One With Nature

Passing Time: 3

"Alright, Alright, try guessing the next one!" I yelled out as I held my hands forward and grew a new tree in front of me.

It's been almost a whole year now - at least that's what the astrologists said. I gave up on keeping track of time - and I was in the forest nomad section, playing with the kids around.

I've been creating a few bushes while making them take random shapes and then have the kids try to guess what that shape is. There was a few bushes around, onea shaped like a cat, a dog, and even a lion.

"Oh, is it a... bird?" One of the kids asked as the bush finished taking shape.

"Sorry, no. But, you did get pretty close through," I said looking at the kids.

The children began looking amongst themselves before one of them snapped his fingers. "OH! OH! Is it an Eagle?"

"Correct!" I yelled while clapping my hands. The kids began cheering for being able to solve the mystery. "Alright, sorry, but that's enough for today. I need to meet up with Enkidu for something important."

The kids obviously started complaining but nodded nonetheless. Their mothers came in from where they were standing at the side and began taking them away.

Speaking of mothers, I paid a little visit to Hesha to see how she and Zaraka were doing. It was good to know that they were doing well and they seemed to have everything they need. Little Zaraka can actually babble something halfway understandable by now.

...I wish Baraka could have seen that...

... Depressing thoughts aside, I really did need to talk to Enkidu today. Though, it wasn't anything related to work in Uruk.

"First, let's make sure it's still happening," I said to myself as I walked out of the forest nomads section. I changed to my water element and tried to listen in for sounds around me.

Soon enough, I hear it.

"...*sob*..."

"There it is again!" I said as I grabbed my head with a groan. "What IS that noise!?" The fact I was practically yelling spooked a few people around me.

Ever since I heard it the first time, I've been hearing that crying every new and then. On the first few times, I thought it was my imagination. However, I noticed a pattern.

I hear the sound ONLY when I'm in my water element.

In the other elements, I don't hear it ever or even something remotely close to it. That was seriously concerning, so I decided to finally speak to Enkidu about it.

Boy was I in for a surprise back then.

"A strange sound?" Enkidu asked as he and I stood in one of the empty halls of the castle. I wanted the conversation to be private.

I was back in my wood element as I didn't want to hear it while we talked. "Yeah," I nodded. "Whenever I'm in my water element, I hear this weird noise that sounds like crying."

Enkidu placed a hand on his chin and looked around in thought - I noticed that he has a habit of letting his eyes wander whenever he starts thinking deeply - before looking back at me. "So, you're saying that you only hear it in your liquid form? When did you first hear it?"

"It was a few months ago when I dealt with the snake near the observatory. I heard the sound coming from the ocean," I recalled the events.

"Perhaps it is a cry of help from another Elemental?" Enkidu started looking around again. "Or it could be the ocean itself asking for assistance? Honestly, in the world we live in, anything is possible," I hated how right he was. "The way I see it, the only thing you can do is see if you can trace back the sound to its source and hopefully get an answer on what it is. I don't know the answer myself, nor do I even know anyone who might."

I groaned while shaking my head. I was afraid of that. I wasn't worried, exactly. I just didn't like going in blind. "Alright, thanks. But that means I won't be around for a day or two, can you handle things while I'm gone?" Normally, it would take longer than that to get to the ocean from Uruk, but I don't need that much time with my wind element.

"Of course. Just be careful," Enkidu nodded with a smile.

Seriously, I was not prepared for what was about to happen.

"Alright, time to settle this," I said to myself as I looked down at the sea.

I was in my wind element, floating on top of the water away from the observatory and the beach. Like I thought, the trip here didn't take any time at all.

Changing to my water form, I dropped down into the water with a big splash and floated below the surface. "Huh, thought that would feel weirder," I said out loud, which was surprising since I was under water.

Guess my water element gave me serious benefits.

"...*sniff*...*sob*!"

"There!" I yelled out as I began swimming towards where I heard the sound come from, which was down.

I kept swimming away from the surface and the shore. Being made of water, air and pressure were not a concern, so I just kept swimming.

Honestly, if I wasn't so invested in solving the mystery of that sound, I would have taken some time to enjoy the view around me. There was a LOT of fish swimming around. I was absolute sure that most of them didn't even exist in modern time anymore.

Anyway, I guess none of them saw me as a threat because most of them just ignored me completely. Being made of water has serious benefits.

I kept on swimming down and down until I reached a point where there was hardly any light left from the surface. Yet, surprisingly, I can still see clearly.

Well... 'see' isn't the correct word. I can sort of 'sense the water around me and tell what's going on, what's in it, and where to go next.

Yup, being made of water definitely has benefits.

"*sob* *sniff*"

The sound was getting stronger and stronger and I kept following it. I reached a point where there was no light at all around me. My ability to sense in the water around was the only thing guiding me alongside the noise.

I'm pretty sure I was near the bottom of the ocean.

Suddenly, I found a source of light. It was a... crack, I guess? It was just there. I didn't sense any ground around it. It was as if the bottom of the ocean itself was cracked.

It was a small crack though, the only reason I noticed it...-

"*sob*!"

-... was because the sound was coming right from it. "Alright... here goes nothing..." I thought as I raised my hand and reached forward to the crack.

The crack shone brightly and I found myself beings sucked in.

I actually found myself falling before landing on hard ground with a splash. I groaned as I sat upwards and looked around. I was... nowhere?

I didn't even know what else to call this place. It was just an endless plain of white. There wasn't anything at all. I didn't even see what kind of ground I was sitting on.

"Who..." I heard the rattling of chains and a soft feminine voice. "Who are you?"

I looked at who spoke and... (What the @#$!)

It was a woman. She had seriously long, flowing, bright blue hair and red eyes - ones that had tears in them - with 'X's for pupils. She had blue scales on several parts of her body along with golden chains binding her limbs together.

Her most striking feature, however, was definitely those large horns that took a twist before they pointed downwards. The horns were so big, just one of them was at least twice as large as her head.

Yeah... the first diety I met?

That was Tiamat.