The eldritch mass of cerulean tentacles receded below the shimmering waves as the river churned. Bubbles rose up and popped, releasing thin plumes of shadow which quickly dissipated. Nothing in the tomb was safe from its radiance, even as the creature lingered below the surface. Goliaths ran off in every direction, fleeing the overwhelming predator toward the distant darkness.
That took care of the threat of Cira’s followers, but a newer, greater enemy had surfaced—for but a moment. Will it leave, though…? It can’t possibly take that long to eat. There seems to be no reason for it to drag its prey off, and I can’t imagine there being a natural predator anywhere on the Lost Cloud.
It was not difficult to tell that the effusive source of light had not moved. There was only one and the crew could feel it in their bones.
“We need to go!” Shores shouted in a whisper, “What the hell?”
“Shhhh.” Cira silenced him as quietly and sternly as possible, “They are very sensitive.”
Regardless of whether they understood what that meant, they must have realized that Cira was seriously on guard, seemingly for the first time ever. Her face had paled, and she took a rigid stance, practically poised to run away.
To escape now would run the risk of making too much noise or having their movements noticed. Tawny could make a wind barrier, but that would be seen for certain. Instead, Cira would have to further enchant her questionable safety bubble.
The mages all held a hopeless look in their eyes, shivering in place. Jimbo was frozen mid-stride glancing between Cira and the gleaming river with a distraught frown on his face while Kuja just gripped her staff looking worriedly in either direction.
Cira looked at them all and held up a finger to buy herself a moment, then promptly turned around and started slowly carving more glyphs into the shadowy dome. Ever so gently, so as not to make any harsh movements.
How much work am I going to have to put into this barrier? For that matter, how many enchantments can it even take? It was getting stronger by the minute down here until this thing showed up. Just a little more should be fine…
First, let’s turn off these moisture collecting runes… That’s asking for trouble. Now I need to still the air as it leaves my barrier so we can escape silently. As sound waves were produced through vibrations in the air, the tricky part was stopping them while allowing the breeze to blow through unhindered.
This needed to happen quickly. The monster of water had yet to move from the spot, but Cira knew it would make its move sooner or later—one way or the other. She wanted to be gone. There was no shame in a tactical retreat. They could even camp out on the stairs again until it went away if they wanted. It wasn’t much progress lost.
Just keeping her hand steady was a difficult enough task as Cira moved around the dome using all the agility she could muster to tread stealthily. This damn wooden leg… She couldn’t get it to stop making even the lightest of clacks.
When she needed to change spots for the next glyph, her crew tiptoed away in slow motion, shuffling around the barrier to allow her passage. It was an incredibly stressful couple of minutes and Cira’s heart skipped with each drop of sweat which fell from her face, but she finally placed the centerpiece of the new array before it lit up with the dull, dubious light of spatial mana.
“Phew…” Cira let out a breath she was holding in. She still kept her voice low, but whispering wasn’t necessary, “I’m glad that worked first try.”
For this application, it was simpler for Cira to regulate the air’s state via its properties within space than to do anything with wind runes. Her barrier served as the threshold, or filter to prevent noise from escaping.
“WHAT THE—”
“Shh!” Jimbo had started to shout, “you still have to keep it down, fool.”
“Child, just what was that thing?” Kuja had shrunk back toward the edge of the barrier and her voice was troubled. Cira felt bad for putting her through this, but nobody expected a safe trip through the tombs. “Why can we not leave?”
“Undine… water sprites are not uncommon given the nature of a spring, but for one to mature is something I would expect more from an island like Fount Salt.” Another spirit Cira had only seen in illustrations, but they were sketches without color. It didn’t really do them any justice. “I never thought they would be such beautiful creatures.”
“Are you shitting me?” Tawny looked at her aghast, “are we waiting here because you want to look at it again?”
“Of course not, although I do.” Perhaps after my soul is mended, I will seek it out, “Anywhere its light touches, given there is moisture present, may as well be in full view of an undine. Rapid movements, noise or vibrations from our steps could alert it.”
“Doesn’t that mean it already knows were here?” Gil’s face went pale as he asked.
“Most certainly. In fact, I can do nothing about humidity passing through my barrier, so it can surely see us still.”
“Then what was the point of whatever you just did?” Jimbo asked.
“The point is subtlety,” Although, it could very well be useless. “Hopefully it is still eating, and we can avoid bothering it. Now we can leave. Slowly. Quietly…”
Cira started inching back at what felt like a snail’s pace, followed by her trembling crew. The barrier crept along with them, and frequent glances over the shoulder revealed the undine remained in place. It’s been a while… This is starting to get suspicious. At least it seems we’ll get away.
They had made it ten whole paces—escape was certain.
“WHAT INTERESTING HUMANS…” Cira fell to her knees and coverd her ears uselessly as a booming voice cleared her mind of all thought, “LEAVING SO SOON?”
With a sharp breath, Cira spun around in horror to see the effulgent tentacle being had emerged from the river during her brief stint of incapacitation. No, the river was emerging with it. It formed a path for the undine to crawl out and toward them over the stone and through the darkness. In fact, the darkness was a distant memory in this moment.
Her crew was similarly recovering from the painfully loud voice. How are my eardrums not shattered… was that in my head? Everyone else seemed to hear it too.
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The rushing water of the river unfoiled without spilling out, as if held up by the undine’s will. Before Cira could even shout, “Run!”, the river had reached them and split, effortlessly trapping them in the middle. With no escape route, they could only watch in terror as the undine approached, gliding over the waves.
It stood taller than any goliath, except maybe the big guy that was now curled up in the same place and hiding its face. The spirit nearly touching the ceiling as it stretched out above them. Water condensed and fell over the crew like rain from its mere presence, getting heavier still. But Cira couldn’t remove her gaze from the undine. Something else was happening before her eyes.
The tomb was becoming dimmer, like the light was being sucked back in. It pulsed through the spirit in waves like sunrays shimmering in a shallow reef. At the same time, the undine seemed to surge with mana while the pressure in the room somehow dropped.
“IS THAT BETTER?” The voice returned.
“Gyahhh!!” Jimbo fell to the floor cradling his head and that was the general consensus.
“ARE YOU TRULY SO FRAIL?”
“Can you stop yelling?!” Cira shouted, standing in front of Kuja in a vain effort, “You’re going to kill someone!”
That’s… probably why it’s here in the first place.
“How is this?” A much, much quieter, and softer voice entered Cira’s mind now. It was a soft, pleasant voice that seemed lively enough.
“Whoa…” Jimbo stared up at the approaching spirit with wonder, “She even sounds like a pirate. Do you think she used to be one?”
She did not sound like a pirate to Cira’s ears, and she could have sworn she explained spirits a few times already. This undine looked nothing like a human. As the cerulean light seemed to converge on it, Cira realized it was containing its mana. Still radiant as ever, its form was like some manner of slug from the bottom of the sea.
A long, stalky body ran its entire length, with something of a head ending in two curly points that looked like antennae, but Cira was pretty sure they weren’t. Eyes, maybe? It shouldn’t need any, really. We may as well be inside its body.
The unwarranted woman’s voice chuckled oddly in their minds, “I was clearly born a sprite, and you each perceive my voice and words differently. I don’t speak your language. I am merely sending my thoughts into your minds. I figured ones who managed to get this far would understand that much.”
“Hey, don’t lump me in with these guys,” Cira crowed, “And for the record, you could have been born of a slug’s ghost.”
Cira didn’t know why she decided it was important not to look stupid in front of the undine, but she immediately regretted being such a stickler.
“Are you stupid?” Tawny smacked her on the arm, “Don’t be rude to that monster! It will kill us!”
The undine merely laughed, “I suppose that’s true, but I’ve never met a slug with the will to grow stronger and transcend death.”
Fair point. Damn… She didn’t even seem upset, but I’ve been defeated in a battle of wits too early. Cira opened her mouth to say something as of yet undecided, but luckily the undine stopped her.
“And might I ask what will has brought you here, girl with the crumbling soul who recognizes my beauty?” The undine’s saccharine voice seemed too natural for something that was neither human nor using words. “I don’t often receive visitors.”
It didn’t just stop us to ask a few questions… did it? Why entrap us? On one hand, it was weird for an undine to frequent such a place, but it seemed to be an adequate hunting grounds. Contrary to the typical goliath, undines were well known for playing with their food. Perhaps that’s why it took so long beneath the waters. Absurdly powerful and often whimsical spirits they were.
“You already said it.” Cira replied, feeling less than bold beneath the monolithic sea slug’s brilliance. Its mana was contained so as not to crush her and the crew, but it only made the undine more imposing. There was no reason to lie to such a being anyway, “My crumbling soul. We’re just passing through, really.”
“So, you aim to reignite the legacy left behind by the people of old Acher…” After a painfully long moment of silence, the undine let out another genial chuckle. “How fun. I thought I spotted one of them among you. I thought they all fell. Such a shame, that was…”
It was unclear how the undine really felt about it, but Kuja shared this moment of silence in her own way. This only lasted for a minute or so.
“A-are you going to eat us?!” Jimbo cried from his knees, “I gotta know! It’s killing me—”
“I’ll kill you myself!” Tawny slugged him square in the forehead and he fell to his back, groaning in the tempestuous light of the tomb. “Idiot!”
Tawny glanced nervously up at the spirit who didn’t stay quiet for long this time, seemingly amused, “No need to worry, I would gain nothing from devouring so little.” Goliaths were a rich source of nutrients, after all. “I only wish to sate my curiosity with this one.”
“Here we go…” Cira rolled her eyes. Her crew wasn’t particularly excited about her tone. “What is it?”
“While I would like to know what you did to leave your soul in such a state, I must know… Just what are you?” Perhaps seeing Cira shrink back in sheer befuddlement, the undine continued. “I admit this is the first time I have seen a spring take human form before.”
“Huh?” was the only reply Cira could muster. “You are speaking nonsense.”
“What does this mean?” Shores cast her a very uncomfortable look—a look that made her very uncomfortable that is. Then the paladins whispered something among themselves before conjuring similar expressions.
“How am I supposed to know?” Cira berated them briefly, “I assure you, Miss Undine, that I am very much human.”
“But that’s not quite right…” Her reply came quietly, as if in deep thought, “I think you know at least that much.”
Dammit, again with that ‘I think you know’ crap? “I’m still not a spring! Where did you even get that?”
“I believe… from your soul, child.” Kuja answered, “I was actually wondering myself, but figured it was part of the damage and illegible.”
“Wondering what?!” Cira was having a crisis of comprehension. The last thing she expected to encounter down here was some kind of verbal guessing game with a mature spirit and the elderly soul lady. “What are you talking about, Undine?”
“In the same way I can tell that woman is a survivor of old Acher, I can tell your origin is that of a spring.” Replied the spirit astutely, “It’s quite simple, really.”
Cira thought different, but Kuja helped her through the problem, “A sigil upon your soul… indeed suggests you are a spring. Or perhaps born of a spring…? It made little sense to me at first glance—less so now.”
“I wish I could say that helped but—oh…” Cira’s expression fell as salty puzzle pieces began falling into place in her mind. “Ah… I can’t believe it’s Estelle’s fault again.”
At this point it was hard to say Cira wasn’t deflecting, and the Undine expertly brushed past it, “I don’t follow, but it seems you now know the answer I seek.”
“I may or may not have merged myself with a spring…” Cira stared at her feet, mildly crestfallen—mainly about the fact that her exploits on Fount Salt resulted in the consequence that kept on giving. After a few moments with no reply, Cira hastily added, “For the greater good, mind you!”
After another few seconds the undine let out a boisterous laugh. This one sounded truly sincere, not that the other ones didn’t, and Cira was almost glad that her misfortune was at least enough to provide entertainment—or was she?
“How marvelous,” the undine’s laughter was still dying down, “It has been an incredibly long time since I have encountered something I don’t understand, but it all makes sense. Your ‘sigils’ as you put it, and the sea of mana burning you from the inside out which only grows with each passing moment… Oh my, how intriguing… Girl, will you please tell me your tale?”
“Come on,” Cira’s attitude reverberated through the glowing moisture of the tomb, “I’m seriously dying over here. I know you can tell. My schedule is packed. I really need to get going.”
I swear… giant shining sea slugs are only beautiful until they open their mouths. Just stick to tentacles and everyone is happy.
“W-what the hell is wrong with you?” Tawny had turned white as a sheet and petrified by her own frightened misconceptions.
“Goodness, how thoughtless of me.” The undine replied, her voice dripping with an emotion that was not quite concern, “It would be no fun if I don’t get to witness the culmination of all your efforts.”
“Uh okay, so…” Cira didn’t expect quite that little resistance, but it was clear the undine didn’t reply that way selflessly, “I promise I’ll come back?” After a few more seconds Cira looked around at the waves still churning far above their heads, “I guess we’ll see you later than…”
She walked a few paces and stared questioningly at the wall of water before turning her attention to the Undine again, “Uhhh…”
“Not so fast.” She sounded like she had just finished deliberating something or other. “While most of the goliaths may recognize your friend there, many are too deteriorated to care. I have decided to grant you a gift to ensure your safe passage.”
Gifts should be a good thing, so why do I dread receiving them so? “It better not be a pile of bodies.”