34 Investigation

About two hours later, the three of them had already finished their lunch consisting of fish and fruits. Although it was his first time trying it, Teo had surprisingly caught quite a lot of fish from the lake, so even after their enjoyable meal, there was still enough left for dinner. The fish was tasty as well.

Satisfied, Corwyn extinguished the fire and took a walk towards the lake. Since they wouldn't leave the oasis at the present time, he might as well use the time to relax and enjoy the scenery a bit more.

Noon was about to set in. The sun was approaching its zenith, illuminating the water with a glimmering light. It looked absolutely breathtaking. Corwyn stood still like this for several minutes, hypnotized by the sight, when suddenly, a strange phenomenon occurred.

As the sun reached its peak, the tips of the large stones began to shine brightly as well, at a level where Corwyn had to hold his hand in front of his eyes and narrow them tightly. The light reflected from those stones made the water appear much clearer even when compared to before, revealing even more details of the lake's depth. And there wasn't even only one light, but six of them, surrounding the lake in a circle. It was almost as if the lake was encircled by little suns. In addition to the one above Corwyn's head, seven suns threw their light on the water.

(Wait a second, seven suns? Where have I heard that before?)

Something like a distant memory resurfaced inside Corwyn's mind. He had definitely heard the words "seven suns" once before, but he was unable to discern where he had learned them.

While he was racking his brain about this mystery, a few of the birds, of which countless existed within this oasis, began to fly onto the six rocks and the shore of the lake, chirping cheerfully. It was almost as if the phenomenon was attracting them. Corwyn looked at this strange scenery, feeling like he was in a trance, until it finally made "click" inside his head.

"Where the Goroda flies

under the seven suns,

at the depths of the well

questions and answers shall lie."

This was the text he had learned from a strange inscription back in the ruin they had discovered some time ago. Back then, Rogar had told him that the Goroda was a type of bird which always pilgrimaged towards the south. Currently, they were indeed in a place far in the south, and those strange unknown birds had flown towards this place in large numbers.

Furthermore, if one thought about it, the light reflected from the tips of the stones resembled small suns in some way. The way they were placed around the lake emphasized even more that they served some kind of hidden purpose. Thinking about the content of the inscription, it all made sense now. The birds, the seven suns, and the lake were here, which probably resembled the "well".

(It said "At the depths of the well". If that is the case, then...)

Without ending the thought, Corwyn ran towards the shore and dove in head-first into the water. He put strength into his two arms and started to go deeper, careful to not run out of air. Thanks to the bright light of the stones, the water had better visibility, so searching for something underwater became much easier.

By the time he had almost run out of air and started to return to the surface, in the corner of his eyes he caught something like a weak shimmer. It came from near the bottom, on the side wall of the lake. However, he was still too far away to make it out clearly.

Corwyn wanted to get closer and investigate it, but the lack of oxygen hindered him from doing so. Reluctantly, he went back up again. Once his head poked out of the water, he gasped for air as if he had been close to suffocation.

Barely waiting for himself to catch his breath, Corwyn dove down anew, this time swimming in a specific direction. Soon after, he had arrived at the source of the shimmer he had seen just a minute ago. Its origin was a small crystalline stone, similar to the ones of the large stones around the lake, reflecting the bit of light that actually reached that deep. It was placed on top of a stone statue in the form of a dragon head. Below it seemed to be the entrance to a small cave, as there was a deep hole in the underwater wall. It looked like a person could easily fit into that hole.

Convinced that this must be the place the inscription had mentioned, Corwyn swam back to the surface and got out of the lake. Once he was out, he gathered some of the smaller stones lying around in the sand, creating a marking at the spot where he had resurfaced. It would be troublesome if he couldn't find the correct position later, as he discerned that the reflected light from the stones would vanish as soon as the sun had descended to a certain extent.

Having finished those preparations, Corwyn made his way back to their temporary camp. Both Teo and Yana were still sitting there, the former one lying around idly, the latter one sitting in a meditative pose, apparently lost in practicing her Arcor control. Neither of them was seemed to be doing something overly important though. This would make convincing them to lend Corwyn a hand much easier. Or at least, he hoped so.

"Hey, I've just discovered something interesting! Any interest in tagging along?"

Having called out to them, both Teo and Yana lifted their head and turned it towards him. At first, they rose their eyebrows in curiosity, probably because they saw his clothes were all wet. It was only for a moment though.

"I was bored anyway, so why not?"

"Does it perhaps have something to do with your soaked appearance?"

Teo immediately voiced his consent, but Yana still seemed to be a bit reluctant. Perhaps she didn't like taking baths while wearing clothes, which was understandable to some extent, since the feeling of soaked fabric was not a very pleasant one.

"Yeah, that's right. I've found something near the bottom of the lake. Something really mysterious. Teo, do you still remember that prophecy we found back in the buried ruin?"

"Prophecy?"

Teo knitted his eyebrows in doubt. He then put his hand to his chin and tried to recall it. About a minute later, he raised his head again and replied uncertainly.

"You mean that strange writing? The one about some strange birds and questionable secrets?"

"Uhmmm, yeah, that one..."

Corwyn was more than uncertain whether Teo had actually remembered what the contents of the text were, but at least he seemed to understand what Corwyn meant, so he didn't say anything further and replied in confirmation.

"The prophecy said: Where the Goroda flies, under the seven suns, at the depths of the well, questions and answers shall lie. Rogar had told us back then that the Goroda is a kind of bird that flies in the direction of the south at a certain time of year. However, seeing all these unfamiliar birds in this oasis, my theory is that the sentence is actually referring to this place."

"That might be true, but what about the rest of your so-called "prophecy"? Which place in the world has actually more than one sun, not to mention seven of them?"

Corwyn explained his reasoning to the curious Teo. It was then when Yana finally cut into the conversation and expressed her doubts.

"If you want to know, then come with me. Ah, but you should better hurry, there is not much time left!"

His words left her utterly confused, but probably judging that it couldn't be helped, Yana got up from her seating position and followed Corwyn back to the lake. Teo got into motion as well.

As soon as the party of three arrived at the shore, both Teo and Yana first knitted their brows to the bright light blocking their sight, then opened them wide once they became aware of the spectacle in front of them.

"Well~? Do you believe me now?"

Corwyn spoke with a teasing smile. The other didn't seem to notice though, as they were still staring at the stones which reflected the sun's light. They continued to do so for approximately half a minute. Yana was the first to recover and voiced a question once again, although much more timidly than before.

"Then, if this is the place under the seven suns, does that mean the "well" mentioned in the prophecy..."

She didn't finish her sentence. Corwyn simply nodded in affirmation.

"Yes. The "well" in question should be the lake in front of us. I've already dived in to confirm, and what I found was the entrance to some kind of cave. This must be the spot were questions and answers lie."

"You're probably right..."

"I asked you to come here because I thought you might be interested in this matter as well. A helping hand is always welcome after all. But do you think you'll be alright? Can you swim?"

It was an obvious concern. After all, they were living on a continent which was largely made up by desert. Water was a scarce resource, so obviously, most cities didn't have the luxury of a lake to learn swimming. And even if they did, such a precious water source would have to stay clear as much as possible, so it would be prohibited.

Actually, Corwyn and Teo had only learned a bit about swimming back when they were trapped in Konen. That city had been built around an oasis as well, and the citizens had dug out a separate pond exclusively for bathing. During their stay, they got taught swimming a little bit when they had free time, and they discovered that it wasn't actually that hard with enough practice.

Yana turned towards Corwyn with a concerned look.

"Unfortunately, I can't swim, which is nothing rare in these lands. But as long as one of you can guide me, I should manage to kick with my feet at least."

Her tone sounded reluctant and disinterested, but the very fact that she wanted to tag along when she had the option of waiting outside revealed that she was seriously curious about this mystery as well.

"Alright then! Teo, are you ready too?"

"What kind of question is that? I was born ready!"

Teo's enthusiasm was evident. Therefore, Corwyn had no reason to delay any further.

"Then let's go!"

And the three of them made their way towards the spot Corwyn had marked, before diving into the crystal-blue lake.

Not long after, the group had reached the entrance of the cave, and with Corwyn at the front, made their way inside. Behind him was Yana, who held onto his right hand kicked the water fervently, which left Teo as the rearguard.

Now that they were actually inside, they became aware that the tunnel in front of them was in fact quite deep. It was spacious enough for them to swim through, however, running out of air was a big concern when staying underwater for an extended time. Corwyn couldn't help but feel slightly anxious, but he fought down the feeling and decisively pressed forward.

Since the light from the surface couldn't reach there, the cave was very dark and they had to be careful not to bump into the stones. Little fragments of light occasionally gave a little help, but for most of the time, they had to push forward blindly.

Just when Corwyn thought that he had reached his limit, the tunnel rose upward abruptly, and something that looked like an exit came in sight. Activating his last reserves, Corwyn pushed up the last few feet of way, and at last, their heads got out of the water. Everyone desperately gasped for air for nearly a minute. They had been that close to suffocating.

Only when his breathing had stabilized again did Corwyn take a look at his surroundings. To his surprise, the water exit was actually inside what looked like a small cave hall. But even more surprising was the fact that he could see. The stone wall and ceiling seemed to have small light stones insetted into them. The space was faintly illuminated like this.

The three got out of the water and started to inspect the place. Except for the light stones, no other feature was particularly outstanding. Another tunnel seemed to lead even deeper into the cave, and there appeared to be no other path available to choose.