Water

Wave Seven

Mindful of Leira’s presence, Eli carved through the waters. He was heedless of the changing temperatures and pressures around him as he plunged down. Eli felt a pull at the back of his mind and knew Dale was trying to contact him, to caution him. His lungs screamed. He slowed his pace, letting them become accustomed to the changing pressure in the waters as he descended. In a state of agonised impatience, Eli allowed Dale to catch up. They slowly made their transition from shallows to murky depths. He tried to ignore the black spots prickling and dancing before his eyes as his head swam from the rapid descent. He felt the warmth from his friend’s body as Dale swam close, comforting him wordlessly.

          An eternity ebbed and flowed before Eli’s eyes as they reached the cavern entrances. The Mer saw a rock face containing a network of tunnels and hollows. Each tunnel contained dozens of caves and chambers. Dale pointed to the furthest tunnel entrance and began to swim toward it.

(We’ll start here and scan inside. Then we’ll search through each cave in the rockface until we find her.)
Eli scowled with frustration and thought back,
(You know as well I do, we don’t have enough light left for that.) He held up the orb on his wristpiece to emphasise his point. Already, it was beginning to flicker and dim. Testers were only given enough Source energy to provide them with light for two turns of the tide. It was all they needed to perform a Test and trace the trainee Guardian. Usually.

          Dale conceded Eli’s point, but reasoned,
(Then we go and get more Mer to come and search. They’d bring extra energy with them and-)
(There’s no time. You heard her! She sounded so…) Eli trailed off, leaving his final thought unformed. He turned and studied the rock face again, searching for signs of Leira. Dale began to modify the setting on his wristpiece and, for a moment, it projected a bright white light. It illuminated the scene before them. Dale cursed and quickly readjusted the orb until it dimmed.

          As the glow faded, Eli caught a flash of light in the tail of his eye. Grabbing Dale’s arm, he tilted his wristpiece back and forth until it produced the gleam of a reflection once more. Eli’s eyes followed the glint and he released Dale’s arm, certain now of which cavern entrance the strange flicker had come from. He swam deftly across the short distance and scanned the rocks surrounding the unremarkable hollow.

          Using his own orb now, Eli held his wrist up and increased the energy flow, not caring how much light he used up. His eyes flashed with triumph and Dale, now by his side, could see what had caught Eli’s attention. Snagged on a rock overhanging the cavern entrance, was a single purple scale.