The Tale of Mythia

Chapter 45: A Cave in the Ocean

(Friday, 9th of Dancing Fool Moon, 2021)
It was now dark, and the seas were still as calm as ever, but this was an odd evening. It was just like that first night of Sanctuary, and Jack's soul seemed to be having an out of body experience. His soul decided to hang out over the ship, looking around the area of the still ship. Jack wondered why he was having an out of body experience like this again, when his eyes suddenly landed on an island. The island was remarkably small, only consisting of a cave that laid on a flat bed of rocks that barely stood out of the water. Jack flew over to the cave out of curiosity, not worried about losing the boat because it was anchored over the open water, not moving at all. Jack floated to the island using his spectral form, and placed his feet on the gravel ground, trying not to phase through the ground. Jack reached the entrance of the cave and curiously peered into the cave. Obviously, it was dark, but thanks to your glowing orange soul, the room was lit up from Jack's a amber glow, and Jack looked closely at the walls. The walls would have been perfectly smooth, if it weren't for the carvings in the stone. Jack looked closely at the carvings, and they were rather simple, taking the appearance of a storm sea while stars shone above the stone carved clouds that formed a layer over the wild waves.

"If my guess is correct, then this is an ocean or water temple." Jack guessed, but if this place ends up being a fire temple, he's leaving this place a bad review score on Welp.

Jack walked deeper into the temple, and for a while, the walls and tile were still the same. The tile reminded Jack of a chessboard, consisting entirely of tiles that he walked across the tile for. Jack's phantom footsteps made no noise against the ground even when he walked. It was eerie, listening to his own body make no noise. Jack continued walking down the hallway until he noticed a flight of stairs that led deeper downwards to the darkness. Jack noticed that the wall etchings stopped when he started going down the stairs, but they began once again when Jack came across what was at the bottom of the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs, Jack found a circular stone slab that was etched with the depiction of a maiden with long hair surrounded by fish, seaweed, and sea shells.

"I guess this is the end of the line-"Jack was about to give up, but then he remembered that he was in his spectral form. "Oh right, I'm a ghost."

Jack walked straight through the stone circle and looked around the surprisingly well lit room. There were torches that lit up the room, and looking at their color, Jack realized that they were blue flames, giving the room a blue colored glow. There were two torches on either side of the entrance, and two more dead ahead, on either side on some kind of altar. On the altar was someone, Jack could tell they were a woman, but he couldn't make out many features because her long blue hair was blocking the view of her face. Jack thought she was a corpse, but then noticed how her chest was slowly rising, as though she were in a deep sleep. Still, the fact that this cave had no signs of food or fresh water was a major cause for concern.

"Hello, ma'am, are you okay?" Jack tried waving his hand in front of her face. "Why are you here? Are you being held here against your will?"

Then Jack remembered that he was in ghost form, and couldn't interact with the physical world. So Jack went straight up, phasing right through the stones layered above the small room before his phantom body emerged from the rocks and reached into the sky. Jack then flew back to the boat, phasing through the steel walls of the boat and finding his unconscious body as it slept on a small cot. Jack hovered over his body and jumped feet first into his torso, which felt as though his entire body was being painlessly melted and fit into a mold of your body. Jack's eyes shot open, and he got up from the cot and walked out of the storage room and onto the upper deck of the ship. Jack's eyes spotted the small island, and Jack prepared your leg for a jump, but something stopped him.