectly conical in shape and dusted lightly at its peak with a white powdery substance that Vyse couldn't identify. The peak of the mountain was actually a deep bowl, and it was filled with water so still that it looked like glass. A small shrine-like mound rose up in the center of the water, and it was here that Kirala landed and moored the ship. Though it was clearly manmade, the shrine was the only apparent way into and out of the mountain.
As Vyse stepped off the small boat, he took a look around. Though the towering walls of the bowl cut off his view of the land below, he knew they were dizzyingly high and felt the pressure in his body. The wind was cold up here, and he shivered a little, already beginning to dread the fact that they were probably going to have to get wet at some point. He wasn't sure what laid in the caverns below them, but he fervently hoped they were warmer.
As he turned, however, he caught sight of an enormous relief in the wall and had to do a double take. It was a work of art larger than the Delphinus by a considerable degree, carved from the mountainside in the likeness of the birds decorating Lord Mikado's throneroom. Vyse zoomed his goggle in on it and studied it for a time, but it lacked any real detail and appeared to be weathered with age.
"Oh...it's Aoikaze." Fina blinked, clasping her hands over her chest. "I guess we're in the right place after all."
"What? That's the Gigas?" Aika asked.
Fina nodded. "In the days of the Old World, this mountain used to be a volcano, a fiery mountain filled with lava. My people subdued the Gigas – who they called Bluheim – by trapping it in the lava and encasing it in stone."
"Here's hoping it stays that way." Enrique was wry. "The Gigas you have faced thusfar haven't been able to fly. I would hate to see what this one is capable of."
They were all startled out of their conversation as Kirala hefted a large bag of equipment out of the boat and dropped it in front of them. She put her hands on her hips expectantly and beamed, but as they stooped to rifle through it, all they found were strange things they couldn't identify. Vyse looked over to Fina, but she looked equally confused.
"What is this stuff?" he asked.
Fina repeated his question to Kirala, who blinked in surprise.
"What do you mean, 'what is it?'" She asked through Fina. "It's diving gear. Mount Kazai is almost completely flooded."
Aika stared at her in horror.
"Relax," Kirala said, holding up a piece of the equipment. "See this stuff? It helps you swim deeper than any normal person can."
"Oh, sure." Aika facefaulted. "There's just the tiny issue of being able to breathe!"
Fina translated that for her. Kirala only laughed.
"Blue moonstones have the power of both water and air. Using Blue Magic, you can breathe water just as you would air. I thought everybody knew that."
Vyse, Aika and Enrique stared at her incredulously, causing her to laugh again.
"Here, look, I'll show you." She reached into the bag and pulled out what looked to be a long suit made of a few layers of fabric. "Our pearl divers use these suits to stay warm in deep water. We gather fragments of red moonstone that turn up near the Dark Rift and sew them in between layers of cloth. You'll still get wet, obviously, and the suit is kind of heavy, but the moonstone shards will keep you warm."
Kirala then knelt and picked up a thick looking belt. It had pockets in it clutching dense stones. "This belt will help you sink so you can dive faster. Although you all look really skinny. Maybe we should use cannonballs instead." She grinned. "Finally, there's goggles. They help you see underwater. Then you just cast the spell and bam! Good to go!"
"Heh. Neat!" Vyse studied the equipment momentarily. "How do we know if the spell is working? Can you ask her?"
Fina did so.
"You'd never notice." Kirala shrugged. "It makes it so breathing water is just like breathing air. The scary part is inhaling underwater for the first time. You expect liquid to fill your lungs but it doesn't. You have to convince your body that it's okay to do, because it's going to try to force you to hold your breath. Just relax, and let the moonstones do everything for you."
"You're positive you can't drown?" Aika demanded.
"Positive." Kirala replied.
"Huh. Okay, well..." Vyse stood. "Let's take turns changing in the boat. When we're ready, we'll go down there and start looking around."
When they were all changed, Vyse went over to the doorway cut into the shrine and peered down. A long shaft lined with blue moonstone reliefs cut through the water below him, descending into darkness. From what he could see, the shaft wasn't flooded, but he wasn't sure how far down it went either.
Kirala set about building a pulley for them which she rigged from her ship. Using the coils of rope she had brought, she cast one end down into the blackened pit so that she could pull them up and lower them down when they were ready to leave. She explained that the shaft was well over fifty feet deep and that it opened into a chamber connecting into dozens of underwater caverns. She said that nobody had ever found the Maga Sphere because they had gotten lost and drowned in the confusing network of tunnels.
"The spell doesn't last forever," Fina said quietly, trying to adjust her goggles so that they would no longer fall off her face. So far, she wasn't having much luck. "We'll only have a limited amount of time to work with, too...Maybe two hours. If we can find some dry land in the middle somewhere I'll be able to re-apply the spell, but otherwise we'll be in...in a lot of trouble."
"Alright, well...we'll just have to move as fast as we can and treat this like the Dark Rift. We need to pay close attention to where we are and where we're going." Vyse nodded to Kirala. "I'm ready to go down, if she's done with the ropes."
With the ropes secure, the four of them carefully slid down into the shaft, watching as the square of light above them steadily became smaller and smaller. The moonstone reliefs in the wall glowed softly, however, providing a dim sort of blue ambiance that was just enough to see by. At the bottom their bare feet touched solid stone, and they found themselves in a brightly-lit manmade chamber which Vyse could only assume was constructed by the Blue Civilization. Though the chamber was in tact, there was a lot of rubble littering the floor from statues that had long crumbled away, and they had to carefully pick their way around it. The only thing really of note left standing was an altar in the center of the floor, with a teardrop-shaped indent carved into it. At the far end of the room was a small, rectangular pool and nothing else – no doors, no passageways that they could see. Peering into it, however, Vyse realized that it was much deeper than it looked – a flooded shaft plunging deeper into the mountain.
Fina went around, tying a blue moonstone pendant close around each of their necks. The stones were roughly coin-sized and were left in their natural state, and Vyse stared momentarily at the mesmerizing azure glow they pulsated with.
"I'm going to cast the spell now," she said. "The sages in the palace taught it to me just before we left, so, uhm...this will be my first time attempting it."
"I...trust you..." Aika said, although she sounded wary and looked on the verge of panic. "Do me first, ok? Then you guys can pull me out if I sink."
"Don't worry. It will effect all of us." Fina clasped her hands together out in front of her and began to murmur an incantation in Yafutoman. Blue light began to lazily spin about her feet, and soon it spread to her companions. Vyse watched as the light spiraled up his legs, wrapped around his waist and then seeped into his chest, and it felt as though he was growing heavier. Finally Fina's words faded away and so too did the light, unwrapping itself from their bodies and dimming into nothingness.
"So, erm...who wants to go first?" Enrique's eyes darted around the room, and an uneasy silence fell over the four of them.
"I'll do it." Vyse stepped forward, grabbed the edge and then hopped into the water. It was freezing cold on contact, but suddenly the tiny fragments of red moonstone in his suit flared up and a subtle warmth flooded his body until it was comfortable for him to tread water.
"Vyse..." Fina leaned over the edge and peered at him worriedly. "This spell may enable us to breathe, but we still won't be able to talk underwater. Don't go too far ahead, okay?"
"Don't worry. I won't." And with that, Vyse let go of the edge and plunged in.
His belt caused him to sink faster than he anticipated, and he grabbed for a crack in the wall to hold on to. Realizing he was still holding his breath, Vyse slowly released it, forcing himself to put faith in Fina's magic.
Breathe.
He tried to pull a breath in but couldn't bring himself to do so. It went against all logic, and the the back of his mind screamed at him for such a foolhardy notion.
Breathe!
Already he could feel the burning in his empty lungs. His heart began to pound a bit faster as his body began to feel the lack of fresh air. His mind told him to panic and scramble towards the surface, but he pushed away such thoughts and steeled himself.
Okay. One...Two...
Vyse's chest felt like it was going to explode. Suddenly he drew in a deep gasp and blinked when nothing happened. As Kirala had said, it felt like he was breathing normal air, and he looked up to see the blurry shape of Fina hovering anxiously still on the edge of the pool. He gave her a thumbs up and she visibly sighed in relief and vanished back into the room.
Vyse sat there alone for several minutes, and he began to wonder why the others hadn't joined him. Suddenly the forms of Enrique and Fina appeared above him and they tossed something into the water with a mighty splash. Vyse watched bewilderedly as a flailing Aika sank past him in a torrent of bubbles and realized that they probably had to force her into the water.
Whatever amusement they had over the situation, however, faded when they allowed themselves to sink as well and found Aika having a panic attack at the bottom. She jerked about wildly, her flailing hindered by the water, and Vyse and Enrique quickly paddled over to gently restrain her. Her cries came out as torrents of bubbles, and it looked like she was beginning to hyperventilate. It wasn't until Fina halfway knocked her asleep that she calmed down, and then the two girls stared at each other for a long time as if a wordless conversation passed between the two of them. Slowly, Aika lifted her head and looked around with wide eyes, and finally seemed to relax.
If the Blue Civilization had ever set foot where they were, one wouldn't have known. The cool blue stone slabs that made up the chambers above them gave way to an enormous lava cavern that was now covered in layers of craggy barnacles and colorful coral that had grown in over the centuries. Yellow-green light filtered down through the shaft above in long, blurry rays, and in it Vyse could see things move, from tiny specs of dust to minuscule fish. Aika extended her hand as she noticed a small, bright orange creature vaguely resembling a Dhabu coiled around some coral near her, and it wound its curly tail around her finger instead when she neared. She looked delighted.
For the most part, the cavern was relatively shallow. Vyse could see alabaster-hued sands below him but wasn't sure what he should be doing. Fina beckoned to them and then began to paddle off, and they slowly followed, leaving Aika's Sea-Dhabu behind. Though the going was slow, they startled many things out of their hiding places, and as they passed over the heart of the cavern there came a virtual explosion of thousands of long, tiny, skinny silver fish from the reef, which as one danced around them and then vanished into the strands of light high above.
On the other end of the cavern, three craggy lava vents branched off in different directions. Fina hesitated, looking back and forth between them, but was at a complete loss. She turned to look at her companions helplessly and they shrugged at her. Enrique gestured at the far left tunnel and shrugged again, and she nodded and began to swim down it.
The tunnel was more narrow than it looked and was hard to fit through In some places the barnacles grew so thick that they carefully had to squeeze by lest they cut themselves, and Aika looked on the verge of panic again. The farther they went down, the more Vyse could feel the pressure of the water building, and it almost felt like his ears would burst. Eventually the narrow tunnel opened up into another bubble cavern even larger than the last, and from which branched off splits and cracks and tunnels in all directions. Vyse began to feel a slight sense of vertigo, and wasn't sure which way was up or down anymore.
This cavern, he found, was a veritable forest of underwater plants. Long tendrils of kelp grew in dense clusters from floor to ceiling – or ceiling to floor for all he knew – swaying softly in the gentle current. Much of the coral was large and grew out in "finger" shapes, so that they almost looked like trees in the winter, bearing their naked branches towards the sky. Blooming around them in bursts of color were anemones and other creatures and plants that looked like wispy flowers. A handful of different striped fish slipped their way between them, always managing to just wriggle out of their grasp, only to be snapped up by glowing eels or bigger fish looking for a meal.
As they swam along, a small school of large, flat yellow fish came up and began to nibble at their toes. Vyse tried to laugh at the odd tickling sensation but his voice was choked away by the water. The fish moved up to their fingers and then their hair, and the four paused momentarily to watch the curious interlopers as their bizarre behavior persisted. Vyse could never recall hearing such a thing occur with flying fish, and couldn't wait to tell the crew about it later.
Fina finally had Cupil chase the fish off and they continued plumbing deeper into the cavern. Vyse realized that color was slowly fading from the world, until only blues and greens were left, and began to wonder why the brighter shades were disappearing. The monochrome world was as beautiful as it was eerie, and it set him off balance just that much more.
When they hit the bottom of the cavern, Fina paused again to look around. There were about a dozen openings in the walls and floor, hovering before them like the open, waiting maws of hungry serpents. All of them twisted off into blackness, and Vyse wished he had been able to wear his eye patch with his goggles in order to peer down them. Instead Fina sent Cupil off to check each of the tunnels, but it took a while and the rogue swore the "air" he was breathing was beginning to feel thinner already.
At last Cupil returned and bobbed around Fina briefly before shimmying down the largest tunnel before them. About halfway through all light vanished, and Enrique began to channel magic so that they could see.
The tunnel was a long and twisting descent into darkness. After a while Vyse lost track of how long they had been diving and gave up on swimming altogether, allowing himself to simply sink. Occasionally they drifted past darker patches in the wall that the magic light did not illuminate and he realized they were even more tunnels snaking off into the mountain, like forks from a bolt of lightning. Behind him, Aika began to string bubbles together using the Blue Magic Fina taught her, forming a long chain that would serve to guide them back to the cavern entrance.
Somewhere along the way, Vyse's vertigo spread to the others -- or perhaps, he allowed himself to admit, they were genuinely lost. Either way as they came to the end of the tunnel they found themselves in a dead end, in a small, bland cavern with nothing but barnacles and algae in it. Its ceiling arced a few feet above the water and they exploded to the surface, coughing and gasping for real air. Cupil puffed himself up so that they could hang on to him and float, affording some rest.
"I-I'm sorry. I thought we were going the right way..." Fina frowned, brushing a string of pale hair from her face. "I must have gotten turned around and taken one of the side tunnels."
"It's okay. At least we can find our way back." Aika smiled a little.
"How are you feeling?" Enrique asked, watching the redhead with genuine concern. "I knew you couldn't swim, but I didn't know you had a phobia of water. Otherwise I wouldn't have thrown you in like that. I'm terribly sorry."
"Heh..." Aika peered down into the water, lazily swinging her feet to and fro. "When I was really little, I fell into this well we had at home and nearly drowned. Vyse's dad saved me just in time, but I still remember the cold, dark waters suffocating me. I was so scared of the water from that day forth that I never learned how to swim. But then I realized that I wasn't going to drown in here and...and I guess it's okay."
"How far down does this place go, anyway?" Vyse asked, beginning to feel his fatigue catching up with him. "I feel like we've been going down forever. I've never swam this long in my life."
"I wish I knew..." Fina replied, sighing quietly. "As Kirala said, nobody who's gone diving in here has made it out alive. There's no maps of this place, no directions. We may very well have to swim under the mountain to find the crystal. It's just as lost as we are."
Enrique frowned thoughtfully, slicking his golden hair back and out of his face. "Alright...say we backtrack. What would we do differently? Where would we go?"
"Well, uhm..." Fina thought for a moment. "When Mount Kazai was still a live volcano it only had one tunnel, an artery that went straight to its heart and allowed lava to flow. But the mountain was artificially flooded by my people to cool the lava and seal Bluheim in, and because it was forced to cool so rapidly, all kinds of splits and fractures formed in the mountain...which are the tunnels we see now. But the main artery should still exist and it should be the largest of these tunnels. If we avoid all of the smaller ones it should take us straight to where we need to go."
Enrique nodded. "Then let's go back and take our time this time. While we're here we can renew the spell, so we won't have to worry about running out of air. We can't get turned around as long as Aika continues her bubble chain."
"Sounds good to me," Vyse replied. "I'm glad one of us always has a plan at least." He grinned. Enrique gave a small chuckle.
"Okay, I'm going to recast the spell. Cupil, when I'm done, pop back outside and make sure Kirala knows we're still alive, please?" Fina lightly poked the inflated Apis in the side and he squeaked in acknowledgment.
When the spell had been renewed again, the four of them let go of Cupil and allowed themselves to sink. He deflated and then vanished into thin air, and they set about following Aika's train of blue magic. Within little time they were back into the main tunnel and resuming their descent, and before long a spot of muted azure appeared beneath them. It slowly grew, bleeding a soft glow into the tunnel. At long last, the passage ended and dropped them into yet another bubble cavern, and this one was the most beautiful yet.
Here, crystallized chunks of blue moonstone had somehow mixed in with the lava and now protruded from the walls of the cavern, bathing it in tranquil blue luminescence. Some of the formations were as large as a lifeboat and some clusters as big as a house, casting long and fleeting shadows across the cavern floor. Large cracks split the sand in an intricate latticework, and from them rose thin curtains of bubbles, gleaming like pearls in the cool light. Vyse couldn't tell if it was the lighting or if they had actually changed due to centuries in the presence of the moonstones, but all of the coral was a hundred different shades of azure, from a pale, almost white color to so dark a navy it was almost black. Large, translucent jellyfish lugubriously drifted to and fro like ghosts, and they were outlined in a shifting aura of neon indigo that they seemed to be generating themselves. But the most interesting thing was the great statue sunken roughly in the center of the cavern, listing at an awkward angle. He couldn't tell what it was from a distance, but it appeared to be a man with a needle-like sword pointing into the distance.
Vyse swam up to Fina and gently grasped her arm. She turned to face him and he pointed to the statue, watching her quizzically. Fina hesitated, then pointed at herself, but he wasn't sure what she was trying to say. Shaking her head, she instead pointed to the statue's sword and then trailed her finger to the cavern it was pointing to, giving a vigorous nod. He at least understood that much.
As they swam out towards the statue, the jellyfish changed their course and began to float towards the four of them instead, attracted by their light. There were about six of them in total, and as they drew near Vyse watched them curiously, amazed at how simple the creatures were. He stopped to get a better look at one, but Aika grabbed him and gave him a hard tug, jabbing a finger into one of her arms while staring at him pointedly. Her expression said it all: "You moron! They sting!"
They pressed onwards as quickly as they could, but the jellyfish continued to follow. Finally Enrique snuffed out his light, but it only served to give the unusual creatures pause. Vyse began to wonder if it hadn't been the light that had attracted them after all, but rather their movement. They were, after all, an anomaly in a world that hadn't been seen or touched in centuries.
The blue glow in the cavern was enough to see by, but it took a moment for their eyes to adjust from one light to the next. When Vyse was confident enough to move again, however, he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Whirling around, he found that one of the jellyfish had latched on to him.
Oh shit.
Nobody had brought any weapons with them. Vyse had been too worried about his cutlasses rusting and had left them behind in Kirala's boat, but now he had no way of removing the stingers from his body. Suddenly the jellyfish burst in a small cloud of liquid and pulp, and Vyse realized one of the girls had thrown an ice shard at it, neatly severing its tentacles from its body.
Okay...think... he told himself, reaching out to grasp the stingers still sticking out from his arm. Dad taught me about sky jelly stings. These can't be too much different. Most of them aren't deadly. Gritting his teeth, Vyse yanked the stingers as hard as he could and pried them from his arm, a small bit of blood clouding the water in their wake. Vinegar...I need vinegar...
He barely noticed as a cocoon of shifting multicolored light wrapped around the four of them, followed by a burst of electricity that shot through the water and fried the remaining jellyfish on contact. He couldn't really see much of anything moving anymore, really, but moons, his sting hurt more than he thought! Hissing through his teeth, Vyse clutched at his arm as it began to throb painfully, feeling the muscles tense up and lock. The pain was steadily spreading, making it hard to breathe. Vyse squinted his eyes, trying to cling to his senses, but the world eventually faded to black.
Fina's heart raced in her chest, and a terrible knot tied itself in her stomach as Vyse grew stiff and suddenly began to sink. Enrique was quick to dive and catch the rogue, supporting him over his shoulder and hefting him up as best he could. The prince shot a desperate gaze up at her but she could only return the look in equal desperation. She didn't know what to do! How was she to know those creatures were poisonous?
Cupil! Where are you? she asked, frantically searching for her companion.
No response. Cupil was too far off to hear her thoughts.
This is bad. Oh moons, what am I going to do? I don't know how long he has... Fina quickly glanced around, searching for a place they could surface. Silver magic is all we need, but I can't utter the incantation down here.
The ice shard had been different. With abundant water around her, she hadn't needed to use a complicated spell in order to form it – just some concentration. She suspected it had been similar with Enrique, who had a natural conductor for electricity all around him. But silver magic had no element and she couldn't draw from the environment around her to cast. The only option they had was to keep swimming until they found a place where Vyse could rest.
Fina beckoned to the others and began to frantically paddle off, continuing in the direction they had originally been headed. The elders had said the crystal cavern was probably dry, but that was still a long ways off; she had only now found the landmark the Silvites had left for themselves. Did she dare risk any of the side tunnels, though? That had the potential to take even longer without Cupil to scout ahead for her. She began to mentally kick herself for ever sending him away.
A strange clicking noise suddenly reverberated throughout the cavern, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Fina glanced over her shoulder but had no idea where it was coming from, and she certainly had no time to investigate. But a flicker of movement caught her eye and she could not ignore it, turning to find five large, sleek shapes rise up from the reef below. When they emerged in the light she realized they were coming straight for her, and though they didn't have wings like their flying cousins, she would have recognized them anywhere – ancient delphins!
The group was forced to pause again as they found themselves surrounded by the small pod. The delphins circled them briefly, clicking and nudging them and studying them with one eye, and then suddenly one forced its way between Vyse and Enrique and began to carry the rogue off. Two of them took turns pushing him along with their noses, and they sped off down the tunnel faster than any of them could ever hope to swim.
What are they doing?! Fina cried out in protest, but her voice was lost in the water. This isn't a game! They'll kill him!
Suddenly she felt something stiff and smooth press into her hand. Blinking, she realized one of the delphins had swam up to her and pressed one of its fins against her palm. The other two were behaving in a similar way with Aika and Enrique, nudging them in the sides persistently and offering them their fins.
Are they...taking us with him? I know they are very intelligent, but...
But what other choice did they have at this point? As absurd as it seemed, maybe the delphins really had shown up to help them.
Fina carefully grasped the offered fin and suddenly the delphin shot off, rocketing through the water like a torpedo did the air. The Silvite was shocked at how fast it could move, and when she looked back over her shoulder she found Aika and Enrique clinging to their new friends for dear life. Their weight did not seem to slow the creatures down in the slightest, and the caverns flew by in a blur. The delphins did not cut the water but rather moved as a part of it, as agile and graceful as any bird or fish in the sky.
They shot through one tunnel and emerged in a sub-cavern, then turned and plunged through another passage, and then a third. Fish scattered in all directions as they went speeding by, leaving enormous clouds of bubbles in their wake. At one point the labyrinth of tunnels ended and they passed through a narrow chamber where large stalagmites and stalactites made swimming in a straight line impossible, but the delphins did not slow or hesitate and instead wove seamlessly between them. Abruptly the cavern ended and they went plunging over a roaring waterfall, falling down, down, down into an impossibly deep pool below.
The delphins gently nosed them to the surface and then slowed, towing them along carefully. Fina coughed and spit out a large amount of water, clinging to her delphin as she brushed her hair from her eyes. What she saw was a large, perfectly round cavern, with a high-domed ceiling that had obviously been smoothed away by human hands. Beyond the waterfall the water was perfectly still and undisturbed, and it glowed a soothing cerulean color that rippled and danced all over the cavern walls. A strange circular seal had actually been drawn on the water with silver magic, and it formed a couple of interlocking rings surrounding a small stone temple floating in the center, of the same craftsmanship as the earlier ruins. It was here that the delphins brought them, and Fina was shocked to find that the first two had not only brought Vyse to the cavern as well, but had deposited him safely on the temple steps.
With a soft cry, Fina let go of her delphin and began to paddle for the temple, and Aika tried to follow but was hindered by her complete inability to swim. The Silvite pulled herself up onto the stairs and then fumbled to feel for Vyse's pulse, but her hands were cold and numb and she couldn't feel a thing. Instead, she opted to press her head to Vyse's chest and listen carefully; his breathing was shallow and his heartbeat erratic, but still there.
"Oh thank the moons," she murmured, hearing Aika and Enrique give relieved sighs behind her at those words. Deftly, she rolled rolled back the sleeve on the offending arm and studied the wound. Vyse had apparently ripped the stingers out and made a huge mess of things, likely poisoning himself even more in the process. It was a wonder he was still alive.
Closing her eyes and reaching for the now-distant Silver Moon, Fina bent low over him, spread her hands across his chest, and began to get to work.
Enrique was only too happy to get out of the water. A stone dock of sorts led out from the temple stairs, and it was this he climbed upon as Fina began to set about curing Vyse. With a tired grunt, the soggy prince flopped down on his back on the cool stone and stared up at the cavern ceiling high above, grateful to have something solid underneath him again. To say that what had just happened was a close call would have been an understatement, and he began to wonder what the three air pirates had seen while gathering the first two moon crystals. Surely there were things out there more dangerous than jellyfish guarding the other stones!
I'm probably lucky to have missed the worst of it, having come in so late in their journey... he thought, lazily extending a hand as his delphin swam over to him and nosed him for attention. All of this has been luck. If these delphins hadn't shown up, Vyse would be dead by now. I guess the stories about them rescuing people really are true.
But Vyse's brush with death was also a slight wake up call for him. The danger in these ancient places was very real, and he didn't know if he was prepared to deal with it. He certainly had no idea how to treat bites and stings or how to cure wounds; these were things that real sailors knew and could cope with before they ever set sail into the skies.
I'll just have to learn then, he told himself, sitting up and wringing out his hair. I will not be a burden to these people. It's going to be hard, just like fighting...but I can do it.
Absently, he thought back to one of his conversations with Moegi. Though their talks were always extremely limited, she had taught him an old Yafutoman proverb that had left him pondering for quite some time: "A man's worth is determined not by his potential, but by his actions." Enrique's first thought was to apply her words to the Armada, where there were many good men who did questionable things. There were even some high ranking officials who were completely useless, like his older cousin Alfonso. But now he realized that he had likely misinterpreted her words, and got to pondering again. Despite her shy nature, Moegi was amazingly smart and wise for her years – and it charmed him.
Standing, Enrique began to pick up pieces of stone that had fallen from above and skip them across the water. He glanced over to check on Vyse, but the girls were hovering over him worriedly and he couldn't see a thing beyond them. The prince had to grin a little at that, casting off another stone.
The stone landed with a soft plop and a few large bubbles rolled to the surface beneath it. Enrique blinked and tossed another one, but the bubbles were closer to him now, away from where the stones had fallen. The prince had cocked his arm back to toss a third when suddenly a dark shape lurched up from the deeps, drenching them all in a spray of salt water. Enrique dove to the side just in time as something large and beaky snapped at him, and he heard the girls cry out in surprise on the other end of the dock.
Looming up out of the water was a giant turtle, easily on par with the size of the temple they rested at. It was covered in beautiful silver scales that shone like diamonds in the blue light, but they were crusted over with barnacles and muscles in some places as if the turtle had been underwater for half an eternity. Its shell was spiked and its head was crowned in similar protrusions, giving it a menacing edge that its smaller flying brethren certainly didn't have. Clasped around its neck was a strange collar embedded with blue moonstones.
"Ahh! He summoned the guardian!" Aika cried, dashing for the temple door. She tried to heft it open, but it did not give an inch. "We're trapped!"
"We have no choice...we have to fight it off somehow!" Fina slipped her arms under Vyse's and carefully dragged him up the stairs to safety. The turtle caught the movement and whirled around at them, sending a burst of icy breath their way. Aika quickly countered with fire magic and melted it into steam, sparing them from the hail of frozen shards.
"Magic's all we have," she said. "We have to keep our distance and throw everything we've got at it!"
Fina hesitated, then skittered down to join them.
By then the steam had cleared and the turtle could see again. It swept a fin over the narrow platform they stood on and the girls were forced to jump over it, clearing it just in time. It followed up with a headbutt and they dove to either side, and Enrique realized that it was trying to knock them into the water.
Pressing his hands together, the prince conjured a ball of electricity and threw it at the giant creature, catching it in the side of the face. It shook violently for a few seconds and recoiled, only to lurch at him in retaliation. He nimbly dodged and leapt up onto its head, grabbing one of the spikes there for balance as it began to thrash about. Another jolt stunned it for a precious few seconds, giving the girls ample time to sling some spells of their own. As the turtle recovered, however, it suddenly pulled its head into its shell, nearly sending Enrique into the water. He managed to grab the edge of the dock just in time and the girls pulled him back up to safety.
The turtle began to submerge, and they watched it disappear into the dark waters. But mere heartbeats later it suddenly burst back to the surface behind them and snapped Fina up in its jaws, and had Aika not caught it immediately after with a burst of flame it would have bitten her clean in two. But as the Silvite dropped back down onto the platform, Aika continued to push the creature, which clearly had as much distaste for flame as it did Enrique's shocks. She conjured up a fireball and then split it into many duplicates, sending them spiraling forth in a torrent of flame that began to burn the scales clean off its body.
"Back off!" she cried.
The turtle reared and pulled back from the platform, shaking itself off. But then the unexpected happened: it bowed its head and wrapped itself in a cocoon of verdant light. The gentle glow slowly seeped in to its body and they watched incredulously as its burns faded and its scales grew back. The creature knew how to heal itself!
As it continued to channel, the three gathered their energy and attacked as one. The resulting magical explosion was enough to blind them and send the turtle skidding backwards across the water, where it hit the cavern wall so hard that it trembled and shook hunks of stone loose. They hit the water with tremendous splashes, forcing the three to scatter and dodge the falling debris.
When the guardian recovered it was blanketed in dust and pebbles. A few of the falling rocks had hit it and broken its shell, tearing some spikes off in the process. It looked infuriated now, and began to swim circles around the room, gradually picking up speed. It was too fast for them to follow, too fast to direct a spell at properly, and the three were forced to watch anxiously as an angry whirlpool began to form around them.
But it wasn't just the water. The air in the cavern was stirring, swirling around them as well, swiftly becoming more violent. Suddenly the turtle stopped and lifted its head, and the winds snatched them up like an invisible hand and threw them skywards. Enrique felt like a fly caught in a web, unable to move as they swirled higher and higher. The two girls hit the walls with barely-audible cracks and he followed soon after, feeling his shoulder and ribs pop painfully. With all the air knocked out of him, the prince could not cry, could not move, could not do anything as the winds suddenly let go and he plummeted into the swirling waters below.
Hitting the water was like hitting cement, and it swallowed his slender frame hungrily. Enrique felt himself being dragged downward but was too dazed to comprehend anything else, to even care that the overwhelming spell had stripped them of their waterbreathing. He held his breath, for whatever good it did, trying to force his body to move, but it refused. As it was he could only feel half of it.
Suddenly something gently pressed into his back and fought against the overwhelming current to push him to the surface. They emerged by the temple again and Enrique coughed and sputtered, trying to force the liquid out of his lungs. The delphins had returned to save them again, he realized, and as the rest of the pod safely deposited an unconscious Aika and Fina on the temple steps, they swam off to assault the guardian.
The waters began to calm as the guardian turned on their saviors. They leapt into the air and dove at it, striking its head and neck and aiming for the softer flesh the cracked shell left exposed. The turtle roared and snatched one out of the sky, and it squealed piteously as it was bit in half. Enrique watched in horror as the two halves of the gentle creature were carelessly cast aside, but its podmates only redoubled their efforts and struck harder. He couldn't believe it.
The delphins made quite a distraction, but they would not last long, he knew. Time was running short, and he cringed as another pitiful squeal marked the death of a second delphin. He had to think fast, but what could he do? Without the girls to back him up, he wouldn't be able to conjure up enough magical power to hold the giant turtle at bay!
And then it struck him. He was surrounded by water.
It was dangerous without Aika, not only to himself, but to the remaining delphins, which he wanted to protect just as much as the unconscious Vyse, Aika and Fina. His plan would require an intense level of concentration that he had never attempted before, and he was already beaten and in tremendous pain. Gritting his teeth, the prince reached out and compacted the light in the room into solid bubbles, willing them to form around his aquatic companions. They noticed the strange change around them and paused, jumping back as the turtle snapped at them and bounced off the shield harmlessly.
Enrique reached for his yellow moonstone and clutched it tightly in his hand. In the back of his mind he could feel the sharp, almost painful tingle that was the presence of the Yellow Moon and thought of home, thought of the raging thunderstorms and violent earthquakes that often rocked Valua. He could feel such raw energy flood his body, could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as it crackled around and through him. And then, Enrique dropped to his knees and plunged a fist into the water, releasing the electric current into its depths.
The room suddenly lit up with a blinding yellow flare. Electricity shot across the pool in all directions and churned the dark waters, popping and sparking angrily. The delphins squealed in alarm as it jumped all around them, but Enrique squeezed his eyes shut and maintained the wavering shields as best he could, sparing them from the deadly current. The turtle, however, was not so impervious, thrashing and writhing violently as it was electrocuted. Enrique continued to channel into the water until the turtle literally began to smoke, until he was sure that it would be unable to recover. Finally, the prince pulled back and the current dissipated. The guardian grew limp, rolled over, and slowly sank back into the watery abyss.
"Heh. Pretty good," came a voice from behind him. Wearily, Enrique turned to see Vyse sitting up in the doorway of the temple, a tired grin on his face.
Enrique rubbed the back of his neck with his good arm, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his side. "I hope that I'm being useful..."
The remaining three delphins squee'd and swam up to him, bobbing in the water excitedly. Vyse only chuckled, struggling to drag himself to his feet.
"Useful? We owe you our lives twice over now."
"Yes, but...I am the one who awakened it," Enrique protested, gazing out to where the turtle had sank.
"Nah." Vyse shuffled over to the girls, his brow creasing as he looked them over, but the rogue finally relaxed when he decided they were safe. "That thing was probably waiting for us."
Enrique blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Fina said all the moon crystals have a guardian, a last defense against people who would steal them," he replied, carefully propping both of the girls up on the stairs. "In Nasr we fought this lava worm thing, and in Ixa'Taka we almost got eaten by a giant bird." He paused, rubbing his eyes. "But did that thing shoot magic at you? I've never seen an animal cast magic before."
Just then the girls began to stir, wincing in pain. Fina suddenly rolled over and pulled a blanket of green light around herself, and it slowly spread out to encompass all of them. Aika sorely sat up and blinked her eyes, and Enrique felt his broken bones mend and his shoulder pop back into place. The prince slowly let out a relieved sigh as the nagging pain faded from his body, grateful that at least one of them knew healing magic.
"Oww...my head," Aika groaned. "What happened?"
"We were attacked by the crystal guardian," Fina said quietly, pushing herself up. "But it appears to be gone."
"Enrique electrocuted it to death." Vyse grinned, as if such a thing was normal. Enrique blushed as he suddenly found all three pairs of eyes on him.
"I-I had help, you know..." He gestured to the delphins, who clicked loquaciously.
"I'm so sorry...about your friends..." Fina knelt by the creatures and stroked their domed heads, and they bobbed up and down in contentment. "You've done so much for us. Thank you."
Whether or not they understood her was unclear, but the delphins certainly did not seem upset. With a final, playful squeal they performed a graceful backflip and dove into the water, vanishing into the deeps.
"Well...it seems the seal is broken." Fina stood and gestured to the water, and for the first time Enrique realized that the silver circle that had somehow been etched on its surface had vanished. "The crystal should be just inside."
"If everyone's recovered, let's go." Vyse stretched out tiredly. "Man, after this I'm never going to want to see a drop of water ever again."