What Rests Below

Adelyn forgot how much of a mess that they made by the lake.

Not that it was their fault after all, but the massive craters in the coast certainly did not do them very many favors.

“What a bother,” Custos said, with a sigh. “Well, it should fix itself over time. Nature has a way of doing that.”

“Well, hold it,” Cozy said. “You said the beast shrinks and grows right? What’s the smallest it can shrink to?”

“Probably around my height,” Liana said. She was a bit taller than average woman, but not particularly large. Cozy saw this and nodded.

“Then that means there should still be a tunnel within the lake. Can anyone hold their breath for long enough?” Cozy asked.

Adelyn looked at the massive lake. Searching through it underwater would be quite the issue, especially if they had to swim to find it.

“I dunno if swimming will be the most effective. Maybe we search around the edges first?” Adelyn suggested.

“No, it’s fine,” Custos interjected. Then, the man swiped his hands up, and in less than a second…

A large rushing sound stormed all of their ears, Adelyn immediately jumped back in surprise as glowing light shined down on her. She looked up, and saw the entire body of water floating in the air. The whole lake.

Within it, she could see small fishes swimming at the bottom. She could see bigger ones trying to compete for food. She could see plants and their roots spreading out of the water. All of this illuminated by the light that emanates from the lake and shining onto the coast.

And all that was left on the ground was the empty lake bed, dry and clear for all to see.

“There, searching it should be easier,” Custos said.

“Wow,” Adelyn looked at him. “That’s amazing! You’re really that strong?”

“He’s the governor of nature,” Liana said. “Of course he is.”

“The… fish will be okay though, right?” Teddie looked up at the water body, as the fish were swimming around.

“They should be fine,” Custos said. “My magic should protect them. It would be like nothing ever happened to them.”

“Never seen a governor’s power up-close before,” Cozy thought aloud. “But, it’s amazing to see. Now.”

Cozy jumped down into the lakebed. Everyone else followed suit as well.

“If you can find a deep tunnel, that would be great,” Cozy said. “The place where the hydra burrowed off to is probably the answer to whatever is causing this mess.”

They walked through the empty lake, keeping a keen eye for notable holes or gaps. Adelyn herself was trying to look closely for anything that could be considered such.

“The issue is,” Edward brought up as they walked. “There are a ton of holes in this lake.”

Ed was right. Passages and holes into a lake weren’t exactly uncommon in nature. It would be pretty hard to tell which one was the hydra.

“You are right,” Cozy said, before turning to Liana. “Liana, the hydra uses magic to shrink and grow itself, yes?”

“Yes, it does,” Liana responded. “Why so?”

“Well, if we had a way, we might be able to detect its magic to narrow down the area even further,” Cozy thought, but then the group noticed Custos took out a device from his pocket.

“This is a gift from Rebecca, she’s beta-testing spreading stuff from the capital outwards. It should be able to tell us about any magical signals around here.”

“Oh!” Cozy perked up. “Can I have it? I promise I’ll be careful.”

“Sure. Though if you break it then I will probably have to throw you in jail.”

“I won’t, I won’t,” Cozy responded, taking the device. She flicked a few buttons and it whirred on, as Cozy tuned into the small screen.

“This is quite amazing, getting my hands on capital-exclusive technology is… wow,” Cozy said, staring at it.

“What does it say?” Adelyn said, looking over her shoulder. She saw the screen state CALCULATING…

“It’s working, but there’s obviously some magic in the area. We should be far enough away from the coast that our own magic shouldn’t be a factor,” Cozy responded.

After a moment, the screen popped up with a notification, RESULTS FOUND. A crude looking map of the nearby area formed, and arrows pointed to a location just north of them.

“According to the device,” Cozy said before pointing. “Very very strong indicator of magic over there.”

All of them look forward, and they see a seemingly human-sized hole, not too different from other holes but…

“Yeah, the device is right,” Ed affirmed. “There’s definitely more magic around this one. I think we got our target.”

“Perfect,” Cozy smiled. “Now, if this leads us to a way to fix your issue, then you owe us, yeah?”

“I suppose I would,” Custos crossed his arms. “But we’ll have to see, first.”

“It’s a tight fit though…” Teddie said, looking down at the hole. “Are you sure we can properly investigate it?”

Liana sighed, and she flicked her wrist. Suddenly, the hole greatly expanded as vines tore the ground wide open. A rumbling permeated under their feet as their new pathway was widened.

“Still rough and tumble as always, huh?” Custos said to Liana.

“If it works, it works,” Liana responded. “So, we’re going to investigate?”

“Yeah!” Adelyn nodded. “I’ll go first.”

The girl walked towards the hole. She took a breath, and then jumped down into the darkness below.

***

Adelyn landed on her feet. Though she realized it was horribly dark down here, and she probably shouldn’t have gone first. Luckily, the darkness was short-lived as soon as she heard another landing directly afterwards. Soon, a golden light illuminated the darkness, revealing that Ed had shortly followed her down here.

Cozy gently glided with her wings after them, and Teddie went down the fall too, holding Mr. Bear all the way. The last to come were Custos and Liana, who lowered themselves down with magic.

“Seems like everyone took the fall well,” Ed said.

“You use pure light magic?” Custos said to him. “That’s quite the rarity.”

“I’ve been told,” Ed responded, before pushing his hand outward to let the ball of light illuminate the tunnel. The vines have stretched it out far enough for them to enter a deep passage all at once.

Custos raised their hand, and far above them they could hear the lake sifting back into place.

“Let's check this out, then,” Custos said, motioning to the group to lead them forwards. And such, they continued.

The passage itself wasn’t particularly notable. Their footsteps trudged through the depths of the earth as the darkness ahead seemed endless. It was a quiet and simple walk for the six of them, leaving it with only the sound of their thoughts.

“So,” Adelyn said while walking, trying to stir up some conversation. “Governor, what exactly does your position entail?”

“Collectively? We’re the heads of the country, most decisions need to get passed by us. But individually, I’m in charge of my own people and city. Making sure that everyone is happy and harmonious.”

“Everyone you want, anyways,” Liana responded, sarcastically.

“Everyone I can,” Custos said. “You ought to do your part as well, if you claim to be a guardian of the forest.”

“I’ve already told you that a lot of my beasts are scared of being swept up in your giant prison, maybe you should consider that?”

“They should have nothing to worry about if they’re well-behaved-”

“Do you two just argue?” Teddie asked, with just a hint of discomfort. “I can’t imagine either of you two saying anything nice about each other.”

“If someone is going to be so isolationist, then she ought to understand when things don’t go her way,” Custos said.

“And you constantly step into the animals that trust me-”

“AGH- BLEGH-”

Adelyn was listening to the conversation, but as she walked, a terrible sensation came over her and she stepped back. It felt like her stomach was trying to escape from her mouth, and she gagged and nearly vomited.

“Eurgh, what… What happened?” Adelyn coughed as she tried to regain herself. Ed helped her up and began to form a light orb that illuminated the cave further. He threw it down the tunnel.

And what illuminated, was something vile.

A gross sludge dripped from the sides of the tunnel, and what could only be described as roots pierced through what air was left. It was slimy, yet also swirling. It looked like it moved on its own, erratically and dramatically. The roots looked like they couldn’t settle on one position, so they constantly swung back and forth.

“Let me see,” Ed began to say, but then he immediately jumped back too. Adelyn noticed his eyes turn red for a split second, as he gagged and fell to the ground. “Oh god, it really is that bad.”

“From just going through there?” Cozy said. “I feel like that might be our answer, then. You ought to do something about it, governor.”

Custos frowned, before a glowing green shield manifested around the entire group.

“Let’s continue, hopefully we can find the source. I’m pretty sure this is just a symptom.”

“If it is,” Liana said. “I had no idea such a thing was growing under these grounds. I should warn all of the animals about this immediately.”

“Same,” Custos said. “Hopefully, it won’t be here much longer.”

The rest of the group seemed to agree. From within the green barrier, they decided the best course of action was to move forward.

And so they did, pushing past the disgusting mess and deeper into the heart.

The sludge pushed back against their shield, even if it guarded them against the air, it still felt uncomfortable to even walk through.

“It’s so icky,” Teddie noted.

“You’re safe as long as you’re with me. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too deep. How the hell did your beast swim through this stuff?” Custos said, before turning to Liana.

“When you’re avoiding an angry mob, you’d do a lot of things, would you now?” Liana responded.

“It’s not that hard to cooperate, Liana. There wouldn’t be any issues then.”

“I’m getting really sick of you two arguing,” Edward complained. “Let's just keep on going.”

Adelyn agreed with Ed at this point, and she kept focus on the path ahead of them. Past the depths of the sludge, they eventually pushed their way into a cleaner area.

The walls were still disgusting messes, as the roots spread wide across them. But it was no longer nearly unwalkable.

“...mhm,” Custos dropped the shield. Adelyn prepared to throw up, but she didn’t feel it. The worst of it was over, it seems. However, what stood ahead of them was a large metal wall.

“Ah, so that explains it,” Liana said.

The tunnel went deeper, of course, but they stopped at this wall for a reason. Ed walked up to it and felt with his hands.

“Cozy, can you put that magic detector thing over here?” Ed said, and Cozy nodded. She pointed the device at the metal wall, and then suddenly… the device began to go haywire. It sputtered and spazzed with random calculations until finally breaking.

“Hm?” Cozy looked at it. “What happened? Why did it break?”

“Give me that,” Custos took the device back and began to fiddle with it. Adelyn, Edward, and Teddie began to approach the metal wall.

“Well, at least from my gut sense,” Ed said. “I feel like this is the source of the issue.”

“Yeah, look,” Adelyn said, pointing to something in the wall. “There’s a crack in the wall! There’s probably something leaking out on the other side!”

“But what?” Teddie said. “Where does this wall come from anyways?”

“It’s…” Custos said, still fiddling with the device. “This is the metal we use to make the prison. This might be a prison cell?”

“So it’s your fault?” Liana crossed her arms.

“Not right now, I’m trying to figure this thing out,” Custos responded. “I think it’s busted.”

“Well, let's patch up the wall first,” Ed said, forming a small filling out of light. “Adelyn, you have your earth golem, right? Can he help?”

“Oh, yeah! One second,” Adelyn said, before channeling her energy once more and calling forth a large golem. With a clap it seals off the crack with rocks, closing the gap.

“There, problem solved!” Cozy said. “Now, you owe us.”

Custos looked up from his device and looked closer at the wall. Then his eyes opened wide.

“Wait, that’s not the usual metal, that’s Aegisian. That means-”

“That means… what?” Cozy asked.

A rumbling was heard from behind the wall. Edward, Teddie, and Adelyn look at their makeshift barrier. It began to crack, and then crumble. Then suddenly, a powerful force began to pull the three of them closer!

“What the?!” Ed shouted.

“What’s going on?” Adelyn exclaimed.

Liana, Cozy and Custos all acted, attempting to reach out and grab them to pull them to safety!

“Adelyn, grab my hand!” Cozy flew closer in an attempt to reach her. Liana created vines to try and latch onto Teddie, and Ed made a rope to try and throw at Custos.

But, as Adelyn reached out for Cozy’s hands, she just missed. She lost her grip. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the other two’s ropes SNAP. They all stumbled and fell, and the three of them were pulled through the crack.