We walked up a steep mountain on the left of the river, past the point where we got out last time, which seemed like years ago. The river began to curve upstream.
"Hey, doesn't water flow down mountains?" I asked. The current was pulling us up the mountain slopes.
"It should," Qassot said. "That means we're on the right track! This is definitely the place where the water gem is!"
We traveled through the mountains for a while before it opened up to reveal a small clearing. We saw the immense whirlpool in the center.
"The gem!" I said. There was a bright blue glow in the center of the whirlpool, sucking the water inwards, where it then disappeared, absorbed into the stone.
We walked around it for a while, peering into the roaring white foaming waters. Eventually the waters calmed and cleared a bit. We saw a glowing orb in the center of the pool, all the way under on the smooth concave stone which was the pool. Swimming elegantly around it, making the whirlpool, was a blue, translucent dragon-like serpent, much like the one at Ysk Mountain, just smaller and made of water.
"Oh, great," I said, "another snake thing."
"We need everyone else. Especially Dracoa. Perhaps we can calm the water?" Qassot suggested.
"Use your fourth dimension thingy to find them. I'll stay here," I responded.
"Okay."
She warped and disappeared. I watched the water for a while. I got bored quickly. I decided to experiment. I tried dropping rocks into the pool. The rocks got spit out almost immediately, one almost hitting me in the face. I tried sand and now there was a small beach. I tried soil and now the beach was muddy. I tried grass and now there was a swamp. By the time the others got there, the swamp covered the entire rocky area and I was trying to get out of the squishy, weedy, sticky mud.
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Qassot yelled at me.
"I was experimenting."
"WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW!?"
"I dunno. Little help here?"
"No." Qassot crossed her front legs.
"I can't get out."
"Oh."
"So can you help?"
"No."
"I can't float in this."
"Too bad."
"Riselus?"
"I'll sink," Riselus said, looking at the mud in disgust. He clearly did not like mud.
"Aavern?"
"I'm the same as you," Aavern said. "I'll get stuck."
"Dracoa?"
"Fine," Dracoa said.
Dracoa pulled me out and somehow blew the swamp a few dozen yards away with the air gem. She promptly collapsed and went to sleep. There was now a large crater around the whirlpool, with stripped dirt and exposed roots of trees reaching out like thousands of tiny arms. Everyone else gathered around the pool and looked at the water serpent, angry at being used to experiment and now spitting steaming, frothing water all over the place. We avoided the pool.
"Let's figure out how to get to the gem," Dracoa said.
"Can we get into the water?" Riselus asked.
"Let's see!" Aavern said cheerfully.
Aavern hopped into the frothing pool with no regard for safety. Dracoa pulled him back with a current of air, narrowly avoiding a jet of water that the serpent launched cleanly through the air, shaving off a small section of Aavern's fur and punching a hole through several trees behind him.
"Do you have no sense of danger?" Dracoa snarled, throwing Aavern backwards.
"Oh, I think it's mad now," I commented, shortly before a sharp sound like a wing flapping cut through the air. An air current lifted me up and dragged me backwards, revealing that a blade of water had cut through my fur and the ground I was standing on, leaving a deep cut in the soil.
"Ouch," I said. Aavern gave me a leaf.
Dracoa muttered something about senseless idiots under her breath.
"It's not really attacking," Qassot said, looking at the watery serpent swimming circles around the glowing blue gem, casting wary glances at us every now and then. "The air gem guardian was more aggressive."
"I have an idea!" Aavern said.
"Make it mad?" I asked.
Dracoa's face made it seem like she wanted to smack me, but decided it wasn't the time.
"Exactly!" Aavern said excitedly. Dracoa wound up to smack him.
"So basically," Aavern said, ignoring impending doom with brilliant willpower, "Cyil and I will fly around and bother the serpent thingy-"
"That's pretty much all you're good at," Dracoa muttered.
"That's not very nice," I complained.
"-and Dracoa will defend us from those fast attack thingies in case we don't dodge well enough," Aavern continued. "And while we do that, Riselus and Qassot will find a big tree and try to dump it into the pool."
"Won't that just make the serpent thingy mad?" Qassot asked.
"Exactly," Aavern said, nodding in approval.
I started tuning Aavern out at this point. I didn't really understand much of this strategy stuff, anyways. I instead looked back at the serpent, looking highly suspicious of the group of creatures who wouldn't leave it alone.
I picked up a rock and moved to throw it into the pool.
"YOU LITTLE-" Dracoa shouted as the rock hit the water.
"WAIT, WE AREN'T READY YET!" Aavern shouted at the same time.
"Oops," I said as the serpent rose up angrily and began throwing jets of water at me. I quickly flew up out of the way, briefly stunned by the sight of the water cutting through the forest around the pool in an instant, before darting around the pool. The angry serpent snarled with anger and kept up the attack. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aavern yell something at Dracoa and Riselus, then start to pick up rocks and throw them at the serpent. He then lifted off the ground and began darting around with me as the serpent kept up the attack with renewed vigor.
Dracoa then flew up in front of us, blocking a particularly large water jet with a wispy curtain of air, before sending the air blasting down at the serpent, scattering the pool and forcing the serpent back in the water. The serpent snarled and restarted the attack, throwing wickedly curved blades of water at us whenever we recovered from dodging a water jet.
A little ways away, Riselus and Qassot were uprooting a rather large tree near the pool and pushing it with all their might towards the water.
"PAY ATTENTION!" Dracoa yelled. I quickly snapped out of watching the tree slowly tip over and narrowly dodged a jet of water that scraped along my side. Pain like a burning tongue of flame erupted, making me falter in the air. I quickly returned to flying randomly through the air, dodging the barrage from below as frantically as possible. I had seen what one of those jets could do to a tree, and I didn't want to end up like that.
The serpent suddenly made a huge swirling movement, making the whirlpool spin more violently. The onslaught of attacks stopped briefly as the water rose up in a serpent-like shape, rushing upwards towards us. I squeaked in terror and ducked downwards, glancing back to see that Aavern and Dracoa had dodged upwards, out of reach of the water.
"Oh no," I mumbled as I watched the water serpent turn and descend down on me. I quickly turned and flew again, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the serpent below suddenly rush upwards, out of the pool. The whirlpool surged with the serpent's leap as its massive watery jaws reached upwards and threatened to close around me.
"NOW!" Aavern yelled from somewhere above me.
A huge wind suddenly blew, knocking me out of the serpent's grasp as its huge jaws snapped shut behind me. I turned around in confusion, struggling to regain my balance in the air, and saw the swamp that I created by messing around earlier flying through the air towards the serpent. The serpent turned in surprise before a mass of dirt, mud, rock, and random vegetation crashed into it, sending it sprawling just outside the pool.
Dracoa panted slightly from the other side of the whirlpool, gave me a glare that said "you'd better do your job", and then collapsed from exhaustion. I heard another crash. Almost immediately, the tree came crashing down into the pool, and Qassot went running across the tree towards the glowing blue gem at the center.
The serpent rose in renewed anger, glaring at Qassot with blazing fury, and rushed forwards, launching water jets, blades, and waves of any remaining water that it could suck out of the now-swampy pool at Qassot. Qassot dove to the side, away from the gem, as Riselus felled another tree, which took the brunt of the attack and was cut into pieces in an instant. Dracoa rose up behind him, recovered from the effort needed to use her gem, and quickly dragged Qassot out of the way.
The serpent dove after Qassot in anger, rushing past the water gem and lunging at the one who dared try and lay her hands on the precious thing it guarded. It all happened in an instant, but in that instant, the serpent's back was turned, and I could see a clear path to the gem. In a flash, I suddenly understood Aavern's plan, and rushed forwards on my tired wings. My side ached with pain, but I flew as fast as I could towards the bright blue light. Nearby, I heard Aavern yell something else, and heard another tree crash down as I ran into the blue light with all legs outstretched, grabbing the gem as tightly as possible. I had no time to check my momentum - the serpent was already struggling free of the tree Riselus had pushing on top of it and was turning around in renewed fury. I quickly began to fly upwards, as far out of reach of the serpent as possible. Aavern was suddenly at my side, holding a large rock. I tossed the gem into the air, curving backwards to dodge the water jet that blasted upwards through where I just was. Aavern flew upwards into the gem, hitting it with the rock, shattering the gem's casing and revealing a beautifully blue spherical jewel that glittered in the sun, with a pattern that seemed to ripple with waves. I looped back and grabbed the gem, looking back in triumph.
"GO!" Aavern yelled, before dodging a massive blade of water that sliced through the air. Seeing the angry serpent looming up behind him, I didn't need to be told twice. I picked a direction and just flew as fast as I could, leaving behind the angry storm of water, clutching the water gem as tightly as I could.