"So... what next?" Colm mused, still floating just above the bottom, the water surrounding him in weightless suspension.

"I guess I'll explore this place first. Maybe there's something hidden here, and if not, I'll just head back up into the labyrinth and make my way through."

Just as he was about to push himself up, another thought hit him.

"Oh yeah... I wanted to see if the portal to the Lucent Grove works here. It had been a while since I last used it. I think the last time was before the fight with the Pitchcaller? Yeah, it's been a minute."

Focusing, he honed in on Portal to the Lucent Grove, the ability granted by his Champion of the Lucent Grove achievement. The familiar strain tugged at him as he activated it, his body instinctively bracing against the energy it demanded.

Minutes passed, the tension in his core building, until suddenly, the strain vanished.

As the pressure faded, he looked around at his phantoms. The Phantom Harbinger had disappeared, its duration expired, and his other phantoms had returned to their normal strength.

"Guess it must've ended while I was casting..." he mused.

Yet, he hadn't even felt the shift. The transition had been seamless, almost natural.

"Guess I'm getting used to it."

With a small shrug, he let the thought pass.

A portal flickered into existence before him, its shimmering glow illuminating the water around him.

"Huh. Neat. Good to know this works even in Echoes." He had half-expected it wouldn't. "That means, as long as I have a moment, I basically have a get-out-of-jail-free card."

"Oh shit, oh fuck, I didn't think this through."

Colm barely had time to react before the pressure yanked him forward. The water around him surged into the opening, dragging him helplessly along with it.

He flailed, battered and tossed like a ragdoll as the sheer force of the current spun him through the void. The moment stretched on, disorienting and chaotic, until suddenly, he was slammed against a tree in the Lucent Grove with a wet, gasping thud.

Water kept pouring through the portal, an unrelenting torrent cascading into the sacred grove. Gritting his teeth, Colm scrambled up the tree, grasping for branches as the floodwaters surged beneath him.

Higher and higher he climbed, finally reaching a stable perch near the top. From there, he stared down at the portal, now nothing more than an endless outpour of water, gushing without pause into the Lucent Grove.

He exhaled sharply, finally able to breathe air again.

"Air," he muttered, taking another deep breath. "Didn't realize how much I missed that."

Then, shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the portal.

"Well... shit."

"I didn't think this through."

With an awkward cough, he raised his voice, hoping and praying that the Will of the Grove was listening.

"Uh… hey, buddy. Sorry about this," he said, motioning toward the flood. "I didn't really think things through and… well… I kinda flooded the place."

A nervous chuckle escaped him.

"Hope that's not a problem?"

Even as he spoke, another thought struck him. "Honestly, this might be a good thing... If the water drains out, I could explore that chasm properly. Maybe I'll find something that was hidden before..." A small smirk tugged at his lips.

But as he turned his gaze back toward the Lucent Grove, guilt crept in.

The flood had already pushed deep into the trees, crashing through the land, the sound of rushing water filling the air. He hunched slightly, wincing at the destruction.

"Uh… sorry."

Then something changed.

The deluge slowed, but instead of pooling into a swamp, something beautiful began to unfold.

Colm watched in awe as the endless flood, stretching far into the distance, evaporated into the air, and in its place, thousands upon thousands of delicate petals appeared, soft as cherry blossoms.

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His breath caught as the petals filled the air, drifting like whispers of light, transforming the devastation into something otherworldly.

He lost track of time, clinging to the tree, unable to look away. A dull ache formed in his chest, and before he even realized it, tears streamed down his face.

"It's so beautiful," he murmured.

* * *

"Rose! Joey! Mom! Dad!"

Colm's scream tore through the wreckage as he jolted awake, his body suspended upside down in the driver's seat. The world around him was a haze of smoke, fire, and the twisted remains of their car.

It was supposed to be a family trip, something fun, something memorable. A getaway to his parents' cabin in the mountains. But they had been delayed earlier by traffic, a minor inconvenience at the time. Now, none of that mattered.

A groan escaped him as pain flooded his senses. "Oh... fuck," he mumbled, trying to move his left arm, only to be met with excruciating agony. His breath hitched as his eyes locked onto the jagged bone protruding through his skin.

A scream tore from his throat. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to move, his good hand fumbling with the seatbelt. The moment it unlatched, his body dropped, slamming onto the roof of the overturned car. The impact sent another wave of agony through him, ripping a cry from his lips.

But he didn't care. He had to move.

His shaking hand reached for the passenger seat.

"Rose..." he whispered, his voice breaking. "Oh gods, please no."

His wife lay broken, unmoving beside him. Blood streaked her face, her chest still, her warmth already fading. His vision blurred with tears as his heart clenched painfully in his chest.

No. No, no, no.

Desperation surged through him as he twisted his body, forcing himself to look into the back seat.

"Please..."

His breath caught. His world shattered.

His parents. His son.

Huddled together, embracing one another.

Blood pooling beneath them.

Unbreathing.

A strangled, broken wail escaped him as he struggled to move, but his body refused to obey. His arm throbbed in unbearable pain, leaving him helpless, trapped in the wreckage of his own shattered life.

"Fuck!" he screamed, his voice raw with grief and fury.

Somewhere in the distance, flashing lights cut through the smoke and darkness.

But it was too late.

Tears streamed down his face as he clutched Rose's lifeless hand, his sobs wracking his body.

The world around him blurred, fading into nothing.

* * *

Colm watched as the delicate petals danced through the air, carried by a soft breeze as the once-raging flood waters slowed to a gentle trickle. The rushing tide that had overwhelmed the portal to the Lucent Grove finally came to an end, and with it, the mesmerizing display began to fade. The lingering beauty of it all left an ache in his chest, something deep, indescribable.

Gripping the tree tightly, he exhaled and lowered himself onto a sturdy branch, letting his emotions settle. The mixture of awe, exhaustion, and guilt churned inside him, but as he closed his eyes, they slowly faded into something quieter.

After a few moments, he looked up, the twilight sky stretching endlessly above him.

"Thank you," he murmured softly, not just for the breathtaking sight, but also for the Grove's patience, for not being furious with him over the whole... flooding incident.

Minutes trickled by as he simply sat there, the stillness of the grove wrapping around him. It felt like a sacred pause, a space between chaos and action, where the only thing that mattered was the now.

Eventually, he let out a breath and shifted, gathering the strength to move again.

As he carefully descended the towering tree, his muscles protested, still slightly aching from earlier. When he finally reached the ground, a small wince escaped him as he noticed something amusing:

A Colm-shaped dent carved into the base of the massive tree where he had slammed into it.

His lips twitched into a half-smile.

"Funny enough... that didn't even hurt that much."

He glanced down at himself, running a quick assessment. No major scrapes, no gashes. His armor was still intact, and his grimoire remained secured at his side. He had definitely felt worse.

Brushing himself off, he turned toward where the portal still shimmered, open and waiting.

"I wonder how long that stays open..."

He had never actually tested it before. Every other time, he had closed it immediately upon arrival. But this time, well, he had been a little preoccupied with the whole getting-swept-away thing.

As he neared the portal, the ground beneath his feet let out a gentle squish, still damp from the floodwaters. Yet, with each step, the noise softened as the earth absorbed the remnants of the flood.

It was already fading.

The Lucent Grove was at work, clearing away the mess, restoring balance as if the disturbance had never happened.

As he arrived in front of the portal, Colm smiled and stepped through, eager to see the transformed remains of the flooded fountain depths.

The world shifted, and within moments, the familiar sight of fallen ruins stretching as far as his eye could see came into view, this time scattered with the corpses of Cryosharks, left behind by the rushing waters.

"Interesting," he thought, stepping forward, the once-submerged ground now barely ankle-deep in water.

His gaze drifted upward to where he had originally fallen. A faint glimmer of light peeked through the distant opening high above, what was once the fountain entrance.

"Well... shit."

There was no swimming back up. That exit was long gone.

"Guess I better hope there's another way forward." He sighed, shifting his attention to his surroundings.

The ruins were far more visible now, details once hidden beneath the murky depths now clear before him. Stepping toward one of the Cryoshark corpses, he crouched, watching as its frozen body seemed to melt away, breaking down now that the frigid waters were gone.

"Interesting."

Reaching out, he pressed a hand against the creature's cold, icy flesh, feeling the lingering frost fade as it slowly disintegrated into nothing.

"So the freezing water was keeping them preserved..." He let the thought linger, stepping back.

His lips curled as he took in the changed landscape.

"I think I just broke the norm here. This might have been a water-themed area... but not anymore."

He turned, scanning the ruins with renewed curiosity.

"Let's see what's different."

As a final precaution, he reached inward, feeling for the presence of his phantoms, only to find nothing. "Huh... forgot they fully disappeared when I passed through the portal." Without hesitation, he reactivated Phantom Archer, Phantom Warrior, and Phantom Spearman, watching as the familiar figures flickered back into existence around him.

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