The ice opened up around them, bathing their surroundings in a soft orange light.

  When Aida finally laid her eyes on the scenery around her, she was completely disoriented.

  Did we get washed somewhere else?

  But no - she was able to pick out bits of the landscape that looked familiar, though everything was different.

  North Ocean Village, originally built on gentle slopes that faced the ocean so that every location in the village had an uninterrupted picturesque view of the ocean was nearly completely underwater.

  Aida sucked in a breath, dread filling her stomach as she slowly took in the scene.

  The bay…was no longer a bay. The eel’s carcass lay across what was originally the bay’s entrance, several long, glimmering fins poking into the air. It looked like its body had utterly destroyed the two landmasses that had proudly guarded the mouth as it had thrashed around in its death throes.

  The water the eel had brought with it as it chased its prey had washed over the entire village, and was trickling back out to the ocean through whatever openings were available: over the eel’s fins, around its body, between jagged rocks.

  “We need to get Tera and Abedi out!” Aida said suddenly as her eyes lingered on the boulders protruding out of the water.

  Hopefully Tera had formed a solid enough enclosure for them so that water wouldn’t enter, and that they wouldn’t be crushed by the water - but Aida had no idea how long it had been since they made their stand against the charging eel. Despite her improved senses when she had connected with Dev, her sense of time had gotten utterly garbled.

  Without a word, Dev sent their ice boat floating towards the headlands by lightly parting the water before them, gently slipping them forward.

  Aida’s heart was hammering as she reached deep into the seawater with her mana, seeking for any sign of life. After successfully freezing water under immense pressure, just sensing was immeasurably easy.

  “There’s so much rock down here,” Aida fussed, turning to Dev. “How are we supposed to find them if they’re enclosed in their own layer of rock?”

  He shook his head slowly, his eyes unfocused as he evaluated the water below them himself. His eyes sharpened as he sensed something.

  “Wait, I think they’re making their presence known.”

  Dev scooted their float closer to the eel corpse, kneeling against the edge as he inspected the water intently.

  Shortly after, a stalagmite rose out of the water. Aida breathed a sigh of relief.

  “At least we know where they are…but how do we get to them? The water isn’t draining fast enough.”

  “Holding back this much water would be an ordeal,” Dev agreed, casting a critical eye around them. He blanched as he looked back to the stalagmite. “Woah.”

  Tera had molded the stalagmite into a small tube. Aida leaned over it, trying to see if she could see anything in the tube - but it was obviously dark.

  “Tera? Abedi? Can you hear me?” Aida didn’t know if the earthen tube had good acoustics, but there seemed to be no other way to communicate. Miraculously, she heard a disjointed collection of sounds float up, sounding like a mixture of Tera and Abedi’s voices talking over each other.

  “Hold on! I can’t understand you,” Aida called down. This time, only Tera’s voice responded, but Aida still couldn’t decipher the syllables that mixed together. She looked at Dev and shook her head, at a loss. Dev glanced underneath the water, frowning before his eyes widened.

  “Looks like Tera’s got it covered.”

  “What is she doing?” Aida extended her senses into the water below them again, though she couldn’t notice anything different. However, she finally noticed another skiff approach them, piloted by Brand.

  “Thank the fire of life, you two are alive!”

  “Brand! Is everyone okay?” Aida called back. He looked harried, his dark hair swept haphazardly back and exhaustion dripping from his limbs. He looked like he could barely keep his balance on his skiff.

  “Yes, fortunately Jaret had convinced the village elders to organize an evacuation before we set out to rescue the other Strongholders, so everyone has retreated to the water reservoir. Ashley and Brand and the other Water Strongholders we rescued are looking for any remaining villagers that need to be evacuated.” Brand listed gently to one side before catching himself. “I came to check on you. Where are Tera and Abedi?”

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  Dev pointed at the earthen tube poking out of the water. “They seem to be fine, though trapped in an underwater cave at the moment. They should be out momentarily.”

  Brand stared between Dev and the tube and the water, an uncomprehending expression on his face. He shook his head as he scrubbed his hand over his face, trying to rub some life back into himself. Wordlessly, Aida hopped over to his skiff, activating his overlay as she began gently popping his blockages, trickling in some of her own mana to encourage his mana to flow.

  “Don’t worry, they have it handled,” Dev said reassuringly as Brand recovered. “How are the Strongholders you rescued?”

  Brand’s shoulders slumped, either because Aida’s Regen was relaxing him, or because of the weight of their losses she wasn’t sure.

  “…we managed to rescue four of our people. Out of ten. And we had initially sent our most capable fighters once we received news from the scouts of what was happening, so…this is a big loss for the Naval Stronghold.”

  “What about the other eels?” Aida asked. “Did they manage to kill them?”

  “No.” Aida felt a surge of anger ripple through Brand underneath her fingers. “They managed to maim one, and the remaining four continued to pursue us as we pulled our remaining fighters out. Ashley did some clever tricks with her fire to buy us some time as the fighters got to our boat, but once they realized we were getting away they renewed their focus on us. We thought once we reached the shallower depths they would peel off - never thought that one eel would continue the chase.”

  “Why did this eel continue?” Aida asked, glancing at the still carcass a mere fifty feet away from them. “Did it have some sort of…bloodlust?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.” Brand cast a disgusted glance at the eel’s body. “They’re still adolescent—“ Aida suppressed a gasp “—so that could possibly explain why they hunted as a pod. But even so, not even baby eels are stupid enough to swim in these depths. If I hadn’t been chased two hours ago, and this body wasn’t still laying here right in front of me, I would never have believed it if someone told me an eel swam all the way up here.” Brand spat in the water, in the direction of the eel’s remains.

  Not even a full-grown eel. Aida felt faint as she looked at the still body. It was so large and heavy that not even the fins could be moved by the water.

  “What’s happening?” Brand asked in alarm as a tiny volcano erupted out of the water.

  “I apologize for surprising you,” Tera gasped out as the mound of earth cracked apart, falling into the waves with large splashes and revealing an exhausted Tera and concerned Abedi supporting her limp form. “I had to be cautious with my earth manipulations to get to the surface without drowning us.”

  “Not a problem. You look like you could use a long rest,” Brand said. He eyed their skiffs. “I’m impressed that you managed to keep everything in such good condition.”

  “Tera reacted very quickly,” Abedi said, admiration in his voice. “I was certain we’d be crushed, but she managed to fortify the earth structure to withstand all the water pressure. Then I was certain we’d suffocate or drown, but she managed to successfully pipe down air for us.”

  “I wasn’t sure I could manage it,” Tera said, smiling weakly. “But then, I always did do my best work when under pressure.”

  Just like diamonds, Aida thought fondly, unable to stop smiling at seeing her classmates safe and sound. “Do you think you can get back to the village?”

  “What village?” Tera asked, squinting in the direction of the flooded buildings.

  “Abedi, why don’t you take Tera back on your skiff,” Brand said quickly, stepping in. “Dev, Aida, which one of you is more comfortable maneuvering the skiff? One of you can take it back for Tera.”

  “I’m familiar with its operation,” Dev offered. Brand nodded approvingly.

  “Good. You can take it then. Let’s convene with the other Strongholders.”

  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

  A few hours later, with the sun high in the sky, Aida was back out on the water with Jaret and Abedi.

  Tera and Dev both elected to stay behind outside of North Ocean Village’s gate, where the floodwater hadn’t reached. Tera needed the rest, as she had pushed herself to her utmost limit in order to protect and save herself and Abedi from the eel’s attack.

  Dev had quietly offered to stay so that he could be involved with planning the logistics in helping North Ocean Village recover, though from her quick evaluation of his mana flow, Aida silently assumed he was tired as well.

  Aida and Abedi had volunteered to help Jaret scout the eel corpse’s position so they could figure out how to move the body and unplug the creature from the bay’s entrance to facilitate draining the floodwaters away from the village.

  She herself volunteered because she felt guilty - even though Dev said he wouldn’t have been able to take out the eel without her, the fact that he had been the one to take on the brunt of the mana cost made her feel like she really hadn’t contributed. She suspected Abedi felt the same way about having to rely on Tera for his survival.

  Jaret sighed softly as he took in the sight, bringing the boat to a stop at the eel’s head. The water level covered the majority of the body, as rivulets wove their way over the creature’s scales to flow into the ocean on the other side.

  Aida and Abedi remained silent, staring at the unmoving head with Jaret.

  Even though its eyes were lifeless, Aida still couldn’t help but shiver as she stared at its massive features. Its red mouth was wide open, the water in the vicinity a pinkish-red as it continued bleeding from the wound she and Dev had inflicted upon it. Its upper face looked rigid, frozen in an awful grimace, as if it was wearing a masquerade mask. It even had three horns protruding backwards from its head, and Aida could see the thick muscle fibers underneath its semitranslucent scales.

  If this thing hadn’t tried to kill them, Aida would have mourned the loss of a beautiful creature.

  “It’s going to take a lot of work to clear out this body,” Jaret finally said. “But this is also an unexpected bounty.” He glanced at Aida and Abedi with a wry grin. “The body is in very good condition, so there are many high-quality materials we can harvest from this beast.”