An island of strange darkness, filled with tall and thin trees and veiled in mystery. It was an abundant source of darkness elemental spiritual energy, but it still felt wrong- and what was to John who was a darkness cultivator himself.

Astrid clearly noticed his thoughts. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"If I knew the answer to that, I wouldn't be worried," John commented. "Something about this place feels dangerous."

Flickering flames became a curling blade of sungrass in Astrid's hand. Light gathered on the triple edges of the projection, then dispersed into the surroundings. "As far as I can tell, we see truly. At least immediately around us."

That was comforting, in its own way, but insufficient to assuage John's concerns entirely. He looked up at the sky, unable to judge the time by the light or lack thereof. According to his estimates, it should be getting close to morning.

"We should return to the fleet and get our bearings," John suggested. They could take a better look at the samples they had gathered outside of the influence of the island.

Everyone agreed, but it was as they were heading back that they first noticed deleterious effects. John felt strangely cold, his breath short.

"I don't like this," John said, the vocal distortion seemingly greater. He kept his spiritual energy ready for some sort of assault, but felt nothing to fight against. Unable to keep his eyes off of the strange trees, John noticed that the local birds were taking off. "It must be near morning, then."

Tenzing grimaced, "Why isn't it any brighter, then?"

A good question. But the island was already unnaturally bright, at least for the depths of night. Nobody had an answer for him. They hurried their steps towards the ship, uncertain what changes might be coming to the island. It was clear others were becoming uneasy as well.

Two events happened at about the same time. A school of small fish were spotted swimming out of several nearby tidal pools, simply rising into the air. Flying fish weren't a unique thing, but it was certainly unexpected given how they'd previously been isolated. Then, one of the Shimmering Islands cultivators collapsed.

"... She's suffocating," said the closest expedition member, scooping the woman up. "My own breath is…" her strained tone made it clear.

John immediately began to refresh the air within his own lungs. It was strangely heavy, but he felt a bit more clearheaded. Then he reached out for Astrid. She was standing in a daze. His energy delved into her lungs, providing needed air. It took her a few moments to have her thoughts clear up, at which point she created a burst of light element that penetrated the surroundings.

John was able to close his eyes, sensing her energy manipulation. When he opened them everything was the same… and yet different. His body felt cold and heavy. Wet. Visually, everything was the same as it had been, but John realized that they were now actually underwater.

He immediately created air within his lungs, pushing out the saltwater that filled them. "We're underwater!" he declared. Most of the expedition group had already been refreshing the air in their lungs to their best ability, even not quite understanding what was happening. "Clear her lungs!" John ordered the man holding the comatose woman.

He first did the same for Astrid, his energy entering without resistance. There wasn't much to be seen, a gush of water entering the ocean, but the effects were clear. John pulled Astrid along towards Tenzing. The darkness cultivator was familiar enough with water, but he didn't have any control over air element. Even if he could force his body to function, with his lungs full of water his level of exertion would be far greater than it needed to be.

Tenzing had to force himself to allow John's energy to enter his body. It went against all the natural instincts of a cultivator. A moment later, his lungs were refilled with fresh air- just one breath, but a cultivator could make that last quite a while. It would certainly be easier on his body than two lungs full of saltwater.

The rest of the cultivators rapidly adjusted. Many of them were from the Shimmering Islands, where the sea was a constant. While actually getting a lungful of water was rare, it was something they could deal with. Enough of them were capable with air element that even if it wasn't their specialty they could manage something.

The unconscious woman couldn't resist as her lungs were cleared out. John hoped that it hadn't been too long. Of course, he didn't expect her to be perfectly fine but with less than a minute since she passed out she could hopefully avoid any significant brain damage. That was the best they could hope.

Once everyone was more or less stable, John had everyone link together… then they swam off. Up at an angle away from the island. They left the perimeter of the island before they hit the surface, and they were suddenly able to see the ocean. But they were only a few moments from the surface as they looked back, seeing only a vague blob of darkness.

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They broke the surface, on the opposite side of the island from their fleet- but they could once more sense them. "Astrid," John said. "Help me reveal something."

He gathered all the light element he had- it was maybe a third of each of the other elements he had. A tiny percentage of what he carried overall, even if it was slightly growing as he gained more experience. Astrid's energy joined his, closer to half of her total. She couldn't release all she carried at once, but instead poured it out in a stream as John directed light towards the island.

Darkness element was momentarily dispersed in front of them, revealing the tops of the trees just above the surface as the island sank beneath the waves. Massively high tides, or an actual moving island? John wasn't sure which, but he felt it was the latter somehow.

Dawn broke as they pulled themselves onto the ships. The image of the island faded as it completed its journey beneath the waves. Had they arrived as things were now, they might not have known there was an island there at all.

John breathed a sigh of relief as everyone was able to breathe- including the unconscious woman. Those around her had been keeping her air refreshed for the short time they had been rushing away from the island. It wasn't particularly large, their slow exploration pace and meandering around the island eating more time than a straightforward path.

For a moment, John almost didn't want to try to breathe fresh air, but he was certain everything around him was real now. And in some way, the island had been more convincing because it was real. Just not all at once.

"I can't believe an island just tried to murder us," John grinned slightly. In truth, aside from the one woman, they hadn't been in serious danger. If they turned to flee as soon as they felt weird, they would have easily left the island and observed that they were underwater. Most likely, they had been subconsciously responding to their bodies' need for air or more of them would have passed out, and more quickly. They had to have been underwater for more than a few minutes, 'breathing' water.

John was the least at risk, since he'd modified his body. Astrid might have been the worst off, but she'd recently been practicing with him underwater. He also paid her more attention, so he would have likely noticed something before she actually passed out.

"What happened?" Sthithulf asked. Of course, the rest of those in the fleet would want to know. "Was it some sort of trap?"

John explained as best as he knew. "The island… visibly kept a state of both high and low tides. Or rising and falling." They could investigate which by observing the sea floor- he wasn't afraid of a bit of a swim. Especially not when he was expecting to be underwater. "There were no signs of human life. Nor of manmade formations. The island simply had an odd flow of darkness energy that befuddled the senses, showing the island as both above and below water."

Astrid nodded. "The local wildlife seems… remarkably adapted to the circumstances," she said. "Then again, how could they not be? They wouldn't survive. Only a small number of fish were caught ashore- and didn't end up in one of the pools. The birds," she gestured to the seabirds, flying around. Some were sitting atop the water, others were diving to catch fish. "They nest atop the trees."

Said trees looked even more like kelp with their heads just reaching the surface of the water, their broad bladed leaves bobbing near the surface. No, perhaps they were a sort of kelp with a solid spine. It wouldn't be the strangest thing in a world of cultivation. Whatever they were was a form of plantlife that was happy enough being underwater for a significant portion of their cycle.

"Was the island dangerous?" someone asked. "The way you returned…"

John pondered. "It was certainly dangerous," he said. "But that's true of any sort of unfamiliar terrain. It was unexpected, but it didn't feel malicious or like a trap. It just… is."

He began pulling out some of the samples they collected. They were just as full of darkness and water element as he had felt- not that he would have expected otherwise. While darkness had the effect of displaying a false truth, if they weren't infused with spiritual energy it would then not have felt like much at all. Not without active distortion in the surroundings, at least.

John continued, "There is some value to be gained from this island. Those who are aware of the dangers would find it rather trivial to deal with. Fortunately…" he looked over at the woman who was just coming to consciousness. "We didn't suffer too much to learn about it."

It was hard for John to be mad at an island for nearly killing him. It would be the same for being mad at a tree for him falling out of it. Certainly, the island concealed the truth, but that was the very thing that made it valuable- the concentrated darkness element.

The expedition marked the location of the island according to their charts, as well as noting its disappearance. They spent the rest of the day taking a closer look, diving around the island though avoiding passing over it. There was a distinct line where reality blurred, which made it easy to avoid.

John himself investigated the base of the island, and he did indeed determine that the island itself was likely moving- though there might be some tidal effects involved as well. His earth element senses went deep into the sand, feeling a line of separation as the island buried parts of it in the sandy ocean floor. The total depth was a little over a hundred meters, which was relatively shallow for open ocean. If that remained consistent, they were fairly likely to run into more islands nearby.

As night approached, the island 'appeared' once more. Even watching from the surface, they couldn't properly see its movement. Instead, the vague image of the island slowly built out of darkness element. John and Astrid were able to determine it wasn't fully surfaced at the point the darkness element formed an 'outline' of the island. Midnight seemed to be close to its peak, though it was 'visible' from sundown to sunrise.

John paid close attention to the island. After all, with his core as a darkness cultivator he didn't like to be fooled by such things. As best he could tell it was so effective because it was displaying something that was real, at least for some portion of the day. The image of an island underwater overlapped with an island on the surface at night. The memory of the truth was a powerful force.

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