Once again, we're skiping the journey forth, and they are arriving in Mysidia now.

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Chapter 9: Trouble Beneath Mysidia's Surface

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The following afternoon, the party emerged from the darkness of Devil's Road and into the bright sunlight of Mysidia's eastern side. Without saying anything, Porom led everyone through the streets as quickly as she could to Mysidia Tower. As they traversed the streets, Angel and Sefi could see that many homes were deserted, shop windows had been boared up, and that people were rushing about with arm loads of things (healing potions, clothing, etc), looking like they were escaping. They also took note that many of the people they'd passed were heading to Devil's Road.

Within 10 minutes of pushing and shoving , the group finally made it to the tower. It's courtyard was deserted and the trees around the area had lost the glossy finish that most trees had in the summer. Their leaves were pale and dull, as if fall was coming. The whole place just looked sad; Angel almsot cried, she was so taken aback.

What happened? She wondered What happened to the beautiful, lively, green Mysidia I saw before? This place looks so desolate next to it... This couldn't be Mysidia.

As they were walking up the front walkway, the door to the tower burst open and Palom ran out of it. He stopped short of crashing into his sister and hugged her.

"You're finally back! What took you so long? I thought that another war had started," He said as Porom pushed her way out of his hug.

"I'm here now, aren't I? And I brought everyone with me. Where's the elder?" She asked.

"Upstairs. Come on," Palom said, leding everyone into the tower. "But I've gotta warn you: he's been acting odd since you left."

"It's his nerves. He can't handle this problem and you at the same time," Porom retorted.

The mages led everyone up several flights of stairs until they emerged onto what appeared to be the roof. The elder stood at the far side of the roof, staring over the side of the low wall.

"I was wondering when you'd get back," He said quietly when everyone had gotten on the roof.

Porom sighed and said, "I wasn't gone that long. And I brought everyone, just like you said."

"Aha! Good," The elder said, turning to face everyone. "I suppose you'd like to see what's going on?" He asked.

"Yes," The twins chorused, and ran over ahead of everyone else. The sight beyond the wall was an odd and scary one. Apparently the water had changed color again since Porom had been there: the water was now bright pink. The waves were as choppy as Porom had said, and didn't show any sighns of stopping. And, just as Porom had said, numerous dead sea-life floated on the wild waves. The twins gasped together.

"Gravy! This is terrible," Sefi said, not knowing what else to say. By this time, the grown ups had reached the wall and were standing there, staring at the water in a wordless silence.

"And you have no idea what's causing this?" Cecil asked the elder.

"No. If we knew what was going on, we'd have done something about it by now," The elder pointed out.

"Hey, what's that?" Angel asked, pointing to a spot in the water that looked as if something had been dropped into the water.

"Did you see what it was?" Kain asked.

"Not really..." Angel said, scannning the waves or any sign of the creature she'd seen. Suddenly, something jumpped from the water, flailed about in the air for a few seconds, and then splashed back into the water.

"It's a dolphin," Rosa murrmered.

"Really?" Angel asked.

"Hey, look! There it is again!" Sefi shouted, pointing to the dolphin as it jumpped from the water again.

"Oh, pay that thing little mind," The edler instructed. "It's been at this since last night. It doesn't mean anything."

"It must mean something," Porom insisted. "Animals talk to us in all sorts of ways. That dolphin might be trying to tell us something. If we ignore it, we might miss out on a vital clue."

"Nonesense. How could an animal talk to anyone unless it spoke human tounge?" The elder asked.

Porom frowned. She felt very sure that the dolphin had something important to say, and she didn't like it that the elder was scorning her.

"Perhaps we should go down to the water and ask it?" Angel suggested. The elder laughed.

"That's a silly idea. You won't gain anything from it," He assured her.

"Well, I think it's an idea worth trying," Cecil said firmly, casting a glare at the elder. "I think that Porom's right: animals speak to us, even if we don't know it. This counts for the dolphin. To the water we go," He said, and walked back to the stairs with everyone at his heels.

Even the elder went along. "I'll laugh at you all when you get nothing from that silly dolphin," He said.

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The north side of the island had no beach. It mearly stopped and the vast expanse of the ocean began. Here everyone stood, watching the dolphin continue to jump up and splash back into the pink water.

"So, what exactly do you intend to do?" The elder asked.

"I think the dolphin's been trying to get out attention," Angel explained. "We need to let it know that it's got our attention and come to us."

"And how will you do that?" The elder asked.

"I'll let it know," Palom offered, and cleared his throat. He cupped his hands around his mouth and hollared, "Hey, dolphin! We're over here! If you've got something to say, come and tell us!"

They all waited in silence for a moment, but nothing was happening.

"Well... What now?" The elder inquired.

"Keep waiting," Angel said. "It will come."

"You can say that, but I think we all know that the dolphin won't co-"

At that moment a squeaky sound caught everyone's attention. It reminded Sefi of rubber scraping against itself. The sound was acompanied by a splash, and then more squeaking and another splash on and off, and pretty soon everyone could see the dolphin skimming the waves, coming towards them. It all started off pretty faint, but it grew louder and louder. As the squeaking got louder, it seemed that words were forming within it in a high pitched voice. No one could tell what the words were right away, but they were there, deffinetly.

As the dolphin got closer, they could tell that it was repeating, "I'm coming, I'm coming. Don't leave; I'm coming." It's voice also grew deeper as it closed in.

At last it stopped before the ground and held it's head up over the water, looking at the group of humans with small black eyes. She'd been lovely from a distance; up close she was even lovelier. Her head and back were all blue, but her underside was as white as a cloud, and the two colors net at her side in a wave-shaped scalop. Her face would have been playfull and sweet under any other circumstance, but right now it was sad and nervous.

"I have been waiting for you to come," She said. "I knew that you would come eventually."

"It's talking. The dolphin is talking," Rosa gasped.

"Of course I'm talking," The dolphin said. "All creatures talk. It's just not as obvious as some people expect."

"Yes, we know," Porom said, casting a glare at the elder that clearly said, I await a lavish apology.

"My name is Hoop," The dolphin said, dipping her head politely. "I am the captain of the dolphin guard, and our queen is in dire need of your help."

"How so? What can we do?" Cecil asked.

"It's our king, Conch," Hoop explained. "He's disappeared recently. Our king holds a responsibility to Leviathan, the king of summoned creatures. There is a certain tribute that our king must pay to Leviathan in order to help keep one of several delicate balances in the water. But, since king Conch vanished, that tribute has gone unpaid. That is why all of these terrible things are happening to the water."

" So what happened?" Kain asked.

"With the water? There is a cave from which seeps a poison. With the tribute, Leviathan is able to seal off the cave to keep the poison inside. That is the balance; but now that cave has been opened and the poison is escaping. It's not hurting us, but it's killing everything we eat, and now all of the sea creatures are starving to death," Hoop explained.

"I meant what happened to Conch. What happened to him?" Kain asked. "We don't know," Hoop said saddly. "We woke up one morning and he was gone."

"What is the tribute that he must pay?" Sefi asked.

"A boulder," Hoop said plainly.

"...Conch has to give a boulder to Leviathan to keep that cave closed?" Angel asked. "Using the boulder to stop up the cave, I can understand, but couldn't anyone get that boulder?"

"No. It has to be a special boulder from a particular place. We don't know where it comes from; no one except for the king is allowed to know where this place is. We're not even allowed to see the boulder that the king picks. The poison builds up a lot of pressure, stuck behind that mountain of boulders, so it tends to push the settled boulders out of place and we often need new ones to replace them. And it is said that no one but the king or one of the special strength can move the boulder we need," Hoop explained patiently.

"So why ask us?" Porom asked.

"The special power I spoke of is called 'magic' by land walkers. One who can use magic can move the boulders we need for the cave. In our kingdom, only the king knows magic; and that magic is specificly for moving the giant stones," Hoop explained. "We all know that the people who live on this bit of land know magic, so I've been trying to get someone's attention for the past day or so. I thought one of you might be able to help," She explained.

"Porom and I are mages. We can help you," Palom volenteered, pulling his sister closer to him.

"Wonderful! Thank you," Hoop said. "We live on a reef, about thee miles below this land. You won't be able to hold your breaths for so long; this we all know. I will bring you back what's left of the breath plant so that you can come with me," Hoop said, and dove back below the water before anyone could ask what breath plant was.

"Well," Angel said, turning to the elder with a smirk on her face. "I think that we've learned quite a bit, don't you?"

The elder didn't say anything, but let his eyes wander away from everyone else. He looked like a terrible fool, so the last thing he wanted was to meet anyone's stare.

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Sooooo... It's kinda weird, no? But it's the best thing that I could come up with. And yes, it's what I've been planning for so long.

If you've got any better ideas, I'd really like to hear them. This is pretty bad, isn't it? Your help will be greatly appreciated!

So, off I go to create another chapter. Hopefully it will be better than this one.