Chapter 572 Gathering Oursleves

By the time Lily came out of her Soul world, Keng was full fitted in his clothes. He had managed to squish all of the water out of them and dry them with the help of his Light. He sighed in relief as Lily looked around. Outlines of the shadow was engraved into the stone around her. The cosmic wall was behind her. It kept the toxic fumes and steam out.

She moved to look at her back and Keng's voice answered the thought she had.

"I healed you already. You're fine." Keng told her. Lily looked over at him. He was skimming through one of the many books he had taken with him from the Tomb. He shut the book and summoned the Void Storage. He stuck the book in and closed it. Keng's eyes met Lily's and he smiled at her. "All good?"

Lily nodded at him. Keng nodded, standing up and stretching. He let out a groan as his body cracked. He had been feeling a bit stiff after all of that traveling in the Grove. He pushed past it and twisted his torso around a couple of times and hopped on his feet. He didn't say anything to Lily. She was left wondering if she should say anything. Or even if he would say anything to her.

Lily stood up onto her feet, noticing she was feeling much better. Her body wasn't physically exhausted, but her mind was. She couldn't help but stare at Keng while he did his stretches. Keng mumbled to himself. He was probably listing off the things they needed to do. It was a habit she had gotten used to hearing.

"Umm…" Lily broke the silence. "Thank you." It was quiet, but it stopped Keng. He glanced at her and simply nodded at her. He didn't expect a thank you or anything. He simply needed to help Lily remind herself she was already more than capable of doing anything she put her mind to.

"Ready to go?" Keng asked, stopping his stretches.

"Where are we going to go?" Lily asked, looking around. There was a couple of exits. One to her right, one in front of her and one off behind Keng.

"We'll search for the firefly." Keng told her. "We have our conchs, so we can try to get in touch with our teams." He grabbed his conch. It was blue unlike her earth toned conch. She grabbed hers, looking at it for awhile.

"Hello?" Keng spoke into the conch. "Can anyone hear me?" The conch sizzled for awhile before it went silent.

"Keng?" Rya's voice came through the conch. "Where are you? Where are the others? We can't get in touch with any of them!" Rya sounded panicked.

"I'm alright. I'm with Lily." Keng told her. He could hear Rya calm down a bit. "We were all in the same room with the others, but the water suddenly flushed us out like a toilet bowl."

"A what?" Rya asked.

"Right, you wouldn't understand that reference." Keng sighed. "The water crashed down on us and pushed us in different directions. I followed after Lily while the rest got pushed to another side."

"Where are you two? Maybe we can come find you."

"In a ravine." Keng turned to look out through the cosmic barrier. The lava bubbled and things moved in the shadows. "A pocket of air, shockingly enough, but there's lava. Toxic fumes and all that jazz."

"That doesn't sound good…" Rya replied. She thought for a moment.

"Rya, look here." Vizo's voice called out to her. Sounds of movement were heard followed by a gasp. "What do you think this means?"

"By Hydran." Rya whispered.

"How many have perished in here? This is one of our own." Vizo pointed.

"What's happening?" Keng asked.

"We've found a lost Merman." Rya answered. "Keng, can you send us your location through the conch? Maybe we can figure out where to meet up."

"What about the firefly?"

"We lost it." Vizo answered. "It disappeared. We're more worried about you and the others."

"I'll see if Lily can get in touch with her group. Maybe we'll be able to figure out where we are through the conch and meet up somewhere." Keng replied. He swiped a finger from end to end of the conch and watched it shimmer. A map appeared. The conch was a way for the Merfolk to keep track of location.

"Hmm, you're far." Rya commented. Keng pulled the map outwards and watched as the next ping he saw was far away. Keng turned to look at Lily who was looking at him. She shook her head as she hooked the conch back on her belt.

"Lily can't get in touch with anyone." Keng informed them. "We'll head your way even if its a ways away."

"Lets meet here." Rya spoke. A point lit up between the both of them. It was still a far walk away, but they would at least do half of the leg work.

"Sure." Keng nodded.

"Keep an eye out for the others. Periodically try to contact them." Rya ordered.

"What about the firefly?" Keng asked.

"Our priority is our allies. If you happen to find it, go for it. It seems like we'll need it, but at least finding out allies and getting out of here is the top priority."

"Yes, ma'am." Keng nodded. "Anything else?"

"Be safe. The monsters are different down here. I can't imagine what kinds of monsters exist in the ravine you're in."

"Alright. Keng out." Keng hooked the conch onto his belt and looked at Lily. She was staring at the opposite tunnel to his. "Which way do you want to go?" He moved over to her, only to be met with a hush. Lily pointed into the dark tunnel which they both could see fine in. Some strange energy was off in the distance. It was peeking out of what they both assumed to be a curve in the tunnel.

'What's that?' Keng asked telepathically.

'I don't know.' Lily shrugged. 'It's been staring at us for awhile now.'

'Must be recent then.' Keng replied. His hand moved to hover around Hydrosphere. 'I didn't detect a single thing until now.'

'What do we do? Attack it?'

'I think we should reserve our strength as much as possible.'

Lily nodded and both of them turned.

'Which way then?' Lily asked. The map swirled into existence and Keng scrolled around.

'That way, I guess. The map's unfinished.' Keng pointed to the middle tunnel. The two moved away from whatever was lurking and entered the other tunnel. The tunnel moved for awhile as Keng watched the conch map the tunnel. It seemed like it was slowly bending left.

"Keng." Lily whispered. Keng's eyes looked over at Lily, who was watching in front of her. Elder Jyu'so and Gorrum's training had instilled this alert behavior in them. Keng looked back in front of him as Lily continued. "What do we do if we find everyone else first before the firefly?"

"We'll search for it either way." Keng replied. "We'll need find it so I can go back to Earth."

"Do you think the cup is actually there?"

"Maybe." Keng shrugged. He threw a hand up and they both stopped.

'You see it?' Keng asked, telepathically. Lily nodded. They both saw a hunched over creature. It let off a small glow as sounds of scratching were heard.

'Can we go around it?' Lily asked. Keng's eyes scanned around. The tunnel was wide enough to let four or five people stand side by side, but it didn't seem to split.

'No.' Keng shook his head. 'We'll have to sneak past it.'

'What if we get caught?' Lily asked looking up at him.

'Then we'll fight. You go first, I'll be right behind you.' Keng instructed. Lily moved first, hugging the left side of the wall. She crouched and slowly moved forward, Keng following her.

The scratches grew louder as they approached the creature. It clawed the rocks, seemingly trying to gather something in the floor. It was a bi-pedal creature, thin and frail. Its body seemed to be made out of some hard material that looked like rotten flesh. Its skull poked out with flesh barely holding on while its arms swung. Keng caught a look at its hands and noticed sharp claws.

[Tails of Devour has been linked with Lily. You have shared a portion of your power with her, boosting her capabilities and giving yourself extra soul value through her.]

A faint silver energy swirled around her as he marked her.

'Better to be safe than sorry.' Keng thought. They began to bend towards the monster, trying to sneak past it. Lily's foot caught onto something, almost tripping as Keng immediately held her up. The monster's head shot up. A strange clicking noise grew from its throat. It slowly turned its head to look left and right.

Lily moved her hand to cover her mouth and nose as Keng quietly watched the creature. Lily turned to look at Keng.

'Did he do that?' Lily wondered.