Chapter 59. Glow The water started glowing, a cyan shade took over the surroundings bathing everything in its radiance. There were no sounds, it was still as quiet as it was during the daytime. Chloe and I went on high alert as the glow got brighter, it wasn't blinding but inviting instead. We waited for a minute but nothing came out of the lake, or from the forest. It was just us and glow, nothing else. I stepped forward slowly, inching closer and closer to the lake. "Careful," Chloe said as she waited and turned around to face the forest. She was trusting me to protect her back as she protected mine. I laughed seeing that, we had recently met each other for the first time and she was already leaving her life in my hands. My body which was stiff because of this eerie situation loosened up a little. I was at the edge of the lake, bending down I dipped a grass leaf in the water. It instantly turned black and melted, the water had become poisonous in mere seconds. "Chloe, check the water we stored. Is it also glowing?" "No, it's not." She said and walked towards me. "The water, it is poisonous." I showed her the leaf, "As soon as I dipped the leaf in, it turned black and melted." "That's why there are no animals nearby, they don't dare to drink water from this lake. Scared that they too might become like that leaf." "Let's wait till sunrise, seeing that the water we collected earlier is still the same it might become normal once again." "But is it not a little risky drinking that water?" She was right, we didn't know if it was a problem with the water, or the lake, or something different entirely. "That's why, if it turns back to normal, I will dive in and see if there's something down there that causes that change." "No, you can't do that!" She said loudly, almost shouting. "Chloe," I said in a serious and overbearing tone. "You are not in a position to command-" "I don't care," she interrupted me. "You aren't dipping a single hair unless I am absolutely sure that it's safe. Forget about the swimming or diving that you were planning moments ago." I blinked and looked towards her as she stared back, maintaining the contact. It was a first for me that someone had 'scolded' me after the merch. Not even those three or Garry spoke to me like this. "Fine, only after you 'allow' it, will I dive into the river." I broke the eye contact and sighed. She smiled and walked back to her tent without saying another word. Ever since I had held the 'execution' in front of everyone, it was like I had stopped being a normal person. Every time someone spoke with me there were many emotions present in their eyes. Admiration, hate, worship, envy, but of all this fear was the most prominent. But Chloe had shown none of those, in her eyes, I was a normal person trying to survive in these cruel times. It was refreshing(?) knowing that someone did not think of me as a monster. It might be because she was not present during that event, but my guts told me that even if she were, nothing would change. She would still have the same look in her eyes. I climbed a tree and meditated, waiting for the sun to rise and the water to turn back to normal. The glow started to recede at the first rays of sunlight. I waited for it fully fade away and then dipped another leaf to see if the water did become normal. It did. The leaf did not turn black, nor did it melt. I turned towards Chloe, "See?" "Not now, wait for a few hours. I won't stop you if the water stays like this." I nodded, it was good to be cautious. There was no need to rush this, it wouldn't hurt to wait a few hours to see if everything was fine. I sat near the lake and kept observing the water, looking out for any changes. The hours passed but nothing happened, I stood up and jumped into the water after three hours had passed. Chloe unsheathed her swords, preparing for anything unexpected. Not a lot of light illuminated the water, I couldn't even see the lake bed. I had forgotten that it was this hard to move in the water. Swimming was fine, but if I wanted to swing my sword down here, it would not be that easy. 'I can't fight in here' I kept diving deeper and deeper, and once I got closer to the floor, I was blown away by what was in front of me. The floor had mana stones in it, illuminating the reason why I was here. The lake was big, and I couldn't see the other end, but there were flowers everywhere. Grass covered the entire lake bed, and there were small white flowers that tried to bloom. Some bloomed but they wilted right after, it was a fascinating scene. I moved a little closer to the flowers, but the water started getting hotter as I reduced the distance. A little more and it started to feel itchy. I had gotten a closer look by then, I didn't know what they were called but those flowers were the only thing out of place in this lake. I swam up and breathed in a lot of air. "Are you okay? I thought something happened because you were down there for ten minutes," said as I caught my breath. Ten minutes? That was a lot but we couldn't worry about that for now, "I think I know the reason why the water turn poisonous." I came out and told her about the flower underwater. "White circular small flowers and they have grown on a bush? That doesn't narrow it down by much but seeing that they are poisonous and caused the whole pond to glow at night, Moonflowers, that is my best guess." Chloe said after putting in some thought. I was surprised to know that she knew so much about flowers to narrow it down just by knowing a few things about them. "I will have to see them up close to be sure, what? I love flowers!" She noticed my stare and said. I averted my gaze, "You can't get too close, the water starts feeling itching once you do." "Every part of the moonflower is poisonous, they bloom at night and wilt upon the first rays of sunlight. But as you said they were still blooming, they might be mutating because of the mana. Overcoming the trait of only being able to bloom at night." "And if they do overcome it, we lose our source of water." We couldn't let that happen. Chloe suddenly stopped talking and stared into space, "I think we will need to clear them out then." She said and then continued. "I got a quest."