(Book 4) Hayden Mackay and The Fest of Vrindahina

20.2 Gate 6-Sink or Swim

"Wooohooo! Yeaaah!" Kumbh was shouting.

"Will you come on out already?" I yelled, having my hand cupped over my mouth, a complete vain attempt to let my voice to travel through the wind, "we have something important to do!"

I stood akimbo and shook my head growing impatient. I never knew a day like this would also come. It was hard to believe my eyes and it took awhile to digest the fact that I was watching a Constellia skateboarding on water, without a real skateboard anywhere beneath his feet.

Kumbh, Leena's Constellia was having a fun time of his own, probably more than Nazira and I had last evening. He was diving and surfing deep into the water and then standing on the high waves. Even though his acrobatic feats were worth appreciating, my curiosity of what the challenge was going to be was making me feel otherwise.

Kumbh was in usual attire-a blue silk loincloth from the waist down and bare chest covered with shiny gold ornaments. I shrunk my eyes and carefully gaped at the old-fashioned, glittering tiara he was carrying. He was moving with the utmost speed, and it was indeed fascinating to watch him dive having this jewellery intact to his head.

I waited for him for few more minutes. The only possibility for this delay could be the odd timing of the day. I sat down on the sand, waiting for Kumbh and the sun to rise completely. Eventually, Kumbh did give up his early morning sport when the powerful reddish-orange rays flooded down towards the waterbody.

"So what's the challenge?" I asked, flinging my hands, watching him approach.

"Patience, Hayden Mackay," he said, "We better have some bright light before we take off."

"Well, if you really wanted some light, I might have done something to help you," I said glaring down at the shorter man. I fired up my fingers and dramatically put my hands in front of him.

He clicked his tongue. "Not a chance," he said, shaking his head.

"Excuse me?"

Kumbh lifted both his hand and removed his tiara delicately out of his head. I was still beaming at the sparkling ornament when he unhesitatingly tossed it hard towards the water.

"There goes a part of me," he said pointing at the tiara that drowned at the spot far away from the shore, "Our challenge is to find it. One who finds it first is the winner."

Swimming! Boy, am I not good at it?

"Do you think it's fair?" I asked, already calculating the distance I needed to travel, "You can easily deal with water, whereas I..."

"I am not going to use any of my powers," he said, "it's against the rules."

"This might take forever," I said staring to and from at the distance and presuming the depth, "I might not be able to breathe underwater for that amount of time."

"Yes, you can," he said casually, "Don't worry about it."

"If you say so," I said, sighing softly, "Anything else I need to know?"

"There are going to be many obstacles inside the water- extremely unpredictable and dangerous. So, you are free to use your formation as much as you like."

I scoffed. "Come on, it's water."

Kumbh smiled. "Water is a not always stronger than fire. Is it?"

I frowned, puzzled. "I am sure I won't be able to evaporate the whole water."

He shrugged. "You never know."

What Kumbh was asking me to do was undoubtedly out of scope. I disregarded the idea and instead, I circumvented the possible strategies. For a brief moment, I was back to the academy, remembering those training sessions I had with Leena. There were innumerable times she had managed to defeat me. She was strong and her formations were deadly enough to devour my fire. The zeal of winning against her attacks was also one of the reasons I mastered my stone sooner than anyone else.