We'd been shuffling along for maybe twenty minutes now, constantly scanning for danger. Luckily for us, the environment hadn't changed much. Same algae, same dripping water, same... wet. The current on the other hand, had started acting weird. It was almost as if it didn't know which way it wanted to go.

  A moment ago we'd arrived at a fork in the path and were having a bit of trouble choosing a direction. Both options, at least to me, looked identical. Each had glowing algae, and were in similar shape and size. Only the water seemed to differentiate the two. It swirled around here and there, making ripples and eddies with no clear direction.

  Currently, I was bent over with a scrunched up face studying the water as if I knew what I was doing.

  "Maybe we should go to the left?" I finally asked, despite that I had no real evidence as to why.

  "Maybe," Caelin said, rubbing his chin. "I just get the feeling that our choice here is important. We might be missing something..."

  I sighed. "Oh, we're missing something alright. A big, glowing algae sign that says 'Testers this way' with a big arrow."

  I felt rewarded when he chuckled.

  "I wish," he said, smiling as he looked at me.

  We enjoyed the upbeat moment in silence for a couple seconds.

  "So," I said, changing the subject, "since we haven't decided yet, I still vote left. At the very least, it seems like the top of the water is flowing that way... probably..."

  Caelin hesitated for a moment, almost like he didn't fully agree.

  "I'm sorry... if you don't think left is correct, we can go to the right," I quickly added. "I'm not trying to force a direction."

  "No, no, it's okay, we can go left," he said reassuringly. "I just can't place my finger on the reason right now...worst case, we can try to work our way back."

  "Deal," I said.

  Rose had finally warmed back up and had dozed off under my hair again. Casting healing magic really seemed to take it out of her.

  We pressed forward, following the current to the left as it tugged at our calves. After an uneventful five minutes of walking, we encountered our first roadblock.

  Just ahead was a small rounded chamber, maybe twelve feet in diameter. Longer stalactites hung from the ceiling, shaped like jagged stone teeth. An abundance of the little algae was growing all around, illuminating the area.

  As we approached, we discovered there were no other paths leading out of this cove. The current essentially stopped flowing, with the only movement coming from a small rippling swirl on the far side. There, the water seemed to be draining down a natural lattice of stalagmites. It was a near-perfect stone grate, riddled with the same gems that were scattered throughout the walls.

  "Oof..." I whispered to myself as we reached the center of the cove. "It appears I should not be the one choosing directions," I said, trying to add a hint of humor to my blunder. "Sorry...".

  Caelin was right, just like the direction we should have gone. Why didn't I listen?

  * Way to go Mae, make yourself look like an idiot. *

  "Don't worry, it's fine!" Caelin said in an attempt to make me feel better. "It's not like I really knew which way to go either."

  He gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and said, "Let's just hurry back so we don't lose more time."

  "You're right," I said, despite the guilt I was feeling. "But now we have to fight the current to get back..."

  "Guess we better get to it then," Caelin said with his famous grin.

  His optimism was contagious. I found myself smiling with him a couple moments later.

  "After you then," I said with a bow, extending my hand back to where we came from.

  With a bow of his own, he took the lead.

  The walk back against the moving current was much harder than going with it. We made about half as much progress in the same five minutes it took to get to the cove in the first place. Luckily, I could see the fork ahead, maybe twenty yards or so away.

  Booom

  I gasped, and my gut wrenched as I heard the deep rumbling echo throughout the cave. In that moment I panicked knowing what was coming. I stood there frozen.

  * Great, not again! *

  Caelin, on the other hand, quickly reacted to the sound as if he'd been expecting it. Without saying a word, he spun around and grabbed my hand, pulling me through the rising water towards the sides of the algae-lit walls.

  Boooom

  As soon as we reached the side, he pulled me close into a tight hug, "Hang on tight, Mae!"

  He didn't have to tell me twice. I buried my face into his chest and hugged his torso as tight as I could.

  Booooooom

  The third rumble shook the cave again, making small debris and small stalactites rain down from above. The deep, bubbling gurgle echoed towards us from once again as the cold water receded slightly before quickly rising up to our chests.

  I couldn't really see, but I could definitely hear the wave of water rushing towards us.

  "Whatever you do, don't let go!" Caelin shouted.

  I braced for impact as the surge of water crashed by us. The roaring sound of water filled my ears as the cold water rose up to our necks, making me gasp again. The chaos and swirls of violent water threatened to rip us back down the tunnel, however, Caelin had wedged us into a nook along the wall, which helped block the raging current.

  His grip tightened on me as I felt the current nearly pull me loose. For a few terrifying seconds, it was all sound and motion. The relentless force of the water, the echoes of shaking earth, and the thundering pulse of my own heartbeat were all I could hear.

  A couple of long seconds later and the surge of water receded, stopping roughly at the middle of my thighs.

  "Are you alright?" Caelin asked, his voice low and breathless.

  I nodded weakly.

  "I... think so..."

  "Glad to hear it," he said, looking around. "Cause I doubt that was the last one."

  His grip on me finally started to loosen. Only then did I realize just how tightly he'd been squeezing me.

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  "I can't believe we made it," I breathed, looking at the nook we were in. "I'd be drowned by now if you hadn't... how'd you know it would be safe here?"

  "I didn't," he stated plainly, then chuckled, "I only assumed."

  "Assumed what?" I asked in disbelief.

  He walked back out into the main current and pointed to the walls.

  "After that first wave I thought I was going to drown. I didn't even realize that the current had pushed me into one of these little nooks," he said, pointing to where we had been. "I noticed that there was a large patch of that algae there, and just assumed it was abundant because the water never really reached it."

  "Well, thank you for being a genius. You saved my life, Cae. I'm glad you noticed that, because I'd be 'blub blub' right now," I said, imitating something drowning.

  He just laughed at that. "Well now we're even. You did save me from that assassin, after all."

  I smiled and nodded, recalling how close he'd been holding me. I didn't realize my heart was still pounding, though it wasn't from the water this time. I clapped my cheeks a little.

  * Snap out of it Mae, survival first! Feelings later! *

  I felt a tug under my hair and looked over my shoulder to see Rose freeing herself from my wet hair. She looked at me, holding onto a couple strands as if it were a set of reigns.

  "Welcome back to the fray, little miss," I said with a smile. "Hopefully you didn't get too wet this time."

  She huffed at me, wringing out some small droplets of water from her own hair. She shook her head and pulled herself onto her favorite spot on my shoulder.

  I returned my attention to the fork that was just ahead. The light of the algae was still emanating a soft green glow, but now the rushing water was deeper— about as deep as my thighs.

  "We should keep going," I said. "The water level is definitely rising with each one of those waves. And you're right, I don't think that was the last one."

  "Agreed," Caelin said, promptly taking the lead once again.

  We reached the fork as quick as we could, taking the other path this time. As we rounded the bend, the water changed direction. It was behind us again, which accelerated our travel. The undertow had grown even stronger now. One slip and you could be easily swept away.

  With the current pulling us along, we covered a considerable distance after only walking for fifteen minutes.

  It definitely felt like this was the wrong way, even if it was the only one, because the abundance of algae had died down, and the water had turned a dark and murky color. With less algae growing, the path ahead was quite dreary, only illuminated by a gloomy green glow.

  The air felt heavier too. Each breath seemed to linger in my chest a little longer than it should. The frigid water was starting to take a toll, and I worried that hypothermia would find us soon if we didn't warm up.

  As I observed the area just ahead, I saw something peculiar near the wall. A soft green glow was floating just above the surface. At first glance I thought it was algae, but it seemed to be floating maybe a foot above the water, swaying side to side.

  "Cae... do you see that?" I whispered.

  "I do..." he whispered back.

  I caught a slight movement near the surface of the water— and that's when I noticed it. My chest tightened after seeing what the 'algae' was attached to. Initially it looked like a rock, but it had a mouth full of thin, glass-like teeth. Two dark eyes sat on opposite sides of the mouth as it slowly opened and closed. The rock, which I now knew was a head, had to be at least a foot and a half around. Small fins behind the eyes looked almost like sea grass.

  If we hadn't been on our guard, we may have walked right into it without even knowing. The creature sat in the current, unmoving, as if the flowing water didn't affect it at all. The light coming from its little orb was only slightly brighter than the surrounding area, but the sway from it was actually quite mesmerizing.

  "What do we do?" I whispered as quietly as I could.

  Caelin didn't respond right away. Instead, his eyes narrowed and his breathing slowed as he observed the creature's movements.

  "I don't think there's any avoiding it..." he finally whispered.

  Before I could respond, the creature's lamp twitched, and the whole head dipped below the surface of the water. Luckily, the soft green glow was still visible.

  I watched for a moment as the green glow flickered wavered under the moving current, lingering in place for a couple seconds. Then, it slowly started moving upstream— right towards us.

  Caelin drew his sword right away, and I prepared myself. With no real weapon to hold, all I could do was wait.

  The light froze about six feet away, unmoving just below the water's edge. With the darker water and the dimmed light, it was hard to tell exactly where the creature had stopped.

  All of a sudden the creature lunged, emitting a gurgling-hissing sound. It lept out of the water like a fish... only it wasn't. Its body was dark gray with a rubbery texture, and was shaped more like a frog. Its tiny fish tail and large back legs propelled it out of the water right at us.

  Caelin side-stepped, taking a swing with his sword. Unfortunately, he missed as the creature splashed back into the water right between us. I tried to backpedal a little bit, but the current made it hard to do gracefully.

  "SyrElvaKelTaris! {Channel Wind, Enhanced Rise and move}" I shouted.

  A condensed swirl of air formed and blasted the water where the creature had landed. It was a solid blast of air, though it did little more than splash cold water over all of us.

  * Tsk! Dang! Wind may not be the best option here! *

  The creature lunged again, this time at me. As I tried to backpedal, I lost my balance and fell backwards.

  "Mae!" I heard Caelin call just before I hit the water.

  Rose barely managed to fly off my shoulder before I plunged into the frigid current once again. Shock coursed through my body as the warmth was stripped away. The undertow dragged me several yards down the tunnel before I was able to regain my bearings and sit up out of the water.

  "Geeze, that's cold!" I coughed, catching my breath.

  The creature had followed me, and was only a couple feet away now. I was able to make out a few more of its features than before. It appeared to be as tall as the water was deep, and had skin that nearly resembled the sides of the cave. Its soulless black eyes told me it had only one goal in mind— and that was to take a bite right out of me. It lowered itself so that just its eyes were poking out just above the water.

  "Someone needs a trip to the dentist!" I yelled defiantly, throwing kicks as I attempted to crabwalk backwards.

  It pulled itself towards me, snapping at my feet as I tried to deter it. Suddenly, Caelin appeared over it, slashing his sword across its back.

  It let out another hissing-gurgle as it reeled from the pain, quickly ducking under the water. I could only tell where it was because of its glowing orb.

  "Are you alright?" Caelin asked as he pulled me to my feet.

  "Somehow..." I said, shivering.

  The creature rose to the surface again, looking at us with hungry eyes.

  "Stand behind me," Caelin ordered.

  I didn't hesitate, quickly positioning him between the creature and myself.

  The creature lowered itself as it got ready to leap again.

  Caelin held his sword by his side, his knuckles turning white as his grip around the pommel tightened.

  In the next instant, the monster jumped at us. With one swift strike, Caelin sliced the monster in half as it flew through the air.

  Blood splashed into the surrounding water as the two halves hit the surface, quickly being carried downstream by the current.

  Caelin sheathed his sword like a video game character would.

  * Alright, fan-girling aside, that... was pretty sick... *

  "What was that!?" I asked with full enthusiasm.

  "A focussed slash," Caelin said, laughing and rubbing his head. "It's a hard technique to learn, but my father made sure I did before I left."

  "Well, you looked pretty awesome," I remarked. "Maybe I can get some more sword lessons from you after we get out of here..."

  "I'd like that," he said with a prince charming smile.

  thump thump went my heart.

  I shook my head. "What even was that thing?" I asked, trying to recollect myself.

  "A Froaker," he replied. "A small one. Tier-two, max."

  I laughed. "Ahh, you've got a whole beastiary up there, don't you?" I asked, tapping my head.

  "Oh yeah," he bragged, standing a little taller. "I love fighting monsters, I—"

  Suddenly I got really cold, causing my teeth to chatter. "Brrrr..." I mumbled, wrapping my arms around myself.

  "Are you alright?" Caelin asked.

  "We'd better hurry up and finish this... I don't think I can take many more ice plunges."

  "You're right," Caelin said with a nod. "Neither of us can really use fire magic, so warming up is out of the question."

  "I could totally go for a campfire and s'mores right now..." I pouted.

  "What's a 'smore'?" Caelin asked.

  "It's... hard to explain. They're warm, tasty, and full of choclatey-goodness. You eat them around a fire and tell stories... you'll always want 'some more'."

  "Sounds like a good time!"

  * I keep forgetting nobody here knows what I'm talking about half the time! *

  "Oh, it is. If we ever get a chance, I'll show you," I said.

  "I can hardly wait!" he replied with a laugh.

  Rose settled back down on my shoulder as we continued following the current. We ran into several more froakers, but they weren't too hard to deal with because their attacks were pretty linear.

  The paths were becoming more chaotic— winding and weaving as we pressed on. With every minute that passed, there was less and less algae, creating a darker and gloomier atmosphere.

  As we moved deeper, the more erratically the water behaved. In some places it even seemed like the current flowed uphill. We'd encountered several more forked paths where the top of the water was clearly flowing in one direction and the undertow was pulling the other.

  We had been walking for roughly twenty five minutes now since the first fork, and I'd let Caelin choose the directions after my last blunder. So far we hadn't hit any other dead-ends, so whatever intuition he was following, he was nailing it!

  Finally, the area ahead of us looked as though it widened up a little. Filled with a sliver of hope, I pushed ahead. Little did I know, the most exciting part of this trial awaited us there.