"Uuumm?" That girl tilted her head and some of her hair fell down to her cheek. She looked at me, puzzled.

That girl, who just healed me with some sort of magic, stood on her feet, while I was still sitting on the ground. Staring at her with bewildered thought. I couldn't move past my mind from what had just happened. When the mysterious light which was emanated from her palm, shrouded the wound with that blue warm light, my wound had fully recovered. She made it look easy as a piece of cake.

What she displayed was definitely magic. The magic that was only existed on the books and movies. The magic that existed only in fairy tale stories. The magic that was played in games and read in manga. It happened right in front of me. I saw it clearly with both of my eyes. I've experienced it on myself. There was no mistake, it was a real deal.

I recollected myself, stopped showing her what might be a dumbfounded expression on my face. Then, I crouched on both legs, stood up and facing her. I shouldn't let my guard down. Even though she looked like a harmless child, moreover, she saved me. But, a stranger still a stranger. I need to gather information from her. First, I need to know if she can understand what I said.

That girl happily went back to her rock seat and sat down. She hunched her back while both hands placed behind her. She straightened her legs and swung them up and down respectively. Like a happy child. I moved back to the rock I formerly sat on. I glanced at the smashed flat flesh that I accidentally threw and mashed upon I fell onto the ground. My stomach rumbled from the sight of it.

I peeked at the girl. But, she was looking at my face too. So, the peeking was futile. I was glad that she didn't go berserk knowing that I wasted the food she gave me. I need to start a conversation with her. Who know what she might be able to tell me.

"Thank you... for saving my life" I spoke with both eyes looking straight into hers. Observing her every little movement.

She stopped swinging her leg and laid her feet flat onto the ground. She leaned forward and face on my side. Then, she replied my gaze with her big blue eyes. Her head nodded and she gave me a smile.

Does she understand?

I rotated myself to front facing her.

"What's your name?" I asked but was immediately responded by a puzzled expression from her.

While showing me that confused expression, she started to look at me intently, trying to figure out what I mean. She frowned her brows, squinted her eyes and slightly tilted her head. Seeing her reaction, an Idea flashed through my mind. I raised my hand up, curled my forefinger and pointed the finger tip toward myself. I cleared my throat.

"Shi...ra...tsu...ki" I slowly spelled my name out while pointing at myself repeatedly.

Her eyes suddenly widened and her brows hunched up. I can see that she was listening. She mulled over it for a few seconds. But then, she raised her hand and pointed at me.

"Seeyacookie!!" She repeated my name wrong but she was excited. At least now I know that she was capable of speaking something other than 'uuuhm' and 'uuu'.

I shook my head and continue enunciating each syllable slowly.

"Shi.......ra.......tsu......ki"

She pondered for a second but now giving me a discouraged expression. She knew that she had spelled it wrong. Even so, she bravely tried and gently voiced out again.

"Iyaacoo...kiee?" As if she feared about giving me an incorrect answer, her tone of voice was tuned down. She patiently waited for my next reaction while looking at me with her puppy eyes.

Ahh... I guess that this 'Shiratsuki' was a bit too mouthful for her.

I changed my mind.

"Yuu..." I pointed at myself again while slowly pronouncing my given name.

"Yuu?" She quickly repeated to what I said but still with a careful tone laced to it.

I nodded at her, as she seemed to understand what a nod implies. She stood up straightaway after I gave her the nod. Then, she excitedly thrust her hand out with her forefinger pointing toward me.

"Yuu!!" She loudly repeated my name again, then she happily jumped around and circling me. She might have an abnormal appearance, but she was just a child after all. Seeing her behavior had almost made me forgot the crazy strength and the eyes opening magic she displayed before.

I cleared my throat to gained her attention back. She heard the sound I made and stopped jumping around. With that chance, I gently raised my hand and pointed at her.

"What is your name?" I repeated the question that she previously confused with.

She listened and looked at me closely. Then, she contemplated at my hand gestures. She pondered for a bit. Eventually, she made a small 'oohh' mouth shape and glanced back at me. She moved her hand and placed it on top of her chest.

"Elly!" Laced with a cheerful tone, she finally told me her name.

I honestly thought of a possible chance that she might have not known or didn't have a name. But, luckily, she got one. So, I didn't have to think of a name to call her. Now that I have an easy way to call on her. I will further wring out bits of information.

"Elly... Can you tell me how did you get me into this cave?" I pointed at her and then I pointed at myself, trying to give her something to think with. Hoping that she would understand.

But as expected, that question was too much for her. She gave me a straight poker face, implying that she didn't understand any bit of it. Next, she threw me a wry smile, showing that she had trouble interpreting that.

As I thought, she didn't understand my words. But, she was clever enough to guess what I mean from the tone of my voice and the movement of my body. She has a good observing skill. So, we started our gesture guessing play.

I stood up from my seat and started acting. She was eagerly watching me as if watching a show. I pointed at myself at first, then I pointed at the lake while trying to imagine and acted as if I was drowning. Last I circled my hand around the wound that was supposed to be there if not healed. At the end, I hunched my shoulder up with both arms on my side and palms facing up. “How?” I added a word with a questioning tone.

Elly folded her arms to her chest and mulled over it. Then she moved her hand as if she already knew what I was trying to say.

“Uhhmmm…. Yuu...” She talked with her usual ‘uhm’ but now added with my name.

With that tiny little figure of her, she imitated my drowning act and then quickly moved her feet to the other side as if looking at her previous stance, she raised both her hands and whispered what seemed to be a spell but not in a human language. It was indeed some kind of language, but in a different frequency range than how a normal human usually does. Streaks of blue light started to appeared and swirled magically in front of her palms.

A big transparent bubble formed out of the light and now floating in front of her palm. The bubble swayed for a moment and then popped in the air. After that, Elly retracted her hands and looked at me straight. She showed me another of her magic skill.

But, it didn’t shock me anymore. What was driving me right now was the urge to explore the yet unknown knowledge to me. How did the magic form? For a bubble made out of nowhere, it was still an unbelievable sight to see. But, what was the purpose of the bubble? I didn’t get what she was trying to say.

Elly puffed her cheek as she knew that I was clueless about what she just did. She came closer and yanked on my right arm. She dragged me away with a strength of an adult even though she has a figure of a child. Then, she stopped right next to the lakeside. My feet were just an inch away the edge.

My instinct told me that something awful is going to happen. I stared at the lake in front of me. The lake seemed to be deep and it was dark under the surface. I couldn't see what's might be lurking inside the lake from my whereabout. But the lake surface was peculiarly calm. I stepped my foot back to add distance between myself and the unearthly lake.

I turned to look at Elly, who was currently tip toeing up and down on her feet, staring at the lake intently. Then, she glanced at me. She put up an unexpected evil smirk on her mouth which fiercely rang the warning alarm in my mind. In a bat of an eye, she forcefully thrust her hand toward my chest. She pushed me with the strength that I couldn't resist in time. I lost track of the ground and fell straight to the lake while front facing her. Elly had the sheepishly smirk on her face while I was falling down.

Splaaasshhhhh

My whole body had submerged into the cold lake, head pointing down. The chilly cold water covered all over my skin and started to crawl their way into my nostrils. I didn't collect long enough breath to hold inside the lake. My mouth started to blow some bubbles up. I kicked in the water with my legs and swung my hands in confusion. Did I ever say that I couldn't swim?

It was the consequence for letting my guard down beside her. I should have run away at the moment she dragged me to the lakeside. But, where could I go? I didn't even sense any malign from her except she was the actress of the year. She even saved my life and showed me concern. Never had I guessed that she will try to drown me. Even though she was the one who pulled me out of the lake. Why would she push me into the lake now? Maybe she was trying to show me something that I couldn’t comprehend yet. Maybe because of the flesh I mashed onto the ground. Who know how a little girl’s mind work, moreover an abnormal one to be precise.

The lake was dim and dark. I could barely see things, but I knew that the lake bottom was deep. At the moment when my little attempt of swimming up to the surface had ceased. The flow of the water around me suddenly moved in sync as if something brushing pass me. That unknown thing swooshed and circling my pathetic self. I can sense it with how the water moved around me.

I am drowning and now, a monster?

It stopped circling and floated in front of me in the dark. Slowly, a light emanated from the shadow. The light was swirled into a circle and then became a glowing bubble. That bubble floated toward the currently powerless me and plunged into my chest.

As if I was enlightened, the pressure on my chest faded and the lung that had been crying out for air had calmed down. I didn't breathe, but I could feel the breath itself. No air was inhaled or exhaled from both my mouth and my nose. But, the air had already circulated my lung. I pressed on my chest and awkwardly trying to gasp for the air. But, the water came in as I opened my mouth so I shut it tight. It was awkward and eerie. That was the first time in my life to be alive and not breathing.

The next second, a bigger bubble was formed by the unknown shadow, which I had already guessed who. The big glowing bubble glanced on Elly's little smiling face. Then with both her hands, she scattered out the bubbles into hundreds of tiny glowing bubbles. The glowing little bubbles floated across us. Spread all over inside this lake, flying like the summer fireflies, but they were brighter and more, breathtaking.

Still haven't got used to this not breathing way of a 'breath'. I keep both my hands on my chest closely as if feared for running out of the air in my lung. Elly swim closer to me, with some glowing bubbles reflected on her face. She chuckled when she saw my reaction. Later on, she grabbed on my wrist and she turned around. Slowly dragging me into an underwater tunnel. The next moment, she speeded away so fast that I was jerked forward by the force, even though we were clearly underwater. Wait, something seemed to be off.

Elly was pulling my hand with one of hers and another hand laid leisurely at her side. Then, how did she 'swim'? As we were moving away from the previous spot. The glowing bubbles faded far away. Elly moved her hand and made another big bubble that hit herself alongside the speed. The hundreds glowing bubble were scattered when hitting her tiny figure. Some bubbles stick to her and exposed herself in the glowing blue light.

A fin... tail?!

What was supposed to be a pair of her thin little legs had gone. A fully-fledged tail of a fish had extended from her waist down like it has always been there. It was naturally placed as a part of her body. She flicked her tail up and down, fanning at the water, speeding through this tunnel.

Elly is a mermaid...?

At that point, when I thought that I would no longer be surprised of what she did. Once again, she had succeeded putting me in awe. She was a child full of surprise. Or, maybe I should say that 'this world' is full of surprises. I couldn't imagine the next event that would eventually happened to me. Although the chances will be about encountering another danger, but somehow, my heart thumped excitedly at the thought of discovering more fantasy being. As if I have yearned for this in my whole life.

Maybe, I can get her to lead me outside of this cave. The possible of being sent into another world still short a whole forty percent. It could be that this dungeon like maze of caves were just another mysterious location that haven't been uncovered in 'my world'. But, the higher chance leaned more to the fantasy guesses. Everything that had happened since the start at here never had made any sense. Especially the magic which defied the law of physic. This place was unlikely a part of 'my world'.

The eternal long tunnel had finally ended. We swam into another lake connected to the previous one. It was a brighter lake. I could almost see clearly underwater. I spotted some unknown weird fishes and some weird colored plants grew on the lake bottom. Elly released my hand and left me to float aimlessly. She slowly flipped her tail up to the lake surface.

I, the once who didn't know how to swim, can finally calmly think through about how to push myself up in the water. The thought of knowing that I wouldn't run out of breath had gave me a courage to try myself. I slowly swing my legs imagining the way a swimmer does on television. I stretched my arms forward and then opened my arms apart as if dividing the water. Steadily, I learned how to swim myself up. I followed Elly on her tail.

"Fuwaa!" The moment I plopped my head out of the water, the air came into me fiercely. When I had just adapted to the no breathing breath, I was thrown into disorder again. The sudden hale of air got me shocked. I lost the balance I've just learned underwater. Now, splashing on the surface like an idiot.

Elly noticed me and quickly swished over to me. She pulled me over to the rocky shore and placed my hand on top of the reachable rock surface. Now that I have something to hold on, my mind was cleared again. I turned my head and looked at Elly.

"Yuu?" She tilted her head with that peculiar hair, which was sliding down the water, eventually left her hair dry and fluffy in just a few seconds. It was a sight that I won't be get to use to in a short time.

I gave her a smile, but it turned out to be a wry kind of smile. I guess I was not okay with all of that.

I looked around upon the new cave we arrived in. This cave was greener then the previous caves. What I mean by ‘green’ is that there were lot of plants inside this cave. Of course, those were not the plants that I recognize. I was not a botanist. But, I know that no trees grow blue foliage. Especially when the color of the bark was tinted in dark blue. Though they had the shape of a normal tree. In addition, there were lots of dark colored shrubs spread across the cave grounds. The soil looked especially smooth and dark in here.

I glanced back at Elly who was pushing herself up into the shore. Exposing her shiny emerald colored mermaid tail, she sat on the edge of the shore while flipping her tail and sprinkled drops of water out of her tail. It was dry in just three flicks. After that, speckled of blue light gleamed and covered her whole tail. The light was so dazzling that it blinded my eyes for a sec. I blinked my eyes while the light went away and that pair of legs returned to her just like that. She never stopped surprising me.

She stood up on her feet like a normal child. Then, she walked and faced me. One of her hand stretched down. Knowing what she means, I reached to her hand and let her pulled me up to the ground. While I was soaking wet from top to bottom. Elly seemed to have almost dried up herself except for her clothing.

Not giving me a chance to wring my cloth dry, she immediately dragged me to follow her stride, toward the tallest tree in the cave. Previous event taught me that caves in here were a dangerous place. I threw my sight wildly across the horizon, trying to catch any living movement. But, seemed like the cave was not habited. That's what I thought. In reality, by the time we reached underneath the tallest tree, I was immediately proven wrong.

At the side of the tree, a big black bush arranged into a bird nest shape, laid a lot of that big green striped eggs. Cold sweat started to form as I saw the eggs which I once tasted and ate. Thinking about the size of the eggs made my heart thumped and my mind went blank.

What kind of monster that could laid that size of eggs?