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Rae took a deep breath and plunged under the surface. Some would have called the scene majestic, beautiful or whimsical. Green seaweed and sea grasses waved back and forth in the gentle flow. Brightly coloured fish swam around in their schools. Golden sands shimmered at the bottom. Dark pebbles and small twigs tumbled between everything breaking up the large swathes of color.
Rae called it a nuisance, the seaweed caught around his limbs in a tangled net and the fish blocked his vision as they hurried past. The sand swirled with the water making it murky and hard to see through and rocks and sticks pelted him on top of everything else.
He hated the water, he’d never liked it in the first place and finding out about his ender blood just grew his distaste for it. It tingled weirdly on his skin, that was the best way he could describe the odd sensation. It didn’t hurt but it definitely wasn’t comfortable especially for long periods of time. He had a mission though so he would suck it up and deal with it. As he swam deeper he realized how bad a swimmer he was, he’d never bothered to learn proper techniques since he always avoided it as much as possible. This was going to take forever. The light he spotted down below better have something good.
He finally reached the wooden planks and the glow he spotted from above, digging down he found himself in another library. He grinned, maybe this one would have new books. He walked up to the first lectern and picked up the book it held, Lady of the World the title read. Of course. There were a million copies of that book. Tucking it away he moved to the next lectern, Tnt Test this one held. Another nope. Oh well there were still two more. One of his old notebooks with the ender translation sat on the third. He picked up the last book really hoping for something valuable. Gods and Their Powers the title read. Oh this could be very useful! He flipped open the cover and water poured out. He jumped back in surprise, dropping the book onto the lectern. Once it had more or less stopped dripping he picked it back up again. Glancing at the pages he saw how waterlogged it was, the entire thing was soaked. The ink had run leaving only a few barely readable words left and the spine was molding and barely holding the soggy pages. Rae had found yet another reason to hate the water.
He swam back up and deposited the books on the sandy beach. He’d take them home later but for now he was drying off. He spread out a carpet he had and sat on top of it as he rung out his hair. He had to pick out bits of sea gunk as he combed through it. He was pretty sure there were seven or eight reasons now to hate the water.
Most of the community was gathered at the beach Jamie and Ocie had made. It was a rare warm day in the snowy mountain landscape and everyone had agreed it was beach day. Even Ven had been persuaded to bring his writing down to the beach for some fresh air and sun.
Ocie was swimming with schools of fish and cursing out dolphins beneath the waves. Momboo was planting coastal flowers and shrubs. Chaos continuously kept jumping from the rocky cliff that they had deemed a diving board. Will was mapping out the area with Seven and planning where to bury a time capsule or treasure chest. Sherbert was making good use of their water breathing potions and diving for new potion ingredients. Athena was handing out baked goods and refreshments with Galahad following along behind helping carry stuff. Jamie was paddling around in the water while Easton chased after them grabbing their ankles and jokingly trying to pull them under.
Rae enjoyed glancing around at his friends as they enjoyed the beach day and warm weather but mainly he liked watching Aax and Caspian who were having a splash fight. Aax definitely had the advantage not only with their olm features but also with the small team of axolotls they had gotten on their side. Caspian was losing by a long shot but was still laughing and splashing back happily.
“Come help me Rae,” Caspian called as he caught Rae’s eye. “I need a teammate to even this out.”
“No come join the winning side,” Aax offered.
“I think I’m good,” Rae replied as he relaxed back on his beach towel beside Atlas. He stared up at the few clouds that twisted in the light breeze. It wasn’t as good as star gazing but it was calm and peaceful the same. Too calm, he realized after a minute. The loud splashing and its corresponding shouts of glee had stopped. He glanced round just in time to see Caspian and Aax grab him.
“Ohh!” He squirmed at the cold droplets that dripped off them. The two were carrying him towards the shoreline. He twisted but wasn’t a match against the two of them combined with his own laughter betraying him.
“Caspian- Aax,” he pleaded as they got closer to the water.
“That’s good enough Ghosty, you got me, ha ha-” he tried. He knew if he outright told them to put him down they would but he wasn’t really too unhappy with the situation.
Caspian and Aax ran into the shallows with Rae still squirming between them. Once at a safe depth they tossed the scientist into the water. He flailed beneath the rippling surface for a minute before emerging soaking wet but grinning.
“I’ll get you for that,” Rae laughed. He shifted for a second, then equipped the eltra feeling the wings spread outwards from his spine and shoulder blades. The large dragon wings unfurled and he used one to send a tidal wave at his partners. Aax grinned as he dove into the water beneath it but Ghosty gasped and spluttered as he was swept off his feet.
“That’s not fair! You have wings and Aax is- well Aax, you know an olm,” Caspian complained humorously.
“Atlas, here girl, Atlas,” Rae whistled. The wolf pup looked up from the beach before dashing into the water to stand between the trio.
“Now you have Atlas,” Aax announced.
“Thanks,” Ghosty sighed as Atlas shook, sending water droplets at him.
The trio started the water fight back up again. Rae used his wings as a shield and weapon. Aax splashing and swimming too fast to be kept up with. Caspian tried his best dashing around with Atlas as he jokingly grumbled about advantages. Rae decided that the water wasn’t so bad after all.