When Söl first met the water again he thought he had found it. The cave of Desire. The cave with the stagnant water that started all of the problems he has been having. The creature that followed him. The two eyes that watched him. The majority of what made him feel crazy. But it was not the cave. He felt both relief and sadness over that. He wanted to find it again. But he was not ready yet. He had barely begun the training he believed he needed to actually stand up against the creature. No, this cave had simply flooded. It was so much smaller than the Cave of Desire as he remembered it as well and he felt stupid for confusing them together. Yet his heart had shipped in excitement.

Röl had met the two Coursers before. When he had been asked to join in on some very light travelling he had eagerly answered yes. He figured any training that he could get would be good for him if he wanted to become a form of champion. He dreamed of it from time to time. How he would save others. Become a sort of protector. The warrior of the weak. Whatever you wanted to call it he wanted to become it. And he would. He was sure of it. He looked over the stagnant water ahead of him as he thought. He tried to see if there was anything dangerous in it. But it seemed as if nothing moved at all. There were no air bubbles, no movement. It was fine.

Öte had joined in on the quest because Söl had asked. It was supposed to be a quite simple adventure. Quick. And Solas was on other adventures at the moment so he couldn’t hang around his partner. So Öte figured what better way to spend time than to just do something with it. He was mostly hanging around helping protect Söl as Söl collected insects, moss and other plants. And Öte hadn’t actually anticipated anything else. Maybe a fight or a riddle. But so far it has been fairly easy. They had walked around. That was about it. He thought he could spend time not thinking about Solas but alas, here he were in a cave, thinking about what Solas was doing. Probably something stupid. Öte chuckled to himself. Pete the Destroyer, his golden dog companion was laying by a wall. He was fantastic company but when it was calm that was much of what he was doing. Laying around. He looked over at Sölas and his bat that clung to the side of his mane. To Röl and his pygmy drake that just floated with him, so lazily as well, by grabbing onto his mane and flapping its wing to keep afloat. They sure were a group of specific individuals. It was nice.

“We need to pass this water.” Röl said. “It seems safe.” He nodded as he spoke. But both Öte and Söl knew that even the still water could hide creatures.
“As long as we are careful we should be fine.” Söl answered.
“Indeed. Last time was just a toad. But there is dangerous stuff as well.” Öte agreed.

Röl headed into the water first. They took it slowly. They made sure to not get too much water up to their mouth. It was stagnant and disgusting but also filled with bacteria. Röl was the first one up on the other side and as he turned to face them with a big smile on his face he saw it first. The water rose behind them. Both Söl and Öte could see on Röl’s face that what they feared was happening. They didn’t care so much about the dangerous water, instead they began running to make it to the other side as the water rose behind them and followed them. The water seemed to cloak whatever was behind them. They couldn’t see the creature as it moved quickly. Söl almost jumped out of the water and Öte wasn’t far behind but Röl stood his ground as the bulging water moved quicker and quicker towards them. Röl snorted as he took his stance. But as the water arrived the bulge suddenly disappeared and whatever creature was after them seemed to disappear underneath the surface again.
“We should leave immediately. In case it tries again.” Öte said.
“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Röl answered.