Chapter Eighty-eight

The Crushing Depths

I woke up with a start, the excitement still running through me. I hadn't actually killed a dragon, but the dream was so real that I still felt like I had.

"Guys, I am so ready for today, I am so excited! I just had a dream, and I killed a dragon!"

"Oooh!" Melima said. "Wait, I don't know how I feel about that. I'm part dragon."

"So, you remember that dragon that we fought in Allura's training room?"

"Uh huh."

"It was the same dragon."

"So, it was a training dragon, or a real dragon?"

"It was a real dragon. I was part of a guild or something, and I was late flying in. Everyone else had gotten to this town just before the dragon's cave before I did. They were all fighting these white, furry beasts—there were some winter wolves too—but there were these white, furry beasts, and there was a wizard right in front of this thing, so I killed it for him." I laughed at the fact that even in my dreams, I had to protect wizards.

"So, we cleared this town of these beasts, and we went to this cave that went down, and it was this ice cave, and whatever, but then it was exactly the same as that ledge that we had to climb up. I got some rope and flew up, but I was like, 'man, I wish I had an immovable rod,' and this high elf actually had one, and I was like, 'ah, cool, sweet!'

"So, I went up and got the rope ready. And this part was a little different. Instead of having a wall there, it actually was a longer tunnel. And so, we all got up there and started walking through the tunnel, and I flew ahead on my broom just to see what was going on, because it didn't have a door like last time. And I could hear the dragon. I couldn't tell if it was sleeping—I thought maybe it might be eating—but I thought at first it was sleeping. But then I flew in, up to the top and peeked in and it was sitting on a shelf, and it was moving up and down, and I was pretty positive it was eating.

"But it also had this weird gray tint to it. So, I indicated to the rest of the group— there were four others there. There was a wood elf ranger, a high elf sorcerer, although, it wasn't draconic like you are, Melima, it was some other type of sorcerer. And then there was a dwarf, and I think he was a sorcerer too, and then there was a human— I think he was both a fighter and a wizard, but he very much looked like a wizard. I made sure that he could see in the dark, because the rest of us could.

"But, we all managed to creep in without the dragon noticing us, and on the count of three—I silently counted us to three—we all started attacking this dragon, because it didn't notice us, thankfully. And the dwarf, he cast this invisible wall around the dragon so he couldn't move. There was just this little opening that we could fire at it, and he was trying to turn and couldn't turn. Finally, he turned and broke out of it, but we had hurt him a lot. He was so mad.

"He broke out and called us puny cattle. I was out of the way because I was flying, but he blew his ice breath on everyone else, and I just told him, 'you're not going to last long, Bahamut sent me.' And it ticked him off so bad." I laughed again at the audacity I'd had and how the dragon reacted.

"He flew at me, he like, climbed on the ceiling, and he got right up in my face and told me I was a pesky snack. And I was like, 'yeah, right. Whatever.'

"He kept hitting me with his tail and clawing at me, and I had—I think I can cast it now—I cast a spiritual weapon on him that I could move, so I started attacking him with that. And I touched him on the snout—and everyone else was firing on him too—but I touched him on the snout and said 'this is for my father.'

"I hit him, my spiritual weapon hit him, and he fell and he died. And then a shadow rose out of him. And the shadow was really ticked at me. And I think it was something like, some evil entity had entered the dragon, and that was why he was grayish, and his eyes were kind of black instead of blue, like they should have been, and they had like a misty essence to them. But as soon as he died, all of that went away. The shadow went out, and it was white, like it should have been. And this shadow of the dragon was still attacking me, it was still really ticked at me. But he wasn't attacking anyone else that I knew couldn't handle as much as I could and I was okay with that.

"Then he got scared and ran away. He tried to get up this hole in the ceiling and the high elf collapsed the tunnel. A couple other shots got him. But as he tried to get away he told me that Tiamat would rise again. But he didn't get away, we got 'im. I killed a dragon, guys! I killed a dragon!"

"That's exciting!" Melima said. "Tawariell, what does that mean for us? Did you pick up on any sigils, or any symbols, or any interpretations?"

"I don't know, but I just have a really good feeling about today." I was grinning from ear to ear.

"Good," Melima said with a smile. "I guess I'll take that omen. Whatever cool spell you learned in your sleep, I'm excited to see it."

Melima wanted to make sure we had our strategy set, and Jörgen joked that we were going to turn her into a fish, make her fast, and use her as bait. She laughed, saying she was up for that. She mentioned she thought she could turn the kraken into something, but I wondered if it would be able to do the same thing the dragon had done in my dream, will the spell not to work.

Ari'yasa had cast a ritual so we'd be able to breathe underwater for the day while I was recounting my dream. Jörgen summoned an octopus familiar, but Ari'yasa forgot to prepare her spell so she could see in the dark, so I cast it on her as we finished getting ready.

We made our way to where we'd been told the portal was. The building was built similar to a temple, using a type of marble or coral. Aleena was waiting for us at the entrance. She had a small satchel with potions to help us withstand the cold.

Several guards surrounded the building, Marnalore standing at the back, just inside the building itself. Edwin and Zeldana arrived just after we did to collect our Stones for safekeeping. I didn't love the idea of someone else having them, but it wasn't worth the risk of losing one or both of them to the kraken, and we'd accepted their offer.

The temple was ornately carved, and the sound of the city dampened as we entered. A trickle of water replaced the bustle of the city. We came around a wall, down a few steps to a platform. It was as if there were a building within the building. The platform formed a ring around a large pool. The pool was a storey or two deep, and twice as wide. More steps led down to the bottom. Just under the lip of the platform was a shimmering blue wall— the portal.

Marnalore showed us where we could leave any items we didn't want to take with us into the water. "You can leave any of your items here that you wish, they will be guarded and safe. But in order to enter the portal, you will need to go down into the water and enter from the opposite side."

Marnalore showed us a lodestone that was set in the ceiling. Jörgen, Ari'yasa, and I studied it just a little bit so we could cast our spell. They told us they weren't very heavy in the water. We couldn't hold them with one hand, but they wouldn't be hard to carry. They also didn't glow while they weren't being used.

Jörgen cast a spell that made him look like a merfolk, giving himself the ability to breathe underwater. We arranged pairs so we could make sure everyone could get away by magic. I decided to go with Jörgen, partially so I could keep him under control, and Ari'yasa would stick with Sephra.

Marnalore gave us one last warning before we went down into the water, "if you see the kraken, run."

We thanked her, then descended the stairs into the water. I held my breath as I went under. I expected to feel different from the spell Ari'yasa had cast on us, but there was nothing. I could feel my air running out, and I could tell the others were experiencing the same thing.

My lungs screamed for air. Unable to hold my breath any longer, I took in a gasp of water. I was going to drown. The water rushed in, but it didn't feel like water in my lungs, it felt like damp air, as if I were in a thick fog. I tentatively took another breath with the same effect. I took in a few more deep breaths, calming myself. Everyone else was doing the same. Magic had some weird quirks.

We came around the other side of the portal. It was a little taller than Keothi had been, a wide oval. It was dark beyond the faint shimmer. Ari'yasa used her staff to cast our cloaking spell, and I directed her to go through first to dampen any light coming from the portal. Sephra went with Ari'yasa, Melima insisted on going through with Jörgen, and I took up the rear with my new crossbow and harpoons.

It was dark as we came through the portal. The area was open as far as I could see, which wasn't very far. The weight of the water came crushing down on me, trying to squeeze all of the air and blood out of my body. I understood why we couldn't stay down there long. It was hard to move.

Jörgen cast his spell to find a lodestone. We had to move fast, but still with stealth. He pointed the way we needed to go, which I called east of the portal, and I came to the front to stay with the wizard and guard us with my crossbow. It wasn't hard to stay quiet in the crushing pressure.

Jörgen pointed past a rock that towered over our heads. A skeleton lay on the ground in front of us, just in front of a large plant. Something about it called out danger in the back of my mind— this plant was either poisonous or could cause paralysis. We didn't want to touch it.

We quickly debated whether to go over or around the rock. We decided on around, it would keep us quieter. I paused for a brief moment, hearing something in the distance. It was a low rumble, followed by a crunching sound. I couldn't tell where it was coming from, but it seemed distant. Hopefully, the kraken was occupied.

We found a large lodestone behind the rock, half-buried in the ground and covered in a slimy moss. Jörgen used a spell to move the soil out from around the bottom. Melima wrapped a net around it and slung it over her shoulder.

I was about to cast the locating spell, but Jörgen offered to do it again, there wasn't any reason we had to have someone new do it each time. He pointed in a northwesterly direction. Melima was worried that we wouldn't have enough time to get the next one and get back, but we had to try to get at least one more, the kraken seemed unaware of us.

Another plant came across our path. Jörgen wanted to go north around it, but I wanted to stay closer to the portal, which everyone agreed with. I'd thought we'd been moving quietly before, but we were nearly silent as we moved to the next stone. The portal shimmered to our left ever so slightly, but I could see why the kraken usually ignored it— it barely gave off any light at all.

We came to a field of rocks, which would be a little harder to get over, and the lodestone was on the other side. We had used up about half of our time, we could keep going. I paused to listen again. The rumble continued, with the occasional crack. Fortunately, it seemed even farther away than I'd first thought.

We wanted just one person to go across the rocks, and Melima gave me the lodestone, pushing off the ground to leap over to the next one, but we realized that we needed everyone there to use their spells and remain quiet. It looked like it was buried pretty deep.

Melima didn't glide as far as it looked like she should, so the rest of us decided to walk through the rocks. A few people stumbled, creating a little bit of noise in the water, but we all made it over to the lodestone. Jörgen started pushing the dirt around the stone underneath it, causing the stone to rise. He covered the light that came from the glyph he had to create every few seconds.

Melima collected the stone in another net, and we turned to go back to the portal. We started crossing through the field of rocks again, but Jörgen hung back. Suddenly, a flash went off behind me, then in front, Jörgen appearing in a puff of mist. The rumbling in the distance stopped.

I pointed quickly towards the portal, stealth was no longer important. I heard a huge swishing sound coming in our direction. I frantically pointed to the portal. We had to get out immediately. Sephra and Ari'yasa stepped into an arcane door, disappearing. Melima also disappeared from view.

I was alone in the field of rocks. Why was I not surprised? I swam as fast as I could through the water. Jörgen started casting another spell, holding out his hand as I came near him. "Come with me!"

I let out a sigh of relief. I wasn't going to have to get out of there by myself. We stepped through an arcane door, coming out at the portal. Ari'yasa and Sephra were there, but not Melima. I heard a whisper through the earring in my ear, "hey, I'm here."

It was Melima. I ushered everyone through the portal, staying behind to make sure everyone got through. Something ginormous darted past the portal as I started through— we'd barely made it.

My body seemed to inflate as I exited the portal, the pressure was gone. Melima was no longer invisible, and everyone was safely in the pool. We were safe, but I was livid. "Jörgen!"

"What?" the wizard asked.

"We could have gone back today if you hadn't—"

"Can we still go back today if we wait a little bit?" Melima asked.

"I don't think it's going to be safe to go back today. We can ask, but I don't think it's going to be safe."

We carried the stones up the stairs, where Marnalore was waiting for us with a couple other guards. "Ah! You... you made it. I see you only have two. What happened?"

"We were running out of time, and somebody made a mistake anyways," I said. "So, we just hightailed it out."

"We plan to go back in and get the third," Melima said. "We just had to come back before we got squished to death. It went great. It was quiet—"

"If the kraken is aware that somebody was down there, is it going to be safe today?" I asked. "Or are we going to have to wait until tomorrow?"

"Hmm..." Marnalore thought for a moment. "Based on what we know about the creature, you may want to wait, though I would use extra caution the next time you go in, as this creature tends to be more of— We don't know its personality, per se, but from what we do know it is very territorial and will take down other large creatures. The one other time I was there—not the last time I went, but the time before when I went—I saw it feasting upon what I can only describe as a gigantic whale, and it looked like a snack to it."

The guards helped us pull the stones out of the water. The stones were much heavier when they weren't being held up partially by water. Marnalore inspected them and declared them good. They were covered in a viscous substance, which I thought at first was some type of weird algae. When I noticed the color though, I realized it was part of the lodestone itself, feces.