Waters of Aqnis, Second Story of Nypre

Chapter 11

The void was dark, so dark Nypre had trouble telling if his eyes were open or not. The deeper into the depths they descended the more he felt like he was squeezing through the water instead of swimming. The enchantment preventing their deaths was beginning to fail. Without Naomi it was difficult to maintain the spell. Nypre could only imagine the pain the water mages were going through. He felt helpless. He considered trying to add his magic to the spell but it was too much of a risk. Any fluctuations caused by his energy would lead to immediate death.

Just as Nypre wondered how they could possibly get any deeper he felt something beneath his feet. The ocean floor, they had finally reached it. Everyone hesitated for a moment, looking around. There was no sight of the layer at all. Nypre was confused, assuming the layer was on the ocean floor. He looked around but there was only darkness He kept seeing the look on Naomi's face from the initial flash of light caused by that creature. It was a look of hope, a look of happiness. The face she saw was her husband's. The creature must have killed him before killing her, and then used his face to lure her.

Nypre wanted to feel sadder about Naomi, but grieving would have to come later. Rightnow the only thing he could worry about was keeping the others and himself alive. He felt the familiar tug on his hand and the visions of Naomi's death fading away. There was a glint of silver light in front of him.  It was difficult to tell whether it was real, or just another dream like vision. There was only one thing capable of making light that pure: The layer. They had finally reached their destination. He stepped along the deep ocean floor slowly. It was easier to walk along the floor than sink. There was less pressure than before. He could only assume it was due to the spell stabilizing with consistent pressure.

They jaunted forward until the silver light grew closer. He stumbled like he had tripped down stairs, only this was different being submerged in water. The flat ocean floor ended. The group had walked off a cliff and were forced to resort back to swimming. Beneath him was a canyon illuminated in silver light. The source of the light was at the bottom. Still grasping each others' hands they slowly descended into the trench. The pressure was overwhelming now. The spell was weakening. Nypre knew there was no way out alive. The ocean's surface had to be miles away. They were all going to die. Even if they solved the problem with the layer there would be no way to make it back up to the surface.

He looked to the right and could see Maryine's face illuminated in the light. There was only one way to describe her once beautiful expression. Despair. Her hair was pressed down against her unlike in shallower water where it flowed freely. The pressure was intense and painful. Nypre looked to the others. They had all accepted their fates. They were die here. Nypre wanted to cry, but he fought the urge. They still had a job to do. Their deaths couldn't be meaningless.

Much like the ocean itself, the trench was deeper than it looked. As they sunk closer to the bottom they could see everything. Hot vents shot out of the wall, shooting dark milky clouds upwards. The water temperature around them was searing hot.

Strange white crabs crawled along the walls like ants. Eel like creatures hid within the crevices. Even down here there was life. It seemed to flourish so close to the layer. Nypre found it amazing that anything could live here, where even magic was beginning to fail them. He thought about telling Deren of this, but that thought was enough to push him over the edge. Tears fell from his eyes into the salty ocean waters. He was never going to tell Deren any of this.

As they sunk deeper towards the silvery hole at the bottom of the trench the walls grew closer. Beneath them the light emerged from a silver circular hole. There, Nypre saw something that turned his gloom into rage. The layer was covered in a crystal web, something he had seen before in the night land. The web was like a sheet of silver. There was not a single hole for any magic to flow through. Crawling along the crystal web, just like in the night land, were several spiders. How did they get down there? How did they survive down here? The water should have crushed them, how did they breathe?