Quest+in+Pretium

The Quest
While Elek, Fevrea, Andresa, and Halyn were preparing to leave the Forum, the Fox walked over to them holding a suspicious shadowy globe. He handed it to Andresa and said, “When the time is right, say Celia.”

Andresa paused. “And when would that be?”

“You’ll know soon enough. Make sure to be back to the gate in two week’s time,” he replied and walked away.

The Shadow approached soon after, simply to tell them to run.

Fevrea volunteered eagerly to go first. The other three, clearly intimidated, opted to hold back and let her. As soon as Fevrea was completely through the portal, Andresa and Halyn looked at Elek expectantly. Elek sighed, bowed his head, and awkwardly stepped in being nervous about what might be on the other side.

The last two opted to play a winner take all version of Sand, Sea, Air to figure out who went next. Halyn lost, considered asking for best two out of three, but decided just to go. She, too, stepped through the portal, followed by Andresa.

To their immediate surprise, the first sight to greet them in Pretium was that of Fevrea and Elek battling this centaur of a creature. The creature had the lower body of a horse, the upper body of a bat, and a face that was always changing to other people.

What the group didn’t know was that each face was that of a different dead person. They wouldn’t know this until the face eventually changed to a form familiar only to Fevrea. As she moved her gaze from her flaming sword to the face of the beast, she noticed that it had changed to the visage of her first tutor. Alarmed, Fevrea stumbled backwards, gasping in surprise. The centaur took the opportunity to charge. Elek was throwing ice balls at the creature getting its attention away from Fevrea.

“Cynthia!" After a frantic moments pause, Andresa tried again. "Candace!" And again. "Catherine!" Then finally, "//Celia!”// She successfully screamed after a stammering pause, successfully activating the orb and causing a slow, sad song of loss and sorrow to break forth. They could clearly recognize the Fox's rich baritone as he sang but beneath it was also a woman's sweet alto.

// She met me at twilight, // // Down by the willow tree, // // Our troth we did there plight, // // And I bound her to me. //

// The grave cannot part us, // // My sweet love, my wife, // // But I'll see you again, // // At the end of this strife. // // Without you beside me, // // A Shadow I'll be. // // But we'll meet when this is over. // // Down by the willow tree. //

// In the shadow she now dwells, // // While I wait in the sun. // // We have said our farewells, // // but we'll meet when day is done. //

// The grave cannot part us, // // My sweet love, my wife, // // But I'll see you again, // // At the end of this strife, // // Without you beside me, // // A Shadow I'll be, // // But we'll meet when this is over, // // Down by the willow tree. //

The four watched in awe and confusion as the centaur was lulled to sleep by the soft cadences of the Fox’s song.

After a moment, Elek broke the silence by whispering to everyone, “We should leave.”

They crept forward as silently as possible past the centaur, with Fevrea bringing up the rear. Halyn, who was looking behind her to keep an eye on the others, tripped and fell head first toward a chasm. Andresa, acting completely on instinct, reached out and grabbed her, but started to fall as well. Elek was next in line to grab on, stumbled a little, but managed to stop the fall.

Once the group had gathered themselves, it was time to discuss how to get across.

Elek was the first to make a suggestion, in an excited tone, “We should make an ice bridge.”

Halyn piped in immediately, calling out the biggest flaw in that plan. “There’s no water.”

“Can we jump it?” Fevrea asked eagerly, leaning into the gorge, trying to gauge the depth.

“I have an idea, but I haven’t done it in a long time, so let’s see if it works,” Andresa interjected.

Andresa stood at the very end of the ravine, closed her eyes, and lifted her arms up, causing the ground to quiver. Soon enough, rocks started gathering together to make a floating bridge.

Elek, who was clearly nervous as he looked down over the edge, into the darkness, asked, “Is it safe?”

Fevrea, who was poking one of the rocks with her sword, decided to take matters into her own hands. “Just get on.”

With no further questioning, they did just that. Elek went first, followed by Fevrea, while Halyn helped Andresa forward. Once all had made it across the bridge, Andresa dropped her stance and fell to the ground, clearly exhausted. Halyn cast a beam of light onto Andresa’s body, which seemed to give her enough energy to get back up again.

“If you can make light, why am I using my sword?!” Fevrea asked Halyn.

Halyn didn’t respond, except by closing her eyes and yawning.

“Oh. Got it.”

They walked on for a short while, until Fevrea asked Halyn, “You’re from Saqui Salvi, aren’t you?”

“He’s blue and you care about what region //she// comes from?” Andresa retorted, not letting Halyn answer. Elek blushed a little and looked down, trying not to let them see it.

“Well, I think I know her sister, and I’m glad it’s Halyn we have, as her sister is a little slippery,” Fevrea responded. Chuckling at her inadvertent pun.

“Wait. What?” Elek asked, confused.

“I’m a mermaid,” Halyn responded simply. “I have a fish tail.”

“Where is it?”

Halyn laughed. “It only comes when I’m in water.”

Elek, who was clearly staring, nearly walked into the side of the cave. Having managed to stop right before he hit the wall.

The three girls stared at him for a moment, Fevrea snorted and said, “nice going,” then everyone started walking again. They stopped abruptly when they reached a three way split in the path. Everyone looked at each other, as if to ask which way to go, when Fevrea’s flame sword flickered backwards. Elek peared down the dark tunnel where the small breeze was coming from. They all nodded, having come to the same conclusion without words and went toward the wind.

After walking for what seemed like hours straight, with no conversation to break the silence, but in reality was a mere thirty minutes, the group came across a small sliver of light. Fevrea put out her flame sword and the light got brighter.

Looking up through the hole, Elek exclaimed, “I see the sky! We should break it open.”

“I can try,” Andresa said, approaching the crack.

“Be careful not to exhaust yourself,” Fevrea said, concerned.

Andresa put her hands together, closed her eyes, then parted them, causing the crack itself to part as well. She fell to her knees and began crawling forward, followed closely by the rest. To Halyn’s delight, they came upon the ocean. She immediately made pace towards the shore, reaching the water and beginning to change, everyone following behind her. Flashes of light encircled Halyn as she began to transform.

Unlike Andresa and Fevrea, Elek had never witnessed such a transformation. “What is this?” he asked in utter shock trying to figure out if what he saw was the tail that they were talking about before. He stared at Halyn while she swam.

“It’s a mermaid,” Fevrea replied mockingly.

Elek stood motionlessly, not even reacting to the taunt, still watching Halyn play in the water, as Andresa, clearly not phased by the event taking place, fell asleep on the ground next to him.

“Keep an eye on Andresa. I’m going to get firewood,” Fevrea ordered.

Elek snapped out of his gaze and sat down next to Andresa and awkwardly tried to comfort her. “We need food,” he muttered to himself.

Hearing him speak Halyn nodded. “I’ll go get some.”

*

By the time food had arrived, there was already a fire started. Halyn came upon Elek and Fevrea, who were talking about military, or Elek’s lack of military.

“How can you not have an army?” Fevrea asked, looking at Elek as he stumbled to find the right words.

Halyn came up from behind, holding a bundle of fish. “We don’t have an army either.”

“Yes, but you guys have the Cvetonian Defense Force,” Fevrea replied.

Soon enough, the fish was frying, and Andresa was awaking to the smell. For a while, everyone was quietly filling their stomachs with the cooked fish. Finally, it was time to talk about their next step.

“I think we should find water,” Halyn suggested as everyone finished up their fish. “It’s most likely water borne.”

Fevrea, gesturing to the shore in front of them, couldn’t help but point out that, “We’re surrounded by water.” Elek chuckled a little but then quieted with a look from Halyn.

“Not that water. I’m talking about water within the islands,” Halyn elaborated.

Elek chuckled some more. “We’re looking for fresh water. Probably isolated.”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Halyn told him, satisfied.

“It’s settled, then,” Andresa decided, then yawned.

Halyn got up and said good night, excited to become her mermaid self once more. She started looking for a place to sleep as Elek was building an igloo from the salt water of the ocean, which did not seem to agree with him. Fevrea and Andresa both opted to sleep by the fire.

*

They all awoke with the sunrise, and to the sight of a very melted igloo and a very wet Elek. After everyone had gotten over the initial laughter caused by Elek’s cluelessness, they were quiet enough to be able to hear the jaunty whistling of a delightful tune.

Elek sat up in his puddle surprisingly not worried about the water and mud around him. “What’s that?”

Everybody sat and listened for a moment, chewing their breakfasts. It appeared to be some whistling in the distance. The song that might be used to pass the time. Elek shouted, "People!"

Andresa was the first to speak, “We should probably find them. They might have a boat, and we might need one.”

“Okay, but one tall, blue, antenna’d problem,” Fevrea reminded them.

The three girls stared at Elek for a moment, unsure what to do. Elek fidgeted uncomfortably under their combined gaze.

“We could... cover him in mud?” Halyn suggested. Elek seem disgusted by the idea of hiding himself, but agreed that it was the most logical choice at the moment.

“That wouldn’t help with the antennas,” Fevrea reminded them. She took off her bandana and walked over to Elek, who was sitting in the mud and wrapped it around his antennas, then they all got to work covering him in mud.

They took off toward the whistling, Elek leading the way. Soon enough, they had found themselves at the edge of a coal miner’s camp. The soot covered men mining were a horrible sight. Then a man got off a boat by the docks at the far end of the camp, he was noticeable because he was by far the cleanest..

“Let’s go talk to him. He’s cleaner,” Halyn suggested. They made their way to the dock. Elek noticed that the girls were being stared at by a few miners who seemed to be taking a break. They did not appeared to have friendly faces.

The quartet walked towards the clean man, but as they came closer, his surly visage put off Andresa, Halyn and Elek, who then slowed. Despite the fact that her companions had paused, Fevrea stepped up to the man. “Excuse me, sir--”

“Hey. Are you free tonight, or is it going to cost me?” The man asked, leering at her. Elek could not help but chuckle and give a tiny smile in humor before returning to his stern stare.

Fevrea chuckled and turned away to unsheathe her sword, then turned back, and held it up to his throat. “We’re going to take your boat.”

The man stumbled backwards and scrambled off toward the camp.

“One problem. This boat only fits three people,” Elek pointed out. “I can swim if you want.”

Halyn laughed softly, then jumped in the water, turning into a mermaid.

Elek nodded, having forgotten, and scuttled board the boat with everyone else. They started rowing out. After a while they could not see the land that they had left from. Andresa began to wonder where they were going. “So, where are we going?” she asked.

“I was following Halyn,” Fevrea replied.

Just at that moment, Halyn resurfaced and hung onto the edge of the boat. “Elek, do you sense that?” she asked.

Elek reached down and touched the water, and smiled and nodded after a moment. Andresa and Fevrea looked at each other in confusion. Andresa awkwardly touched the water, trying to figure out what they were talking about.

Fevrea leaned forward. “Do you sense it?” she whispered.

Andresa shook her head.

Halyn addressed them all. “There’s water that way,” she said, pointing in a specific direction.

“There’s also water that way. And that way. And that way,” Fevrea told her mockingly, pointing in various directions. Elek could not help but laugh.

“Again, Fevrea, fresh water,” Halyn replied, annoyed. She changed her tone to ask, “Is there any way you guys could go faster?”

Elek nodded a little timidly, embarrassed for not having thought of it before. He then created a wave with his arms and carried them off at an extremely faster speed than they were traveling before. Fevrea smacked his arm, glaring. “You should have done that before! My arms are tired!”

Andresa, meanwhile, was clinging to the side of the boat, unsure of what was happening, and not a huge fan of water travel. Not long past, Andresa had finally seen land. She let go with one hand and pointed toward it, shouting, “Land!” then stumbled and grabbed back on. Elek turned the boat in the direction that Andresa was pointing, got excited and started to speed up.

As the boat got closer to land, Elek slowed down. They pulled the boat ashore and Elek attempted to bend the water around the boat to move it. Fevrea stopped him by smacking him once more on the arm where there was already a red mark. “You’ll taint their water source! We’re carrying it!”

“Oh, sorry.” Elek let the water back down and helped Fevrea lift the boat onto their shoulders and walked on with Halyn leading them towards the lake.

Once they had made it to the lake in the middle, Elek and Fevrea put the boat down on the shore next to it. The group convened in a circle to discuss the next move. "I think we should talk to some of the natives and get a little information about the island. They're probably drinking this water. Maybe they're all sick," Andresa suggested.

"Are you serious? The last time we tried to talk to the natives I almost had to cut someone!" Fevrea objected.

"Well maybe this time we should hold back on pulling weaponry until we actually finish the conversation," Elek suggested.

Fevrea rolled her eyes. "Fine, but where do we start?"

Halyn glanced around, and conveniently spotted a fisherman loading his boat for a trip to the ocean. "He seems like a worthy candidate." She jogged over to the man, the others in tow, and tapped on his shoulder.

"What do you want, girlie?" The man asked, giving nary a glance to the people behind him.

"I, um, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me," Halyn replied, much less confident.

The fisherman gave her a sidelong glance. "Make it quick. I'm late to the fishing and I have to make a profit."

Halyn nodded and stammered awkwardly, having realized she didn't know what to ask at all. Andresa quickly came to her rescue. "Is there any widespread illness going on around here?" She asked, pretending to be unphased by the man's demeanor and the artlessness of the exchange.

"Good question. Where is here anyway?" He asked in response, intending only to be a nuisance.

"Well, we're not entirely sure, sir, but that's hardly the question that needs to be addressed," Andresa responded.

For the first time, their potential informant stood up and faced each one of them. "Why's that one covered in mud? You look like some kind of muck pirate," he asked, directing his attention toward Elek.

"I thought you were late!" Halyn exclaimed, getting annoyed.

Before anything else could happen, Elek scraped off some of the dried on mud to reveal a small patch of blue skin for their potential source to see. He simply nodded, then said, "Nothing more than your average sickness twice a year. Any other questions?"

"Does the water from your lake run into the ocean?" Elek asked, crossing his arms.

"It's not my lake, kid."

Fevrea gave an exasperated sigh, and reached for her sword, but was stopped by Andresa, who was way ahead of her. "Listen, buddy, does the lake run into the ocean?" She demanded, trying to resist unsheathing her sword.

The man looked at her, disgruntled. "No. It doesn't."

"That's all. I hope you catch a lot of fish," Fevrea said, with no indication that she actually meant it, then brought the group away from him.

"That wasn't very helpful," Andresa commented.

"I don't believe him. I bet it does run into the ocean," Elek added.

"But he said there isn't any abnormal sickness here," Fevrea noted.

"What if they're immune to it?" Halyn suggested. "People get immune to stuff all the time. At least underwater they do."

"Our best bet would probably be to go and try to purify the water somehow. Halyn, do you think you could do it?" Andresa asked.

"Surely. Myself and a few others have to purify the water inside of the hospital every morning," Halyn replied.

"Great. So let's go back to the lake and row out to the middle. From there, we can purify it from the center to the shores." Fevrea started walking toward where they had left their boat.

As Fevrea, Andresa, and Elek were boarding the boat, Halyn was quickly finding out that mermaids don't transform in fresh water. "Guys! Guys! Look!" She exclaimed excitedly, running around in the water on her landlegs. "I'm staying human!" Halyn started splashing around and frolicking, too distracted by her new discovery to focus on the task at hand.

"That's all fine and good, but can we please do this? It'll get dark and I want to make camp before tomorrow," Fevrea inquired.

Halyn paused, then frowned. "Fine. But since that's a three person boat and I'm a fourth person, we should try to heal it from here." She focused her energy on the water, submerging her hands and sending a beam of light that didn't last long. She looked up, confused. "This water isn't diseased. It's fine already."

"That can't be. You said it was water borne," Elek reminded her.

"Elek. I'm telling you. It's not diseased," Halyn said, looking straight at his eyes.

"Well what do we do now?" Andresa asked, then answered herself by saying, "I guess we should probably talk to someone and see if there are any other islands we could visit."

There was a group nod and they set off to find yet another citizen of the island. It wasn't long before they had stumbled across a well aged woman who was tenderly inspecting a large gash on her arm outside of a tavern. The group approached her timidly.

"Excuse me ma'am, but what happened?" Halyn asked, automatically stepping next to her to look at the wound.

"It's nothing, dear. I'll be okay. Did you need something?" She asked, a soft and sad smile on her face.

"Well, yes, but let me help you first," Halyn half demanded, then began her process. The woman seemed unphased as her arm slowly closed up.

"Thank you," she said, a hint of relief in her tone.

"Ma'am, would you be willing to answer a question or two for us?" Elek asked, stepping forward the tiniest bit.

"Why, of course, dear."

"We're very unfamiliar with this country, and we were wondering if there are any other islands."

"There are six isles in Pretium. Each holds a different element, this one being water. Each island has been touched with magic. My favorite is one I was told about as a little girl, the floating island called Echan. It is said that the island is a utopia and that once you've left it you can never come back. There was so much light and happiness and joy that one morning the island just plucked itself up from its watery spot and the natives had to chain it to the earth to keep it from floating away," the woman shared, her eyes alight.

"That sounds like the place we should go next," Elek said with an assured nod as soon as she was finished.

"Be wary of Echan, I implore you. Echan is a paradise. Only the best things inhabit it and you can never go back once you've left. You seem as though you have a very important purpose and I hope it can be fulfilled on one of the other islands," their friend informed them.

There was a moment of quiet thought, broken by Halyn's softest tone of voice. "If it's floating, there's a chance that it could be dropping loose infected dirt into the water below it. Where is this island?"

"It's the neighbor of this own island," she responded. "I need to go inside. I thank you once more and wish you the best of luck."

"Thank you. Before you leave, can I make a trade with you?" Halyn asked, stopping her and pulling out a pearl. "Your cloak for this? It's for my friend."

The friend in question, Elek, was taken with the gem. He stared at it with a mouth slightly agape, having never seen such an item before.

As the trade was going on, Fevrea leaned toward Elek. "It's a pearl, close your mouth," she ordered him offhandedly.

Elek nodded stiffly and did so as he watched the pearl change hands and as Halyn draped the cloak around his shoulders.

From there, it was another night of camp, another morning of fish, and another day of rowing.

On their way to the mysterious floating island, everyone was sitting in the boat quiet. Elek was at the back of the boat 'rowing' in his own fashion with water magic. Andresa and Fevrea were looking up at the island that was floating in the sky while Halyn was swimming ahead of the boat. There was some vegetation growing on the edges of the island and water that was falling off the sides of it and down the middle of the island. Far in the distance there looked to be chains that were running from the surface all the way up to the island.

As they approached the floating land, there seemed to be a smaller island that was directly underneath it where the chains were attached. Elek brought the boat up close to the shore and Fevrea grabbed the rope that was at the bow and started to pull the boat closer to the land.

“Hold on,” Elek told Andresa. She nodded and grabbed onto the boat tight.

Elek took a deep breath, closed his eyes and made a bigger wave behind the boat, causing them to slide onto the land. Fevrea was pulled forward without warning.

“Maybe let me know next time you are going to do that!” she shouted at Elek. He looked behind himself and smiled, then hopped out of the boat.

Andresa relinquished her death grip from the boat and jumped down. Halyn was just walking onto the land with her feet. Fevrea got up and cleaned herself off and walked over to Halyn with Elek and Andresa.

They all looked up for a moment studying the floating island above them. The island was much larger now than when they had seen it from the water. There was water falling from above that came down over them in a light mist. There were vines and roots coming out of the bottom of the island all over the place. There was nothing on the bottom island; there were no trees, shrubs or any small animals as far as they could tell. It was nothing but a grass island with soft white sandy beaches. Everyone then directed their attention to the chains that were connecting the floating island and the land below. Elek walked over to the chains and the others followed.

As the soft mist touched Elek's skin on his hands, he felt something different about it. “Do you feel that?” he asked Halyn with a bad feeling in his stomach.

Halyn reached out her hand and looked back at him with a sick look on her face. “Yes...”

They both knew there was something wrong with the water falling around them.

“Can we get some light Fevrea” Halyn asked as it became darker the closer they moved to the chains. Fevrea took out her sword and concentrated on it for a second. The chains were about three feet in diameter and there were four of them. They were anchored deep into the ground.

They got a closer look at the chains and Fevrea became puzzled. “Why aren't they rusted?” she called out. They all looked at the chains and there was not a spot of rust on them. Elek reached out to touch one of them. The chains were ice cold. It brought a smile to his face.

“It feels like home,” Elek said quietly to himself.

Fevrea, curious having overheard him, reached out to touch one of the chains and pulled her hand back sharply. “You call that home? It's freezing!”

Elek laughed and said, “Yes.”

Fevrea frowned and looked away. They all decided to collect themselves and decide what to do next.

“How should we get up there?” Andresa asked.

“Any ideas?” Elek added on.

Everyone just thought for a while. When suddenly. ..

“I got it! How about we make some ice stairs? We've got two people here that use water magic,” Fevrea pointed out.

The other three all exchanged glances and then dismissed that idea. “It's way too high," explained Halyn.

Fevrea frowned as her brilliant idea was shot down.

“I wish there was a sapling or something...” Andresa muttered to herself.

“I guess our only choice is to climb the chains to the top,” Elek suggested.

Everyone nodded at the simple idea of just climbing the chains.

“Let's rest and go up in the morning,” Halyn added. Then she skipped away, excited to go back to the water, even if it was only to go catch some more fish.

Elek and Andresa went back to the boat and took apart some small, useless parts to use as firewood. They cooked some fish and ate it for dinner, although Halyn and Andresa were still not used to constantly eating fish yet. After a really quiet dinner, everyone then found a comfortable spot on the wet grass and went to bed. Elek decided to forgo the igloo this time and Halyn, not wanting to sleep in the water this close to the source of the sickness, decided to sleep on land as well.

The sun was coming up when everyone started to awake. The fire had gone out and the tide was just starting to come in.

After eating some left over pieces of cooked fish from the previous night, everyone was ready to start climbing. They all met at the base of the nearest chain.

“Alright let's get started. It's going to be a long climb,” Elek emphasized.

Elek started climbing, followed by Andresa and after, Halyn, with Fevrea bringing up the end of the pack.

It was a long and strenuous climb. When they finally reached the island, they stopped to look around as they tried to catch their breath There was a opening at the top where the chains were attached to the island. They all climbed through the hole to find a massive surprise. Everything was dead, there was nothing but withered plants and shrubs. It was all quite horrific. The surrounding surprised Andresa the most. The feeling that everything was dead almost brought tears to her eyes. She was used to only seeing beautiful and vibrant greenery, not gray and dead.

“What happened here?” Elek questioned quietly.

“Everything is dead,” Halyn said shocked.

Fevrea spoke. “I think we found where all this sickness is coming from.”

They all looked at each other in agreement. They started to explore. There was nothing more but the ruins of rocks, dead vines, shrubs, and broken and rotting trees scattered all around. The thought that someone could have done this was horrible.

While walking by some of the ruins, Elek reached out to touch one of the dead vines. Startled, he yelled out, “Halyn! Do you feel that?”

Halyn then reached out and touched one of the dead plants. “Yes. It's coming from over there,” she pointed in the distance. They all traveled towards where Halyn pointed until they reached a pond with what once might have been water. It was a pond of liquid of all different colors.

“This must be what's causing that sickness,” Elek said as he knelt down. He took off the cloak that was given to him, touched the water with it and it burst into flames. He instinctively move back, just dodging the flames from touching his skin.

“Yep, this must be it,” he said and stood back up, “Alright how are we going to fix this?”

Fevrea looked around then her eyes lit up. “Can you heal this Halyn?” She looked expectantly at the healer.

Halyn's eyes scanned around the edge of the pond. It was a fairly large sized pond. “I am not sure. I think it's too big for me to do it alone.”

“Maybe I can help you, I know some healing magic but not too much,” Elek's voice trembled and looked at Halyn.

She nodded and knelt down next to the acidic water and reached out her hands over the water's surface. She then started to chant loudly over it. Then Elek knelt down next to her and copied her. Fevrea and Andresa took a few steps back as all of the water started to glow a bright blue until it was nearly blinding. They then took cover behind a nearby rock, unsure about what was happening when the light faded. Nothing had changed. Fevrea and Andresa found Elek and Halyn slumped over near the pond, exhausted and one the verge of passing out. Fevrea and Andresa rushed towards them to move them from the acid water help them.

“Did we do it?” Halyn whispered to Andresa who was helping her.

“Sadly, you didn't,” Andresa replied.

Andresa and Fevrea brought them back a few feet and rested Elek and Halyn along one of the ruins.

After Andresa and Fevrea fed Elek and Halyn some leftover fish to rejuvenate them and the two rested for about an hour or so, Elek and Halyn had finally gained enough strength and decided to try it again. They walked over to the pond while Fevrea and Andresa found cover once again. Halyn and Elek reached out their arms and started chanting. Halyn grabbed Elek's hand hoping that it might help. The water started to shine again but this time it was brighter, and the ground started to shake. The light was so blinding that Fevrea and Andresa had to look away. Halyn then looked over at Elek and his eyes started to glow up a bright green and his hidden source of strength started to show. After about a minute passed, the rumbling stopped and the light disappeared. Andresa and Fevrea looked up and noticed that Halyn was fully awake and did not look exhausted, but Elek was passed out back on the shore. They also noticed that the pond was back to being water.

“What happened?” Elek muttered slowly waking up.

“You did it! The water is normal again.” Fevrea said with a smile on her face.

Elek struggled to gather his strength, while Halyn was trying to figure out what had happened. Before they could really comprehend what they had accomplished, strange, large people in robes appeared; running at them down the bank of the pond. There were six of them. They wore black robes and their faces were not visible, but everyone could tell they were angry and on a mission; for them.

“We better get out of here!” shouted Fevrea as she drew out her sword.

Fevrea and Andresa stood on either side of Elek, picked him up and started running back to the hole.

“They must have seen the light!” Halyn shouted as she tried to run, but was still kind of exhausted.

They reached the hole where they climbed up the chain and stopped.

“Wait! We can't climb ourselves away from them, we need a new plan!” Fevrea had stopped and shouted at everyone, panicking slightly. They stopped and thought for a moment even though there were people chasing them. Moments from them being captured, Andresa came up with an idea.

“How about we break the chains and cause the island to fall? This island is not all that important in comparison to saving our own live. Plus, we could possibly be saving a lot of people's lives if this island would become infected again,” Andresa exclaimed.

Everyone nodded and Elek, who had finally regained some his strength, said, “Lets do it.”

They all went to one of the chains and tried to break it. Fevrea was smashing her chain with her sword slowly. Her chain was beginning to crack. Andresa forced a plant to grow right below her and used its vines to rip the chain into peices. Halyn was using a rock that she found and was smashing the chain. Elek was summoned water from the pond underground, and started to freeze the chain to a point where it could be easily broken by a touch. Seeing Halyn struggle, e then went over and froze her chain then broke both of of the chains at once, causing half of the island to start leaning.

Suddenly, one of the mysterious denizens came out and nearly had Fevrea in a headlock, but she tripped the person and he went flying down the hole where the chain was coming up. Not fazed, she continued smashing her chain and at the same time her and Andresa's chains broke and the whole island started to fall.

“Now what?” Halyn shouted as the rush of wind swirled around them.

“We wait until the island almost hits the ground and then then we jump into the water,” Fevrea told everyone.

The whole island was falling slowly, but it was fast enough that everyone felt lighter on their feet. They all ran to the edge of the island, which as it turned out, was not as close as they thought. The strange people had stopped their pursuit and were running for their lives. Once the edge came into range, Halyn slipped while trying to back-peddle, almost sliding off the side of the island as Fevrea caught her. They all paused for a moment, and exchanged scared looks. The island was almost at ground level when they all linked hands and jumped.

The island smashed into the ground causing a huge tidal wave and pieces of the island to fly in all directions. Desperate screams for help were heard as the island began to sink. There must have been more people on the island than they thought. Once the dust had settled, the only things left moving were the waves, Elek, Andresa and Fevrea's bobbling heads and Halyn's tail, having had returned to her mermaid form. Andresa, having trouble staying above surface, was assisted by Halyn.

It was not long after the smoke and dust from the island had cleared up when Elek noticed something in the distance.

“Look! What's that?” Elek said, pointing out at a floating object.

“It's a boat!” Fevrea shouted and started swimming to it.

Everyone followed her. Andresa was holding onto the end of Halyn's tail for support. Elek was happy to be in the cold water. After about twenty minutes or so they reached the boat. It was the same boat that they had used to get there. It must of come undocked when the tide came in.

They all climbed into the boat, except for Halyn who preferred the water. Everyone collapsed in exhaustion, finally having the moment to catch their breath and really soak in all that had happened that day.

“We did it! We cured the sickness,” Elek whispered, a little shell shocked from everything.

Fevrea was catching her breath and trying to dry herself off. Elek lifted the water off of them all with his water magic, which normally was extremely easy but took much more concentration than before. Halyn rested in the water and tried to catch her breath.

“Now where to?” Elek asked suddenly.

Everyone thought for a moment.

“Guess we have to get back to the gate,” Fevrea stated and started to row again.

Elek tried to use what ever strength he had left to bend the water around them and make the boat move a little faster, but he was too weak. After trying once more, he caught Fevrea glaring at him. Knowing why she was glaring, he stopped. And the only sound heard was from Fevrea's rowing and Halyn's soft swishing as she swam ahead at a slow pace.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It had been a few hours since the island had fallen, and no words had been spoken at all. Fevrea couldn’t take it anymore. "Well, that's a new one for me... I don't know about all of you, but I've never destroyed a whole island. Do you think they will be upset?" She was still rowing as she spoke. Trying to get them away from the wreckage of the former "utopia."

"Maybe, but we will be remembered forever." This came from an exhausted, but satisfied Andresa.

Swimming alongside, Halyn couldn't help but ask. "Do you think the Fox will be angry with us? We were only told to find the source of sickness, not bring down an island."

"He'll understand." Glancing at the girls, Elek spoke again, but more hesitant. "He'll understand, right?"

There was a few moments of silence, "Of course, but I'm a bit more worried about The Shadow..." Fevrea trailed off, knowing that her thought had been voiced adequately.

Clearing her throat, Andresa calmed everyone. "No use worrying now. We'll just have to wait and see. Speaking of seeing, where are we going?"

"I was following Halyn again." Fevrea said.

"But, I was following you!" Halyn exclaimed, doubling back to float near the boat again, having drifted away.

Elek broke the two out of their staring contest. "So we've been going in a circle. Which direction are we supposed be going?"

Andresa looked at Halyn expectantly. "Can you do your water finding thing to get us back?"

Slightly exasperated, she sighed, and sunk lower in the water. "It needs to be a big source of water for me to find it, like the freshwater lake, not the little brooks that are the only source of water on the gate's island."

“So, what are we going to do? Float around aimlessly?” Fevrea pulled in the paddles and rested her chin on her hands.

Halyn put up her hand and pointed in a seemingly random direction. “I’m pretty sure Saqui Salvi is that way.”

Fevrea smiled, knowing she could now get her bearings, while Elek just looked confused. “And how does that help? It’s probably more than a hundred miles away.”

Fevrea spoke once more as she began to paddle with greater purpose. “Blue, don’t panic. It helps us because now I know where we are.”

Andresa wrinkled her brow. “How? She just pointed.”

“Yes well, I happen to have memorized the maps of my region, and the basic position of most other countries,” she added, glancing around at the skeptical look in the other's eyes, “Pretium, being relatively close to Cvetonia, was one of the first. Just sit back and hope we get there fast. And no exerting yourself, Elek, I know after the healing and the falling, you’re a bit too weak to push the boat. So rest and be ready to pull your share tomorrow.” She nodded her head once, to hammer in the point, steadfastly ignoring the bemused looks of her compatriots.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“There’s a small problem.” This came from Andresa, who was looking over the edge of the boat. “While the island was falling, we forgot to gather water.”

Fevrea barked out a laugh at the dry humor of it. “Dying of dehydration in the largest body of water. Ironic.”

“What are you going to do?” Halyn rested against the side of the boat, happy to be in the water.

“I think I can help. It won’t take too much strength, just concentration.” He glanced at the others, looking for approval.

Andresa nodded. “You know your own limits. Don’t go overboard.

“Literally and figuratively, Blue," Fevrea added with a smirk.

He smiled, furrowed his brow in concentration, then he stretched out a hand and pulled back slowly. It took a moment, but soon there was a stream of water stretching up. Elek formed it unto a small cylinder and with a soft crackle, ice coated the sides and bottom, making a cup.

“There isn’t any salt. It’s fresh.” Elek said after taking a sip, then passed it to Andresa who was sitting across from him.

Taking her own sip, she gasped. “And cold." Andresa was laughing as she passed the cup to Fevrea.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Slowly the days drifted together and dragged on. Minutes became hours, and hours became eternity. The monotony was only broken by a few humorous moments and the readjusting of the course by Halyn’s connection to Saqui Salvi.

It was on the third day, during Elek’s rowing shift, that something happened. Halyn had just brought up a few fish when Andresa bolted upright from her resting position. She slowly made her way to the bow of the boat, where Fevrea was sleeping and leaned over her. Andresa’s eyes were focused on the horizon.

Gripping the side of the boat, Halyn asked, “What is it?”

Gasping, Andresa bounced on her feet a little. “It’s land!!” Unfortunately for Andresa, she had not found her sea legs in all the time spent adrift, so the rocking caused by her jubilance caused her to slip and fall on a slowly waking Fevrea. From the time Andresa had fallen, only a second was spared for Fevrea to pull her dagger and place it firmly at Andresa's neck.

There was a tense moment before Fevrea came to her senses and pulled away her blade sheepishly. “I don’t wake very nicely.” She sheathed her dagger and helped Andresa onto the bench across from her. “Why were you jumping around, anyway?”

Andresa, still a little shook up, just pointed.

Seeing that Fevrea was still confused Elek decided to help her out. “Land. She saw land.”

“Oh, sorry.” She bowed her head, embarrassed.

Halyn laughed, “I guess it was understandable, from your position. You didn’t know you weren’t being attacked.” She flicked her tail and shot ahead of the boat. “Can you guys go any faster? We might want to get there before dark.”

“I think I can get us there... I have rested long enough. When I pull the water now, I can barely feel any fatigue.” Without waiting for a response, he pulled in the oars and lifted his arms, causing a large wave to propel the boat forward. Knocking the still shaky Andresa onto her back. Abashed, he blushed. “Sorry.”

It only took a few moments for the group to reach the dock. Elek slowed the wave until there was nothing, and the boat slowly bumped into the jetty.

Quickly, Fevrea leapt out and tethered the vessel to the dock. Reaching out a hand, as a metaphorical olive branch, she helped Andresa out.

Elek scrambled up and helped lift Halyn onto the dock. While Fevrea and Elek secured the boat, Andresa assisted Halyn in drying off her tail so that she could return to her human form. Fevrea felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning, her smile fell as she took in the men before her. They were wearing evil smirks.

The largest one, who seemed to be in charge, stepped forward. “Are you the same people who were here about two weeks ago?”

Elek smiled, used to being friendly. “Why yes, we were. //Oof!//” His breath was expelled suddenly when Fevrea’s elbow met his abdomen, but the damage was done.

“Grab them.”

Halyn and Andresa were grabbed first, held in choke holds by two meaty giants. Though they were caught fast, they inflicted their own damage in biting and scratching, managing to draw blood.

Fevrea had dropped to a crouch and drew her dagger, sliding up out of her position she slipped in between the men walking towards her. Spinning, she kicked out and knocked the knees out from under one man and quickly gave the other a kidney shot. Having both down at an easier height, she smashed the hilt of her dagger into the first one's temple, knocking him out. The second one had gotten over his initial pain and was on his feet. Lifting her leg, she kicked him in the groin and when he fell to his knee’s again, she punched him in the throat. She spun to take in the situation again but her head was met by a baton and all she could see was darkness.

Elek had been caught off guard, and the men after him had tied him up. Though they had made a mistake. They left his hands free. Manipulating them, he was able to drag water up and wrap around the legs of the men standing over him. Twisting his wrist violently, the water crackled and hardened. Locked up to their waists, the men flailed, calling for help. Elek smiled, and twisted about trying to break the knots holding him. Unbeknownst to him, another man was coming behind him. Before he could react, there was a blindfold covering his eyes and more ropes binding his hands.

The leader was enraged. He had been told that a few girls and one idiot covered in mud had stolen his son’s boat. Confronting them on their return had been something he needed to do in order to gain back some of his lost reputation, but what he had been faced with was a tall blue man, two feisty girls and one experienced fighter. And instead of winning by a landslide, he had two men in extreme need of medical aid, two needing to thaw and two more who looked more bloody then all the others.

“Bring them to the cells. I want them locked up, NOW!” The infuriated man, stalked off, leaving his remaining men to deal with the mess created.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Being thrown into a cell is not as pleasant of an experience as it may seem. And this was a fact proven true by Andresa, Halyn and Elek, whose journey was made worse by wearing a blindfold. Luckily for Fevrea, she was unconscious, or unluckily, as she was tossed in without a care and her fall was only broken by Elek’s body.

“What’s going on!” He shouted, startled by the weight, though he would never admit that it was heavy.

Halyn and Andresa rushed over, Andresa removed Elek’s bindings. Halyn, grateful for the thin sunlight still streaming through the barred window, inspected Fevrea’s wound then spoke. “Calm down. It was Fevrea. Stay still for a moment, so I can try and help her. Then we’ll move her.” Her bright and soothing healing light flooded the small room. It took a few moments but soon enough, Halyn sat back on her heels and gestured to her patient. “We can move her a bit now, but I don’t want to push it. Until she wakes, and I can make sure I fixed everything, we have to stay here.”

Andresa helped Halyn move Fevrea off of Elek, who surrendered his shirt for an improvised pillow. Then Elek and Andresa settled against the wall across from Halyn and Fevrea.

“How long do you think it will take?” Elek asked, worried for their companion.

Andresa patted his arm. “I don’t know, but she’ll be fine. Halyn knows what she is doing so, now we wait.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunlight faded away and their jailers were kind enough to light a torch. As the night wore on, they took shifts sitting with Fevrea while the other two slept. Elek was on watch when, near sunrise, Fevrea moaned softly. Leaning over her quickly her spoke. “Fevrea? Are you alright? Can you hear me?”

She cracked her eyes, then swiftly shut them. Elek became worried. “What’s wrong?”

Fevrea grinned. “I saw you, Blue.”

Elek blushed but still laughed, waking Halyn then Andresa. Halyn seeing Fevrea was conscious went to her and immediately examined her, finding her fine, she sighed in relief.

“She’s okay?” asked a hesitant Andresa.

“I’m fine, I’ve got a headache, but that's to be expected after taking a pole to the head. Even for the most hardheaded.” Fevrea held a hand to her head as she sat up. Then scanned her surroundings. “Where, in the name of Cvet, are we?”

“Jail.” “In the name of Who?” Spoke Halyn and Elek at the same time.

“Ahh, well it’s not the first time to be waking in a cell. And she’s my ancestor.” She replied to both of them. Then stood and started stretching while pacing the small room. “So how are we getting out?”

“We were more worried about you, so we haven’t planned, but it shouldn’t be so hard.” Andresa said, happy to see the warrior better.

Halyn looked a bit confused. “Why do you think so?”

Laughing, Andresa got off of the floor, walked to the gate in the bars and pushed it open. “They forgot to lock the door.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

While it was a short walk back to the beach that they had camped on. Or it would have been, except for the few wrong turns.

By the time they were all on the beach, the sun was up and starting to climb in the sky. Collectively deciding that it would be a better idea to try and get to the gate after eating, they quickly started a fire and made a meal of rations pilfered from the Miners’ village.

Finding the opening they had made previously was easy. Guided by Fevrea’s flaming sword once more, they retraced their steps. Drawing closer to the gorge, the silence that had built was broken by a earth shaking screech.

Elek sighed and bowed his head slightly. “I knew it was going too well.”

Fevrea smiled and tapped his arm to get his attention. “Don’t worry, Andresa has her magic singing ball. The beast’ll be sleeping in no time.” Looking over to Andresa, Fevrea saw her sheepish expression. “You have the globe right?”

She shook her head. “It’s... um by the gate.”

“The gate that is guarded by the fearsome Bataur?” Asked Halyn.

Andresa could only nod.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Exclaimed Elek.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The cave was quiet, eerily so. The only thing breaking the quite was soft mumbled mocking, that was slowly getting louder. “//Why don’t you do it Fevrea? You’re the fastest. And you have weapons.// Grr, I’d like to see them standing in the dark, in the middle of a cave, totally exposed." Under her talking, Fevrea heard a slight scuffing, and pivoted just in time to miss the bulging fist that would have pulverized her head. Bringing up her scorching broad sword, she slashed at it, then parried its punches. As soon as there was an opening she darted away and towards the chasm, not seeing the flickering yellow light, it having been blocked by the beast.

It followed as they had planned. What they hadn’t planned for was its ability to run fast. Fevrea was running full out, but still she could feel the moist heat of the beast’s breath on her neck. Carried by adrenaline, Fevrea pushed faster and yelled “Incoming!” and leapt off of the small lip Andresa had made on one side of the gorge. Fevrea’s foot had barely left the ledge when it fell from beneath her. She landed in a crouch on the other side. While the beast just fell. Pulled back by Halyn, Fevrea’s position was taken by Elek. Who with their stolen canteens open at his feet, raised his hands, causing the water to stream over the chasm, creating a thick block of ice over the entire area.

“Did... it... work?” panted Fevrea, leaning against Halyn, stubbornly pushing away her glowing hand.

“I think so.” replied Andresa, peering over the rock ledge, trying to see past the opaque ice.

“The ice is thick enough to walk on, we can go over now?” Elek said as he jumped on the center of the newly formed bridge.

Halyn walked behind Fevrea, who still refused her aid, while Andresa walked beside her. When they reached the other side, Fevrea smacked Elek on the shoudler, silently telling him not to jump on ice again.

Halyn interrupted Andresa’s giggling. “What’s that blinking light?”

Andresa answered on reflex. “The gate.” Her eyes widened. “The GATE! It’s been two weeks! Hurry!”

They all ran for the gate, Elek at the lead, but right before he reached it, the gate closed.

"So I take it we won't be getting back today?" Elek asked, trying not to upset the group of three girls surrounding him.

With another smack on the shoulder from Fevrea, Elek realized his mistake in trying to crack a joke. Halyn and Andresa just stood there in shock that they had literally missed the gate in just seconds.

“What. . . are we. . . supposed. . . to. . . do. . . now?” the words slowly stuttered out of Halyn’s shaken body.

“Hang out and wait for the Fox’s help!” Elek smirked and then immediately cowered in fear of another strike from Fevrea for his joking. The girls all just gave him an evil glare.

“The Fox gave us explicit instructions to get back in two weeks,” explained Fevrea. “We’re too late. We need to figure out how to get back some other way. Maybe if I. . . “

Before anyone could stop her, Fevrea charged straight at the gate and forced her body against it with a loud thud. Although the ground beneath them shook from the force, the gate stood strong and Fevrea was sent to the ground from the impact.

Halyn rushing to her aid to make sure she wasn’t hurt squealed, “No more of that! Don’t you think being unconscious once was enough?!”

“How about we go to Phevyn? I could open the gate for us there no problem,” Elek suggested.

“That’s too far away from here,” explained Fevrea as she sat up and dusted the dirt off herself.

Andresa, who had been quiet during this whole time, finally spoke up. “We could go to Belaruda! It’s not that far away. And I still have my necklace to help us open the gate!”

“That would work,” the other three said in unison.

“Now we just need to get back to the boat,” Andresa continued.

“One small problem with that. Remember how we were in jail not too long ago due to that boat?” Elek pronounced.

“Yea. I do not want to go through that again,” explained Halyn as she put her hands on her hips.

“Why don’t we wait until it’s dark out and sneak out onto the shore when no one can see us?” Fevrea suggested. “We’ll have to sail in the dark but we got the moon and Halyn can probably guide us when she’s in the water."

“I’m not a mermaid for nothing!” smiled Halyn.

“Alright I guess that’s the plan. Let’s get to the end of the cave and camp out until it gets dark, “ said Elek. He began to walk over the still iced covered chasm with the others following behind him.

* * * *

Out in the dark water, the group waited as Halyn transformed, making sure to block the light she illuminated from the shore so no one in the Miner’s village could see. Once she was completely transformed they headed off in the ocean; Halyn leading the way and the others rowing towards the sound of her tail hitting the water.

After about two days worth of rowing and living off of fish, the group finally reached the shore of Belaruda. Andresa, excited to be amongst the tropical forest that she loved, jumped out of the boat and immediately began running towards its thick greenery. Fevrea quickly pulled the boat onto the shore and Elek picked up Halyn out of the water so she could transform. They almost lost complete sight of Andresa when they got to the forest.

“It’s just a few miles this way guys!” Andresa giggled with glee. Her black hair swung in the air as she ran through and dodged the large colorful plants. It was all the others could see to know they were going in the right direction.

“Are we there yet?” whined Halyn, “My human legs are sure getting tired of all this walking we have been doing over the past two weeks.”

“We’re here!” smiled Andresa as they walked into a clearing. In front of them was what appeared to be a very tall mountain. Except this one had smoke spouting out of the top of it.

“Oh, no! You better not be telling me the gate is in there. My people know about Paputok. We always make sure to not come here to trade during the Dying Time when it is the most active.” exclaimed Halyn, her eyes widening with fear.

“Active?” Elek puzzled. "How is a mountain active?”

“It’s a volcano, Elek.” Andresa explained. “It’s got lava inside of it and during the Dying Time, it erupts the hot lava out of the top where you see the smoke. It won’t erupt right now though. Trust me, I know how to do this. I’ve done it once before.”

“Lava? . . . Hot? . . . I do not think so,” stammered Elek as his body began to shake at the thought of being near anything with that high of a temperature.

“Oh, come on guys!” exclaimed Fevrea, “Don’t let a little hot lava mess stand in your way.”

“Oh, I’ll let it stand in my way as long as it wants,” Halyn stated as she began to back away into the dense forest.

“Yea. What she said,” agreed Elek as he began to follow her lead into the trees.

“Oh, no you don’t.” Fevrea grabbed a hold of Elek’s arm as Andresa grabbed Halyn’s. They began guiding them closer to the edge of the volcano.

“We went into this together, and we’re getting out of it together. Plus, I think some of the animals in the forest would freak you out more than this volcano if you stayed here.” hinted Andresa. Elek and Halyn shrugged realizing that Andresa was probably right and moved forward with Andresa and Fevrea and began to climb the volcano. When the group got to the top, the immense heat nearly made Elek faint. Andresa and Fevrea grabbed a hold of him before he toppled over the side of the volcano.

“Alright. I think what we need to do is have all of you grab a hold of my arms. That way you are somehow connected to the protection of my necklace,” Andresa advised.

“You think?” squealed Halyn. “You need to know. Not think!”

“Alright, alright! I know!” sighed Andresa. "Now hold on."

Elek, Fevrea, and Halyn all grabbed a hold of Andresa as she jumped down into the volcano. Slight gasps came out of Halyn and Elek, but they soon turned to sighs as they found themselves on a platform with a gate in front of them.

“Okay, let’s hurry this up! I’m glad we are safe in front of the gate an all but I’m melting here. No one like me should ever be put in this situation,” exclaimed Elek.

“Hey, Blue. Calm down, man. Give the girl a minute. You won’t end up a puddle on the floor,” explained Fevrea as she gave Elek a nudge and a mocking smirk.

Andresa placed her large turquoise into the indent on the gate and the gate began to swing open.

“Finally!” they heard the voice of the Fox exclaim as the light of the Forum welcomed the group.