Kroiko: An Ocean Of Troubles!

We travelled at top speed to Kroiko. The need for the flowers was extreme and we needed to find them as quick as possible.

We soon entered from the small river into the vast ocean which seemed to be at the horizon. I had no idea how Druk knew the place but I did not complain. I was clutching him tightly and looking into the water with the hope to find some light. According to Volmur, the flowers have white light around them which can be seen from quite far. The only problem was that the ocean bed was too far below for us to even notice it. In such a situation, I doubted that we'd see the light. Nevertheless, I still continued scouting for any signs.

Volmur's description of Kroiko wasn't pleasant. There would be whirlpools in the ocean, waiting to pull us towards them. The watermen wouldn't be of any help either. It had been long since my last fight and I did not fear getting into the battlefield if needed. But more than combat, we needed to focus on finding Anderclar. I doubted the chances of killing all the watermen. Before we would succeed in doing so, we'll be out of breath. So the task that lay in front of us wouldn't be easy. We would have to act smartly.

"After this, if you want to meet Rebecca, I'm down for it. If you want to see her, we can travel to your house and then enter Darknor." I offered but Druk happily declined. "There wouldn't be time for it. Darknor may be in war by the time we'll show up. Also, I like to follow my mistress's way of thinking. Finish one job then think about the other. So we should only focus on defeating the enemy at this point." Druk's mentality surprised as well as impressed me.

We had travelled quite far and according to Druk, we would reach the Kroiko region in about ten more minutes. And we did. After a while, the water color changed. It became a dark blue from light. Seeing underwater became harder. This large area seemed to be separate from the rest of the ocean. As we entered Krioko, I immediately watched a whirlpool at a distance. It was to our left and to be on the safe side, Druk took us to the right. But I now realized that Volmur wasn't joking about his journey. The deadly whirlpool, as we got close, tried sucking us into its wrath. But Druk too hadn't lied about his swimming skills and managed to save us.

All of a sudden, I heard a sound, very faint, but existing. It hit my ears and I looked all around me. Druk enquired if I was okay. I told him about the sound but he denied to have heard it. "No. I'm sure I heard it. Just be prepared for any attacks!" I exclaimed. And I was right. It turned out to be the growling of a waterman who has just spotted us in his territory.

Though the water was dark, it didn't stop us from noticing a group of shadows inside. "Watermen, they're coming!" Druk declared as he swam faster. The shadows followed, getting bigger as they came closer to the surface. I got hold of my battle-axe. One of the watermen sprang up. That was the first time I had seen one.

They looked very much like us but something about them was different. They had fangs and also scar on their body. Their bluish skin did not give their positions away in water until they decided to raid you. Unlike a normal person's swimming skills, they were a lot quicker and also had a bunch of tricks and techniques to move faster in water. Some had hair, some did not. But all looked the same – horrific! They wore only a piece of cloth around their waist. They didn't have dangerous claws or any weapon to hit with but seeing them in a group was intimidating itself.

The one that had sprung up went a good few inches above water, proving his skills. He dived towards me but I turned Magnum into a shield. The waterman hit the magical guard and was thrown back into the water. His mates were surely not happy with me for their friend's defeat. They kept chasing us although Druk had got a good pace. Three of them tried hitting me at the same time. The same tactics was used by me. The impact of the triple attack pushed us quite far from them. They were a few meters away and Druk's took this opportunity to speed up.

"Hold your breath, kid! We are going into the marine world now." Druk announced and, giving me only a second to breathe in, dived inside. Although I wasn't as good a swimmer as the people of Glacidon, I knew how to be underwater for some time. I held on to Druk and let him do all the swimming for us. My job was to look out for the white light emanating from the magical flowers. I hadn't found any yet which was concerning. Also, I look behind to watch the watermen still following us.

Being underwater meant that Druk and I couldn't talk to each other. But with Druk's groans, I realized he wanted to communicate something. I looked forward and saw a whirlpool right in front of us. The watermen behind had vacated in fright and we were extremely close to it. Druk turned left and also tried swimming to the surface. His quick and desperate peddling told me that we were in big trouble. We somehow managed to dodge the whirlpool and came back up. Druk exhaled heavily and spoke, "That was close! We nearly died there!" I wasn't too shaken up with fright. I had gotten used to threats like these.

We travelled five minutes without any tension or threats. Even the watermen seemed to disappear. Then at last, I noticed a small white dot under the ocean. From up, it seemed tiny. But when I told Druk to swim us down, the light grew. I hadn't mistaken. On the ocean bed were a bunch of Anderclars. Druk swam towards them.

After all my experiences, I had concluded that you never get something without a threat. So I grabbed Magnum and looked on my sides for any sign of danger. My mistake was that I hadn't turned my head up even once. From above, a pair of hands grabbed me by shoulder and pulled me. The grip was so tight; I couldn't move my hand, making it impossible for me to attack with my battle-axe. The watermen had shown up once again.

I gestured Druk to continue downwards and get the flowers. Though only half-convinced, he still agreed and swam down quickly. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck in escaping from the waterman's grasp, much less in helping out Druk. I tried to shack his grab but he turned out to be just as expected – tough. His friends joined in to see me in misery. They were pulling me away from the ocean bed. Were they guarding Anderclar? I doubt they even knew that the flowers below them were magical.

I looked below and noticed that some of them were chasing Druk who had just reached the ocean bed; the nearest blossom was only a few inches from him. But the watermen had caught up. After all, this was their territory – water! One of them grabbed Druk and bit him on the shoulder with his fangs. Of course Druk's cry wasn't heard underwater but he still opened his mouth wide in pain. He drank plentiful of water, enough to sustain him for days. That also led him to be breathless. Druk had ended up just like his pal, Volmur.

I was all of a sudden reminded of King Jalaar mocking my decision of risking my friends. I had failed in saving the DELTAs and now I even was risking Druk's lives. I was already guilty and couldn't handle anymore. I decided to save Druk in any way possible. My eyes instantly closed. Everything stopped. Around me even the voice of the water wasn't heard. I used my Zantai power – with a new level of force. I kicked the waterman behind me and even in water, he was sent a few meters away with the force. I was finally free from the grip. The waterman chasing me was not my concern. I needed to get to Druk. Before that, I swam up to get my breath. Using all my swimming skills, I swam down to Druk. It took me a minute itself to reach the bottom. I grabbed the first waterman and slashed Magnum on his back.

Druk turned and was happy to find a partner for the fight. Though, swimming and attacking the watermen in the attempt of shooing them away, I was still focusing. My Zantai power allowed me to scan how many watermen were there. I could sense more coming. Druk went towards the nearest flower. He felt a kind of tingle, a volt of energy surging through him when he grabbed a flower. He started collecting a bunch and I was dealing with the watermen. I let go of the battle-axe and willed it to hit the foes. Without any help, Magnum slashed through his enemies, killing each one with a single but sharp strike. But of course I was the one guiding the battle-axe through the Zantai power. By doing so, the energy in me and dissipated largely but I managed to swim up to get another round of air.

From underwater you couldn't see clearly. But when I came up to the surface, I noticed another massive whirlpool making its way towards us. I went back down and gestured Druk to come to the surface. He too noticed the whirlpool as the ocean bed was shaking vigorously. He swam at top speed. I too tried to get away from the death trap. I found a few watermen still alive and bold enough to take another shot in raiding me. A few hits were all it took to defeat them. But even that little time offered the whirlpool to get extremely close to me. I found Druk finally on the surface, a little ahead of me. He told me to get on his back. I climbed with fear.

Holding tight, I told Druk to swim as fast as possible. As we travel at top speed, I realized that all this time I had my bag pack on me. I decided to take the handful of flowers Druk was holding and decided to keep them to dry in my bag. 'Dry' wouldn't be the right word actually, because even my waterproof bag had been soaked to the brim and everything inside was now ruined. But the flowers only needed to be safe.

We left for an unknown destination. What lay ahead was a mystery.