▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 22║▌║▌║█│▌

I sat in front of the fire, and I told my story of the past few hours. I told them how I got lost, how I met Nessy’s cousin, the hole I fell into, the Lady of the Lake in the cave, how I can see everything clearly here, and my whole adventure to get out of the maze of corridors. It was eerily quiet after I finished my tale. Serina—the girl with snakes for hair descended from Medusa—was the first one to say something after I finished saying in a sarcastic tone, “Sooo, you’re saying that you can see everything clearly now because a mysterious woman touched your forehead?”

“Well, if you say it like that, it sounds crazy, but yeah, that’s what happened.” I responded

“What does the area around us look like then?” She asked skeptically.

I looked around at the surrounding area, and the colors were different from the underwater scenery. The surface foliage looks exactly what you would expect it to look like, but the colors are more vivid and fiery. “Well…everything here just looks more vivid and fiery from their normal colors. There is a wall of trees surround the entire lake that seem to be a hundred feet away from the shore line, and I can see a small island in the middle of the lake that is emitting a small glow from it.”

Selina’s eyes widened as she listened to me, and everyone else seemed to be in awe. Nessy defused the awkwardness; however, when she said, “Hahaha, it’s fine everyone. He is just making that up about an island in the middle of the lake, and everyone here can see the tree line and the colors aren’t vibrant at all.”

“What?!” I exclaimed.

There was clearly a small island in the middle of the lake. Everyone else seemed to loosen up and laugh it off, but Nessy seemed to be uneasy about the situation though. Why did she not want the others to know about the island in the middle of the lake? What is so special about the island? Conor seemed to give Nessy the side eye too at first, but he immediatley went back to joyfully laughing when the others started to laugh. When everyone quieted down, Garen said, “That’s not the important question to ask. The real question we should be asking is where he found that sword. That sword is of better quality than those forged even by the best blacksmiths in Mount Olympus. I assume that he got it from the mysterious lady, but from what we just learned about you not really being able to see and Nessy not knowing who this lady is. We really can’t tell. Can you tell us the truth?”

I was taken aback by his cutting words. I didn’t know that Garen could be so harsh with his words, but I understand why my story would seem unbelievable. The events that I experienced were fantastical even for this world. “That is what happened as far as I remember…” I protested, “I genuinely don’t know where this sword came from though. I didn’t feel anything attach to my back at any time. It’s a mystery to me, and if the Lady of the Lake wasreal, I don’t know if this is the sword she carried. She seemed to be protective of that sword. She also told me some interesting things about the lake itself, but from what you have told me, I don’t know if it’s true or not.”

“Hmm…It could just be that your mind fabricated the whole situation to help cope with the fear you experienced being alone in that hole. It’s still a fascinating story to tell, and you have a hell of a weapon now to be fair. It’s better to have that than be an unarmed human here.” Garen reasoned.

I don’t know what about my story would be unbelievable to them though. Everything here just keeps getting more and more fantastical, so I would have thought that everyone here wouldn’t be phased by these events. “I believe him.” Sasha said aloud nonchalantly.

Everyone was surprised by what she said, and even she didn’t seem to believe she said it out loud. “Well, I guess there is something to be said if Sasha believes you.” Garen said with a warm smile, “She rarely trusts people, consider yourself to be blessed.”

Sasha protested, “It’s nothing! I just have a gut feeling is all.”

“It doesn’t really matter now. We all need to get some sleep now. We have an early day tomorrow. We have to start heading across dwarven country. That’s a lot of mountains and tunnels, so everyone rest up. We will take turns keeping an eye on John throughout the night. Sasha, would keep first watch?”

“Sure…” Sasha hesitantly agreed.

She got up and sat next to the meditating body of John. Everyone else got their blankets out, and they all laid down in the spots where they sat next to the fire. I didn’t have a blanket, so I just curled up in with my sweatshirt and laid my head down on a tuff of grass. This is so much more uncomfortable than the bed in the Fairy Forest. I could hear Garen behind me getting comfortable with his blanket, and I could also hear the small conversations going on between everybody else. Garen whispered behind me, “She was the onlyone who was wanting to find you, you know? I kept trying to tell her that you were probably dead by now, but she wouldn’t have it. I’m glad that I was wrong.”

“Sasha was looking for me?” I thought.

I never thought that anybody other than John would want to look for me. She probably just wanted to find me, so I could teach her things about math and some of my language. She did have a fascination of learning after all. Just when I was about to fall asleep, I heard a loud screech come from the forest around the lake. My blood went cold. Was it another griffin?

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌