The path to a chained heart (EDITING)

Why is there water in a soul? - 11

Don't ask me why the chapter name is so weird I have no idea why myself. Anyway, enjoy the new (it was just edited, what's the big deal?) chapter!

The sound of Mizuki's scream petrified them, but they forced themselves to keep moving - running away, and trying to hold in the tears that were threatening to spill. It was hard. All their lives spent watching people being tormented, even the people close to them, and now the one they held the most dear. The thin strings holding their shattered pieces together was about to snap, just like walking on a weak bridge, about to fall and be forgotten. If they died, no-one would remember who they were. Because no-one would be alive to tell the tale. How were they meant to be the whole weight of the world's pain upon themselves? It was shocking that they had even survived to get to that point.

Even Asahi wasn't smiling to lighten up the mood. They all had grim faces of despair, as every time they tried there was always something. Something to ruin their peace. Were fabled heroes always meant to die in battle? To bear the world's pressure on their own? The only glimmer of hope (or even a fighting chance) was that their energy had replenished fairly, so they could defend themselves against what they was to come. Maybe.

Squelch. Splash. Splash. Himari used her light spell to see what she was going on. She wasn't speaking to the others, and nor were they. It seemed like they were communicating with nods and different 'expressions'. Water. There were large puddles of water, that expanded in size as they went along. A dark and foreboding presence could be felt, and the feeling they got from it gave off a certain quality... of the corrupted Mizuki. But it wasn't one and the same. The other spirits? It was hard to tell in the blinding darkness, darker than even the darkest of nights.

Sounds of splashing could be heard more frequently and their legs were pulled deeper into the murky abyss. Soon, the water had gone up to their hips and they had to wade through, forcefully to move further along. One burning question Himari had was How the hell is there water in Mizuki's soul? She thought to herself, but it was slightly annoying, as it was going to be an answer hard to find. Himari brought her palms closer to the water, and she could see jet black fishes with knife-like teeth.

Like piranhas, they flung towards her hand, trying to tear off her flesh before she quickly withdrew.

Unsurprisingly, they began to try to tear at the flesh of the three, and Asahi summoned his sword quickly and slashed them all in half.

Those fish certainly didn't look edible. Eventually, the water went up to their necks and their was no way of getting around that fact. Suddenly, Himari spoke, but quietly, casting a spell for them to travel further underwater. "Holy light, bequeath to me the power of mer-lungs! Aquasphaera!" It was quiet, but it looked like the spell worked anyhow, as they were now swimming underwater.

"We'll get tired a lot less easily because of this spell, and we'll be able to breathe underwater for about two hours. Hopefully that's enough." She muttered the last part quietly , not wanting to make the situation worse by showing doubt.

From time to time, the scaly black fish came, trying to eat them alive: like a piranha, but they got lightweight weapons out and attacked them with it. Asahi came upon a rather unfortunate happening while getting used to breathing - and fighting- underwater.

"Damn! Why won't this stupid thing work!" He gritted his teeth and frowned. Homare snickered at Asahi's misfortune, for one very obvious reason.

"Are you that much of an idiot, Asahi? You can't use fire underwater." He smirked, laughing at Asahi like a deranged madman.

At least the mood had lightened from the tense, refusing to speak atmosphere it once was. There was something very special about this group of heroes: they could lighten the mood no matter what, and even though things always went out of their odds, they always found a way to turn the tables in their favour.

It was never clear why the universe did things the way it did, but they had a responsibility to uphold, and not doing so would hurt their pride and feelings. If they gave up, the sole reason they had been living for would've been pointless.

It was like a hidden ocean; who expects one to find such in a soul, of all places? But Himari's thoughts instantly traced to the blue figure of Mizuki - she was the reason behind it being like this. When she realised this, she knew freeing Mizuki was going to take a lot more effort than they thought it would, as they underestimated it, not expecting anything that was thrown at them. Defeating each replica of Mizuki should in return put her soul back to its original state, and they could say 'hi' to her again.

The mere thought of it felt nostalgic - what they could do once they saw Mizuki normally again. They could go on adventures, and even supposedly teach others the art of the holy light magic, so that when the world needed protecting, the people wouldn't be on their own, suffering with no way to save themselves.

Asahi's eyes widened and he paused his pointless squabble with Homare and Homare stopped, too in confusion. Himari was also surprised that Asahi had stopped fighting, and when they faced the direction he was looking in, they knew why.

An underwater cave, large and gloomy, right at the bottom of the rocky ground, almost impossibly murky and hard to see through. There were more of the pesky black fish, and they fought them off to gain entrance to the cave. The same blue jewels that had decorated the blue mirror lit up the outside of the cave eerily. From all sides, the pest-fish rose from the rocky floor, readying to strike, not wanting the group inside, even by a hair.

There were quite a few of them, but it didn't take long before they had all been defeated, their heavy carcasses littering the seabed. That was where one of the Mizuki replicas were hiding. In a little dark lair. The three entered with utmost sincerity and bravery, strong-willed to begin their long quest of freeing their friend and sister, Mizuki.

"It's impossible to save everyone, otherwise you'll risk losing them all." ~ Asahi Katsumoto