Deep underground, far beneath the White World, below the Cavern Labyrinth, in the bottom layer of the Twin Seas, an exhausted group of people had made a temporary camp in a cave in a cliff. Leading this group of 8 was a master shaman who specialised in water and wind aspect spells - a skillset that did little to help in a realm filled with a sea of lava.
“Sigh… What now?” Kai pondered.
Kai looked at the rest of his group. Myst, his trusted and electrifying sorceress, was resting as the only other member at the Unbound rank would be needed if they were attacked again; the remaining six Unwithered rank members would be useless if another Unbound beast attacked.
The twins, Vaal and Baal, were busy checking their stock and making some quick food. Lily was helping Beri rebandage her leg. The old man, Harold, was studying the waterfall and making notes in his journal - probably in the same coded language he always used. Their last member…
“Now-now Kai, why so dark?”
The ever-cheerful Songbird that dances in the wind - nicknamed Song - was fine tuning his drum. Kai looked at the smiling pugilist and sighed.
“Well…To start with, we don’t know where we are. We don’t know what happened to the other teams. Beri’s injury has probably reopened. Both me and Myst are exhausted. We have no clue what dangers could be down here - wherever here is! And this heat is cooking me to the point I can’t think.”
The large man merely chuckled to himself in response.
“And yet here we are. Alive.” His infectious smile slowly calming the young shaman's stress.
That is true… At least none of us died… Kai thought. As Kai was about to speak, Harold walked over to interrupt with good news.
“I think I’ve figured out where we are.”
“Really!?” Kai exclaimed.
“Yes. I think that the underwater current pulled us through a channel in the rock and into the layer between the Red and Blue Sea. Basically, we're in the space where the blue sea meets the red sea - Hence all the mist and the light coming from below.”
Kai listened as the old man explained his deductions about their exact position from the Siren’s city. They were somewhere between three and four days travel straight down and about one to two days travel horizontally. Given that the route that brought them here consisted of immense amounts of water falling and being pushed through a long, underwater tunnel before erupting as a waterfall several thousand meters high over a sea of magma, they weren’t going back the same way.
Their only option was to find another route and return to the floor of the Siren’s sea before trying to find the exploration base or the raided city from there.
It was at this time that their group's newcomer, Lily of the Valley, came over with their resident mute, Mountain Berrybush.
“Good news: Beri can still walk. Bad news: I’m running low on healing spells, and my last two will break within 4 sleeps. Not sure if they’ll be much use after two.”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Beri nodded seriously at Lily’s warning, lifting the cloth around her leg to show off her bandage. The young girl had warned them enough times about bringing spare supplies, so they were lucky to still have any left.
The five sat down and chatted for a while until the twins brought food and a recently awoken sorceress. Granted, most of their food was designed to be eaten underwater while they were exploring the sea floor, so it was just dried explorer bars made dryer in the insufferable heat.
After they had all eaten, Kai spoke up.
“To summarise our situation, we’re trapped between the blue sea and the red sea. The heat from the Red Sea is going to cause us to lose energy quicker, so we will probably be slowed down, but the plan is to search for another passage and return to the blue sea as soon as we can.”
“How are we on logistics?” Myst asked.
“Kai can still conjure water. Ration bars will last 2 days. Assume no healing spells. Unable to contact anyone from the expedition force.” The younger twin, Baal, answered bluntly.
“I haven't spotted any beast nearby, so if we don’t find something, food will be a problem,” Harold warned.
The sorceress thought for a moment before standing up and walking to the edge of the cave to look over the cliff.
Below her, for thousands of meters, the cliff extended into an impenetrable mist layer. The only hint at something beneath was the red glow and the occasional spurt of magma that would erupt momentarily before disappearing back under the grey layer.
Looking up, she saw the cliff climb for a few hundred meters before reaching the ceiling - a dark layer trapping them and the insufferable heat beneath its gaze. Myst deftly pulled a small bead from her belt sash and broke it between her fingers to summon a bolt of lightning before flicking her wrist upward toward the ceiling.
A second later, bright sparks danced across the black stone as the lightning bolt struck it. The lightning dispersed from the point of impact upon contact, revealing a brief glimpse at the shiny surface.
Pillar-rock. She thought behind a frown.
“No use. We won’t be able to carve a path back up, and even if we could, it would take us months, if not years. We’re better off looking for another passage, like Kai said.” Lily stated as she joined the sorceress by the edge.
Myst glanced at their newest addition before continuing to observe the region. She still didn’t fully trust the strange girl Kai had picked up, she was too friendly. And nobody that beautiful was nice...
Ahead of the girls, sandwiched between the misty layer and dark ceiling, was a series of floating islands of varying sizes, from bedsized to city-wide.
As the rest of their group joined them on the edge, Myst took a look at the large, raging waterfall a few hundred meters above them to the side...
They definitely couldn’t challenge that current.
Her somber mood was suddenly disrupted by the sound of rhythmic drumming. All eyes turned to the large pugilist who towered over everyone else.
Thun, DA, da-da dun DA, da-da dun DA, da-da dun DA.
Thun, DA, da-da dun DA, da-da dun DA, da-da dun dun DA.
“Un~DA, pillar-black sky I, won-’er why I, find-a’ my side,
Thun, DA, e-cho Sa~GA, wa-tar Sur~Vive, Red-sea Ven-Ture Ah!”
The loud beat echoed from the small cave as the smiling musician sang as his hips danced to the weird 3-beat-4-beat tune. The group started to smile at the jolly man’s performance as their moods turned up and they silently agreed on one fact.
It’s… Just so bad…
Kai smiled as he appreciated his comrade upon noticing everyone had now gained a smile, and their moods slightly improved. They had survived the frontiers, the expansions, the siren war, and the ambush that wound them up here. They would survive this.
Unfortunately, as his focus was on Song, Kai failed to notice the small black lizard hiding in the dark corner of the cave. Nor did he notice the quickly covered traces of a divination performed where Harold had been writing in his journal.
