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Chapter 4: Under the Lake

Quickly, Lilia took out her wand and shouted what sounded like "AIR BUBBLE!" Several large magical bubbles encased each party member's head, allowing them to breathe. They saw that they were locked up behind bars. As they looked around for a way out, they noticed that they were not the only ones there. There were many people sitting around. A woman was crying in the corner. Echo walked over and talked to her. "M-my daughter, she's all alone. Please, you have to find a way to free us!" she said through tears. "We'll try..." Echo replied.

Suddenly, Echo was pulled away by Evren. "We found a way out! Come with me!" he exclaimed. There was a space between the bars big enough to fit through! The party squeezed through, and they began to slide down a sloped area. When they stopped sliding, they had reached the dungeon. They could see the top of the lake, but something was keeping them from swimming upward. Suddenly, they were attacked by a lone Aquaris. It was like an octopus, but it had an almost humanoid appearance from the torso up. Except it was covered in scales, and had solid yellow, glowing eyes. It had long black hair, flowing in the water. Lodged in its back was a shiny rock. Destry tried to get behind it to grab the rock, but the Aquaris knocked him down.

Lilia's Sunfire attacks would be useless underwater. So, she tried distracting it with another new magic attack, Hypnosis. A purple string of light extruded from her wand, and wound into a spiral. The Aquaris was entranced by it. Destry got behind it, and grabbed the rock. He pulled it out, and the Aquaris disappeared. It left behind more Quills and two potions, one blue and one red. After the party gathered the items, they headed to the next room.

In the next room, there were four statues of Aquari, and a large blue door with a lock. On the base of one in the middle of the room was a sentence written in ancient Dosnatian. Destry read it, then in the lowest whisper, said "It says 'DISTURB US AND YOU WILL PAY'". They tried to tiptoe to the next room. But suddenly, Lilia tripped over a sculpted spear that one of the statues was holding. Suddenly, the statues began to shake. They had come to life. They surrounded the party, pointing their spears at them.

There was no escape. They would have to fight. Suddenly, Evren drew his wand and shouted "CLOUDCOOLER BURST!". A wall of icy mist appeared and froze the Aquari in place. The party got behind them and attempted to pull out as many rocks as they could. Before they could get the last one, it started to shake and unfreeze. It struck Echo with its spear. She collapsed to the floor, holding a hand over her wound. She grabbed Destry's bag and took the red potion from it. She drank it down, and the wound immediately healed. She tossed the bottle aside and grabbed her dagger.

She charged towards the Aquaris, and slashed at it. The Aquaris collapsed to the floor. Echo pulled the rock from its back with ease. The party collected the Quills and potions the Aquari had dropped. The lock on the large blue door began to shake and fall off. Suddenly, a tentacle, the same tentacle that had pulled them into the lake shoved itself through the door. It reached for Lilia, who Evren tried to pull away unsuccessfully. Once it had a grip on her, it pulled her away. Lilia screamed for her friends. They followed the sound into a large room.

There, the Blight of the Water, one of the Demon King's favorites, Aquaria awaited them. She(?) was very similar in appearance to a normal Aquaris, but had some differences. Her scales were a bright silver, and her eyes glowed gold. Her tentacles were a deep blue. She was very large, almost the size of a two-story house! She had long, inky black hair that seemed to be moving on its own, and wedged in her back was a large sapphire. She had a mouth full of fangs, and on her hands were claws like spears.

She had Lilia in her clutches. Lilia was struggling to get free. The party drew their weapons, and the battle began. Aquaria made the first move. She lashed at the party with her claws, scratching them. Echo drove her dagger into one of Aquaria's tentacles. The monster screeched in pain. Suddenly, Destry hatched a plan. "LILIA! TRY AND GET TO THE BACK!" he shouted at Lilia. She tried to wiggle out of Aquaria's tentacle, where she was being held up in the air, but it was no use. Frustrated, she kicked the tentacle. Aquaria moved her large head to fixate on Lilia. She raised her tentacle even higher in the air, and dropped her.

Evren rushed over to catch her, and he did. But just as he set Lilia down, he was snatched up by Aquaria! He managed to get his arms free, and he reached for a piece of the monster's hair. He gave it a yank, and Aquaria turned to face him. He drew his wand, and shouted "C-CLOUDCOOLER BEAM!". The beam hit the monster's horrible, empty eyes. She writhed in pain, and sank to the floor, stunned. Destry, Echo, and Lilia ran to the back of Aquaria as fast as they could. The great sapphire was right in front of them. Suddenly, Lilia got an idea. She asked Echo to take out her bow, and Lilia took out her wand. They joined hands, and Lilia whispered some incomprehensible words. The bow became surrounded with a purple glow. Echo fired an arrow at the sapphire, and as it hit, a large crack appeared. Suddenly, the monster whipped around, and set Evren down. She picked up Echo and Destry. Aquaria started to move around, making it hard to hit the sapphire.

As Echo was being snatched up, she threw the bow and arrows to Lilia. Lilia grabbed them. Destry and Echo took turns pulling on the monster's hair, and Lilia and Evren fired the arrows. When the sapphire was almost in pieces, Aquaria began to change. She set down Destry and Echo, and her eyes began to change from gold to a deep red. She opened her gaping mouth, and spread out her tentacles, which had grown spikes on the ends.

They began to spin like a propeller.

Lilia quickly passed the bow to Echo, and the party began to avoid the rotating tentacles. Echo shot an arrow in Aquaria's eyes, and it stunned the monster. The tentacles slowly stopped rotating, and Aquaria sank to the floor. Echo ran to the back and shot the sapphire one more time. It began to crack, and the pieces fell from Aquaria's back. Aquaria screeched with anger, and slowly faded away, leaving behind a ton of Quills and potions. Suddenly the broken sapphire pieces began to glow.

As the sapphire began to glow, a bright light filled the room, and when it faded, the party was standing on land, next to the now clear Sapphire Lake. The people who were locked up were there as well, and they began to head back to Woodpine Town to reunite with their families. The party felt more powerful than they had been before. They began to head back into town. As they headed towards the inn, the saw the woman they had met hugging her daughter.

Smiling, they headed back to their room at the inn. They climbed into bed and fell asleep.