Chapter 12: Ta Lo II

It had been two days since the trio began the search for the Mirror of Ikkon, and so far, not much progress had been made.

Both Wong and the Ancient One had cast every locator spell they could individually think of, but all for naught. The ambient magical energies that permeated the air of Ta Lo was interfering with they're locator spells, rendering them utterly useless. It also didn't help that they didn't even know for sure if the mirror was definitely here in Ta Lo. They were only going of off a hunch from the Ancient One. Regardless though, they had buckled down and began to search for it the old fashion. Manually.

They began to traverse Ta Lo asking anyone that they came across and could be of any help. They also visited multiple sites of former battlefields were the mirror would have likely been lost at. And despite the serious nature of the their mission, their impromptu tour through out Ta Lo could have been quite pleasant.

The terrain was undeniably beautiful. With perpetually lovely weather and eye catching magical creatures milling about. And most of the human inhabitants were also quite friendly and hospitable. Often providing them with sumptuous food and a decent place to spend the night.

In all it was almost enough to make the trio forget all their woe's back on the Earthly realm.

If only Wenwu would allow the respite to last for longer than a minute.

Through out their journey, Wenwu was easily the most disagreeable member of their party. Constantly being rude to both his travel companions and new comers they came across. Acting like he owned the place and just generally being the prideful warlord he was.

So poor was his conduct, that as they ventured deeper into the mystical realm of Ta Lo, the simmering air of distaste, that already existed between Wenwu and The Ancient had devolved into full fledged animosity. With Wong stuck as the unwilling buffer trying to deescalate things between tyem. But with each step taken and each word passed between the two, their disdain for each other only seemed to widen.

"Are you certain this mirror exists?" Wenwu asked for the umpteenth time on one faithful morning, his skepticism cutting through the dense air.

Wong sighed tiredly as he knew where this line of questioning normally lead to. "As I have said before many times already. The mirror definitely exists, the legends are undoubtedly true about that. Where it's located however is a whole other issue," the Ancient One replied remarkably calmly, but her eyes glinted with barely suppresses irritation. "We've been searching through this accursed realm for two days with no fruit for our labor. We need to reunite with the others by tomorrow morning and yet all we have is 500 hundred measly men from Ta Lo. If we had gone with my initial suggestion to regather my army we would have atleast had them by now" he chastised. "If memory serves me right, we all agreed that this was a superior strategy. Including you " Boudicca said through gritted teeth, her patience rapidly dwindling.

Wenwu scowled and pressed on unperturbed "Yes, but I figured you at the very least had a rough idea of the Mirrors location. You certainly acted like you did" This inevitably sparked an argument between Wenwu and Ancient One, something Wong was sadly becoming quite accustomed to. 'At least the Absolute Order spell prevents this argument from spilling out into full blown battle', Wong thought miserably to himself. As the two continued with their bickering, Wong picked up speed, soon breaking away from the duo and reaching the next battlefield they had planned to search. It did not look like much to Wong, just a small green clearing with a decent sized pond in the center The locals here referred to this place as the Infinity Pool. Because despite it's small size, it was the primary source for all their water needs such as for drinking, farming, fishing etc. Wong scanned the place futilely, finding nothing of overt interest to him. Eventually, feeling thirsty after a long morning of walking, he crouched down to scoop up some water to drink. Stalling briefly to marvel at how pristine the water body was. All the water bodies in Ta Lo, Wong and his compatriots had come across were unnaturally pure and clean. But this one seemed especially so. He marveled at his reflection in the pond saying aloud "Huh, it's almost as clear as a mirror..." Realization dawned on him almost immediately and causing him to freeze in surprise. "Could it be?" he muttered to himself. He rose to his feet, all thoughts about drinking the water from the pond forgotten for now. He quickly weaved a series of hand signs to cast a detection spell upon the water. Sure enough the pool glowed in response a sign that pond was indeed imbued with powerful magic. Excitedly Wong rushed back to his compatriots, still deep in argument and excitedly declared. "I've found it. I think I've found the Mirror of Ikkon" * * * Wenwu frowned skeptically as he looked down at the pond. He would admit the pool was unnaturally reflective. So much so that it perfectly reflected the clear blue skys' above. 'But the Mirror of Ikkon couldn't possibly be a pool of water, could it?' He wondered to himself After all the word, 'Mirror', was quite literally in the artifacts name. Not to mention, the locals claimed to use it frequently. And he hadn't noticed duplicates of the same person milling about. And neither had anyone mentioned any phenomenon of that sort. But at the same time, they did call this pond an infinity pool. Never seeming to run out of water or fishes despite it's small size and constant use for several decades now. And the Ancient One herself had also confirmed that this pool emitted much greater magic than anything else they had come across yet. "This doesn't make any sense. If this is the mirror of Ikkon, how the hell did your previous Sorcerer Supreme misplace an entire pond?" Wenwu asked aloud. "Maybe it's not the pool itself. Maybe it's something in the pool" Wong suggested. Curious, all three of them leaned closer to try and see if they could see anything beneath the ponds surface. But all they saw was their own reflection being cast perfectly back at them. "One of us might need to physically delve beneath the surface to check" The Ancient One mused allowed. Although the pond didn't seem malevolent it was still a powerful magical unknown body. So no one was exactly eager to enter it. The trio each glanced at each other, as if expecting the other to volunteer. "Alright, why don't we all go together. I doubt the pond is that deep to begin with" Wong suggested. "No only two of us should delve in. The remaining person should stay above in other to pull the other's out if anything goes awry" Boudicca said looking pointedly at Wong. For a minute the two seemed to share a silent but intense conversation with only their eyes before, Wong acquiesced with a heavy sigh and said aloud "Fine, I'll stay a top, you two delve in". With a nod, Wenwu and Boudicca began to strip. Wenwu taking off his shirt and boots leaving only the ten rings on his arms and his trousers on his legs. Boudicca also taking off her boots and robes leaving behind a biege bosom covering cloth and a pair skin tight shorts like under garment. Part of her upper torso was still bandaged up from her fight with Kro. Boudicca was polite enough not to stare at her half naked companion (at least not blatantly). But Wenwu unashamedly looked her over, mostly out of curiosity at seeing more of her unusually pale skin. Still fascinated by her Scandanavian complexion. And also partly because she was an undeniably attractive woman who was now half naked. Wenwu himself wasn't bad looking at all with his well toned and tanned torso on full display. Wong eventually let out an exaggerated cough to pull them both out of their staring induced reverie. The duo made their way towards the edge of pool preparing to dive in. Wong quickly manifested two eldritch lasso's of fiery energy and looped them around both. One for each hand. Wenwu tethered to the left hand lasso. And Boudicca on the right. Boudicca then proceeded to cast air bubble spells around the two of them explaining how it was similar to one she made for Zarda to breath on land but her's provided oxygenated water. But theirs provided just pure breathable air. However they were incredibly fragile so they both had to be careful so as not go burst it and end up having to hold their breathes.

As they duo stood at the edge of the pool, where the mirror was likely submerged under, the Ancient One and Wenwu exchanged a lingering gaze. The air quickly became thick with tension, not just from the possible dangers awaiting them beneath but something else.

They broke eye contact simultaneously and dived into the pool gracefully. Making an almighty splash as they went. They quickly sank down into the pools depths. A place much deeper than the external view of the pool atop would suggest.

Left as the only one back on top, Wong made himself comfortable on the grassy ground, still holding onto both life lines firmly.

As the surface of the pond slowly stopped rippling and swaying, eventually settling back to a still calm. Wong suddenly had an epiphany so simple and obvious that it was painful how they missed it.

"We could have just astral projected our consciousness beneath the water instead of risking our physical forms".

"Damnit."

Wong muttered. "I just hope we don't end up regretting this".

Unfortunately. They would.