As Told by child_dragon: Part Sixteen - Water Quest by child_dragon |  |
I glared at BrightSong, not in the least happy. The shard was clutched tightly
in my fist.
"You could have warned me," I said accusingly.
He merely ignored my comment.
"You'll need to get the water shard next," he said, gently touching the wall.
Like ripples on a pond, a blue gateway opened up off of his touch. I regarded
it suspiciously.
"One, how will I breathe if it's water? And two, will there be another monster?"
I asked.
"You're immune to the elements to a certain degree. And don't forget the peophin
frills."
I touched them absently, surprised. "Gills?"
He nodded.
"But you didn't answer my second question," I persisted. "Water is associated
with healing and renewal, so there really wouldn't be anything like the fire
snake, right?"
"Your logic is flawed," he declared, smiling a bit. I tried not to scowl.
He reminded me of a certain kid I knew that always gloated when someone else
messed up.
"So enlighten me," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Ever seen a tsunami?" he asked, apparently missing it, "Every element has
its extremes. From a harmless candle flame or a calm pond, to a raging gale
or a violent earthquake. Even the most insubstantial elements, light and dark,
have power. Think of a supernova or a black hole."
He paused, gazing at me.
"Now, go on, you're wasting time."
I walked over to the gate.
"Geez, how do you know so much?" I muttered, stepping through.
I was underwater, the bottom sandy beneath my hooves. I couldn't see the surface,
but shafts of light pierced the shifting sapphire water. I took a deep breath,
somewhat fearfully, I admit. I could breathe.
"Kiddo," someone said ecstatically.
"Melody!" I squealed, hugging her.
She grinned at me.
"And you're here in spirit so you won't be affected by no oxygen," I said
gleefully. "Do you know where the shard is?"
She grinned and shrugged, pointing to our right.
"I think it's that way, but that's an, 'I think.'"
"Hey, we're taking everything here on faith anyways," I said, doing my best
to swim through the waters. I wasn't the fastest swimmer. Melody just seemed
to fly through the water, not making any effort to swim whatsoever. An advantage
of being a spirit, I guess.
"You're slow," Melody observed.
"No really," I muttered.
She just laughed.
"You know, I was thinking about how we sometimes joke that we're twins," she
said, suddenly serious.
"And?"
"Well, in a way we are. I mean, we're so much alike in personality."
I nod slowly.
"And I'm glad. It's nice to have an adopted twin sister."
She suddenly stopped and frowned.
"What's wrong?" I questioned.
"I can't go any further. It's up to you."
She sighed.
"Good luck, and be careful."
I swam off though the pristine waters.
The ocean grew steadily darker around me, dimming from turquoise to a navy.
I looked over my back nervously, having this paranoid fear of being in dark
water. I think it's some kind of phobia. There was a dip in the ocean's bottom,
not very deep, but the only change in scenery I'd seen. I paused, treading water,
sensing something wrong. The water around me stirred in a sudden current, and
I spun around, feeling fear creep up on me. The water continued to move, now
I could see a silver trail solidifying. The stream of water coiled up around
itself, and solidified into a serpent, a blue water dragon. An explosion of
power exploded out from it, and I felt it rush past. It was huge, its head about
as big as me, and covered in shiny silver blue scales. Spikes adorned its back,
and the tail was webbed with translucent skin between barbs. It had two fins
near its chest, and a long flowing mane of dark blue. I stared in disbelief
at the way it just moved through the water, with hardly a flick of its tail,
it could outdistance me easily. I hesitated, unsure of what to do. The leviathan
circled me, eyes glinting. Then, with a roar, it exploded into a burst of speed.
I tried to swim away, but it was so much faster. Something hit me in the side,
sending me tumbling eerily slow through the water. I rightened myself and looked
at the leviathan. It was circling again, watching. I watched it carefully, and
it rushed at me again, but this time I didn't even bother to dodge. At the last
minute, I stroked up as hard as I could, and the leviathan went under me. I
hastily twirled and grabbed hold of it's slippery mane, clawing at its scales
with my free hand. Once again, my claws couldn't pierce its skin. I snarled
in frustration, and the beast whipped its body around in the water, flinging
me casually off. The shard fell from my hand as I flailed in the water. I managed
to right myself in time to meet its next attack, but wasn't able to avoid the
beast entirely. I tried to get up over it again, but it was faster and snatched
me up in its jaws. I yelled and struggled, its jagged teeth cutting my skin.
It glided close to the ocean floor, and I saw out of the corner of my eye the
shard, where I had dropped it. I stretched for it, and managed to snag it, just
barely. The beast must have seen this, for no sooner than my finger touched
it, I felt the pressure of its jaws increase.
"No you don't!" I shouted, and twisting, slammed the sharp crystal into the
underside of its throat. The beast gasped and thrashed, knocking me off to one
side. I swam quickly away from its convulsions, a red shard embedded in its
neck. The creature gave one last despairing cry, than fell still. Its body dissolved
into a trail of blue light, and like a whirlpool, gathered together in the form
of another shard. I retrieved the fire one where it had fallen, and then inspected
my hurts. A few minor scratches from the thing's teeth, some definite bruising,
but nothing that would affect my fighting later, such as it was. I sourly looked
around, and feeling that annoying fear of dark water creep in, hastily grabbed
the blue shard. A light surrounded me and I was returned to the central room.
To be continued...
Feel free to Neomail me, I encourage it. I like feedback. Sabreur is really my
brother, you can Neomail him also, though I ask you to go easy on that. He's in
college right now, and I'd rather not have him mad at me for getting a ton of
Battledome challenges, etc. Melody is also real, my best friend. She's in college
too, her NeoPets name is horngodess, but I wouldn't suggest bugging her, she has
a very demanding major and hardly any free time. Sakuko is also real, she's a
really nice person.
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