Chapter 5

The fortress, once a bastion of the water spirit’s power, now lay in ruins around them, the defeated serpent’s body sinking into the depths. The sudden calm was disorienting, and in the aftermath of the battle, Garrick and Fenris found themselves separated, the rushing waters pushing them apart. They called out to each other, their voices echoing through the now-silent halls. The fortress had taken its toll, and as they searched for an escape, the weight of their loss and the traitor’s betrayal grew heavier with every step. They had to find each other and leave this place of sorrow before the waters fully reclaimed the Merciless Fortress of Water.

The wrong turn they had taken with Path B earlier had led them into a chamber where the walls were made of ice, and the floor was a slick sheet of frozen water. The cold bit at their skin, and the silence was broken only by the ominous cracking of the ice beneath their feet. Above them, the ceiling was a dome of crystallized water, threatening to collapse at any moment. Garrick and Fenris knew that they had to move quickly if they were to find each other and escape the fortress alive. Each step they took sent shards of ice skittering across the floor, and the pressure of the water above grew heavier by the second. They shouted to each other, their voices reverberating off the icy walls, creating a disorienting cacophony. As the chamber grew colder, their breaths came out in ragged puffs of mist, and the fear of hypothermia began to set in. Yet, they pushed on, driven by the promise of warmth and the faces of their loved ones waiting for them in Everspring. Their journey had been fraught with peril and heartache, but together, they had faced the unspeakable horrors of the Merciless Fortress of Water. Now, lost and separated, they had to find their way back to the light, to each other, and to the lives they had left behind.

Garrick’s path grew narrower as the ice walls closed in, the pressure from the water above seemingly increasing with each step he took. His eyes scanned the surroundings for any sign of an exit or a way to rejoin Fenris, but all he found was a series of runes etched into the floor, glowing with a faint, pulsing light. As he approached, the runes grew brighter, and the ice beneath his feet began to crack and shift. Suddenly, with a deafening roar, the floor gave way, and Garrick plummeted into a pool of frigid water. The shock of the cold took his breath away, and his hammer slipped from his numb grasp, disappearing into the murky depths. He kicked and flailed, trying to find the surface, the warmth of his life’s essence seeping away with every second. The light from the Aegis of the Deep pierced the gloom, guiding him upwards. As his head broke through the water, he gasped for air, the cold a stark reminder of the perils they had faced and the urgency of their escape. With renewed strength, he swam towards the flickering light, his only beacon of hope in the freezing abyss.

Garrick, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, found himself in a chamber where water rushed in from all sides, threatening to crush him in a relentless embrace. The walls groaned and shuddered, the ancient water gates beginning to close. His eyes widened in terror as he spotted the massive gate rushing towards him. With the last of his strength, he swam against the current, reaching for the narrowing gap. But it was too late. The weight of the water and the unyielding force of the gate slammed into him, and everything went dark.

The crushing weight of the water gate closed around Garrick, his cries of agony lost to the merciless depths. The icy embrace of the water filled his lungs as the gate’s jagged edges sliced through his armor, tearing into his flesh. His vision dimmed, and the world grew silent as the pressure mounted, turning his bones to dust and his hope to despair. In those final moments, the face of Seraphine, filled with love and sorrow, was the last thing he saw before the cold consumed him entirely.

Fenris, in his desperate search for Garrick, stumbled into a chamber filled with the eerie glow of luminescent algae. The floor was a treacherous maze of slippery rocks and hidden pools, each step a potential plunge into the dark waters below. Suddenly, the tranquil scene erupted into chaos as a school of monstrous, piranha-like fish swarmed towards him, drawn by the scent of blood from his battle-worn body. With a cry of alarm, he leaped from rock to rock, the vicious creatures snapping at his heels. The air grew thick with the smell of danger as he desperately searched for a way out, the water below teeming with the promise of a gruesome end. The walls of the chamber closed in, the water rising as the fish grew more frenzied. His eyes fell upon a shimmering object at the far end of the room, the Amulet of Tides, calling out to him like a siren’s song. It was his only hope of survival, but the path to it was fraught with peril. Clenching his teeth, he steeled himself for the desperate sprint across the treacherous maze, the jaws of the aquatic horrors closing in.