It took an obnoxiously long time for the little green kobold to stop screaming. The binding maya dissipated but he was too terrified to move. Bjorn identified him as Haika level sixteen and an arcanist. He wasn't a threat as far as Bjorn was concerned. So he left the interrogation to those that could actually try to speak to him. The little guy didn't seem to understand the hissing language so it was up to everyone else to try and get through to him.
Bjorn kept one head swiveled around to watch them while he focused on having wind and sun on his scales. The world was bathed in the scent of nature. The presence of birds, insects and flora meant that the corruption was low. They were likely at the very edge of the Chaos Lands. Although the mountains in the distance made it impossible to tell how far they were from Helmforað.
They were obviously at the base camp of the kobold duo and it looked like they had been there for a while. The camp was full of things from the facility below; entire combat units were in various states of disassembly. Weapons, though mainly the gun arms and of course a campfire far too close to live ammunition and an actual pile of bang spheres.
Bjorn took a step back from that disaster waiting to happen and alerted Tanisha to the pile. She had caution but instead of backing up she took a few in her inventory. Then smothered the fire with conjured water.
"Daddy!" Anasuya hissed gleefully. "What is that?"
Anasuya was still in the form of a little girl riding on his back. She was pointing at the ocean so Bjorn explained what an ocean was. She was ecstatic at the discovery, wanting to go down and get closer.
"Later right now we have to see where we are and it could be dangerous." Bjorn said. "Remember the monsters I had to fight before?"
"Boo, but you killed all the monsters." Anasuya pouted.
"Not the ones here. We will take a look later after we find out where we are."
"W-Wait! No stabby-stab! No choppy-chop! We surrender! Harmless, yes-yes! Very harmless!" Haika gulped loudly.
The green Kobold stood in front of his collapsed sister. His feathers were puffed up in fear and his tail curled under him like a frightened dog.
"Harmless? You tried to blow us up." Aurelius in a flat tone.
"Ah, uh…eh small boom, surprise boom!" He was shaking like a leaf caught in a storm. "Hardly boom at all, see-see, all fine, all alive-see! Very alive." He gestured frantically in their direction and especially at their limbs. "No missing pieces! Small boom, very-very small."
Bjorn and Tanisha couldn't help but look down at the former entrance to the underground facility. Or at least what was left of the original ledge. The stone face had collapsed down to the beach a few hundred feet below.
"That." Tanisha thumbed back to the aftermath. "Didn't seem small."
Haika deflated a little but still stood defensively over his sister who had yet to wake up.
"Okay, medium boom… but only because we scared. Knight lady and big big many head drake give us scare! Akair made bang sphere too spicy. She get fright easy." He nudges her with his foot. "See just us and she faint! Soft delicate. Softer than bread-mush!"
"You are scared of me?" Tanisha questioned.
"Uh-ahh. Yes." He squeaked.
Bjorn thought about it for a moment. Tanisha was in full armor but so was Aurelius and she didn't even have her weapons out. Could it have been because of King and Queen of Reptiles?
Well that would mean they are actually reptiles and not bird people.
"Queen of Reptiless." Bjorn said, still alternating each word between his heads. "Check your skills."
"Huh, oh okay." Tanisha said and paused for a moment as she read it over. "I unlocked it? Was it because of our bond evolving?"
Bjorn shrugged, "I do not know."
Tanisha's mouth became a thin line as she mulled over the discovery.
"I am not going to harm you but I am a healer. I will look at her to make sure she is okay." Tanisha said softly.
She walked over to them and checked the unconscious Akair's pulse.
"She is fine just unconscious." Tanisha said.
"Yes-yes! Very delicate girl. Brave heart but tiny courage. Adventurers tough though! Didn't die means all good! Everything fine! We fix mistakes with friendship, yes?" Haika nods vigorously.
"Not friends, we can't afford that. We didn't want to hurt you anyway." Aurelius said as he sheathed his sword. "We are lost. Do you have a map or know where the nearest settlement is?"
Haika looked up at Bjorn and gulped. "Not eat family?"
"Human settlement or other big creatures like us," Aurelius said. "Not a kobold one unless that is the only one around. We aren't going to eat anyone."
"Sister knows, she smart, map in head all around here. Human city, floating over the water, hard to get to. Monsters, yes. Path, stone path tick-tick dangerous. Monsters gnashing, big mean-mean deadly things form over mountains! Air is sick."
"Is the city okay? Were people getting attacked?" Aurelius stepped forward with an intensity that caused the kobold to trip backwards.
"City fine-fine, humans fight monsters but path, dangerous." Haika said.
"Which way to the human territory?" Aurelius demanded.
"Ah, uh… sister knows." Haika said he looked around frantically like the answer would come to him. "Haika and Akair better alive. Do not eat!"
"We will get there Aurelius," Fuyumi said. "Don't give him a heart attack."
Aurelius took a calming breath. "Yeah, sorry. Well at least we know we are close to the Force Isles. As soon as your sister wakes up, tell us where the human city is."
Tanisha took a bag out of her inventory and gave it to the cowering kobold. He looked as if she was planning on stuffing him into it and stew him over a fire. Once he saw that she wasn't he still looked like they might just decide to cook him anyway.
Aurelius said that he would watch the kobold siblings. Fuyumi was looking through the small camp, so for the time being there was nothing for Bjorn to do. Tanisha walked over to him and petted his side.
"Want to look around a little?" Tanisha asked.
"Don't go too far." Aurelius said.
"I can teleport." Tanisha as she and Bjorn wandered away. "I am never too far away."
"You can only teleport short distances at a time!" Aurelius yelled.
"Okay, Speedy, we'll be close." Tanisha waved.
The walk was peaceful and quiet but not uncomfortable. The silence was contentment mixed with unasked questions. Bjorn knew she wanted to know more about him, the changes to her, the Higher Planes, his thoughts on the bond. There were so many emotions and almost asked questions on her lips that she just never fully formed. So the silence stretched on as the two walked.
Then Failsafe snapped a startled bird out of the air. It was a good moment for Tanisha to divert their path closer to the cliff edge overlooking the ocean. Without hesitation she jumped down, Bjorn followed. The fall was only about fifty feet, not anything for people of their level to worry about. Tanisha's armor vanished into her inventory leaving the tight fitting black under armor exposed. A robe quickly appeared and she threw it on.
"I have never seen the ocean before." A smile bloomed across her face. "Come on, Big Man, Ana, let's swim a little."
The little girl on his back jumped down and followed behind Tanisha as she ran. Bjorn snorted a laugh or at least a slightly pitched lighter hiss and chased after them. Bjorn was sure hard questions were coming eventually but they didn't have to be right now.
***
Bjorn swam out into deeper waters while Tanisha and Anasuya splashed and laughed closer to the shore. The open ocean called to him in a way few things ever had. Vast bodies of water always stirred something ancient in his blood. He was sure it was an urge to dive, to vanish beneath the surface and see what lay hidden below.
He had long since accepted that he was, at least in part, aquatic. The truth of it was written plainly into his body: the broad, flattened sweep of his tail, the webbing between his paws, the powerful dorsal fin he usually kept folded tight against his back. The sea recognized him, and he felt something in him respond.
The moment his body slipped fully beneath the surface, instinct took over.
With a powerful kick, Bjorn dove downward, surrendering to the cool pressure as the light from above fractured into rippling shards. Each flick of his tongue sampled the water, tasting traces of life and mana alike. The ocean was saturated with unfamiliar signatures and tastes. There were creatures hidden in folds of darkness, moving just beyond sight, their essence carried on invisible currents.
The deeper he went, the stronger the pull to explore became.
Failsafe struck without warning, snapping something large from the water in a single, efficient motion. Bjorn had to focus a second to realise it was a fish. A pretty big one but ultimately too slow and unfortunate to survive. It twitched once before going still. Bjorn barely registered it as food before his awareness widened again. Schools of fish shimmered all around him, scattering and reforming in living clouds. Below, the seafloor teemed with motion, layered ecosystems stacked upon one another in a complexity that rivaled any forest or city he had ever seen.
A vast kelp forest stretched across the ocean floor, luminous with mana. Threads of arcane energy pulsed through the towering fronds, giving off a soft, bioluminescent glow. The water here was warmer, heated by some unseen natural magical formation buried deep beneath the seabed. The kelp swayed slowly in the currents, dense and vibrant with more colorful than any terrestrial grove.
Some stalks were no taller than grass, carpeting the seabed in glowing hues. Others rose impossibly high, stretching upward like living pillars, taller than any tree Bjorn had seen on land. Veins of light traveled along their blades in slow, rhythmic pulses, painting the water with drifting ribbons of color.
Oh wow, I can't believe something like this exists just beneath the water.
Bjorn hovered there for a long moment, suspended between predator and explorer, marveling at a world that felt…undeniably like home.
A call rolled through the water and caught him off guard. It was something massive and ancient. It was violent in its intensity, a sound that seemed to tear at the sea itself, yet ghostly too, like a distant wail of grief carried on endless currents. It came from far away but… it was moving closer.
Magic bled into the ocean around him like blood poured into a pool.
Bjorn tasted it immediately, the currents shifted as something vast probed the depths. The pressure of that presence swept outward. Then it unmistakably focused on him.
"Uh, I think we should move! Yesterday!" Failsafe shouted inside his mind.
Bjorn didn't hesitate.
He twisted in the water and surged toward the surface, muscles burning as he swam with everything he had. Whatever was out there was not something he wanted to meet. Not now, not ever. The shoreline drew closer with every powerful stroke, but so did the thing behind him.
He couldn't see it but he didn't need to.
The wailing grew sharper, more frantic, vibrating through the water until it felt like the sea itself was beginning to boil. The magic reached for him cold against his scales, invasive in its intensity to probe him. Then his paws struck solid ground.
The moment he broke the surface, the pressure snapped back, the grasping presence recoiling as if repelled. Bjorn didn't slow. He burst from the surf and ran straight toward Tanisha and Anasuya. One massive head swept low, scooping both of them up in a single practiced motion and flipping them onto his back without breaking stride.
"Ah—Bjorn!" Tanisha squeaked, clinging to his scales. "What's wrong?"
"Danger," Bjorn growled, already pushing himself harder.
He didn't stop running until the ocean was well behind them, climbed the rock cliff in a few bounds and soon the shoreline a distant smear of white foam and dark water. Only then did he slow, muscles taut, senses stretched wide. Everyone turned and stared at the waves.
Nothing followed.
The sea lay calm once more, deceptively peaceful.
Hopefully… whatever it was couldn't leave the deep.
"I think we should leave," Isin said mentally, his voice tight.
"Agreed," Failsafe replied immediately.
"Play?" Anasuya hissed, confused, peering back toward the water.
"We have to go now, Ana," Bjorn hissed gently.
Tanisha shifted on his back, "Well I don't know what you saw out there but… I guess we should head back to the kobold camp. I really don't want to hang around a monster that can just pop out of the sea whenever it feels like it." She paused, then added dryly, "Especially one that got you running away, Big Man."
She adjusted her grip and huffed softly. "Oh… and Bjorn. Please be careful how you pick a girl up next time. You've got horns, remember? And there are some very sensitive things down there."
Bjorn made a low, embarrassed rumble and turned inland, leaving the whispering ocean and whatever mourned beneath it far behind.