![Image](https://i.imgur.com/nHtpTez.png)
The pond was crystal clear, and if it weren't for the darkness, Kynina would be able to see all the way into its depths. The gem appeared to be a few dozen feet down, not the deepest of dives, but definitely out of reach. Thin and wispy shapes danced under the surface, back and forth in the movement of the water. She knelt down by the edge of the land, dipping a hand in to check the temperature. Cold, with no heat source to warm it, but not nearly enough that it would make someone go into shock if they dove in.
And if they wanted this crystal, there was no question that someone would have to go in.
"Who's feeling up to this?" she asked, shaking the water off her hand and looking up again.
Sylkalyn glanced from Safi -- staring determinedly off into the forest -- to Cyra -- visibly about to lose their mind -- and then back at Kynina, her ice-blue eyes as smooth and unreadable as the phenomenon they resembled. "I think it's between you and I. Flip a coin for it?"
Kynina reached into her coat and held up a coin. "Heads or tails for you going in?"
"Heads."
She tossed the coin into the air, watching it flip a few times before she caught it in the palm of her hand smoothly. "It's tails, so it looks like it'll be me." She had the coordination to catch it one flip sooner or later, and she could have done it, but it was only right to be fair about it.
Sylkalyn nodded. "Dive in, then. Looks..." She eyed the pond suspiciously. "...nice."
She hesitated a moment, then sighed softly. "Be careful. The arena is trapped to hell and back. If anything looks suspicious, it definitely is. If you need help, fully activate your Aura. Alright?"
Kynina nodded, skimming the surface with her hand one more time before she stood up. "Alright."
She pulled off the rope she'd carried around her to secure the two fire pokers and dropped it the marshy ground. She wasn't worried about leaving those unsupervised-- to anyone else, they were just unwieldy poles of metal, not an unexpectedly dangerous weapon. She was a little more unwilling to remove her coat with all the knives inside, but she'd want it dry when she got out, and she wouldn't be helped if she weighed herself down. She kicked off her boots and socks, leaving them in a pile not too far from the edge, then moved back to the pond and took a few steps in.
The water felt colder on her legs than it had on her hands as she waded in the shallow parts, the water level rising from her knees to her waist. When it got to her chest and bare arms, Kynina shivered a little. The temperature wasn't at all enough to dissuade her, but she'd need to get more used to it before she went under the surface. She treaded water for a few moments when the water was up to her neck, waiting until she wasn't shivering anymore before she took a deep breath to fill her lungs and dove underneath.
The depths of the pond got dark very quick with little light to go through, but the glow of the crystal was always visible, nestled at the bottom among sediment, rocks, and swaying algae tendrils. Kynina reached out an arm, kicking faster to close the distance until her fingers wrapped around the polished, carefully carved shape of the crystal.
The moment she had a firm grip on it, the darkness of the pool was replaced with a burst of images flashing before her eyes, almost too fast to follow. She saw the fake city first, bird's-eye views of the streets and close-ups of buildings. Then a mountain, imposing despite the lack of space for its height in the arena. Caves, rocky mines where the jagged stone walls crept in and narrowed to dead ends, a maze of tunnels linking and spreading like a spiderweb. A glittering room fulled with crystals much like the one in her hands, everything in sight sharp and glittery. Last, a flash of roaring orange across her sight, vibrant and fierce like volcanic lava.
It all went by in the time it would have taken her to blink.
Once the vision cleared, Kynina felt something brush against her hand. She didn't worry about it, knowing it was just the algae and grass. Arelinor's beaches were hardly pleasant, either being privately owned by rich people who could somehow make a coastal home boring and stifling or crowded and littered with uncollected trash, with nothing in between. She hadn't learned to swim there. But during the summers, Isrith had sometimes taken a week off for the two of them to go somewhere further south, away from the Fracture, and the water there hadn't been cleared of everything interesting or polluted to the point of being repulsive. Kynina had always been swimming in water with kelp, and being touched by it wasn't as scary or uncomfortable as people often described. It was meant to be there. The lack of it was more unnatural than anything else.
So she was surprised when it wrapped around her wrist and pulled strongly, tugging her all the way down to the bottom.
Kynina had barely enough control not to release all her air in a gasp. Not all the crystals could be trapped, surely, so this was unlucky. She pulled her hand back, ripping the tendril off her wrist and floating back up a little, but it was replaced by another strand, then two, then a dozen as the algae reached for her and tried to hold her underwater.
Her head was still clear, and she wasn't out of air yet, but this was enough to make her panic a little. She kept shaking the tendrils off, but they kept grabbing at her and pulling her farther down. It was all she could do to hold on to the crystal as her hands got slimier from removing all the grass from her, and now her chest was burning. When she had to pry off a coil that had wrapped its way around her neck and started to squeeze, Kynina got truly nervous.
This is definitely not safe, she decided. How are we supposed to blow a whistle if we're underwater and haven't got any air to do it with?
Without sighing, though she certainly would have if it weren't for all the water around her, Kynina threw her head back. Her black hair spread in the water, blending in with the darkness around it. And then she activated her aura, making the pool glow with teal, much brighter than it had with just the crystal.
Immediately, dark tentacles broke through the water's surface, shooting down to wrap warmly and stickily around Kynina's wrists and waist just like the grass, except these tentacles also began unwrapping the grass faster than it could spiral around her. The tentacles broke apart a little as they tugged on her, misting into the water and leaving the bitter, sharp taste of iron behind, but they remained solid enough to drag her upwards easily.
Just before she broke the surface, Sylkalyn reached into the water and grabbed her free hand, pulling her all the way out of the pond with a force that sent them both stumbling to the ground. The dark red tentacles wrapped around Kynina dropped away, and Kynina realized they were connected to Sylkalyn's wrists. The other girl's aura faded as the tentacles retracted into her body.
"Are you hurt?" Sylkalyn asked, a little breathlessly. Her bare arms and shoulders were well-muscled -- most likely from the longbow she carried on her back -- and she probably could lift Kynina easily under normal circumstances, but fighting the vines would've made the action more difficult.
"Nope, just in the mood to sue somebody," Kynina joked as she coughed, clutching the crystal to her chest. She shook some of the water off by throwing her head from side to side, making droplets fly everywhere. She felt even colder now that she was dripping wet and out in the air, and so she quickly pulled on her coat and wrapped it around her before she turned back to Sylkalyn. "Thank you."
Sylkalyn nodded. "You're welcome." She looked toward the pond, the clear waters now murky with red, then back at Kynina. "You're going to need to wash that shirt, by the way. Do you know how to get blood out of clothes?"
"Of course. And this really is blood?"
"I should hope so, otherwise I'd be very concerned about what's running through my veins." Sylkalyn cautiously knelt next to the pond and extended one hand to the water, a tiny blood tentacle snaking its way down to the surface. The cloud of blood drifted up to meet her touch, then dissipated until the water was just as clear as before. A touch of colour that Kynina hadn't noticed was missing from Sylkalyn's face returned. "Having anything else would be a bit worrying, I think, and bring up some questions about my parentage, such as which one wasn't human?"
Kynina smirked slightly as she pulled her socks and boots back on, shivering one last time before getting her coat on fully. "I don't usually expect to be concerned about that question, so it's good to know I don't have to."
Sylkalyn stood up, but didn't respond immediately, instead standing still and closing her eyes for a second before taking a deep breath and turning back to Kynina. "Alright. We should get moving again. Who knows what else Fea has waiting for us in here."
Kynina nodded, picking up her fire pokers again and throwing the rope sash over her again. The crystal was tucked away in a coat pocket a moment later, and she was good to go. "Then let's go on our way. There's still three of these left to find."
She wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a vague look of approval flicker over Sylkalyn's face before her expression returned to unreadable ice.
With that, the two of them returned to join Cyra and Safi in the woods.
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