Wet shrimpy limbs clutched Felix’s head. Spineharrow pushed its face against his teeth. No way. Nonono. A squirming, slimy sensation rubbed against his tongue. It’s trying to go down my throat! Spindly limbs crept around his neck, and the creature slid deeper, entering his throat.

Bii’s zapped it.

“Deepeerrrr?” Arms around Felix’s head weakened their grip.

Felix unloaded every ounce of strength in his relic, tearing the monster out of his mouth. He threw it off in a fit of terror. “Disgusting! Disgusting! Aaaaagh, I can still taste it.”

“Stay behind me.” The dream-gray bulk of Dream Sentinel stepped between Felix and the now swiftly swirling spineharrow. Felix drew Hannes’ shaxe, holding the blade before his mouth. His eyes darted from bubble to bubble.

“Those must be the spineharrows. Lords, what kind of potato brain would bring something that creepy with them from the Abyss. Why’d they have to keep it alive and litter the safe zones with them?” A dreadful thought arose. “Byss save us… you think they can invade our ears and noses too?”

“These things happen,” Hannes said flatly. “And yes. Most likely.”

Felix twitched with a shiver of discomfort. “Gyah! Right. Perfectly understandable. Who doesn’t occasionally misplace their mouth invading murderhorrors?”

“I’ve had to do so one or twice myself, when I ran out of space to keep them,” said Hannes.

Shock. “You what?”

“Above you!”

A spineharrow smacked against the gooey surface of his Dream Sentinel. “Deeeepeerrrr,” it moaned, squirming through the gooey body of Hannes’ relic. But the moment its face entered the grey mass, the spineharrow went limp. Hannes grabbed its face, slammed it to the ground, took the shaxe from Felix, and relieved the monster of its head.

Felix’s heart was still pounding, when Hannes returned the shaxe. “Wow. Sweet Byss you’re quick!”

“Stay alert. There’s another.”

“Deeepeeerrr,” groaned a voice two bubbles ahead.

“Deeeepeeeeeer?” asked another from the left.

“Deeeepeerdeeeeper,” a third confirmed from further up.

Dozens of bubbles splashed with serpentine shapes leaping towards Hannes and Felix. Bii pinged in abject horror, slipping inside Felix’s shirt.

“Agreed,” said Felix, tightening his grip on the all too small shaxe. “Uh, Hannes? Any delver tips for situations like these?”

“Retreat.” Hannes grabbed Felix over shoulder, and sprinted.

Spineharrows crashed into the spot they had stood in, entangling as they groaned. One fixed its eyeless eyes on Felix, repeating that nauseating mantra. Its mane of spines bristled, and toothless mouth narrowed into an ‘o’.

Thump. Thump, thump, thump, thump. Spines rained against Dream Sentinel, first from a single spineharrow, then all of them. Hannes leapt back into the entrance they came through, and hunkered behind a rock with Felix. A few more spines clinked against it. Surfaces splashed across the Ball of Water. A quick glance revealed spineharrows had flopped their way back underwater.

“Bii, less light,” Hannes whispered.

Bii pinged, and toned down its natural glow. Only silverlight remained, invisible to the denizens of the Abyss as they all lacked a soul. Not that something without eyes was likely to navigate based on sight anyhow.

“Things got a bit dangerous,” Felix whispered.

Hannes whispered back, “Indeed.”

“Can you deal with them?”

Hannes considered for a moment. “I would rather not try. Their desire to go deeper seems to make Dream Sentinel a good counter against the body invasion. However, if they tried to spit the spines while their head was within my relic... That could potentially end badly. Killing them seems to kill them, which is always a welcome surprise. However, we would need to know their abilities and numbers to hunt them without taking an unacceptably large risk.”

“Figures.” Felix studied at the dancing bloblets, thinking. “If we throw the canisters up there, do you think the water will go in?”

“I would assume so. Water bottles are a ubiquitous concept. Even floating water should recognize that it needs to fill a bottle.”

“Great." Felix took out a canister and wire, then paused. "Uh. My knot-knowledge may or may not also be limited to an overhand knot and faintly remembered pictures."

Hannes looped wire and took a canister. "Pay attention. We call this, the delver's crutch."

When Felix had copied the ropework around two of his canisters, they took one each, and started water fishing. Felix whipped the canister into a spin on a short leash, picked a bubble close to the entrance, and let the canister fly like a pebble from a sling.

First attempt fell short. Canister clanked on the rocky ground. Spines and spineharrows rained on it. The canister Felix dragged back was a bludgeoned and punctured mess, with spineharrows face imprinted on one side.

"Darn."

"Hm. It may have attempted to enter deeper into the bottle." Hannes made his throw.

Splash. The canister floated happily inside a bubble of water, until nearby blobs trembled with spineharrows.

Hannes yanked before the bottle could be invaded. The canister flew back, leaving behind a freely floating trail. He hefted it, brows furrowed. "Curious."

"What is? Let me have a feel."

Hannes tossed the canister over. Three liter metal canister floated to him in a slow arc, and landed in Felix's arms as if it weighed next to nothing. However, moving it around felt… odd. It was floaty, but weighty. Light, but possessing the inertia of something heavy. The water still had mass. Mass, which just so happened to casually ignore gravity.

“Sweet Byss, now we’re talking!” Felix grinned as he set it down. “Let’s fill them all up and head back. I can’t wait to bounce around without gravity.”

Felix whipped up a second canister into as fast a spin as his grip could hold and threw. With a splash, it sank into a bubble above. A bubble with silhouettes swimming inside. The wire snapped taut.Crap. And pulled Felix up towards the Ball of Water.

“Hannes, I got one!”

Hannes rushed to grip Felix’s line. The two threw their weight to the ground, grunting and groaning as they fought against the taut bouncing line. Felix’s gloves warmed around the slipping wire. Even Bii helped, but the wire kept on sliding from his grip.

“Let go, Felix!” Hannes shouted, gritting teeth.

Felix’s arms burned. He kept pinching his grip. “No way! This is my second canister.”

Spineharrows moaned, swarming inside the blob with the canister. The wire slipped several meters, eliciting two curses as it slashed through the gloves.

“I’ll hold it.” Hannes’ voice hardened with urgency. “Get a red-corked vial from the black side-pocket on my backpack. Left side. Hurry.”

“Okay.” Felix didn’t think to question what the vial held. “Your left or my left?”

“We’re…” Hannes grunted from effort. “Facing the same direction.”

“Right. Okay. Letting go in three, two, one.”

Hannes got dragged along for almost a meter, until his feet locked on a rock. Felix located the black pocket, flipped it open to reveal tens of tiny vials. By the time he’d plopped open one with a red cork, Hannes opened his mouth and said, “Pour it.”

Felix did so, and Hannes made a scowl of ten and a half lemons. A black maw appeared over Hannes’ stomach and spat neon-red liquid into Dream Sentinel’s abdomen. The blobby relic trembled. Its round gray shape began to harden into red musculature. The drooping sleepy eyes on the stalks opened, glowing angry red.

“Hrumph!” Hannes twisted his body and pulled.

The canister rocketed from the above and slammed into the ground. It rattled violently. A spineharrow peeked from the bottle’s mouth, eyeing Felix. “Deeepeeeerrr?”

Felix shut his lips tight, and smacked it with the shaxe, then jumped on the canister and sealed it before the creature could exit.

Multiple voices within echoed ‘deeper’. The canister kept on vibrating, almost jumping from Felix’s grip when spineharrows within banged their face against the metal from the inside.

“Did we capture them?” Dumbfounded, Felix looked at Hannes.

Hannes stared at the canister. Around him, Dream Sentinel regained its dreamy gray coloring and sleepy appearance. A flinch of pain visited Hannes’ expression. He clutched his guts as if in pain. “Unless they can shoot spines from the inside.”

“Yikes!” Felix dropped the canister and took several quick steps backwards.

It continued to rattle and move, but no spines were shot.

“Maybe they can’t shoot when underwater?” Felix guessed.

After a moment of thought, Hannes nodded. “Possible. It’s a nice find.” He picked up his last canister. “Perhaps you can make use of their parts as relics.”

“Ooohhh, I can already imagine it!” Felix said, eyes brightening. “A relic that allows me to quickly put my head in people’s deepest places. I’d be guaranteed a few comfy years in prison every time I use it.”

Hannes coughed, suppressing a reaction.

A little laugh escaped Felix. “Seriously though, how would I go about using them, without getting invaded the moment I open the bottle?”

“If it dies when it’s killed, cooking usually works.” Hannes threw his canister into a bloblet above, and retrieved it without a hitch. “Keep it on medium heat for an hour, and the denizens should be dead.”

“That easy? Nice! I’ll chug it in the oven then”

“We can find something to burn at the lift site. Liftmasters won’t let us bring a bottle full of dangerous denizens back to Surface with the paperwork we have.”

“Right. Makes sense.”

Felix sat down, eyes glazed and locked on the rattling bottle of spineharrows. He finally remembered to dismiss his relic. Adrenaline decided to fade on the exact same moment. All strength left Felix’s body at once, leaving him shivering on his butt, feeling as if he’d been walking for a day without rest.

Bii nuzzled his hand, pinging quietly.

“Heh, don’t worry. I’m alright. Just a little tired.”

“Time for a break then.” Hannes put the two canisters he’d filled with dancing water beside Felix, and took the one with spineharrows into his own backpack. He then took out some mombars, water, and a bottle of painkillers.

“I’m fine. We can continue after a quick snack,” said Felix. He gave the caged bunny some crumbs from a hay flavored mombar, and unwrapped himself a meatball one.

Hannes popped three pills and washed them down. “You need rest. Take a nap if you want to, I can keep watch.”

“I do? No way, it’s just my relic backfiring and excitement from battle. I don’t need a nap. We haven’t been down here that long. Have we?” Felix looked at Bii.

Bii waved his feelers in confusion.

Hannes shook his head once. “The Abyss skews with your sense of distance and time, even your own senses. Despite us knowing this, death from accidentally pushing yourself to exhaustion continues to take copper torches every year.”

“Yeah, but…” Felix held his head. It hurt a little. His vision was getting woozy. “Maybe you’re right. How did I not notice?”

“Don’t fret it. It took me months of delving, until I learned to pace myself.”

Felix sighed. “So much to learn.”

“Having second thoughts about delving?”

“As if!” Felix beamed at Hannes, gesturing at the Abyss with his food. “I love this. All the little critters and plants, each an invitation to wondrous places no-one might’ve ever visited. Flying water. Awesome creatures that defy all sense. Heck yeah! Even the scary parts are exciting. Seeing how the stuff I’ve read doesn’t always work out like I thought, and being surprised. Oh, man, yes please, gimme more! Learning all these quirky rules and finally feeling like I’m one step closer to understanding and delving the Abyss…”

Felix paused, his grin widening as he looked at Hanes. “I love it. Thank you so much for coming back and taking me here. You’re the best.”

A faintest of smiles briefly visited Hannes’ lips. He nodded, grip tightening on his mombar. “I’m glad. I feared…” He hesitated.

Felix held his words, giving Hannes time he needed to continue.

“Since I never much mingled with the two of you... I feared you might resent me for leaving and rarely visiting home.”

Felix blinked, his grin fading. Wow. And I thought I brooded over dumb things.

“Are you?” The slightest edge of caution touched Hannes’ voice.

“Resentful? Why? No. We just missed you. We know you worked hard, when mom was too devastated to go outside. Even Linda was big enough to remember. If you need to be away to keep on growing, or to earn your lead torch, go ahead and do it. Linda and me, and mom of course, we’re all cheering on you. And that’s hundred percent genuine happy cheer, no resentment wrapped in fake smiles.” At most I’m a little jealous of you, but he didn’t say that part.

“Thank you.” Hannes let out a deep breath, smiling once more.

They paused to finish the mombars and peeled open seconds; a crunchy rye-sandwich mombar fir Felix.

Hannes cleared his voice, “I’m not aiming to become a lead torch.”

Felix choked, and coughed. Bits flew into his nose and made it worse. Eyes watering, still hacking out bits of meatball flavored snot, he replied, “Excuse what now? Why would anyone not want to be one?”

Hannes gazed towards the Ball of Water. “Our last delve lasted almost eighteen months. It was a magnificent adventure we’ll never forget, but it was a long span of time. Mother’s hair grew gray. Linda found her calling and became almost unrecognizable. And you grew into a man.

“Part of me regrets taking on the iron gut and graduating from copper. The guild will pressure us to take on more deep delves in the future. And it is difficult to say no to their incentives. I won’t say I’m not tempted by the rewards a lead torch would receive, but the cost is not to be casually dismissed. The deeper you delve, the more you risk losing yourself. Your humanity, or your life.”

Hannes’ somber gaze fell upon Felix. He continued, “When they offer you an iron gut, or other boons down the line, take a step back. Consider what you want from the Abyss. There are adventures, treasure, strength, and glory to be found everywhere, not only in its deepest reaches. You don’t have to push yourself to near death to find them. Don’t go deeper just to prove someone you can. Make your own choices. Don’t be afraid to refuse what others may see as a chance. It may take more from you, than you can imagine.”

Hannes the perfect—Hannes who conquered everything before him with grim determination regretted accepting an iron torch? Mombar dropped from Felix’s grip. His brain refused to understand.

Hannes picked the mombar and put it in Felix’s hand, then patted his shoulder. “Apologies for the gloomy topic. For what it’s worth. I doubt you’ll regret earning your copper torch. It’s the ones that come after that you need to consider carefully.”

“No, no, it’s fine. Good talk. I’ll need some time to digest it, but I’ll be sure to consider the choice carefully, when the time comes.” Felix flashed a reassuring smile, and took a napkin to wipe his face with. “Anyhow, should we head back up now? I'm feeling energized again, like I could hike a mountain or two.”

"If you think you are ready.” Hannes stood and began repacking everything.

Felix devoured the remnants of his mombar, and did the same. “Mind if I try navigating back home?”

“You know how?”

In theory. “Follow plants or critters that were bountiful near the lift?”

Hannes nodded. “Go on then.”

“Yess! A chance to redeem myself as the master navigator I was born to be. Come on Bii, help me find one of those squiggly curly plants.” His gaze combing the ground, Felix began leading the way. Pinging cheerfully, Bii obliged, and the wisdom of the two led them joyfully through the Abyss.

After two turns, both of which were wrong, Hannes stopped Felix despite him insisting it was an unlucky coincidence. They released Snoozy the rabbit and followed it back to the lift.

Felix wasn’t discouraged. These things took practise.

By the liftsite, they gathered stiff stalked plants. Soon a campfire crackled with an off-color Abyssal flame. While waiting for the canister with spineharrows to boil and stop screaming, Hannes spoke up, his tone distinctly uncomfortable.

“Felix, about the earlier…”

“The which what?” Felix raised his eyes from the flames. “A denizen mistaking my mouth as a new home? Rest assured, I won’t say a peep. It’s not your fault that the denizen fell for my lips.”

Hannes chuckled, actually chuckled! And said, “Thank you, brother.”

“Anytime, brother. Mouthful of creepy crawlies is a low price to pay for the incredible things we can now do with my relic.”

“You’re already starting to sound like a delver.”

The final smile Hannes gave him was etched in Felix’s memory. For many a night and day, he dreamt of their adventure, knowing countless more would be ahead of him, if the new relic earned him a torch from the Knights.