"Hey uh…you don't happen to have a mana po-" a light tapping on my shoulder nearly caused me to slam my eye into the potion, causing Cassi to chuckle as some of the fluid spilled on my face. The distraction also took my mind off of constantly controlling the millions of tiny mana strings binding the current wall protecting us, causing a massive chunk to pour in before I had to strain myself wrangling it back.
"Ff-fuck that hurt?! Give it." I said, snatching the bottle in my teeth and yanking it away. Cassi let out a breathy chuckle, shaking her head at the corner of my eye before I leaned back and hugged down the potion. Almost immediately, the terrible weakness that had crept up on me passively for the last three-something hours blissfully washed away.
"HO-ly hell, that hit like a shot of adrenaline, thank you." I said between heavy breaths after letting the bottle fall through our bottom current wall. Cassi already let me adopt some of the load in maintaining my half of its structure a few hours ago once I got a better feel for it, though with a boost in mana it's become clear she too is feeling some weakness creeping in.
"Don't mention it, because I'm going to need a break after this shift. Especially if it gets as rocky as the last one." Cassi said with a tired chuckle.
"Wait what? That just leaves me to keep this guy from drowning?" I asked, realizing how short lived this refilled mana pool's going to be.
"Yeah, I know, it's not great. Honestly if I'm too weak after this, we might have to surface asap and hope we find land quickly." Cassi replied, sounding subtly distressed as she looked down at Korbin. Curious at what going back up would mean for us now, I decided to check the event live feed.
[ KILL & BE KILLED ] - Final Event (LIVE)
Remaining Participants: 1,291,540
Titan's Path: Northeast (34,797.3 m)
Eliminations: 1,263
Time Until Catastrophic Tectonic Shift: 0:04:13
"Woah, like a million people are gone since the last one?!" I said aloud, recalling well over two million participants the last time I checked this feed.
"Yeah, it happened shortly after the last shift. I'm not totally sure what's causing the influx, other than maybe the fights naturally coming closer together as things progress?" Cassi said, sounding more like she was guessing outright than analyzing.
"Hard to tell when we've been cooped up underwater this whole time. We can't even see the cave walls around us anymore." I pointed out, feeling my bored frustrations starting to slip. I'm all for keeping Korbin safe at least until we reach the final stretch here, but he's been out for a long, long time now.
"I know, Tom. But this is the cards we're dealt. Plus who knows, we could've been caught out between two crazy teams going all out without us even realizing it?" Cassi replied firmly.
"Yeah, but how fun would that be here?" I pointed out, hoping she knew what I meant by 'here' since being killed is almost certain in this event, even if our faction wins.
"…pretty fun, yeah." Cassi replied, rubbing her stiff metal armor against my back while shrugging.
*rumble*
A light tremor hummed through the water, its vibrations creating a low echo chamber within our dry pocket.
"That's happening way too early, right?" I asked, noting we still had just under 2 minutes until the next shift.
"Definitely. Unless that's the foresho-…oh fuck..FUCK." Cassi said, shuffling her feet bringing her share of the current walls further forward. Each straining mana string in response sent me scrambling to keep pace with her.
"HEY, hold on, I've never done this shit on the move." I protested, still struggling not to let my mana strings snap while on the go.
"Keep up, we don't have time for lessons. You only feel foreshocks if you're close enough to the fault line." Cassi sternly replied, scanning the deep blue waters as we drifted forward.
"Oh…OH!" I shouted, finally putting together the possible danger we're more than likely in. I have no clue how close I was to the shift that destroyed the grotto, but if it's anywhere near as powerful, I'm not sure we'll be able to keep track of Korbin if this pocket collapses. The both of us shuffled step by step, dragging Korbin along who remained laying peacefully on the current held floor.
*RUMBLE*
The vast waters surrounding us roared with violent vibration that reverberated from my feet to the top of my skull. I peered back at mid-stride, noticing Cassi's shoulders slumping hard.
*RUMBLE*
*BAM!*
A thunderous boom echoed all around us, loud enough to nearly drop hunched over and cover my ears. My eyes scrunched shut as thousands of my mana strings screamed under several powerful waves pressing against the current wall, struggling to maintain full control.
"Hang in there Cass!" I called out. Though when I turned back to face her, my trusted General was down on a knee struggling to keep the current wall from collapsing on her and Korbin.
"Dammit, Cassi." I grunted frustratedly, shuffling overtop them both and adopting her side's workload. My mind and stomach immediately strained from literally doubling the weight bearing on each strand, forcing me to close my eyes and focus only on my mana and breathing.
"Argh…Cassi…" I growled, hoping she was somehow creating a solution before the weight of what felt like an entire ocean caved in on us.
"Shh, wait." Cassi commanded, somehow finding a way to be demanding right now. I couldn't help but peek down below, barely making out her hand pressed on Korbin's forehead through my own fluttering eyelash.
"No, dr-, drink a fuckin' potion?! What are y-" Korbin's head shot up with a loud gasp, his eyes glowing a bright orange as he nearly headbutted me in the knee. His lunge unfortunately started the living shit out of me, completely shredding my focus on the mana current walls for a brief second. I barely managed to latch additional mana strings across the invisible shattered wall before all three of us were simultaneously crushed together by the water.
"Tom, why are we at the bottom of the ocean right now?" Korbin asked, looking at me with accusatory eyes.
*RUMBLE*
"You-…fell asl-EEP!" I replied as a wave of pressure threatened our backside current wall. Korbin let out a chuckle as he popped up to his feet.
"Hey, I know this is probably the worst place for a guy like me but…doesn't this water feel…" Korbin slowly stood up, shrugging off Cassi's weak grasps for him to stay down as she gripped her gut. No doubt mana exhaustion had nearly settled in, meaning she was going to need either a potion or some time to recover.
"No, ff-FUCKER st-, stay down." I struggled to protest, of course being totally ignored by my oldest friend. His head cocked to the side as he leaned toward the water, before fully pressing his face into the current wall. The strings snapped immediately, causing me to scramble trying to rebind them. It was only after draining 20+ mana in moments before realizing the water wasn't touching Korbin at all.
"What…the fuck?!" I growled, both relieved and aggrieved at seeing this infernal and fire affinity mage apparently bending water mana around him.
"Haha, I don't know man, it's just not willing to touch me." Korbin said, extending his arm and tearing though another thousand man strings. Yet, the water indeed refused to encroach on his space, even with nothing to my knowledge keeping it there.
"So…you're not d-argh, d-doing that?" I said, suffering the sharp strain on my mind and spirit holding what was left of our current wall together.
"Nah, it looks like this water knows better." Korbin said, as I felt my grip finally slip. A huge rush of water slammed into my side, knocking me into Korbin. Yet, the water indeed halted altogether just mere inches from all three of us huddled together. Giving it a full second to go wrong, I finally let out a long drawn sigh and went limp.
"H-OHHH that was fuckin' exhausting! What the hell happened to you man, are you good?!" I called up to Korbin from the mana floor, occasionally letting my leg slip into the endless waters.
"Uh…yeah, we're good. Hey, how many shifts was I out for?" Korbin asked, his eyes hovering upward.
"This one's the second one I believe, why?" I asked, though it probably shouldn't be a shock he'd want to know considering where we passed out into a seizure at.
"Really?! Only two?" He asked, sounding pleasantly surprised.
"No actually, it was six but I didn't want to make you feel bad." I sarcastically shot back.
"Don't get so snippy. Here Cass, take this." Korbin said, opening his hand as a mana potion appeared in his grip. No doubt from his internal storage, only the hells know what lurks in that shit. Cass weakly grabbed the neck of the bottle and flicked the cap off, tossing back the potion in one sitting.
"Okay…so we didn't actually need to do any of that." Cassi said, sharing a mutually frustrated glare with me.
"Yeah I don't know what you're talking about, but congrats, or sorry or whatever…hey anyone else find it boring down here?" Korbin restlessly, earning a justified annoyed groan from myself. Cassi let out a distressed sigh herself, rising to her feet while creating new mana currents to give herself space.
"What? You don't want to see how things have changed? You said there's been two more Tectonic Shits, why not check out the carnage?!" Korbin asked with a smile, looking at us both wide eyed like we were the crazy ones.
"Yeah sure, we'll get us to the surface lickity-fuckin'-split bud." I said, waving my hand in a figure 8 at the water rushing by cheek as I stood up.
"Well, it shouldn't actually be too difficult for the both of us if we don't have to worry about losing him. We just can't let this volume of malleable water slip away in the currents, or else we'll deal with the weight of raw water mana that doesn't like Korbin." Cassi very quickly explained. I felt my head tilt considering deeply why that could possibly be. Then again, he's got that dead God in his head…but wait, then why do I have his gear?
*snap* *snap*
"Tom, wake up, sleepwalker. It's time for these mammals to find land." Korbin said, snapping his fingers in my face and interrupting my thoughts.
"Alright alright, fine. I'll follow your lead." I replied, glancing over at Cassi who nodded in confirmation. Cassi shuffled forward while keeping her figure 8's fluid in each limb. Except she wasn't frantically moving, instead moving slower and more dramatically. Unwilling to break the balance, I simply followed her movement patterns while focusing on binding and maintaining my flow strings to the current wall. Sure enough, it was like each long, emphatic swipe of both my hands and feet acted like massive ores thrusting us forward. Slowly, orange sun rays glimmered above as our pocket drifted closer toward the surface.
"Woah, were we too deep for Myzur's sun to reach us?! What the fuck did you do to that cave, Tom?" Korbin sarcastically asked, standing idly between Cassi and I.
"I mean, we watched a buddy of yours have a pretty bad day, if you must know. Hope you're nice to that devil of y-"
"Tom?!" Cass hissed angrily over her shoulder.
"What?!" I shot back defensively.
"No no, too late for that. What are you talking about?" Korbin added, leaning his head around my shoulder to see my eyes.
"I don't see why it's an issue. We both saw Beloris talking about that Galenthelos guy failing or something, or how someone he knew got all wifed-up." I said, earning a surprisingly concerned expression from Korbin.
"Ahh…I see now." Korbin said, sounding suspiciously quiet now as I heard his knuckle crackle like they always did when he clenched his fists too hard.
"…sorry dude. Didn't mean to-"
"Don't be, not really my circus. Keep those details to yourself though, for now." Korbin interrupted, patting my shoulder reassuringly and almost throwing off my mana manipulation rhythm. Based on his reaction, I wonder how much this 'Anutir' lady meant to Beloris.
Anutir…wait, isn't that Peruinious'-
"Look alive you two, surfacing in 6 seconds." Cassi sternly commanded, immediately earning my full focus as I looked up at the bright orange light.
*SPLASH*
The light was like an orange flashbang that engulfed my vision for several seconds before the world came into focus. I still had to rub my eyes, now only using my feet to maintain a current wall below us, because I couldn't believe what I saw.
"Where…how did we end up in an ocean?" I asked, panning around the endless sea of rocking waves surrounding us.
"Well, we're still roughly 30,000 meters away from the titan so, I don't think we moved very much at all." Korbin replied after an uncomfortably quiet pause. Confused, I decided once more to open the event live feed.
[ KILL & BE KILLED ] - Final Event (LIVE)
Remaining Participants: 837,018
Titan's Path: East (30,612.9 m)
Eliminations: 1,263
Time Until Catastrophic Tectonic Shift: 3:39:27
"Wait, how the HELL did we end up under a million participants already?!" I asked, nearly losing my balance from trying to register how a quarter of what was left less than half an hour ago perished all at once.
"You don't think that tectonic shift wouldn't have been more devastating if we were on land? You felt how powerful those currents were. I'm actually shocked there wasn't a tsunami from that." Cassi pointed out.
"I wouldn't be so certain there wasn't, we were really, really deep below sea level for a while." Korbin said, looking down at the crashing waves underfoot. A warm undercurrent washed against my own calves, reminding me how this deep pool in a cave had somehow transitioned into this massive ocean.
"Even still, all in under half an hour? How fucking catastrophic can those things be?!" I asked, being ignored by both Cassi and Korbin visibly trying to mull it over.
"I mean, we have no choice but to find land and see for ourselves." Cassi finally pointed out, breaking the silence.
"Well if we're trying to find land then…we should move toward the Titan? That way we're almost certainly headed to land, and we can avoid getting swept up by an aftershock?" I said after a brief pause, rubbing my chin under my cowl. Korbin and Cassi both exchanged a curiously surprised look before glancing back at me.
"…what? Is that a bad idea?" I asked.
"No, no it's not. That's the problem. Did something hit your head while I was out?" Korbin snickered. Cassi let a snorting laugh slip through before she covered her face.
"Ha-ha, you two ought to write a special." I shot back, shaking my head in open disapproval at their teasing.
"I have far more free time in Elysium than you, don't tempt me." Korbin countered with a raised brow to accentuate his hopefully joking threat. Laughing collectively, Cassi and I both aimed our slow wading over the seemingly endless oceans surface east, toward the Titan according to the live feed. After roughly 10 more minutes of silence, I couldn't help but let curiosity control my tongue.
"Hey by the way, what happened back there? Like, why were you out for so damn long?" I asked Korbin, recalling he'd mentioned seeing some crazy shit the last time he had a seizure. Korbin chuckled, though in a pattern that I'd never in nearly 15 years heard him use before replying.
"Don't worry about it, Thomas."