"It's in the lake?"

"Yes..."

"In the lake? Underneath all the water, in the lake?"

"Is there an echo in here? God... Yes, for the fifth time yes. It's out there in the middle of the lake, probably at the bottom of it."

"Well... Technically it's a Loch."

With one hand crossed over his chest and the other arm resting on the first whilst supporting his chin, Seth tried to tone out Alfie's irritating questions, Cynthia's understandably irritated responses and Alexandra's semantic correction. They had been standing here for ten minutes since he dropped the revelation onto his party, and some of them were taking a little more time to come to terms with it than others.

In that time, other than gaining a steadily growing headache, Seth had sent Omelette on a little scouting mission. The Wyvern had flown out to the exact position that Seth's senses were directing him to, yet reported nothing but open water. There was nothing that he could see, which meant one of two things.

Either it was gone and they had wasted their time coming here, and were unable to stop more calamities like the Shattering occurring in the future, or it was underneath the water at god only knows what depth.

Considering he had been sent here to save someone, it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that they were stuck at the bottom, sleeping with the fishes as they would say. How someone could be alive like that, Seth had no idea. But they must have been, otherwise why where they sent here to save them?

Lifting his head, Seth looked over the glistening water as it gently lapped at the ground before him, thinking of how they could get out there. It seemed he was not the only one, considering Alfie's next question.

"Alright Alright, So we need to get out to the middle of the lake. I get that. I get it. But... Why are we standing here? Why don't we just swim out there. I mean sure, it's a kilometre. But we're stronger now, so it should be no problem.

Or if why not just follow Gandalf and fly there. We hop on Seth's Dragon and-"

"Wyvern, not Dragon."

Seth interjected, causing his friend to roll his eyes and wave him off with a click of his tongue before continuing with his rambling,

"Whatever. We hop on his Wyvern, which is supposedly different from a Dragon and just fly over there. It drops us off, we swim down and pick up what we're here for. Bada Bing Bada Boom, Job done. I mean how deep can it be?"

"Over 200 metres."

"Shit... Really? Damn..."

Alfie clicked his tongue as Seth so quickly punctured a hole in his idea, simply by stating a simple fact in a monotonous tone. It was not the only hole in the plan, however, as Erik quickly spoke up and utterly baffled Alfie with his statement.

"I can't swim."

"What?! Your whole thing is water and you can't swim? You live on an island which is known for being wet, how can you not swim?"

"I just never learned, Okay? Plus, It's not like I'm the only one here."

"He's right..."

Alexandra spoke up, raising her hand slightly before letting out a deep sigh.

"I mean, not entirely. I could swim before, but not anymore. I'm not just built like a brick shithouse, I swim like one too. Which is to say it doesn't. I'm stone, I just sink. If I go down, I'm not coming back up."

Astra raised her hand, adding to the bafflement of Alfie as his plan was being beaten to a bloody pulp.

"Water is an issue for me too. It messes with the electricity in my body, churns it back into me in a not so pleasant way. Plus if I go in there, I could end up electrocuting any one of you."

At first, Alfie winced at the prospect of being turned into a crispy corpse, but as the revelation settled into his mind his face slowly shifted into one of confusion and curiosity. Tilting his head to the side, he said,

"Wait... So... If you can't do water then... how do you bathe?"

"The same way you should be choosing your next words. Very Carefully."

Seth chuckled softly to himself,, he didn't even need to turn around to know that Astra was giving Alfie a true to life death glare. He could practically hear the boys heart skip a few beats and a shiver run down his spine.

He had thought the same thing as Alfie, but he wasn't stupid enough to actually ask it.

Besides, Swimming was always going to be out of the question. Not just because half their party couldn't do so, meaning they would lose half their fighting power, but because they would be far too vulnerable in the water.

Even if they could hold their breath long enough to dive down and come back up, free diving a depth that was close to the world record in the old world, they still had to face other problems. The main one in Seth's eyes, was the one he was currently staring at as he wistfully gazed over the water.

Trotting atop the tranquil waves was a grey figure, a few of them in fact were dotted across the length of the loch. From this distance it would be nearly impossible to see what they were, but Seth didn't need to see them to know.

Walking on the surface of the water as if it was completely solid was a loose herd of grey horses. A colouration that was strangely beautiful as, in place of hair for their manes and tails, they had bundles of thick seaweed that acted as hair.

Despite the fact that they were currently standing on the water, instead of beneath it, this seaweed hair gently swayed and danced hypnotically in the air as if they were completely submerged.

It would have been an absolutely beautiful and enchanting sight, if they were close enough to witness it. Their water walking capabilities and tranquil nature seemed perfect for their task, as it would allow the entire group to approach the goal while some of them dived.

But Seth had absolutely no ideas in his mind of getting anywhere near these creatures. After all, the most beautiful things in this world always happened to be the deadliest, especially when it came to the women it seemed.

These seemingly innocent and enchanting horses were yet another creature that had leapt directly from the pages of folklore and fairy tale. Kelpies. Known for luring victims to ride them, before plunging deep into the water and drowning them.

A passion for drowning that, Seth expected, they would take extra glee in when it came to anyone unfortunate enough to swim in their waters. Thus even if they could hold their breath long enough, there was no guarantee they wouldn't be pulled under for much much longer.

Plus, lacking any proper footing and having to constantly fight against the resistance of the water always made humans utterly inept at fighting underwater.

As Seth tapped his chin and pondered on the best solution, a small splashing tickled his attention and drew his eyes to Erik. The aquamarine knight was crouched by the waters edge, sulking at his inability to swim.

But what intrigued Seth was the water that was lifting itself up before splashing down once more, tossing itself with every miserable flick of Erik's fingers.

His eyes lit up as they darted towards a beached rowing boat, one with a hole punctured through its hull and which had a surfboard leaning against its side. Although the boat was absolutely useless in its current state, it reminded him of something very specific and his mind cooked up a most wonderful idea. Why, it was absolutely genius!

***

"This was a stupid idea."

"It's working, isn't it?"

Three figures trudged across the uneven, stone covered ground. The small stones crunched under their boots, as the larger ones glistened wickedly. Their surfaces were still wet and just waiting for someone to step on them and lose their footing.

It was a slip that wouldn't normally be all that dangerous, perhaps make you lose your focus for a split second or make you fall flat on your face. But in their current predicament, it could be fatal if it struck the wrong individual.

Seth strode in the front, using his spear like a walking stick mainly to push these dastardly stones out of the way. Erik took up the middle slot, his hands held constantly above his head like he was expecting something to fall on him, while Alfie strolled in the rear.

Droplets of water fell down from above, where a dome of twisting water held back the crushing weight of the entire Lake above them.

Strolling across the bottom of the Lake, the trio were safe in their bubble of air, so they thought. They were completely unaware of the large shadow swimming through the depths of the Loch. A shadow that was much bigger than any Kelpie.