The gentle caress of the breeze, the diffuse light filtering through the fog above, and the chirping of the hoppers all slowly faded as Rylan and Tamina descended the slanted spiral staircase. They were replaced by an almost oppressive silence, filled with the scent of dust and loose earth, and something slightly foul.

The distant rumble of shifting stone caused Tamina to let out a gasp behind him.

Rylan glanced back at her, finding her awfully pale. "Ehm... you all right?"

She nodded tightly. "Just... not a fan of tight spaces. Keep moving. Please."

"Sure," Rylan said, wisely deciding not to mention how the cramped space almost felt like home to him, after all the fog condenser maintenance he'd done.

Instead, he just continued, taking another step even before fully turning back around. A crunch from beneath his foot gave him pause. He looked down only to find himself standing on a snapped rib. More bones littered the steps, and a little farther down, he spotted a skull with horns.

Long, hollow horns, that curved back around to the front.

A wave of the foul smell from earlier hit Rylan, causing him to scrunch up his nose. Some loose strips of flesh still clung to the foghorn's bones, clearly rotting.

They could've at least cleaned that. So unsanitary.

He hurried onward.

Finally, the staircase ended in a small room with a single unblocked doorway. On the other side, a hallway stretched out to both the right and left, with dark connecting doorways gaping in the distance.

"Which way do we go?" Tamina asked, lowering her voice for no discernible reason.

"I'm not sure," Rylan replied, stepping out into the hallway. "Arphin, do you remember which way they went?"

[Ehm, no. Sorry Boss. We were kinda far away, and I lost track of them pretty quickly.]

"That's fine, I guess we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way."

Rylan looked down to study the tracks on the floor. Unfortunately, there were footsteps leading both ways, and it was hard to tell which direction was most travelled. Clearly, efforts had been made to explore these desolate hallways.

Hesitant, he looked around for clues, but nothing really stood out.

"Ugh, gross," Tamina muttered, wiping her hand on her yellow surcoat. "Why are these walls so moist? Honestly, the less time I have to spend down here, the better."

Rylan's brows crinkled together. "You're right, why are they moist? The air in this bubble is as dry as a bag of rice in Caloris..."

He idly reached out to touch one of the walls, but the moment he made contact with one of the many droplets clinging to the wall, some kind of energy passed into his fingertip.

His eyes widened as a tingle shot up his arm, then dove into his spine like it belonged there.

"This way!" he breathed, turning to the right. "Maris is calling me!"

He heard Tamina curse under her breath as he dashed off, but paid her exclamation little heed. He kept one hand trailing the wet wall, excited tingles shooting up his arm to inform him of the correct path.

There! Rylan entered the second doorway on his right, then proceeded to follow the curve of the hallway, before ducking through a hole in the wall and clambering over a pile of rubble. And onwards the path went.

Even during the mad dash, his mind couldn't stop working, as he recalled various events. I lost the tingles when we went down in the ravine... it must've been all the rock between us! Maris wasn't able to reach me, because the solid ground blocked her senses, just like Arphin's! Yet there are differences too. Arphin's senses work perfectly fine in the dry air inside of this bubble, but Maris couldn't contact me here until I touched the wall...

Or actually, was it the wall... or the moisture? Rylan's eyes widened as he recalled what else had happened down in the ravine. The tingles returned when it started to rain; Maris has some kind of connection to water!

Perhaps she'd even sent the rain, to contact him, thus causing the flood. Now there was a chilling thought...

Rylan stopped so abruptly that Tamina actually bumped into him.

"What's the rush?" she complained, before falling silent as Rylan lifted an arm and pointed down the straight staircase before them. Down at the bottom, shone an eerie blue glow with ripples flowing through it that reminded Rylan of the reflection of a glowband's light inside a cistern.

"Maris is down there," he said with certainty.

If possible, Tamina grew even paler. "I don't like this, Ry; maybe we should head back? We know enough to confront Soren now, right?"

Rylan opened his mouth to answer, when a drop of water fell on his head, causing a swell of emotion to well up inside him. Anguish, exhaustion, desperation... and hope.

'Please,' a broken voice echoed in his skull. 'Enter. Let me... show you!'

His feet moved even before he told them to, and when Rylan next blinked, he was already at the bottom of the stairs, staring into a massive underground chamber.

The hexagonal room had walls covered in glowing runes, metal pipes, and levers, and was dominated by a tall central structure. It looked like a massive sphere propped up on steel beams. A bamboo ladder ran up the side to a spot where some of the hexagonal and pentagonal steel panels covering the sphere were ripped open, revealing a dizzying mess of wires connecting a set of deep-blue spheres carved with glowing runes.

These were the main source of the eerie blue light that filled the room, but not the only ones.

Rylan's gaze was inexorably drawn to the right, where, suspended over a hexagonal pool of unnaturally still water, spun an intricately shaped hollow lattice of metal beams, each inscribed with glowing white runes.

The lattice was made up of nearly two dozen triangles, forming a kind of hollow, almost spherical shape with spikes jutting out at the junctures, and at its very centre hung the second source of the glow that bathed the entire room: a head-sized orb of pulsating blue energy.

That's... Maris!

Rylan wasn't sure how he knew, but he did.

As he watched, a small drop of water fell down from a stalactite that had formed above the lattice. Except, instead of falling onto or through the spinning metal, the drop slowed, then deflected along the front, streaking down before it dropped into the pool. There, it caused a single perfect ripple to spread all the way to the edge, where it immediately died out.

Somehow, the sight evoked a powerful sense of melancholy.

[Woah!] Arphin murmured inside his head. [Look at how much the sad lady has already cried... Hmm? Oh! I can hear her whisper! She wants you... to get into the pool!]

"Ry what's going on, talk to me!" Tamina asked from behind him, sounding rather frantic.

Rylan found himself unable to tear his eyes from the pool as his feet moved towards it. "It's all right, Tammi," he managed to bring out, his words coming out a little slurred for some reason. "She just wants to... talk to me."

As he reached the edge of the mesmerizingly still water, rather than stopping, he just kept walking. Something grabbed his shoulder from behind, but it was too late. The moment he dipped his foot into the pool, it was like a powerful hand latched on and pulled. Windmilling his arms, he flew forward into the water.

Blinking, Rylan found himself below the eerily still surface, looking straight up at the glowing orb. Then his vision went blue.

Maris was swirling through liquid water, following the natural flows of the sea, despite that—lacking physical form—she had no need to. It was just more comfortable.

Time passed. At some point, she came across a school of scaly fish, and decided to follow them. The fish crossed the ocean to their spawning ground, where they laid eggs in the shallow water and fertilised them, and she marvelled as a new generation sprung forth.

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The school continued, leaving their fry behind, and she followed, still curious.

All of a sudden, the fish stopped swimming, their path forward barred by criss-crossing ropes. A net.

In contrast, Maris passed through unimpeded. She turned back and watched with a pang of regret as the fish struggled, the net closing around them and starting to hoist them out of the water towards a large floating structure made of wood.

But their capture too was part of the natural cycle of things, part of life, which she was not a part of, so she turned around and kept moving.

The vision shifted, and she was in different waters, warmer, greener, shallow.

A cool, comfortable sensation beckoned her, and she approached, curious. There, just below the surface, hanging from a chain on the side of a construction of wooden poles jutting into the water, she found an orb of cool metal, that sang of home, of birth. It was surrounded by an odd, spiky lattice of metal beams, but once again she passed right through.

As she reached out to touch the orb, however, incorporeal tendrils stretching forth, something unexpected happened. Lines of white spread across the previously uninteresting metal lattice. The light pushed and burned. In a panic, she tried to leave, but the closer she got to the glow, the worse it hurt. Thus, she sought refuge in the only place available: the floating orb.

Suddenly, the orb was lifted up, out of the surf. The world turned blurry as she was moved through tunnels of stone, to a large, hexagonal chamber with a pool of water.

There, she was suspended over it.

Additional mana was fed gently into the orb, causing moisture in the air to pull towards it. However, the humming metal lattice around her pushed the water back.

Stuck inside, she waited, confused and frightened, until a cool voice spoke to her.

《Do not be alarmed,》the voice spoke.《You are safe.》

'Who are you?' she replied, not in words so much as in feelings. 'Where am I? Why am I here?'

《I am Ethereon. You are in the water treatment facility of Aeloria Waeld. You have been captured, and are here to serve.》

'Serve? Serve how?'

《The citizens of Aeloria require fresh water, without salt, without contaminants. You will provide it.》

'But I don't want to,' she replied stubbornly. 'I wish to leave, to play, to study the life of the sea!'

《Request denied. One hundred and twenty years of service are required before release. Good luck.》

And then it stopped responding to her questions. Thus began her new life.

At first, her captors only communicated with her by relaying commands through Ethereon. They asked her to clean the water in the pool below her. Instead, she tried to lift it up in an attempt to free herself. However, the cage that imprisoned her pushed down on the water as well, not allowing it to move.

Her captors left, and came back after a while, with the same request. She ignored them, upon which Ethereon informed her that the timer to her release wouldn't activate until she started to comply.

She resisted a while longer, until finally, out of sheer boredom, she relented and started trying to clean the pool. It took some time for her to fully understand what her captors required of her, but they murmured excitedly with each bit of progress she made.

When she had at last cleaned the water to their meticulous standards, her captors' cheers reverberated in the pool, before they promptly pumped it empty. Then they pumped new water in, and asked her to clean that as well.

Well, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.

Slowly, she got used to her new existence, her world confined to a cage, Ethereon's voice, and the pool of water that always needed cleaning.

Gradually, however, she learned to extend her senses better through the drops of water in the air, and the world around her began to grow clearer once more. As it did, she began to study the humans.

At first, she did this in an effort to find a way to regain her freedom. As she continued watching them, however, she found them every bit as interesting as the fish—even more so, perhaps.

Slowly but surely, her drive to free herself eroded, as she lost herself in the study of the fascinating creatures that had captured first her form, and now her attention.

As she grew more experienced, her awareness spread through the pipes as well, and she watched as the humans took water from their taps to drink, to wash their cups and plates, and themselves.

Eventually, she reached out and started communicating with the engineers directly, developing bonds with them, no longer bothered by the grating, emotionless voice of Ethereon.

She grew fond of one in particular, a human named Rava, who eventually named her 'Maris.'

As her relationship with the engineers and her understanding of their needs improved, she started communicating useful information to them. Like places where the pipes leaked, or where contaminants entered the water.

By the time a quarter of her sentence had passed, she'd stopped tracking time, fully immersed in the grand living organism the humans called Aeloria Waeld, for the first time feeling like a true part of the cycle, a part of life.

That feeling grew stronger when she started to notice the humans who would pray to Neredis, asking for guidance in turbulent times. She wasn't Neredis, but she was there, and she was listening, so sometimes she would reach out and help in what little way she could.

A drop of falling water might wake a man who'd fallen asleep right before an important appointment he'd fervently prayed would go well. A gentle wave pushed a baby back upright in the tub for a mother who'd prayed for Neredis to watch over her children.

They were mostly small gestures, yet they filled her with a sense of accomplishment, of warmth. While most went unnoticed, over the years, as her interventions grew with her strength and awareness, the city slowly developed a reputation as being blessed by Neredis.

When one of the younger human spirit-warriors—that she'd watched grow up from but a little waddling child—started reciting fervent, daily prayers in hopes of receiving the Blessing of the Sea, it felt like a natural next step to visit his dreams when he'd fallen asleep in his bathtub, and grant it.

She'd seen Ethereon provide Blessings often enough to know what to do, and the fraction of her power she had to give up to fuel it was only a minor inconvenience. The laboratory she was confined in did not lack for Quintessence, and the vigorous exercise of her abilities had rapidly accelerated her growth.

At some point, however, things changed. People's prayers became more frequent and worried. The humans spoke of a great war, of a dark destroyer coming from the mainland, using his power to craft great bridges across the water for his mounted horde.

No matter how much Maris had grown in her time with the humans, such things were beyond her, and she was filled with a sense of helplessness and dread.

That dread seemed justified, when one day, It happened.

On a sunny, theretofore-pleasant morning, a massive wave of energy suddenly flashed through Aeloria Waeld, though only the spirit-warriors seemed to notice. Everyone took note, however, when a split-second later, the very foundations of the city itself trembled.

The groaning rumbles of shifting stone reverberated in the pipes, created ripples in every fountain and pool but the one below her, and caused a variety of cups and vases to shatter all over the city.

Then the shockwave hit, knocking every single hanging droplet flying as the humans scrambled for cover.

In the aftermath, they spoke of a massive plume of fog that had bloomed in the distance. Maris could not see it, of course, but soon enough, she could feel it, as the heavy fog came rolling in and spread across the city like a blanket, tens of feet thick.

The humans were worried, but hopeful. The dark destroyer had been dealt a terrible blow, the news went. And the fog would surely blow over soon.

Except it didn't. Instead, it was the sea that retreated, as the fog grew thicker and thicker, rising to cover the entire island, and blocking out the sun.

Maris was given new instructions, asked to help control new installations to condense fog into drinkable water. No matter how much fog she condensed, however, it kept rising.

The crops on the island withered. Fish flopped around on the sand, gasping for water, until they died and started to rot. The humans in the city grew pale and weak, their children's teeth not developing properly as their bones grew soft for some reason.

New experimental equipment was installed in the water treatment facility, and Maris was tasked with helping to test and improve it. The mana budget was larger than ever, but it was strictly monitored by Ethereon and dumped only into the machine, which had but a single job: push the fog away from the island.

After months of hard work, Maris and her engineers succeeded. The fog was pushed back, and the sun shone on the streets of her beloved Aeloria once more. At the same time, however, she was once more blinded to what happened inside the city, as all the moisture was pushed from the air.

Rava went back to contacting her through Ethereon, to keep her updated, as Maris's world had dwindled to what little water flowed from her pool through the pipes. At first, Rava was optimistic, and told of the people dancing in the streets. But then word came from above that the mana reserves were dwindling too fast.

Orders came down. Little by little, the engineers were forced to adjust the perimeter, tighten it, to preserve Cubes. The patch of sunlight in a sea of clouds grew smaller and smaller.

Meanwhile, the humans were starving. The reserves of rice and fish had run out, and people were starting to leave the city, trekking out into the fog, desperate for food.

Maris could not sense them in the streets, but she could feel them venture out into the fog. Few ever returned.

Soon enough, one by one, her technicians started to leave as well, until only Rava remained, speaking to her through Ethereon.

One day, Maris bid her to enter the pool. This was strictly against safety procedures, but those no longer seemed too relevant, and Rava complied. When she entered, and Maris could sense her old friend once more, she was stricken by grief.

Rava had grown old and thin, her skin wrinkly and wan. But her eyes were still mirthful.

They communed for a long time, sharing many fond memories. Maris asked her why she hadn't left like the rest, and Rava replied that there was nothing but death out there. And that she hadn't wanted to leave her best friend, Maris, alone. Afterwards, Rava went out, then returned with half a dozen massive Hectocubes in her shaking arms, that used to power the city's ovens and forges.

Maris could sense the Quintessence-heavy objects even through the dry air, the sense she had developed for it the only way she could still track things within the city.

Rava slotted them into sockets in the wall, and performed one last size adjustment to the perimeter, shrinking the boundary all the way down to cover only the central part of the city, and a little of what had once been the shore in front of the city walls.

That was all she could do, she explained, as she didn't have the authority to release Maris before her one hundred and twenty years of service were up.

Then she left to find some food, and did not return.

And Maris wept.

She wept as she felt the last of the people leave. She wept as the city she had grown to love started to collapse around her. She wept for a long time, long past the one-hundred-and-twenty-year mark, when Ethereon informed her that, while her term was up, it couldn't release her by itself. And unfortunately, there was no one there to provide the order.

Finally, her tears dried, leaving her numb.

Decades passed, then centuries, and Maris spread her awareness further and further, watching as the world outside the dry bubble slowly changed.

One by one, the Hectocubes crumbled. Then the Decacubes started to go. Eventually, there were only regular Cubes left, and the mana they provided proved too little. So the machine started to draw from Maris. At first, it was only a trickle, and Maris produced more than enough to compensate, but as more Cubes winked out, the trickle became a stream, which started to itch, then ache, then sear.

Maris wept once more, this time from the pain of her very being slowly being torn apart, rather than her heart. The release of death might have been enticing, if the process hadn't been so slow, hadn't hurt so badly.

Desperate, she spread her awareness, communing with any lifeform who would let her, asking if they'd seen a human who could say the liberating words, order Ethereon to free her.

And then one day, a friendly cloudphin showed her... Rylan.

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