Any hopes of an easy exit were washed from our minds only a few seconds later. The middle of the fountain erupted without warning, a blemish in the unbroken surface bubbling up and them emerging in a magnificent spray. All three of us whirled to face the fountain, along with the poor remaining souls in the cave. The explosion startled Hoshiya enough to break the spell guarding the forbidden door, the reddish tiger dissolving into wisps of opaque smoke.
The eruption had expelled something from inside the fountain. Levitating above the middle of the fountain appeared to be a fragment of glass, slowly rotating around an invisible axis. Orbiting this large chunk of last was a celestial form, translucent and not wholly tangible. Its shape was impossible to make out while it was moving, but as it decelerated to a stop, the figure revealed itself to be a specter in an Aisha shape, dressed in clothes that were made of tattered yet high-quality material. Her fur pink in color, the Aisha wore a delicate silver circlet about her forehead, suggesting nobility.
"Well, I think we found our dead princess," I mumbled to the group.
The ghostly Aisha princess unwound herself from the repetitive circular path she made around the glass, and drifted down to where the three of us stood. She addressed Hoshiya in particular, whose skin still glistened with the evaporating water of the fountain. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that no one else in the cave seemed to be conscious of the supernatural event occurring before them—in fact, no one seemed to be moving at all. Every visitor or employee was frozen in place, their expressions and movements trapped in one single instance. Although it made no logical sense from a scientific perspective, it seemed as though time had stopped. Gormos seemed similarly time-locked, but this was a product of his will—he was straight-out terrified, his only movement produced by trembling.
"Thou disturbeth me," the Aisha princess said critically, her slitted eyes additionally narrowed. "Why hast thou done so? Why dost thou not leave me in miserable peace?"
I couldn't seriously believe that a ghost that had presumably been haunting people in the present would stick to such a tacky, ancient dialect, but Hoshiya rolled with it. She seemed completely nonplussed that she was conversing with a dead soul. "My name is Hoshiya, and I come from Faerieland, far across the galaxy. I'm here to retrieve one of the components for the Fountain of Youth for my venerable queen Fyora."
The Aisha princess—Shimalda, I guessed it was—reeled back in surprise, doing a little mid-air flip. "Thou seekest the elixir of eternal life? Thou seekest to tread that most trepidatious path?"
"Yeah, we do," I interjected casually, "and if you could maybe give us a few pointers of where to find the other ingredients, we'd be just the most grateful little ingrates around." Hoshiya jabbed me markedly in the ribs for this outburst.
"Excuse the manners of my friend—he's not of a civilized people," Hoshiya apologized, shooting me a venomous look. "Yes, we seek the elixir of life, and in particular, the first component—the mirror."
Princess Shimalda considered Hoshiya for a moment, as if assessing whether or not she was worthy to possess the mirror. "Thou hast come to the proper place," Princess Shimalda remarked with a solemn nod. "Here I spent my last hours in misery, and weep about it ever after. I do guard this mirror that thou seeketh. Thou may view it before thyself." She gave a sweeping gesture back at the irregular piece of glass still spinning of its own volition behind her. "However, I must know that thy motives are pure. The elixir of life is an ancient, dangerous secret. Why dost each of thou seeketh the elixir of life?"
"To prove myself worthy of inclusion in Faerie society," Hoshiya said unusually quiet, her head bowed low. "I am an exile, and was promised entrance if I sought out and discovered the Fountain of Youth for my queen." There was shame evident in her admission: I could see a rosy blush creep up along the side of her neck, and the remarkable vulnerability she displayed made her seem almost dear, someone secretly craving love and acceptance. To distance myself from feeling empathy, I reminded myself she was still a faerie—and thus unforgivable.
"A most sympathetic cause," Princess Shimalda crooned. Unexpectedly, she moved on from Hoshiya to me, floating right in front of me. Her eyes, turquoise-colored, were surprisingly clear and real despite the relative inconsistency of the rest of her body. "Now thee, young sir. What dost thou seeketh the Fountain of Youth for?"
Instead of explaining my predicament to the ghost, I pulled out my left hand from under my robes, splaying out my fingers palm-up so she could see the cursed mark making its deadly way across my skin. "I'm cursed," I said simply, electing to omit the part where Hoshiya was the one that did the cursing. "It's a slow-moving curse, but it's a curse that will destroy me. There's no cure, so I'm hedging my bets on this. I figured this potion might be able to lift it."
"Perhaps, Cursed One, it will," Shimalda agreed, bobbing her head dreamily. She turned herself to Gormos at last, who looked about ready to piss himself in fear. (I was surprised there wasn't already a puddle of yellow collecting beneath him.) "And you, Young Aisha." At this point she began to address him in Aishaspeak. The annoyance at being misidentified as a legitimate Aisha for the umpteenth time outweighed Gormos' fear of the supernatural, and he found the power to speak.
"Uh, actually, I only speak Intergalactic common, so if you could keep talking like you were talking, that would be great," Gormos said sheepishly. Princess Shimalda looked slightly embarrassed, and then irritated, but did as Gormos requested.
"Why dost thou seeketh the Fountain of Youth?"
Gormos shrugged. "I'm really just along for the ride. Frank here is my best buddy—you know, the Cursed One—and I figured I should come along to make sure he doesn't hurt himself. I've really got no interest in eternal life; we Kougras live long enough anyway."
Princess Shimalda examined him closely, but after a time seemed content with his story. "A truly selfless soul—thou art a rare breed indeed, Aisha-But-Not. Cumulatively, the three of thee have proven thyselves sufficiently worthy of the mirror." Princess Shimalda turned away from us for a second, and pointed her index finger towards the levitating glass. A hairline fracture ran through the edge of the glass, and then split deeper, breaking off a piece of the glass. This chipped-off piece descended towards the three of us. Hoshiya held out her hands as if receiving something holy, and the glass settled itself in her hands. She winced slightly.
"Cold," she murmured, her eyes transfixed with the rainbows glittering off the glass' many facets. Gently, she passed it over to me, who tucked it in my pocket next to the vial of water.
"Let me warn thee, however, of the dividing effects the Fountain of Youth may have," Princess Shimalda said, her tone shifting from one of solemn inquisition to grave warning. "Since I giveth you the glass, the mirror, I will provide ample reflection for thou. Personal greed is not the greatest foe thee willst encounter on the path to the Fountain's discovery. Each of thee hast great potential: I see in the Faerie a great capacity for love, and with it a great talent for magic; within the Cursed One, a great intelligence and ambition; and within the Aisha-But-Not, an unflagging loyalty and tremendous good heart. However, thee must be aware that great qualities can also beget terrible vices. In the Faerie, great love begets great hatred, and magic may be used for horrendous acts. In the Cursed One—ambition and intelligence are a volatile combination. And Aisha-But-Not—beware that thy loyalties do not betray thy heart."
With these last golden nuggets of advice, Princess Shimalda resumed her tireless circling of the fragment of glass. The princess solidly in orbit—fast enough to reduce to a blur of pink and silver—the glass gradually descended back into the water, hitting the surface with a subdued splash, and then plunging under. The water seemed to boil for a moment after the figure disappeared beneath it, but by measure, the water returned to its eerie stillness.
It was about at that moment that time returned to its normal schedule—but, in an attempt to make up for lost minutes, it seemed to play out for us in double speed. The guards that had been centering their efforts on the imaginary tiger no longer had any viable targets, besides the strange hooded figure, his winged friend, and the green Aisha suspiciously congregated around the Sacred Fountain with dazed looks in their deviant eyes. The captain of the guards evidently decided that, logically, these strangers must be the source of all the chaos unfolding in the cave, and as such must be speedily eliminated.
Before we could even regain our bearings, we were surrounded by a tight, aggressive, and pissed-off circle of Aisha cave guards, all dressed in standard-issue green jumpsuits and armed with identical semiautomatic rifles, all barrels cocked at us.
"Well, aren't we just in a pretty bind," I grumbled to myself. Assessing the situation, I could see few gaps in the guards' barricade. Clearly they had studied and practiced this containment formation before, like flight patterns rehearsed by experienced pilots. Hoshiya held out her hands in a stance suggesting preparation for a throwdown, but despite her magical prowess, she was clearly outnumbered, especially having to defend the dead weight of a defenseless Gormos and me. Gormos, seeming to have forgotten his diminutive size, was bristling next to me, letting loose a pathetic little growl that would've been formidable with a larger larynx.
I, on the other hand, crossed my arms against my chest and rocked back on one leg, letting out a long breath of air. A certain amount of resign enveloped me, and in an instant I had become comfortable with the utter hopelessness of our predicament. "Now to wait for the deux ex machina," I muttered.
And lo! Just as Hoshiya was about to launch a suicide blow into a dozen rifle barrels, half of the guards inexplicably buckled at the knees. This provided the other half to fire reactively, but their second of shock at seeing their comrades fall gave Gormos and I enough time to dodge out of their line of fire. Hoshiya, her opponents halved, turned to the remainder of the guards, throwing up an invisible barrier to block the laser fire, plasma energy bouncing off the screen like raindrops.
Gormos and I huddled behind Hoshiya, directly behind the line of dazed, fallen Aisha guards. I searched for the cause of their automatic surrender—and there, right next to me, sidling up to Gormos with a little too much interest, is Jerry, that batty little Aisha making her google eyes at Gormos and stroking his shoulder with one hand, a taser held in the other.
"Long time no see, stranger," she gushed to Gormos.
"Hey!" I shouted reactively, and Jerry looked up to me placidly, as if she had never aimed a gun at my forehead.
"You want something, Mr. Fugitive?"
"Want to explain why you've decided to help us after nearly blasting me away as a bounty?" I demanded. We all ducked in unison to avoid a sudden spray of bullets that Hoshiya hadn't blocked, and then immediately resumed our exposition.
"Well, you no good as a bounty in police's hands," Jerry said with a snort. "Besides, friend here made you sound pretty decent. I not going to turn you in, no way. I your friend!"
"Okay, if that's the truth, how about you get us out of here, huh?" I challenged. Jerry seemed completely oblivious to the fact that Gormos kept slipping out of her blatant advances.
"I got taxi waiting outside. I drive you back to ship. You got what you need, yes?"
I felt around inside my robe, my fingers hitting upon the cold surface of the glass. "That's an affirmative."
"Alright. Follow me. I know better way out."
And then Jerry, Gormos firmly in tow, leaped over the rim of the fountain and into the deep pool, diving underneath the surface. I had no option but to follow, although it seemed like we were back-pedaling in terms of progression. Before diving to pursue Gormos and Jerry, I made sure Hoshiya saw where I was going, bobbing in the water for a moment to catch her attention. I took a curt nod from her as the go-ahead signal. Giving one final bob with a greedy gulp of air, I bent myself at the waist underwater and reversed my direction of travel to down.
Daring to open my eyes, I saw clearly that the depth of the fountain was impressive, perhaps larger than the cave itself, and certainly extending beyond the span of the circle of water above ground. Many openings marked tunnels to unknown ends, but Jerry headed towards a very specific entrance, Gormos flailing along behind her. I swam after them, my robe billowing around me in the zero gravity of submersion. While my wings caused significant drag to my success in speedy swimming, I still clutched one hand firm against my chest as I was determined not to lose that essential fragment of glass, further slowing me down. Hoshiya was paddling behind me in no time, and soon even passing me. Naturally competitive, I took this bait to struggle to move faster, quite a feat considering the absence of oxygen.
The tunnel Jerry selected led us to an underground chamber that thankfully contained a bit of air. While it was completely lightless in the air pocket—Hoshiya employed to provide us with a glowing orb of light to lead our way—Jerry assured us that it led to the outside, and even closer to where she parked her taxi.
Our travel through the tunnel was eerily quiet, even Gormos neglecting to ignite a conversation. Secret exchanges between two people was impossible, as the acoustics of the cave amplified even the slightest sound, so Gormos and I kept relatively silent. Surprisingly, it was Hoshiya who started talking, she at the back of the line to fend off any followers.
"So what'd everyone think about what the princess was talking about?"
"You mean 'the dividing effects of the Fountain of Youth?'" I snorted. "Sounds like a bunch malarkey to me. Another one of those superstitious crap stories that impede progress by making people second-guess themselves."
"Sounds just like the reaction someone insanely ambitious would give," Hoshiya retorted dryly.
"Hey, faerie, I'm not too up for a sound round right now, and I still have your life at the press of a button in my pocket, so how about we don't start this now, okay?" I snapped. While this managed to muzzle Hoshiya, I could sense her overwhelming desire to snap back at me, barely restrained by the threat of instantaneous heart failure. The sound of dripping water plunking into the puddles at our feet punched through the thick silence of our reluctant quartet.
My lungs let out a sigh of relief once natural light became visible; it seemed we wandered in the darkness forever before spotting the first trace of sunlight. Eager to escape to fresh air and light, I pressed ahead of Jerry, who didn't stop me from continuing straight. Without realizing it, my desire to attain the end of the tunnel set me significantly ahead of the rest of the group, and soon I was idling not far from the exit of the passage, waiting for the orb of light far behind me to catch up to where I stood.
Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on being attacked at this alternate exit-way, but that's exactly what happened. Of course, I had given the exterior of the passage a look-around to make sure it was sufficiently inconspicuous for a smooth getaway, but once assuring myself of its security, I had no qualms with turning my attention back to the tunnel. This was a bad assumption, as without warning I felt a heavy blow land just below my neck, just missing dealing me a potentially lethal crack to the skull.