Zalia spent most of the rest of what she thought to be that day practicing her Herbal magic. She only gained one level bringing it to Iron sixteen for her efforts but at least it was one closer to the eventual goal. She stood up, feeling restless and glanced at the pond again. She wanted to go down there and explore its depths again as she had done quite a few times in between her meditative practice. Boreal had gotten extremely bored as well, going so far as to leave the cavern at one point, coming back with one of the grey creatures she had apparently hunted on her own.

Zalia didn’t tell her off for doing that but neither was she happy about it. She would have to let Boreal be independent eventually as she grew bigger and stronger.

“Want to go for a dive?” Zalia asked.

She hadn’t yet tried to communicate telepathically with her new Mental resistance passive but wanted to try with the frog friend. Well, soon to be frog friend hopefully. She was a little worried about trying to interact with them because as of yet she had simply watched from the entrance to the little ecosystem. She didn't know if they would become hostile if they knew of her presence or if she tried to talk to them. Since they weren’t a source of food, however, they may as well become a source of companionship. Not that she really needed to eat much these days anyways.

She might have just left them be and explored the surface more, maybe hunt down more of the undead to gain some easy levels. Unfortunately, she was still worried about the demon she had seen and wanted to wait a little longer before making the journey back to the other island. There were also the few sections of the keep she hadn’t been able to get into that she wanted to explore but getting past the Silver rank guards would be no easy feat. She might well have to be entirely Bronze rank before she even attempted as much.

Taking a deep breath, she dove into the pool right after Boreal ran across the room straight in as well. She swam down, able to see the walls now that she had figured out how to interpret the Heat vision underwater. Before it had been a confusing swirling mess that she hadn’t been able to figure out but with a little work it became natural once more. The water acted a little differently to air in the way heat transferred but it didn't take her long to understand it.

Boreal made a little ice sphere, manipulating the material expertly until she floated along in a bubble controlled by her magic. Envious of the display of natural expertise, Zalia swam alongside until they reached the bigger space. Keeping her nerve, Zalia reached out to talk to one of the frogs with a telepathic connection.

“Hello” Zalia sent.

A sound like distorted feedback bounced back into her mind and she winced, holding the side of her head. The distortion slowly began clearing into words but she wasn’t so much focused on that at the moment as she saw some of the glowing jellyfish that the frogs called home slowly approaching. Through the distortion she could finally hear a word.

“Gr---tin-s,” said a hundred different voices.

It was like she was hearing many of them all at once, rather than just the one she had spoken to.

“I come peacefully,” Zalia said.

There was a pause as a sort of confused humming filled her mind. Boreal joined the conversation, sending a feeling of peace and trust in the way she had done many times with her. She was much better at that than Zalia was, having much more practice.

“Peace,” came the reply.

“Are you native to this world?” Zalia asked.

The confused humming began once more but Boreal quickly translated.

“Native.. Yes. This..” said the collective, pausing.

What came after the pause was the idea of the pond they lived in along with the image of it.

“I mean this world, we are from another,” Zalia said.

Boreal somewhat deftly explained that they were from a different world entirely, sending the memory of their transportation.

“Ah, the air above. Yes, this is our world. Memories from the…” the collective replied, sending the idea of age, ancient creatures. Their ancestors? “Their memories show of such places.”

What followed was images and memories of a lush world filled with life. Many other conversations they had once had and sights they had once seen. Memories passed down through the ages to those in front of her now.

“But that’s not what this world looks like,” Zalia thought, trying to process the blur of thoughts placed in her mind.

“That is not what it looks like up there,” Zalia said.

Boreal followed up with images and feelings of their memories of the surface, the twisted trees, sulphurous air and shade filled sky.

“This is not the ancestors' world,” the collective replied.

“I will explore,” a single voice came from the collective.

A ponderous hum filled her mind.

“One of us will join you to explore this surface. Will this be acceptable?” the collective asked.

She had noticed they had very quickly figured out the language she spoke. A quirk of being a large gathering of minds able to communicate directly maybe. It could also be something to do with the unlisted translation power she seemed to have or a combination of both.

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“Yes,” Zalia replied.

She was starting to run out of breath despite the new power. She was able to hold it for about three minutes now while sitting still, probably less if she was actively swimming. A small light blue and purple shaded frog jumped into the water from their jellyfish home and swam over. Zalia gestured for it to follow and began swimming back to the surface, Boreal following along in her little ice vessel. She surfaced, taking a deep breath and wiping the water from her eyes, blinking to see the crow staring straight into her eyes from up close.

“Gah, what the hell,” Zalia exclaimed.

“Caw!” the crow replied.

She pulled herself out of the water, the crow hopping away to a safe distance from the dripping water. As soon as the frog surfaced, the crow hopped forwards again like it was about to attack.

“Hey! Hey now, none of that,” Zalia scolded, holding her arms out to block the crow.

The crow let out a croak that sounded… questioning or confused.

“That’s a friend, they’re going to be travelling with us for a little while,” Zalia explained.

“Why did you volunteer to travel with us?” Zalia asked the frog.

“It is a great honour to bring back new memories for the collective. Many have tried to reach the surface over the cycles yet never have they returned. The risk is worth the reward for being the one to achieve this goal,” the frog explained.

“Right, frog, this is crow, crow, this is frog,” Zalia introduced.

“Do you have a name?” Zalia asked the frog.

“None that you could pronounce in this primitive language. You may choose one if you so wish,” the frog replied.

“Hmm, got any good ideas for names Boreal?” Zalia asked.

Boreal tilted her head, looking thoughtful as the frog walked over to the water surface and tapped it with its little hand. The water rippled and Zalia swore she could see images appearing and disappearing quickly on its surface. The crow walked over to inspect the images and Zalia stood above them watching the flickering surface.

“What are you doing?” Zalia asked.

“Seeing,” the frog replied.

“Delphi,” Zalia said.

“Delphi?” Boreal asked.

“It was the name of an oracle from a mythology in my world. The frog can be called Delphi,” Zalia explained.

“This is acceptable,” Delphi said.

“Excellent, now we just need a name for you crow,” Zalia added, turning to the crow who was still watching the images in the water.

Zalia couldn’t make heads or tails of the images, only catching a slight glimpse, but the crow seemed fascinated.

“Friend,” Boreal said.

“Yes, I know the crow is a friend but that isn’t a name we can give it. It’s gotta be something unique,” Zalia explained.

Boreal looked like she understood but wasn’t happy about it.

“Do you have a name?” Zalia asked the crow.

The crow didn’t respond, captivated by the flickering water.

“Alright, let’s go to the surface then shall we?” Zalia asked, finally catching the attention of the duo staring at the water.

“I believe it is safe to do so,” Delphi said, hopping over.

Zalia looked down at the tiny frog.

“Want to stand up here? You won’t be able to keep up I fear,” Zalia asked, patting her shoulder.

“This is acceptable,” Delphi replied.

Zalia wasn’t so much scared of the one small frog by itself, being only Iron rank as well. She felt like the entire collective together would be a formidable foe, however, possibly having some way of combining powers for devastating effect. There had to be a reason they had survived here so long.

“You said earlier that for many cycles you have been trying to reach the surface. What exactly is a cycle?” Zalia asked.

“It is a measurement set by the ancient ones many, many cycles ago when the collective left the surface to live in these caverns. The ancient ones set the cycle as a way of measuring time and ever since, a cycle keeper has been ever counting, passing the title down to the next as they age. It is a position of great honour in the collective,” Delphi explained.

“Do you remember… why? Why your people came down to the caves?” Zalia asked.

“We do not. It is one of the many memories lost to time,” Delphi replied, sounding mournful.

“You seem to cherish memories more than even your own life, from how you speak of them. Why is that?” Zalia asked.

“For one to die, our memories continue on in the collective. For a memory to die, it is gone forever,” Delphi replied.

It made sense, in an odd way. They as a culture just cherished different things due to their nature.

“Let’s go get you some new memories then, though I can’t promise they will be good ones,” Zalia said.

“All memories are good, even the bad ones warn future generations of their peril,” Delphi explained.

Zalia took that little piece of information in stride and left the cave, finding her way to the surface.

“You said it would be safe to go to the surface. Do you know that because of whatever you were doing with the water?” Zalia asked.

“The collective is able to peer into the past, present and future. It is not always accurate and simply knowing these things can change events by our actions. However, something such as this is simple enough to divine,” Delphi replied.

“Hmm, I’ll take whatever assurance I can get even if it isn’t entirely reliable,” Zalia murmured.

They finally reached the surface and Delphi began making a low croaking sound in their throat.

“Everything alright?” Zalia asked.

“This place is wrong. So, so wrong,” Delphi whispered.

“It’s not the best, no,” Zalia agreed.

Zalia made sure to allow her healing to include Delphi, not wanting the significantly stronger corruptive aura here to harm them. She also constantly cooled herself so she could funnel the healing from Cold resistance to wherever it was needed too.

“Do you need to stay hydrated at all?” Zalia asked in a whisper.

“I will be able to manage,” Delphi said.

“Well then, where would you like to go first? There is this entire island but it’s pretty boring and empty. I’ve been to another island across the way that is covered in the ruins of an old city filled with undead. There could be something interesting there for you to find,” Zalia explained.

“That does indeed sound like a unique memory to experience. To the ruins mighty steed,” Delphi said.

“Mighty steed?” Zalia thought internally.