Ephin was in two minds. Ever since he had been sucked out of High Morr with the rocks and runaways he had felt different. Not exactly stronger, nor more powerful.

Focused.

But not on the external things going on around him. He felt something within himself click into place as soon as he was floating in that dark nightmare.

He could quite figure it out until he was praying deep underground. Then the horrors followed him into the light and he prayed harder. What happened the second time, however, terrified him more than the twelve-foot murderer before him. He heard something answer. He couldn’t make out what was being said, it was too faint; he saw the effect of the aid though.

Perhaps this response, coupled with gaining and losing an ally within a handful of hours, Jadon’s nonchalance at the entire situation; everything was getting to him.

Then the group dove deep and he began to see things. Impossibly large creatures come close enough to swallow up the whole party without a thought and yet, nobody else noticed them. They swam along without a care.

Ephin thought he was going mad. It must have been his separation from his home that was getting to him. Nobody else in the group was descended from elves so perhaps it was biological. That thought was brushed off as soon as he saw literal elves on the streets of the bubble town.

He could see his path home. So close. His route to sanity. All the voices vying for attention in his mind. The loudest being the one that had answered his prayers before. He put on a brave face and socialized with the group and then went to his room.

He opened his door, but his room was empty. It was cavernous and raining inside. He stepped back to avoid getting wet but the water was already up to his feet. He searched for the stairs to get higher but there were none, only the corridor filling with ice cold water.

It passed his shoulders at the same time as he spotted a hole in the ceiling. He just had to reach it. The harder he swam to get there, the faster the water seemed to flow in the opposite direction, the corridor tilting to an uphill battle.

Soon the water ran too quickly and Ephin was forced down, plummeting down the long, winding corridor, unable to catch a breath. All his swimming earlier, now, and only after it all to drown anyway. Ephin’s eyes closed as his lungs fought to burst out of his chest, and then the corridor split open.

Ephin slammed into a hard surface, clinging on as the water drained away around him. He was in the sky. The platform he was standing on was hard, but looked like free flowing water taken form. The clouds were the same, built out of running water.

Figures appeared in front of him; their features unclear. They were all moving as normal people would, but were formed out of water. He saw one large man, one small woman, and three others, all walking towards a child with its back turned. Many of them held something not formed out of water however. A staff, a sword, a gem and a paintbrush.

Suddenly the child convulsed, a being multiple times larger than any of the others taking the child’s place.

The group of people fought this beast with everything they could. Swords, a trident, spells. The beast returned fire with deadly claws and horrific magic. They all seemed to know each other, as if this wasn’t their first battle. The beast was eventually taken down, one of the people casting chains to keep it down as it continued to heal. It could not be killed and whatever they were trying was not working.

The person who had cast the chains looked over, away from the beast. Towards the child. Still frozen in their position, mid-convulsion. The beast laughed uproariously even through its pain. It knew what the heroes had just figured out and relished in it.

They whispered some quiet words to the still child and- even with everything forming out of water, Ephin could tell the person was crying- they placed a hand on the child’s back and the form of the child dissipated.

The beast screamed in pain, its own form dragged out of sight as it fell apart into nothingness. The heroes had won, but at a price. The one that had killed the child rested on their sword to keep standing, even now steeling themselves.

The image in the water fell away, as did Ephin’s platform, pitching him down back through the roiling waves. This time, as his lungs beat against his ribs he tried to suck in a breath. He could not breathe this water though, and began to choke.

Think upon the gift I bestow upon you now.

That voice tore through his mind, drowning out all other attempts to pierce his brain.

The gift of knowledge.

Of the past, what has been.

Of the future, what is to come.

The changing of the tides has come once more.

Prepare, or face the terrors of the depths.

Ephin’s vision, already pulsing from his lack of oxygen, was forced full of creatures much worse than he saw swimming in. Overlapping rows of teeth, each tooth with eyes, each eye with tentacles, each tentacle tearing through bone. Beings that should not be possible to picture, as formless as the seas and yet so obvious it was as if Ephin had seen them every day that he had been alive. If he had ever been alive. The teeth bore into his flesh, giggling away as they cut.

Ephin’s eyes rolled back as his eyes snapped open.

Awake.

Ephin looked up and squinted, flinching under the unexpected light. The group was outside, standing by the ramp to get into the Rupture Reservatorium. Due to a lack of sun, Ephin couldn’t tell what time of day it was, it was simply brighter out in the streets than indoors. The protective barrier that made up the bubble kept everything inside well lit.

Ephin shook his head, placing himself back in the moment. The others had finished saying something and were walking up the ramp. He started forward and patted Beth on the shoulder.

“Is everything okay, Ephin?” Beth asked quietly, turning around and scanning behind him for anyone watching them.

“Is what okay?”

“That’s the right idea. Just stick to the plan,” Beth said. She paused and giggled for a moment. “Funny of me to say really, it is your plan after all.”

Ephin looked dumbfounded as Beth returned the shoulder pat and hurried to catch up with the others. Ephin walked to keep up, trying to piece together any scrap of memory that could place him here. He knew they were planning to plan to something, but not that they had all already planned it. How did he even get here? He for sure did not sign off on anything and apparently, he masterminded it.

Ephin closed his eyes and counted to three. The dream did not end. He chewed at the inside of his cheek and followed the others inside.

Iarkspur and Guy looked nervous, whilst Beth and Jadon looked more excited. Well now I’m really worried, Ephin thought. He scanned the open chamber as subtly as he could. The same three big guards were waiting in the center. He couldn’t see any other protective measures in place.

Guy waved them along. By the time Ephin had caught up with the group, Guy had already spoken to the person at the service desk and advised them that they were heading in to see Reservator Abynnfie to pay their passage fee and to say thanks for the help. Ephin had no idea where the group had amassed the funds, or even learnt how much was needed.

He tried to catch Iarkspur’s attention but she ignored him, focusing on staring directly ahead and avoiding looking at anyone or anything.

The group got close to the office door before Jadon pulled away, down an aisle of bookshelves.

“Ever since I came in here yesterday,” Jadon said, “I have been curious beyond belief at what sort of knowledge is kept stored on these shelves.”

That’s rubbish, Ephin thought suspiciously, keeping a close eye on Jadon as he tried to reach a large book on one of the higher shelves. He was no way near tall enough and with his leg, he was completely off balance. His fingers managed to inch the large hardback to the edge and he pinched at it to tip it off the shelf and into his waiting hands. Too far.

The heavy book was heavier than Jadon expected and as he tried to control his balance from the weight suddenly tipping above him, he tripped over backwards and spun over the protective balcony railing. Falling out of sight. Ephin cringed as he heard the near immediate impact on the stone floor.

Ephin felt an elbow in his ribs as Beth gave him eyes.

“What?” He said.

Beth rolled her eyes and turned to the group.

“Why don’t we all see how our injured friend is doing?” She said before pushing Ephin in front of them subtly.

Ephin nodded and jogged ahead of the others back around to the center and down the small flight of stairs to the same level as the base of the Rupture and where Jadon was lying in a heap with one of the guards looking over him. Ephin couldn’t tell through the muscles and scales whether the guard was concerned for Jadon, or had just finished laughing about the fall.

“Heal him,” Beth whispered in Ephin’s ear.

Ephin turned to look at her and got the same eyes from her that she had just given him.

“Oh no,” Ephin called out, “Our dear friend has been hurt. Not to worry, I am a healer.”

With his stilted acting, Ephin approached Jadon and held out his amulet. Gently pushing past the huge Kurtira, he knelt down and could see that Jadon’s acting was much better than his.

Ephin leaned in close, as if to check the condition of his friend, and whispered in Jadon’s ear.

“What the heck is going on?”

“Don’t be saying that now, it’s nearly time for our distraction. Just let the others get a little closer,” Jadon whispered in a barely audible voice.

“How was that not the distraction?”

Jadon didn’t reply. The guard placed a hand on Ephin’s shoulder.

“Please, hurry your business and remove yourselves from the area,” the guard said.

“How is our dear friend doing?” Beth called. Ephin looked back around and could see the others approaching, all looking concerned for Jadon.

“Now,” Jadon whispered. Ephin saw him pull a dagger from his belt.

Jadon leapt to his feet as Ephin immediately backed away, the dagger whistling through the air towards the closest guard. One of the others raced towards the two of them as the other members of the group changed course and ran straight for the rupture, but were cut off by the third and final guard.

There were a few cries of shock from up near the stacks of books and one or two curious heads poked over the balconies to watch what was going on.

Ephin backed up to the wall as Jadon was quickly overwhelmed and pushed up to the wall beside him. The other three were corralled as quickly as the attempt had begun and were herded to Jadon and Ephin.

“What the heck, Ephin?” Jadon asked, “you said you had it. Everything counted on it.”

“On what?” Ephin said, kicking back at the stone wall, “Nobody is explaining anything right now.”

“Why would we explain your plan to you?” Beth said quietly.

“How about you explain it to the authorities?”

All five of them looked up at Reservator Abynnfie’s large head leering back down.

“What did you hope to accomplish with such foolishness? To leave without paying? Theft of our services and a slight of our hospitality?”

Ephin’s head was spinning. He slumped against the stone wall to steady his weak legs. Images began to rocket through his mind. Waking up in bed. Happy and refreshed. He ate breakfast with the others, a full meal of fried fish and vegetables from their inn. They discussed their plan in length, Ephin having the most input. He confidently claimed to be able to distract the guards on command like he had done with the man that had killed Arledge. The others were meant to be able to get a free shot at the rupture while he and Jadon caught up, Jadon being quicker and Ephin maintaining the distraction.

Better late than never. The voice impacted Ephin so violently he felt as if he had been punched as it entered his mind.

What is? Ephin thought back.

Your fealty. You need my aid to free your friends. Accept me as your superior, your master, and you will have the gifts. Or you could simply let your story end here. Your choice.

Ephin paused. More guards were beginning to enter and be directed towards the captive group. One of the guards was pulling out shackles as they approached.

Yes. I accept. Help me help my friends. Ephin thought quickly.

He could not hear a reply from the voice.

“Hello? Are you there?” Ephin said out loud.

He felt a similar punch to his gut that he felt in his mind. A sinking feeling as if gravity had just increased its pressure momentarily. The pulling was then replaced by a searing, agonizing, burning sensation. Ephin grabbed at the wall and bit down on his cheek to stop from screaming, but it wasn’t enough. He fell to his knees and raked at his shirt to get the burning off of him.

There was a bang from outside the building, loud enough to pop the ears of everyone indoors.

Screams from outside pulled everyone’s attention further. The five of them were almost forgotten about. Almost.

“Stay where you are,” Reservator Abynnfie called down as she saw Jadon try to inch away.

Water came flooding into the building. Smashing through windows and doorways, it was as if a tsunami had hit.

Everyone looked up at it and braced themselves for the inevitable.

The five members of the group huddled and waited for the water to smash them, but it never impacted. Ephin looked up and saw a deep green shell emanated from him, covering the five of them and parting the water around them. Everyone else, whilst capable in the water, were still frantically trying to get their senses back after being hit with multiple tonnes of water at speed.

The party took the opportunity and ran for the exit.

One of the guards tried to stop them but couldn’t pass through the shell, bouncing off just as easily as the water.

Ephin let the others jump through and allowed himself one last thought before following.

I hope I never have to go swimming again.