Biohuman

Firefly?" Keng looked over at Leader Claims. The muscled man nodded. "What's that? I'm surprised you even know what a firefly is."

"It's not like we haven't been above land before…" Aliza commented.

"Not sure. It's hard to even figure out where we were going with Ferals on our tails." Calis' answered Rya's question. "The young Savior mentioned something about the firefly. A shiny energy of light zipping through the caverns. Is that right?"

Calis' looked over at Lily who nodded at him. He turned his attention back to the conch.

"Strange." Rya spoke. "I guess we'll have to follow it. Maybe it'll give us a clue to the cup."

"Oh, yeah!" Keng snapped his fingers. The void storage opened and Keng stuck his hand in it. He could feel the water drip off of his skin as he dug around for the item.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"When I got lost in the cave – yes, I both got separated and lost from Leader Rya and th and went into a cave – I found this!" Keng pulled the dagger scabbard out and showed it to Lily.

"Hold on, Rya. It seems Savior Keng has something interesting." Calis and the others drifted over to him.

"What is that?* Trenni asked.

"A scabbard?" Aliza replied with a question. She looked at Keng. "Why do you have something like this? Where'd you get it, again?"

"The cave I went into when I lost you guys." Keng replied. "It's teeming with energy so I grabbed it." The others took in the metallic depiction of a Merfolk warrior. The scabbard illuminated itself with energy.

The room began to him in the same frequency, drawing Keng and Lily's attention first. The two looked around, eventually making eye contact with each other.

"What's it doing?" Lily asked.

"Is it reacting to the room?" Trenni asked. The scabbard shook in Keng's hands as they all watched it float.

"Are you doing that?" Cayi asked.

"No." Keng shook his head. "I'm not doing anything." The energy in the room began to shift. It grew denser as the walls began to shake and slowly turn. The illusions began to disappear, revealing the caverns secrets as it slowly turned.

"What's happening?" Aliza asked.

"Stay calm." Calis told the group. He and the others looked up as the hole in the ceiling disappeared.

"What's happening?" Rya asked.

"It seems Savior Keng's item he grabbed is making the room react to it." Calis answered. The scabbard flew higher up, reaching their gazes on the ceiling. The room began to light up and with the final turn of the room, a light flew straight into the scabbard, lighting up the space around.

Trenni, Aliza, Cayi and Lily gasped. A strange blown up map surrounded them in what looked like writing. Calis was the first to move towards the nearest scribble of writing.

Calis spoke something in a different language Keng nor Lily knew. The Merfolk seemed to look at him, understanding what he said. Calis continued to read the writing around him.

"These are places." Aliza spoke. "They're listing places all over the world."

"Here." Calis pointed. He turned to look at the Fox Spirits. "This is the Merfolk village. And if we go this way, we'll reach the place God King resides."

"What's those words up there?" Lily pointed up near the scabbard. They were golden and almost blended with the scabbard. Calis swam up and muttered as he read them to himself.

After Calis finished reading the golden words, he descended back down to the majority of the group and turned to look at them. He had a troubled face.

"What?" Trenni asked.

"What is it, Leader Calis?" Cayi asked. Calis let a slow breath out of his nose. Trenni immediately didn't like that. His gills were flaring a bit and she knew that spelled bad news.

"It seems like we need another component." Calis finally told them.

"That doesn't sound too bad." Keng answered.

"The flipper is…" Calis looked at Keng. "One of the supposed pieces to heal the Merfolk completely is on the Plane of Humans. The most important piece: the cup."

"The cup is on another plane?" Aliza muttered. "How's that possible?"

"The firefly might be the energy needed for the parts." Rya theorized.

"I was looking at the scabbard while I was up there and I think we have to capture the energy with the scabbard and that will allow us to figure out what's next." Calis told them.

"What did it say? Word for word?" Keng asked. Calis sighed and swam over. He looked Keng in the eye.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way." Calis pulled on Keng's armor straps and immediately kissed him. Keng's eyes grew wide as Calis held him there for what seemed like an eternity to Keng, only to pull away.

"Why did you do that?" Lily asked. Keng's face grew beet red as he turned. Calis chuckled.

"Did you not know kissing another creature gives you their many tongues?" Calis asked Keng in Merfolk. Keng could understand every word spoken to him by Calis. Calis gave Keng a big smile like he knew what he just did. "You didn't tell him, Rya?"

"I didn't." Rya replied to him in English. "I didn't want anyone to kiss him unwillingly."

"You're unwilling?" Calis asked in English. He kept giving glances at Keng, who was still stunned by the sudden act. "So, what should we do? Find the firefly and capture it in the scabbard?"

"Does it say anything about a weapon to hold it?" Vizo asked from afar. Keng's eyes immediately moved to read the space around him. Calis's kiss had given him knowledge of Merfolk and that also gave him the written knowledge.

"I should've learned this long ago. Why didn't anyone teach me this?" Keng whispered. He walked around the room and read the writing. It was like Calis had said it was. It was a map with names of places.

"Lily, your place is here." Keng pointed. Keng's eyes wandered south a bit and eventually found the Holy Village. "The hideout isn't here."

His eyes scanned for a while, learning of random places he didn't know and those which he did know off of moving through them on the way to the beach village.

The golden words at the top were somewhat different. They were instructions.

Capture the wisp that ever changes, placing it into the scabbard of myth. Seal it with the appropriate weapon and move towards the Realm where Humans lie and find the cup which sits on a throne of lies.

A subtle silver text shimmered below it. Keng lifted up to the air and read it aloud.

"The weapon imbued with the ever changing wisp shall reveal the splendor of a cup. A cup which only the wielder of the blade can find." Keng read aloud. The scabbard hummed as it twirled in the water.

"It's getting away!" Vizo's distant voice shouted. Keng began to turn when the entire room shook. The energy swirled as the scabbard dimmed. The cavern room began to turn, slowly circling back to its original place as the scabbard began to sink.

Keng snatched the scabbard, feeling the hum of energy course through him. His eyes swirled with cosmic energy, focused on the space around him. The room came to a stop as the magical energy rushed out of every tunnel, seen and unseen. The flickered as the waters began to split in every direction.

"W-what's going on?!?" Keng asked. He turned to watch Calis and the others struggling to keep themselves in space.

"Ah!" Lily began to be pulled backwards towards the wall. "Help!"

"Lily!" Keng flew towards Lily, pushing against the currents as the waters pulled in different directions. The room was quickly unfilling and pushing them out.

"Savior!" Aliza shouted.

"Stay together!" Calis shouted, pulling their shadows together.

"Help!" Lily shouted, reaching a hand out. Keng's hand stretched out, reaching for her hand as the current suddenly pulled her into the wall.

"You go after her, Savior!" Calis shouted. "We'll find you!"  Keng nodded and followed after Lily. The currents grew wild, rocking side to side like a water slide. Keng found it hard to keep control of everything. Lily and Keng's screams filled the tunnel as they moved left and right, slipping through the tunnel quickly. Keng followed after Lily, watching her fly through illusionar ywalls as they continued forwards. The waters had seemingly become alive and pulled them towards an unknown destination.

Lily's screams suddenly disappeared as Keng was pushed into a large room. He looked for the young Fox. She was nowhere to be seen. The waters pushed out and funneled towards a central point in the middle of the floor. The waters pushed him downwards through the illusionary flooring, sending him free falling through the air.

The waters rushed around him as his head popped in and out of the waterfall. A large ravine spread all around them, plunging into what looked like water and lava.

"Lava?" Keng whispered.

"Ahhh!" Lily's scream cracked through the air.

"Shit! Lava!"