COUGHCOUGHCOUGH!

Crawling across the slick stone, Seth coughed and heaved up the water from his lungs. His hair, completely soaked, clung to his scalp and was planted firm against his face. Pushing it from his eyes, so that he could see once more, Seth was about to carve a quick light stone when he realised that wasn't necessary.

He could see, the floor beneath him was illuminated by a pale white light, just like his stone had produced. The blotchy black figure of his shadow swayed softly in the light as it was cast between that pale white light.

It seems that his original one had somehow survived, perhaps he should have given more credit to the little bugger. Then again, as he raised his head and took in his surroundings, perhaps he was too quick to judge.

He was currently hunched over within a cave of some kind, one with walls 15 metres high and the same wide, although it went deeper into the rock and twisted around a corner, so he had no idea exactly how deep it went.

This cave was indeed being illuminated by light runes, but it was not his little rock. Maybe it had shattered or maybe it was still drifting out in the water, he had no idea. But it was definitely not in here, lighting up this room.

Lining the walls, with meticulously even spacing from what he could tell, were identical metallic brazers. Pale white flames flickered in the bowl of the brazers, although they emitted no heat nor crackled like true flames.

They were simply illusions, something to make the light emission more aesthetically pleasing, from what Seth could tell.

Clambering to his feet, Seth hobbled over to Erik, who was currently crouched next to Alfie's unconscious body. His hand hovered over the bespectacled boys chest, hints of mana emanating from his fingertips. Beads of water rapidly began to form on Alfie's lips, pouring from his mouth, before floating into the air and gathering in Erik's hand as he drained the boys lungs of water.

Without looking up, since he could hear Seth approaching, Erik spoke in a monotone voice that hid a hint of irritation and disappointment.

"That was a stupid idea."

Seth simply shrugged and brushed his hair out of his face again.

"Maybe. It worked though, didn't it?"

Erik frowned deeper at Seth's answer, clearly it wasn't satisfactory to him. The trickle of water eventually came to an end, as Aflie's lungs were completely drained of any moisture that shouldn't be there.

He celebrated the event by coughing and spluttering a few times, before continuing with his normal breathing. His chest rising and falling softly as he breathed softly, yet to regain consciousness.

Casting the water to the side, Erik looked up at Seth with a deep glare.

"Did you know this was here?"

"I had a hunch."

"A hunch?! You almost got us all killed over a hunch?"

He immediately rose to his feet, storming over to Seth before giving him a firm shove in the chest. Stumbling back a few steps, Seth righted himself before regarding Erik with a neutral expression.

"Yes. Would you rather we stayed up there to be eaten?"

"That's not the point! You didn't think to consult us when you were making a decision with our lives? You think that just because you work for the Lord, that makes you better than us? You think that puts you in charge of us and our lives?"

"I understand why you're mad but-"

"Oh you understand? You understand?! Well that's good, I'm really glad to hear that you understand. But that doesn't change the fact that you gambled with our lives. Who do you think you are?

Actually, don't answer that. I'm not sure if I could believe a damn thing that comes out of your mouth. You think I haven't seen the little looks you and the real leader share?

Uh huh, I saw those. Ever since you went berserk, I've been keeping my eye on you. You're shifty as hell. You're hiding something. Hell, maybe you brought us down here so you could rip us apart too-"

His rant was cut short by the sound of Alfie coughing once again, before he let out a long low groan. Dragging his body into a sitting position, Alfie rubbed his face with both hands and spoke with another groan.

"Ugh... What happened? Am I dead?"

Brushing his hair out of his face, he dropped his hands by his side and looked up at the ceiling of the cave they were sitting in, his face going slack at the sight.

"Yup. Definitely dead."

Erik narrowed his eyes at Seth once more, glaring daggers before sighing and walking over to Alfie's side once more. Unclenching his fist, Seth kept his concentration and gradually lowered his boiling blood back down to a gentle simmer.

He couldn't afford to lose his temper, not here and definitely not now. Honestly, he didn't exactly blame Erik for not trusting him completely, even if he went about it in an aggravating way.

Once he was perfectly calm, Seth turned his eyes towards the ceiling as well, looking at what had caught Alfie's attention. Hanging high above them was the mouth of the cave, and in the entrance of this cave was a veil of gently lapping waves of water, utterly uncaring for the law of gravity that should be pulling them down to flood the cave beneath.

As Seth observed yet another physics-defying wonder, Alfie spoke once more.

"Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on here? How did we even get here? Where is Nessie?"

That was a good question. One Seth himself decided to answer.

***

In the midst of the bubble, with the legendary monster of Loch Ness barreling towards them with unrelenting bloodlust, all Seth could focus on was Alfie's foot. Not because of some hidden fetish, or because of what he was standing on.

He could only focus on it because it simply wasn't there. Alfie's foot was non-existent, his leg simply stopped after the calf and turned into the usual stone that rested beneath their feet.

His mind was painfully aware of the encroaching beast, it's approach monitored through the karambit embedded in its side, yet his eyes remained on the ground. They darted from Alfie's non-existent foot, scanning the shield of swirling water around them, more specifically he watched where it disappeared into the rock, as if the rocks weren't there at all.

Merely an... Illusion.

Seth rapidly dismissed his armour, tossing the light stone to the side uncaringly before he clawed at his chest. Tearing off the protective cover he had installed for his prosthetic's core, he proceeded to rip that core from its casing and held it tight in his good hand.

"Take a deep breath!"

"Wha-"

Not waiting for their response, or even to confirm if they did as he said, Seth tossed the core onto the ground and heard it crack against the rock. The light of the core rapidly grew and grew, until it was nearly blinding.

But Seth didn't plan on sticking around for long enough to be blinded. Instead he rammed his shoulder into Alfie, tackling him through the veil of water and plunging them both into the depths of the lake at the same time. It was just a shame he never had time to check to see if Alfie had held his breath, or even closed his mouth, when he did so.

As he dove into the water, he commanded the spear that Erik was riding to follow, breaking the water knights concentration on the dome. As Erik plunged into the water, the water raged into the space that had shunned it, crashing together once the multitude of waves met in the centre. All of those waves impacted a single, inconspicuous stone that was glowing like a miniature sun.

Nessie, with jaws open wide, shot towards the helpless trio just as that inconspicuous stone finally decided it couldn't contain its energy any longer.

KRAKOOOOOM!

The core erupted in Nessie's face, forcing the water outwards and creating a wave that pushed the trio into the rocks and then through them like the trio were already spectres in the deep blue.

They plunged through the illusion, emerging on the other side as fresh air hit their faces, before they fell into the cave with the impossible ceiling. Seth hitting against the floor, as his black blood shielded him from the blow, while Alfie was tossed to the side as the explosion separated them.

Erik, simply coasted down gently and was set down onto the ground, where he immediately rushed to Alfie's side to tend to him whilst Seth coughed and spluttered on the ground.

***

"Well damn bro, little squire saved our lives once again. It's kinda poetic too, in a way."

Alfie said with a strained chuckle as he gently punched Seth's arm after clambering to his feet.

"In what way?"

"Well, I save your life at the cost of your arm. Then you use that lost arm to save my life. You have to think, what would have happened if you didn't lose that arm."

"Yeah... I guess it is poetic."

Seth chuckled to himself, subtly glancing at Erik who was still staring daggers at him over Alfie's shoulder.