After diving in, Aqua could already see the dungeon. It looked like a temple with pillars surrounding it. As she got near the dungeon entrance she could see surrounding the temple was a pocket of air which encased the temple in an underwater pyramid. She then went through the pocket.

“Its… fresh air?”

She then hid behind a pole and could see two humanoid turtle-like creatures standing at the entrance with spears. She darted around it and found a deep hole in the wall obscured by some seagrass with no guards in sight, only signs someone went through.

“A hidden entrance? Alright, I think I’ve seen everything, I better get back.”

She darted back into the water and swam to the surface. She did a reverse dive that landed her on both her feet. Ray was sitting down looking in her direction while eating some berries. He swallowed them.

“How long have you been practising that motion?”

“Huh? That was my first time?”

“Sirens, ay… Anyways, what did you find?”

“So, the dungeon was encased in a giant air pocket that I could breathe in. How is that even possible?”

“Condensed mana can do some insane things, like the 6 Primordial Gems each have a world bending ability, you always see this in an underwater dungeon, did I forget to mention that?”

“They have world bending abilities?”

“Yeah, from the Earth Gem being able to manipulate matter, to the Water Gem… controlling… time…”

Ray seemed to slow down his speech, his thoughts were getting cloudy.

“Controlling time?? That’s incredible. That would make you-”

“-Unbeatable, right? It’s not as simple as that. It’s only really talked about by old sorcerers, but each Gem’s power comes with some kind of sacrifice.”

“I see… I was always told how a Gem would make anyone really powerful. I guess there's more to it than I thought… How come you know so much about it though?”

“...I know this seems silly, but ever since as long as I could remember I’ve always wanted to be a Hero, someone who saves other people at any cost.”

He clenched his fist in front of him.

“Look where I am now though, I’ve done more harm than good.”

“It’s not too late, I’m sure you can still save someone.”

“That’s in my past… Anyways, the dungeon. Did you see an entrance?”

“I saw two, the first had two guards while the other had one. They looked like turtles but were standing on two legs, slightly shorter than me.”

“Kappas then, we should be fine, they have a fair bit of defence but attacking isn't their strength. Since there are two entrances we should probably take one each.”

“Do you think I can manage?”

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“Well… you have to.”

“Well I…”

“If you don’t they will probably use the other entrance to attack us from behind, that's the worst thing that could happen.”

“I’m still not so sure about this.”

“Water is your specialty, right? And with how you kept up with me before, you will definitely be fine by yourself. Trust me.”

“Ok, I will.”

“I’ll take the front entrance and try to draw attention, just get as far as you can.”

They started getting ready to leave.

“Got it, but don’t push yourself taking the main force.”

“That goes for you too.”

They dived in. While near the entrance Ray signalled with a thumbs up and Aqua signalled one back. He then jumped in and started walking towards the entrance with his sword drawn in his hand. Aqua swam around to the back and ran to the other entrance. It was a tiny passageway made of stagnant damp rocks. The smell was unsurprising.

“Gross.”

She then arrived at an opening. It was a dark hallway with no sign of life except for the wet moss on the ground.

“Ray must be doing well."

On one side of the hallway was getting brighter and the other was getting darker.

“What’s that?”

A dim glow came from the darker area. As she got closer it got more and more obvious what it was.

“A chest?”

The purple crystals coating it were glowing with black light.

“Is this the fabled dungeon loot everyones trying so hard to get? Well, I guess I have to open it…”

On her right, she saw something. A red eye open, then blink, then make eye contact. She reflexively jumped back when it lunged at her. A black snake. Several metres long.

“A black… cobra?”

It hissed back in a low tone.

“This wasn’t the best idea.”

It dived at her and she jumped to the left, barely avoiding its fangs.

“Water bolt!”

As a counterattack she shot a water bolt, it hit the black cobra slicing through its scaled and coming out the other side.

“Water magic really is more powerful here…”

The cobra was still alive but in bad condition. It launched back at her, this time slower than before.

“Water spear!”

A spear of water formed directly in its mouth and sliced up its insides as it fell to the floor.

“Okay, maybe I can do this… Now, the chest.”

As she raised the lid the room filled with light. She reached into it.

“Is this… a scroll?”

She unravelled what was in her hands.

“It’s a spell.”

Looking at the magic circle on the scroll she could see it slowly fade.

“Whoa, whoa! Wait a second!”

The markings on it were now completely invisible. From a panic she slowly realised what had happened.

“Wait…”

She looked down at her hands, held one out in front of her and said-

“Scourge of the storm-”

Mist started clouding the area.

“-I beseech you, let me unleash a fraction of your power. Kraken!”

Out of the floor in front of her, up shot a giant translucent tentacle made of water. She moved her arm left, the tentacle followed, she moved her hand right and it did the same.

“Oh my… This spell… -ugh”

She fell on her knees while the tentacle in front of her splashed down into a puddle.

“This must be an ancient lost spell. Even in these conditions full of water mana, I can barely use it for a few seconds.”

She took a breath.

“I think I’ll be ok for the rest of this dungeon.”