-Do we have to…? Do you really need to double and triple-check everything? - asked Il, annoyed that we were going to have to descend through the tunnels and actually explore. - I am telling you, that’s the place I’ve fought him last. I mean, besides the capital.

-Hm. Well, it’s not like I don’t believe you. It’s just not sitting with me right - I explained quickly. - And besides, if that’s the same cave, we still are going to have more to explore.

-More? Weren’t you here before and said that it’s empty?

-Yeah. But sea level has shifted. Maybe it means some other path was unlocked.

She rolled her eyes.

-I doubt it.

Yeah, I was talking out of my ass.

Even the first time I was here, the water was what was stopping me from exploring: it was blocked tunnels.

She didn’t know about that, though.

Even then, it was clearly annoying her.

-Eh, do what you want. Not like anyone can stop you.

She was not wrong.

Be it the same island or not, at first it definitely looked exactly the same.

I mean, besides the lowered water level.

It took us considerably longer to get to the flooded part. Hell, we managed to reach the first fork in the road first, albeit barely: everything past the caved-in split of the road was underwater.

-I guess the exploration ends here - said Il. - I told you it was a waste of time.

I was not listening, just straight up walked into the water.

-Er… Mor?

-Ah. Right… you still have to breathe… - I said, stopping suddenly.

-Not all of us - said Il, also getting closer to the water.

For a second I hesitated and wanted to stop her.

She was made out of wood… How would that even work?

My curiosity got the better of me, so I let her walk into the water…

I say walk, but she was clearly struggling.

Yeah… being made out of wood was definitely giving her a hard time diving.

My rocky body was easily just sinking to the bottom, but her living form was struggling to even keep one limb underwater.

-I can… do… this…

She was struggling for a good moment there.

-Want a hand? - I asked, popping my head out of the water.

-No! I…

-You know, I can do it by myself…

-Ergh… Visu qsuvilvo.

Suddenly, the bottom of her body got covered with the rock, identical to that which was surrounding us, essentially making a very heavy set of pants.

It was definitely an effective way to drown: it immediately pulled her under the water, heavily landing on the flooded floor below, the noise being muffled by the water.

-Huh… I guess that works…

Shrugging, I lowered myself below water and followed her.

Despite that it was effective at keeping her underwater, the spell was giving her a hard time actually walking. Having a rocky armor covering your lower half can really limit your movements.

Good that we were not expecting to do anything requiring dexterity.

We didn’t need much time to figure out that we were definitely not in the same place that we expected.

Sure, the layout of the place looked very similar to the one we knew about, at least the part that I explored the first time.

The one branch of the corridor indeed led towards something akin to a jail, with a similar altar and cell. Sure, this time there was no burnmark, but it was as deserted as we would expect.

-So. How’s the progress?

It was For, asking from above the water.

-Definitely looks similar, but that has to be a different place - I replied. - The other corridor is not collapsed.

-It’s not? - asked For, joining in. - What’s there?

-I am about to check. How’s Il doing?

-I am waiting - she replied, startling me. I didn’t expect her to be listening in. - I’d be more worried about… the other one.

That was a weird way to say “my mother”.

But, I guess she was still having a hard time to actually accept it, so I didn’t comment on it.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

-You heard her, Il. How are you doing?

-I don’t know why are you worried, I am fine - she replied, shrugging. - Sure, it’s a bit hard to move in this thing, but so what? I can deal with it. I don’t need to do backflips down here.

-Mhm.

-Let’s go.

We backed out of the jail and moved towards the place where the paths were branching out.

The corridor almost immediately was going down. It was not just a straight slope though, it was a set of stairs. And quite nicely made, too.

It somewhat reminded me of the corridors that led from the “bowl” to the outside world, the ones that Mike made while leaving.

Il noticed that as well, although neither of us commented on that.

The stairs were long. Longer what I would call necessary.

When they finally ended, we found ourselves in a circular room.

I honestly couldn’t believe my eyes: it looked like a spitting image of the one we found Il in, or her “sculpture” rather.

It was empty though, besides the benches stacked everywhere, surrounding the middle platform, where the sculpture was supposed to be.

The other difference was also easy to spot: it was not the end of the line, the corridor continued past this place and opened again on the other side of the room

Both of us exchanged looks, and slowly started walking towards the middle.

It didn’t take us long to say that this place was deserted for a long, long time.

Besides the obvious signs, I mean being flooded, there was absolutely no sign of magic at all.

-Any updates? - asked For.

Right. Upstairs they were oblivious.

-Take a look.

I focused on my connection with For and on the image in front of me.

-AH!

-What?!

-EEK!

-What’s going on? - I asked, not sure what’s going on.

-Images! That’s your doing?! - she asked, trying to regain her composure.

-Yeah, yeah. I told you, take a look.

-I’d appreciate a better warning next time… - sighed Il, agreeing with For. - That’s a bit unusual, you know.

-You can do that in reverse?! - asked Kon, also startled.

Huh.

I never thought about it… I just did it.

Right… last time I made Kon look through me, not the other way around…

I never really thought much about that spell… or well, ability. It definitely was a lot more powerful than I thought. Between all of those, we’ve essentially developed a magical video call. That would’ve made a lot of money back then…

I shook myself off from the idle thinking about the past and instead focused on exploring what was in front of me.

We spent a bit of time in the circular chamber, looking for anything that would be out of place, but found nothing. I sort of expected to find a switch or some other passage, like before, but nope. I guess this place wasn’t exactly the same.

The corridor past the room was a bit wider than the one we came from. It still had a shitload of stairs, though.

But, this time, we were going back up.

We had to walk for so long that when we finally emerged at the end, we weren’t underwater any more: just as the stair ended, so did the water. It was a bit weird, since I was pretty sure that we were still well below ground level. But I guess that could speak of the size of this place.

My hunch was right.

The place that opened itself in front of us was large. It was a hallway with a lot of doors on each side, leading to the left and right.

The walls were made out of the same stone that I’ve been constantly seeing this far, but looked strangely clean.

I mean, so deep under I’d expect that this place would be full of mold, moss, or something like that, but it was pristine. I could clearly see every surface, flat and some polished. Even the doors, while made out of wood, were still not rotten or destroyed, like someone was still maintaining the place.

I say maintaining, but it was more likely just because the place wasn’t exactly as mana-dead as some places I’ve been before.

While walls were barely mana-infused, they were still enchanted enough for me to see well enough, same as the doors.

I did get a closer look, and the wood that those were made of wasn’t exactly normal either. It was closer to Il’s body or Melle’s house than the regular trees, but that was to be expected: we weren’t in a normal place after all.

-That’s… an interesting place…

It was for. Still watching through me, I could tell that she was getting more and more interested the longer I was down there.

I didn’t reply, just instead started exploring.

The first room I opened a door to was… unremarkable, to say the least.

It was just an empty room.

Inside looked just the same as the corridor, I mean the walls and floors. And not like there was anything inside to differentiate.

Same as the other rooms.

I managed to check about ten of those before I stopped caring and instead just started looking for something that looked different. Maybe a bigger door… or another hallway…

I found that at the end of the corridor.

It was another stairway, this time a circular one. This one was leading both up and down, so first I decided to go down.

I sort of expected I’d have to go underwater once more, but nope. I mean, it wouldn’t be a problem for me, but Il would’ve had to remake those stone pants again, and I am pretty sure she wasn’t thrilled about that.

The staircase only led one floor down, and ended with a rather large and thick stone door. I expected for it to be closed, but one push was enough to tell that was not the case.

Even though it was heavy, it opened easily and without much noise. And inside…

-Huh. That looks familiar.

You could say that.

The layout was hard to mistake. It was the same jail that I was locked in by For. At least it looked the same, minus the red crystal of course.

Even the doors were the same: with easily meltable hinges. The only thing missing was the crystal pieces: there even were places to place those, the doors having visible spots where those used to be.

-That is peculiar.

-Yeah, I never expected that someone had stolen our design… - said For.

-Stolen? More like certain someone copied it.

-I mean… possible.

-Possible? - I chuckled. - More like sure. Let’s be clear, it’s almost certain that this place was the original one, not yours.

I didn’t hear her reply, but could feel that she was grumbling.

-Doesn’t matter what's original - said Kon. - But what does that mean? Why is something like this here?

-Good question.

-And it’s not only here, I think…

-Huh?

-I bet that if I was to break down a certain avalanche at a certain different island, I would’ve found something very similar.

There wasn’t much to see there, so we went back and up, to check if the rest looked as I expected it to.