The Challenge of the Masters

⊱⊰ 61: Where the Waters Don't Meet ⊱⊰

"What was that?" asked Malu, gazing around as if he was looking for someone. "I think I heard someone talking in my head."

Arielle caressed her son's head. "You weren't the only one. I heard it too."

"That was one of the Masters communicating with us," said Arisa.

A gasp filled the atmosphere as Arielle and Malu gazed at her with widened eyes.

"Really?" Caris broke the quick silence. "That was one of the Masters?"

Arisa nodded. "As I told you before, the necklace will communicate with us with a riddle to gives us a hint where the Master is hidden."

"I see," said Caris with a quiet voice, gazing at the necklace floating in front of Thelma.

As Thelma stretched her arm to grab the item, Arisa noticed that the pendant was glowing with weak light, confirming that the Master was hidden in this world.

"So, in the end, we have to stay here until we find this Master," said Thelma, examining the necklace. "Hopefully it's hidden close by and we won't spend days looking for it like we did in the North American Empire."

Garoh relaxed his back against his seat. "If it wasn't for Virgo, spending a week in this world wouldn't have been a problem."

"Yeah," agreed Kazuya. "Now that we heard the riddle, we should solve it so we can start our mission and leave this world before Virgo attacks."

Everyone agreed with a nod. Arisa then sighed, thinking that if it wasn't for the other Guardians' threat, they wouldn't have so much pressure to look for the Masters. Who knows, maybe if they didn't have to worry about those Guardians, they would take less time to find those Elements as they would examine the riddles more carefully, without the pressure to hurry.

"Our next Master is definitely the Master of Water," said Thelma, pulling Arisa away from her thoughts.

Everyone's gaze fell on Thelma, curious about how she came up with that conclusion.

"Gas, solid, liquid is all I can be," said Thelma, repeating the riddle. "Those are the three states of water and that's what the Master describes itself. So yeah, our next challenge is the Master of Water."

Arisa's brows arched at Thelma's words before she took a deep breath. She wasn't sure if she was prepared to fight an Element that hated living things and wanted to destroy the worlds.

"Alright, we have the Master's identity," said Kazuya, shifting a bit from his seat, "now we have to guess the place where it's hidden."

"Hm," said Arisa thoughtfully. "Look into the clouds, gaze around, but only deep down you will truly see me. This part of the riddle is really vague, it doesn't say much about its location."

Since Eklipta's light confirmed that a Master was hidden in this world, Arisa expected a more detailed hint.

"You're right," agreed Thelma. "It didn't say much beside confirming that the Master is water."

"But it does give you a hint at the end," said Arielle.

Arielle looked sideways for a second as she noticed that everyone was gazing at her.

"But only deep down you will truly see me," she said, her voice quiet. "I can't help but think that it's telling you it's hidden deep down the sea."

Realization flowed in Arisa's veins upon hearing Arielle's words. She scolded herself for not having caught the meaning of that hint.

"This will be a long mission." Garoh exhaled. "The ocean is vast."

"True," said Kazuya. "I thought looking for an Element in an empire would be challenging, I can't imagine how tough it will be looking around a world that is mostly water."