The Bitter Waters [4]

"Isaac!"

"Isaac!"

Furina continued to shout for Isaac's name, hoping for him to respond or give a snarky remark like he usually does.

But she was only met with the dead silence of the deep pit which he had fallen into.

She and Clorinde have already climbed up to stable grounds and are near the gate that they encountered.

Clorinde watched in silence as she looked at Furina's call for her assistant's name.

However, she knows that his silence indicated that he either lost consciousness, sunk deep into the waters, or quite possibly...

'From the sound of it, the water below is flowing... That means he must have been washed away by now...' Heaving a sigh of breath, she bent down and touched Furina's shoulder. "Lady Furina, we should go back. Reporting this location should help us find Isaac."

"..." Furina's eyes continued to look down as she continued to listen to Clorinde speak. At the end of the latter's sentence, the former shut her eyes for a moment before opening them.

"No."

'I know him.' Standing up, Furina composed herself and composed her emotions. However, her face remained pale. 'He won't die from something like this.'

During their time of investigating, Furina had seen some of Isaac's abilities as well as his exceptional reaction to sudden situations.

As such, she knows that his meticulousness would save him in one form or another.

Looking down the deep pit, Furina contemplated for a few minutes before making a decision, "I'm jumping down."

"I can't allow that, Lady Furina." Clorinde rejected her idea without hesitation. "Our main priority right now is to—"

Thump—!*

Before she could finish speaking, sounds of thumping rapidly approached from the gate which had opened.

"Lady Furina!" Sensing something hostile approaching them, Clorinde immediately pulled Furina to her.

Bang!*

Bullets shot out from the darkness and into Furina's position. Fortunately, Clorinde reacted fast enough for her to narrowly avoid them.

"That's..." Furina, who was suddenly attacked, looked at the gate which opened. "It can't be..."

Soon, the figure that shot the bullets emerged from the darkness. Soon, the two women saw what it was.

More specifically, what they were.

"Another army of Clockwork Meks." Clorinde clicked her tongue. She then took out her gun. "Lady Furina, stay beside me at all times—"

Before Clorinde could continue her sentence, a Clockwork Meka resembling a dog pounced from all directions and aimed for Furina.

Bang!*

Clorinde reacted quickly and shot the Clockwork Meks down, however, soon, more of them replaced the injured ones.

Before the two of them knew it, Clockwork Meks emerged from all directions and quickly overwhelmed them in number.

"Lady Furina! Escape without me!" Looking back at Furina, Clorinde immediately ordered her to leave.

However, as her eyes glanced over to Furina's figure, the only thing she saw was the unconscious Furina being picked up by a Meka.

On her head was a bruise— a concussion for her to fall unconscious.

"Miss Furina!" Seeing this, Clorinde's eyes widened. However, against Mekas from all directions, she wasn't able to escape from their never-ending encirclement.

"Miss Furina!" Yelling, Clorinde activated her visions and imbued her gun with elemental power, killing every Mek in her path.

However, the Meks were adamant in keeping her and Furina away, replacing those who had fallen in an instant.

Soon, more batches of Meks resembling dogs emerge from the tunnel.

The last thing Clorinde saw before being surrounded by an army of Mekas was Furina being dragged into the gate which they opened.

As Furina was being dragged away, only the sound of metal getting crushed and destroyed echoed from the distance. As well as the sound of gunshots and thunder.

* * *

In an unknown location.

After an unknown amount of time.

"!" Isaac, who lost consciousness from falling, woke up dazed. Before he could think of anything, he suddenly opened his mouth and spewed out water. "Blergh!"

Sea water escaped his mouth and hit the ground. After a few moments, Isaac coughed violently. "What... What the hell..."

Isaac took a moment to recollect what happened. His mind was a bit groggy, but he was able to remember them.

'I remember...' Isaac heaved heavily as he caught his breath. 'I tried making dendro vines to hold on to... But my momentum just made them snap the moment they materialized...'

It was inevitable.

Vision holders rely heavily on their ability to muster elemental energy to use their elemental power. As for Isaac, well, he hasn't been using his Dendro vision that much, as such, he wasn't quite proficient in mustering and manipulating elemental energy.

Shaking his head, he looked up to make a sense of his surroundings. "Where am I...?"

He looked around, only to see what seemed like rotting wood around him. Looking down, he saw that he was currently sitting down on the same decaying wooden floor. From what Isaac saw, he made a guess:

"Is this a cabin?" He asked himself as he looked around. Just then, he noticed something off. "Wait..."

His vision and gun weren't with him. They were both strapped to him, so they couldn't have possibly been taken away by the water.

Noticing this, Isaac tried to move his hands— but to no avail. He looked behind him and saw that his arms were shackled behind his back.

Clang!

Clang!

Isaac tried his best to break out, but the shackles didn't budge.

"No way..." Seeing this situation, the perceptive Isaac quickly realized what kind of situation he was in. "I was captured..."

"Correct." Just then, a deep voice echoed in the cabin.

Isaac moved his eyes and looked at the source of the voice. His eyes landed on the cabin's wooden door, and the figure that opened it.

The man at the door stood still. He was wearing a black robe and held a cane in his hand.

The most noticeable feature about the man was his Clown Mask.

'Oh for God'd sake...' Quickly realizing who it was, Isaac's face turned gloomy.

"Honestly, I'm surprised..." The man with the clown mask spoke in the same monotone and deep voice. "Whether you came here bravely knowing that it's a trap, or just stupidly dived in."

The man walked over to Isaac and stood in front of him. "You and the Hydro Archon... Don't think I don't know your involvement in Spina Di Rosula."

"You two have been quite the thorn in my back, you know?"

Isaac remained silent the whole time the man spoke. After he finished speaking, Isaac opened his mouth. "...so you're the one behind the Sinthe distribution?"

"Indeed." The man chuckled in a deep voice. "You may call me... The Masked Clown."

Hearing this, Isaac's eyes widened before curling up a smile and bursting into laughing. "Haha... Haha!"

"Haha!"

He continued to laugh as if he had heard the funniest thing in his life. It was a joyous and pure laugh, devoid of any falsehood.

It was a genuinely gleeful laugh.

...yet it sounded eerie.

"..." The self-proclaimed Masked Clown watched as his hostage laughed hysterically for a minute or two, never letting out a sound.

After what seemed like minutes, Isaac's laughing finally died down and he once more looked up at the Masked Clown in front of him. "So... The infamous Masked Clown is the Sinthe manufacturer?"

As he spoke, he kept subtly fidgeting as if he was overwhelmed with joy and couldn't stop internally laughing.

"I'm guessing this is the part where you tell me your grand plan?" His eyes moved to the Masked Clown's figure.

"...You are one happy fellow." The Masked Clown remarked. "But you are correct. Like any villain in an opera, I would now divulge my most evil plan to you."

"How comedic," Isaac said sarcastically. "Well then, I'm listening."

The Masked Clown turned around and slowly walked further away from Isaac. "Do you perchance know about the prophecy?"

"That everyone would be washed away and be dissolved, and only the Hydro Archon— Furina— would be left behind, weeping on her throne." Isaac maintained his casual smile as he recounted. However, his trembling eyes and eerie smile made it seem like he was losing his mind. "Yeah, I've heard it a lot of times now."

"Good, that saves me the trouble," The Masked Clown said in a deep voice. "Did you know that that prophecy is true? Too accurate, might I add."

"— that we would quite literally be 'washed' away." As the Masked Clown said this, he suddenly walked to a table and placed down a leather pouch from his robe.

The Masked Clown opened the leather pouch and took out a series of bottles, as well as a syringe.

"There were many legends in Fontaine and one of them was about a certain liquid." The Masked Clown spoke in a deep tone. "It was a special type of liquid that, once touched by a Fontanian, would dissolve them into water and return them to the sea."

"It was called... Primordial Sea Water." As the Masked Clown said this, he suddenly took the syringe and filled it with a sparkling liquid.

The liquid that was poured glistened in both the light and dark. It was as if it could shine in the void, and stand out in the light.

"Hm? Then I'm guessing..." Isaac saw the Masked Clown's actions, however, Isaac remained calm on the outside. "You'll silence me with that?"

The Masked Clown didn't answer Isaac and continued to fill the syringe. After a few moments, the syringe was finally full.

The Masked Clown then finally decided to speak up. "I've been investigating you, Isaac Alder."

"You might seem like an ordinary barista, but your keen observational abilities can land you in any investigative career. You deserve my praises." As the Masked Clown said this, he slowly turned around. "However..."

"There truly are times when one fails, no?"

"What do you..." Isaac wanted to ask what he meant when he was suddenly interrupted.

"I've been investigating this liquid, you know?" Suddenly, the deep voice of the Masked Clown started turning erratic. "To save all of us— to save our loved ones!"

"For years, I've experimented with it— but all of them yielded barely any results!" The Masked Clown said with a furious voice. "The only good thing that came out from experimenting with all those women I took was perhaps Sinthe..."

"Kidnapped women... The Serial Disappearances Case..." Isaac said with a low voice. After saying this, Isaac smiled. "Three infamous cases in a row— amazing."

"You know, for a supposed "savior", you sure do kill a lot — and for what?" Isaac decided to provoke him. "Little to no results."

The Masked Clown heard this and calmed himself down. Composing himself, the Masked Clown cleared his throat. "That may be so— but that's because the specimens I've worked until now were just mere mortals."

"If I were to stand a chance in bringing back people dissolved by the water— then I must take my experiment to greater heights!" The man said as he raised his deep voice.

Hearing the Masked Clown's words, Isaac, who was perceptive of hidden meanings, instantly recognized what he meant. His eyes widened and his mouth opened in disbelief, "You don't mean..."

"Haha..." Seeing Isaac's expression change, the Masked Clown laughed. "That's right—"

"For me to have this opportunity, I intentionally placed key locations around this area to lure in the two of you." The Masked Clown said, back to his deep monotone voice. "This was all to lure in the being above us mortals and the one who didn't listen to my pleas..."

"Furina De Fontaine!"

Boom!*

As he said this, the cabin suddenly collapsed, and he was exposed to the outside.

However, it seems like they were still inside a cave.

Isaac took this opportunity to look around— then he saw it. Something he didn't want to ever see in his life.

Strapped on a bed, Furina was lying unconscious. Hanging above her was a syringe filled with Primordial Sea Water.

For a moment, it was as if something had broken inside Isaac— and felt like time had stopped.