It pulled me out of Cienar's arms and quickly dragged me into darkness. It was so fast that I was almost at the bottom a second after it took me. I tried to scream but it was too muffled to have much sound come out. The sea around me was too dark to see where Cienar was. Another seaweed grabbed my other ankle and another wrapped around my waist. I struggled and tried to rip the tentacle-like plants off, but as soon as I could, they would grab me again even tighter. But that was the least of my problems.
I could feel the berries wearing off. I was breathing more intensely, trying to satisfy my need for air, but it wasn't helping so I exhaled and held my breath. 'Of all the times to wear off!! I should've saved some berries instead of eating them all!' The water pressure began to suffocate me and I struggled more. All I could see was black. 'I'm going to die.'
Just after that thought, I felt the seaweed let go of me in a jolt as if it were cut. They let go of me and another arm took their place. Cienar swam even faster than before as we headed toward the surface. We burst out of the water and I gasped. My lungs were on fire and I was coughing like crazy. Cienar then swam up to the island's beach and lay me down on the sand so I could catch my breath. The island's beach was way better than the mainland. It was covered with soft sand and had no painful rocks scattered across it.
After I caught my breath, I sat up and turned to Cienar. I saw that he was back in his normal form and was sitting next to me. "Are you alright?" He asked with a worried face. I smiled as the relief finally sat in. "Of course. Thanks to you. Thank you." He returned my smile and hugged me suddenly. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that something so dangerous was next to the island." I hugged him back hesitantly. "It's okay." He then pulled out of my hug with his face now serious. "No, it's not. You could've died because of me. I was so worried about you."
He hugged me again but this time he held me closer to him and nuzzled his face in the curve of my neck. He was so close it reminded me of when he kissed me. I then angrily pushed him away. "Hey! Don't act so lovey-dovey! I still need to kill you for kissing me!" He looked at me surprised before he remembered. "Oh, right," He said as his mouth began to curve.
He then pulled himself to his feet with his staff and smirked. "I got to kiss you twice." I glared at him as I got to my feet. "Shut up, you pervert! One was without my consent!!" He continued to smile. "Yeah, that doesn't matter to me." I then crossed my arms and started to walk away from him.
He quickly caught up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder as if asking me to slow down. He was about to say something when Arine called us from up the beach. He ran to us and immediately slapped Cienar's hand off of me. "Don't touch her! Your time is up!" Cienar glared at him and Arine turned to me. "Did he do anything to you?" I shrugged. "Depends on what you mean by 'anything'."
Ikko then appeared from behind Arine and looked at the rainforest on the island. "Is The Book of Souls on this island?" He asked. Cienar shook his head. "No. It's under it." We all looked at him in confusion and waited for him to continue. Cienar then started walking away toward the forest and we followed. "There is a cavern under the island, and the entrance is this way."
Arine lit up. "Great! I'm starving! Although, I don't get why something like that would be under an island. That's just bad publicity." Cienar sighed. "Cavern. Not tavern, you idiot!" Arine paused. "Oh." I for one was relieved. 'I'm glad that we're finally going to get The Book of Souls. It feels like we've been on this journey for so long!' I thought. "I'm happy that we made it." Cienar stopped walking and turned to us. "Not so fast. We're not there yet. The cavern is like a labyrinth, and it is too easy to get lost in there. Many have gone down there, but none have ever come out." And my relief was gone as soon as it came. "Oh..."
Cienar continued to speak despite the disappointment in my voice. "I also know that something's down there. Something that protects the book, and will kill anyone who will try to take it." Arine crossed his arms. "Of course there is. Can the universe for once, let up on all the dangerous stuff?!"
A while after walking, we reached some ancient ruins in the center of the island. Cienar pointed to a cave with statues on either side of it and the entrance was made with mossy stones that looked centuries old. "There." We looked into the cave and it was pitch black at the bottom of the stairs. Ikko made us some torches from sticks and we went inside.
The cavern was dark and damp. Spiderwebs covered the ceilings and it seemed creepy and unnerving. There was a cold draft flowing through the many entryways and sent chills up my spine. Arine crossed his arms and said, "How do you know where we're going? Like you said, it's too easy to get lost in here." Cienar didn't look at him as he responded. "I can feel the water around us and it tells me where to go." Ikko raised an eyebrow. "That's a little creepy..." Arine scoffed. "You're one to talk."
They continued to bicker but I wasn't listening over how scary this place seemed. My tension was soon broken by Arine coming out and saying, "Hey Cienar? What even is The Book of Souls?" Cienar then stopped and turned around so fast that he made us stumble. "You don't know?!" Arine shrugged, afraid of what he would say next.
Cienar's eyes then narrowed at him. "Are you telling me that you traveled all over the world, almost died multiple times, looking for this one book and you don't even know what it is???!!!" Arine nodded, awkwardly. "Well... I have an idea of what it is... Isn't it like a spellbook?" Cienar gave him a look that said, 'What, are you stupid?!' Then actually said it. "What, are you stupid?!" He sighed. "It's not just a spell book. It is a book that can manipulate our very souls! Its sacred writing can bend matter and transform our world's limits on magic as we know it! It was buried here and spread as a myth by its author because he knew it was too powerful to be placed in the hands of evil! And since then, it hasn't left this cave for a thousand years!"
Suddenly, the tunnels around us echoed with a roar that made dust and rocks fall from the ceiling. I jumped from hearing the sound. "What was that?" Cienar then turned to face ahead of us. "The monster. We better keep moving." Hours later, I felt like we'd been walking for too long and my legs were on edge to collapse at any moment.
I wanted to ask if we were almost there but I was afraid of the answer. Soon we reached a large chamber, and in front of us were two pathways. Both led into a huge cave and there was a draft flowing out of each one. Cienar looked at both of them before turning to the left one. "That one leads to the chamber where the book is in." Arine smiled. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" He was about to walk past but Cienar blocked him with his arm. "Wait. The book is not the only thing in there."