"Hey, Earth Elemental! Help a fellow elemental out! I can't hold on for much longer. Please, I don't want to die!"
The cry for aid came from beyond the wall that Blake was currently in. Aside from the corridor, the only other space that could fit something would be the vacuum tube inside the ship. Feeling around with Telekinesis a teardrop shaped puddle of water could be felt. What's more, the water elemental particles were densely packed. The trademark structure of an elemental made Blake hesitate. While not completely heartless, the last encounter with the Fire Snakes and Magma Serpents left a bad impression. On the other hand, if this new elemental turned out to be hostile, with the new skills that Blake had probably could ensure their survival.
Forming an invisible cup with Telekinesis, the water elemental was scooped up. Grunting mentally due to the sucking force of the ship's power the elemental crawled forward towards the open entrance. Once over the lip, the sucking force greatly decreased. Blake wasn't entirely sure if they could drop off the rescued victim towards the ground, so instead the cup was brought inside. Carefully undoing the frozen seal, soon the voice burbled again sensing that everything was alright.
"Thank you. I'm not sure how an earth elemental was able to do it, but you saved me. Where are we? What is this place? And why is everything being sucked into the air?"
The curious personality of the gurgling speech made Blake grin. Not only because of the lack of hostility from the creature, but also due to the Inspection screen that popped up beside it.
[ Aqua Ray ]
Species: Water Elemental
Level: 15
HP: 2,500/3,000
Mana: 300/3,000
Strength (STR): 15
Intelligence (INT): 15
Wisdom (WIZ): 12
Dexterity (DEX): 30
Constitution (CON): 15
Charisma (CAR): 10
Luck (LUK): 5
Current Perks: Elemental Body, Liquid Form, Swift Swim
Skills: Expert Water Elemental Manipulation (Lv. 1), Slam (Lv. 15), Water ball (Lv. 50), Water Whip (Lv. 30), Water Blade (Lv. 30)
"A type of elemental, Water Rays are calm elementals that form small groups for protection. They are known to guide others to where they need to go with their keen perception of the water flowing around them."
"First off, you're welcome. To answer your questions, this big scary thing we are inside is called a ship. It's floating in the air and it wants to eat our world. Also, not I'm not an earth elemental. Just a semi-magical rock. Did you see anything while you were in there?"
This was the first time that Blake had defended themselves and boldly admitted that they were a rock. Perhaps all the eons living as one just made it feel natural to them. Now that the Aqua Ray had been rescued, perhaps it had some insights on the deadly sphere since it had been up close to it.
"Not an earth elemental, but just a rock? Never heard of that before. All the earth elementals I've encountered are either gruff or stubborn. Still kind though. You act completely different. I've never met someone like you've before. Wait, did you say EAT our world? That's terrible! Is everyone going to die? What about my packmates? What about the -"
"Ok, ok, slow down. Um…breathe? I don't really have any answers for you, but I'm going to try to stop it from happening. Can you tell me what you saw while inside there?"
The elemental was clearly upset at the blunt news that was received. Sensing the escalating panic, Blake knew that nothing good would come from a fearful elemental. The soothing tone from Blake helped a bit as the Aqua Ray calmed down. Remembering the question, the jiggling mass began again.
"I was down in the water looking for a mythical place where all the elements were said to be birthed. My pack mates and I all came together looking for that strange spot independently, and that's how we came together. When the loud boom in the sky rang out, I tried to hurry back to our meeting spot. Before I knew what was going on, I was flying! The big thing in the sky was dragging me towards it. At first I thought it was the thing we had all been looking for, but once I went in the hole, all the elements went near that big ball and disappeared! It wasn't at all what the stories were like. As I tried to get away, it kept tugging and pulling at me. That's when I felt you behind the wall. Nothing else seemed more important than living, so I didn't notice anything."
As the soft shape of the elemental recounted their tale, they swam wildly from side to side. The animated recounting was rather cute to watch had it not been inside an enemy ship. Giving a mental sigh that was audible to the Aqua Ray, Blake tried a different approach.
"Alright, well I'm glad I was able to get you out of there. Could you just stay behind me then? I'm going to zip up and down this place to see if there is a way to stop this thing. There's hundreds more of them all around the world, but maybe if we take one down we can get a clue for the rest. You can look too if you want. I need all the help I can get."
With that, the duo carefully went down the long hallway. The water that filled it allowed the elemental to easily swim around, poking a prodding with its form on the lights that dotted the surroundings. On Blake's end, using the skills they had allowed them to push the water around them forming an air pocket. Having a spaceship filled with water was absolutely alien to them, so not touching it seemed like the most appropriate thing to do. If the ship had any intruder defense mechanisms, it would have to travel through the water to reach the pair. By simply not touching it, Blake hoped that this would negate some of the danger while exploring.
There wasn't much to see until the pair arrived at the exact center of the ship. In front of them was another window showing the massive ball continuously absorbing the bits and pieces of the world that had managed to get captured by the monstrosity. Below the window was some sort of screen containing gibberish. While Blake may have the ability to speak to others via their soul, it didn't gift unknown knowledge or languages from random objects. Even with their former science background, the most that could be gleaned from the console was that everything was running smoothly. Peeking over the stone was the water elemental, curious as always.
"What's that?" asking in Blake's direction
"Well, it tells us how healthy the ship is. Right now it says everything is okay. We need to try make it sick enough to have it stop working." Intentionally using strange language was the only way Blake could think of explaining something as complex as a HUD for a spaceship to a creature who had never seen anything but nature all its life. Realizing something, Blake asked a question.
"By the way, what should I call you? How do you and your packmates call each other?" Blake assumed that the word "name" would have no meaning to their partner. However, this was clearly wrong.
"You mean a name? I've got one. It's Tsunis. You talk weird. Anyway, if we just need to make it sick, just do what always makes us sick. Too many earth elements."
"Okay Tsunis. How much is too much earth? Is it when there's too much dirt in the water? I've never really experienced sickness myself." This much was true for Blake's current form. Their former life had several bad illnesses that covered the entire world from time to time. Two of which Blake themselves had caught. Now, illness was a thing of the past. If anything, it was surprising that an elemental could get sick. Or maybe it would have been better to describe it as an imbalance in the elements. Still, Tsunis had more ideas than Blake had currently so it was better than nothing.
"You've never been sick? That's incredible! I never knew rocks couldn't get sick. Well, when we go to places where there is very little water or have to cross rocks with no water on it, it feels awful. Once we get to more water we all start to feel fine again."
"I see." Blake sighed in disappointment.
While it was interesting that elementals could be in danger if they were out of their element for a long period of time. Lamenting, inspiration suddenly struck! Looking at the sphere again, Blake clearly saw that the colors that dotted the black ball were mostly blue. What if the setting for each of the ships was for the percentage of material that was in the area? And what would happen if that balance was disrupted?
"Tsunis, follow me. I've got an idea."
Quickly, the pair exited the ship. Making sure that the both of them were safe from the suction by making a little cave in the ground, Blake began the plan. At first, all was calm. Slowly, rumbling cracks could be hear all around them. Tsunis, starting to panic, watched in horror as massive boulders started rising out of the ground. Coming in all sizes, the rough balls of earth started heading slowly towards the ship. As they got closer, they became faster and faster. Once they picked up enough speed the new attack slammed into a single opening of the ship. Parts of the hull buckled under the onslaught as more and more mud forced its way down the throat of the spaceship. Blake couldn't help but laugh as they spoke.
"If you can't solve your problems, just use a bigger rock!"