trials. She
thought also of Oren, and the possibility that the missing Veha
might actually still be amongst them, either lost or captured
somewhere in these tunnels. Still, however, that thought remained a
distant one, lost beyond the words of the Tavar, asserting that
Oren was indeed no longer present on the Five
Islands.
Kaho’s mind remained
busy as she navigated her way deeper into the tunnel system,
eventually coming across a large hole in the wall that appeared to
open up into complete blackness. She would not have thought much of
the hole were it not for the Veha’s Pendant that hung around her
neck, pulling her towards the sizable hole which lay just above her
head on the left side of the cavern. Sloshing through the
ankle-deep water that still filled her pathway, Kaho scaled the
wall, carefully steadying herself on the jagged rocks below her
feet as she clambered up the wall towards the hole. Finally gaining
enough leverage, Kaho pulled herself through the hole, stooping
over at first until the aperture opened up into a spacious room
that seemed initially to be of perpetual darkness. However, as she
further examined the large clearance, guided only by the dim light
of her Pendant, Kaho took notice – from the corner of her eye – of
something glistening deeper inside of the underground
room.
“Water,” she breathed,
hardly surprised until she came to realize that she was now
situated much higher than the original series of tunnels, and that
any source of water here would certainly not be coming from the
ocean. What was it, then? An underground stream of sorts, perhaps?
As Kaho grew nearer, however, she came to realize that it was not a
stream at all, but rather a stationary body of water, lit only by a
slight crack in the cavern’s sealing, leading – eventually – to
broad daylight, peeking through the darkness of the underground
clearance ever so slightly.
Kaho paused, stopping
whilst looking over the underground pool as her Veha’s Pendant
suddenly began glowing even brighter still, pointing downwards,
leading to a sense of uneasiness washing over the female Veha as
she began to realize that whatever she was looking for lay not
within the rocky walls of the cavern itself, but rather below the
surface of the newfound subterranean pool of unknown contents and,
naturally, of unknown dangers.
Slowly she eased
forward, taking a deep breath. She dipped her feet into the water,
pleasantly surprised by its lukewarm temperature. Then, without
looking back, Kaho inched even further forward and plundered into
the depths of the pool, guided only by the blue light that hung
around her neck, leading her into the depths of perpetual
blackness. She kicked hard, swimming swiftly and smoothly downward,
marveling at how easily her body seemed to move under the water,
and how natural it seemed. It did not take Kaho long to deduce that
it was probably one of the perks that had come with her new Veha
powers, specially outfitted to the environment of her homeland. She
was taken aback also by the lack of her body’s need for oxygen as
she continued to swim; it was as if she had developed the ability
to last much longer underwater than an average Zor without the need
for air.
As
the water’s darkness continued to consume her, there suddenly came
a glimmer of something that was not much further down. The light of
her Pendant glowed even brighter and the object appeared to become
even more of its own mind as it began to tug, dragging Kaho further
downward now as her eyes fell upon the object – or objects, rather
– for which she had supposedly come. At the bottom of the pool,
laying beneath a bed of sea grass, lay a pair of Lanu Twin Blades –
deathly sharp, incredibly lightweight and very hard to come by,
Lanu Twin Blades had been a weapon of choice for many Veha Lanu to
come before. It made perfect sense, then, that the sight of these
legendary weapons only propelled Kaho further downwards.
As she reached out for
the
thought also of Oren, and the possibility that the missing Veha
might actually still be amongst them, either lost or captured
somewhere in these tunnels. Still, however, that thought remained a
distant one, lost beyond the words of the Tavar, asserting that
Oren was indeed no longer present on the Five
Islands.
Kaho’s mind remained
busy as she navigated her way deeper into the tunnel system,
eventually coming across a large hole in the wall that appeared to
open up into complete blackness. She would not have thought much of
the hole were it not for the Veha’s Pendant that hung around her
neck, pulling her towards the sizable hole which lay just above her
head on the left side of the cavern. Sloshing through the
ankle-deep water that still filled her pathway, Kaho scaled the
wall, carefully steadying herself on the jagged rocks below her
feet as she clambered up the wall towards the hole. Finally gaining
enough leverage, Kaho pulled herself through the hole, stooping
over at first until the aperture opened up into a spacious room
that seemed initially to be of perpetual darkness. However, as she
further examined the large clearance, guided only by the dim light
of her Pendant, Kaho took notice – from the corner of her eye – of
something glistening deeper inside of the underground
room.
“Water,” she breathed,
hardly surprised until she came to realize that she was now
situated much higher than the original series of tunnels, and that
any source of water here would certainly not be coming from the
ocean. What was it, then? An underground stream of sorts, perhaps?
As Kaho grew nearer, however, she came to realize that it was not a
stream at all, but rather a stationary body of water, lit only by a
slight crack in the cavern’s sealing, leading – eventually – to
broad daylight, peeking through the darkness of the underground
clearance ever so slightly.
Kaho paused, stopping
whilst looking over the underground pool as her Veha’s Pendant
suddenly began glowing even brighter still, pointing downwards,
leading to a sense of uneasiness washing over the female Veha as
she began to realize that whatever she was looking for lay not
within the rocky walls of the cavern itself, but rather below the
surface of the newfound subterranean pool of unknown contents and,
naturally, of unknown dangers.
Slowly she eased
forward, taking a deep breath. She dipped her feet into the water,
pleasantly surprised by its lukewarm temperature. Then, without
looking back, Kaho inched even further forward and plundered into
the depths of the pool, guided only by the blue light that hung
around her neck, leading her into the depths of perpetual
blackness. She kicked hard, swimming swiftly and smoothly downward,
marveling at how easily her body seemed to move under the water,
and how natural it seemed. It did not take Kaho long to deduce that
it was probably one of the perks that had come with her new Veha
powers, specially outfitted to the environment of her homeland. She
was taken aback also by the lack of her body’s need for oxygen as
she continued to swim; it was as if she had developed the ability
to last much longer underwater than an average Zor without the need
for air.
As
the water’s darkness continued to consume her, there suddenly came
a glimmer of something that was not much further down. The light of
her Pendant glowed even brighter and the object appeared to become
even more of its own mind as it began to tug, dragging Kaho further
downward now as her eyes fell upon the object – or objects, rather
– for which she had supposedly come. At the bottom of the pool,
laying beneath a bed of sea grass, lay a pair of Lanu Twin Blades –
deathly sharp, incredibly lightweight and very hard to come by,
Lanu Twin Blades had been a weapon of choice for many Veha Lanu to
come before. It made perfect sense, then, that the sight of these
legendary weapons only propelled Kaho further downwards.
As she reached out for
the
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