Chrysalis

As it turns out, the Colony’s new trading partners are fairly accustomed to bringing less… swim-capable creatures down into their watery abode. Perhaps not necessarily ones as large as I am, but hey, it all works out in the end.

When I arrive at the beach, I find a team of brathian mages ready and waiting to transport us down beneath the waves.

[So… how does this work?] I ask Enid.

The old woman frowns at me. She’s a lot less mobile than she used to be, and the Colony has given her a permanent aide in the form of a support ant for her to lean on.

[How would I know?] she says. [I’ve never been down this deep, and I’ve certainly never been invited to visit a brathian in their home.]

[Are they famously inhospitable or something?]

[Nothing of the sort. They just don’t often invite any but their closest allies into their cities. Not the ones underwater anyway.]

Huh. So I suppose they have cities above water on the surface. Still, I would like to know how the heck this is going to work.

I make a request of the mage assigned to me, a sturdy-looking fellow absolutely dripping in enchanted gear and cores. My guess is it’s all to try and protect him from my powerful ant influence. He passes on my question, and eventually I get connected to Eran Thouris again, who explains the process to me.

[Our mages will create a platform for you all to stand on, then shape the water around you, allowing the platform to descend, while keeping you all quite dry. Using magic, they will leach oxygen from the water, so there is no need to fear suffocation. While you are in our care, no harm will come to you, rest assured.]

not even sure I technically need to

to be a sturdy platform,] I reply, shifting my feet a little, [I’m… uh… not as

assures me. [We are quite practised at this, and regularly bring entire

we are willing to take a leap of faith. Extend the antenna of friendship, so to speak. Naturally, if the brathians betray us,

a lot of risks! And if our goods prove successful, then maybe people will be less likely to declare war

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enemy at a time,

minutes later, it begins to descend, and remarkably, the water just slides up the sides, as if we are protected by an invisible

Which… we are… obviously.

unnerving sight, if I’m honest, and my poor ant heart quavers as the water rises up the walls, arches overhead and then meets in the middle. I’m

down we

brim with Life and Water mana, the lake is a dazzling, vibrant place filled with light, plants, fish, sharks, crabs, jellyfish

onto my

my mind,

wave, we were getting a horde of massive sea beasts pouring out of

or that causes problems of its own, but for now, we have extended that protection up toward

get a sense of what they are doing, and I vaguely get a hint of something I think I may have sensed before. It’s a monster, for sure,

and find ourselves within the brathian territory proper. We start to see them, humanoid, scaled people with fins on their arms and legs, drifting in the water. They swim incredibly fast, shooting through the water like they’ve been