Narrated by Aubrey
After many long hours, dusk came when we finally arrived at the sea coast. We carefully descended the steep, rocky, sea cliffs which were very dangerous and nerve racking, and we reached the beach side that was on the bottom. It took us a while to reach the bottom since the cliffs were so high. Fortunately, the tide was low which we needed in order to look for a sea cave pictured on our map where the sword was supposedly located. I enjoyed the salty, sea breeze and the sound of splashing waves against rocks, especially because I was tired of constantly smelling the same pine forest scent of the Enchanted Forest.
After journeying on the coast for a while, it grew dark out, but a full moon was our only source of light besides our lanterns. We started to grow anxious since we still could not sight any caves yet and especially because we were worried that high tide would come in any moment. We were chilled to the bone and too exhausted to go any further. "Maybe we should turn back now," Kaylee said anxiously. "It's late now, and I feel like we are going nowhere after walking here for probably an hour or so. Maybe we are lost or even passed the cave. I'm starting to feel very panicked right now."
"Okay," I replied, nodding. "Let's turn back now and try again tomorrow. It's not worth it if we end up drowning." I also started to feel panicked. "I just hope we can beat the tide."
"Actually, turning back is probably not the best idea," said Kaylee with a shiver. "It would take us way too long, but maybe we can continue further on in hopes of finding cliffs that we can actually safely climb up. It's the best option we have. Come on, we may be tired, but we have to run."
Despite feeling fatigued, we ran in a desperate pursuit of finding a way off the enclosed shore. But as we were running, suddenly, I saw something that I did not think we could discover now, and it was, to my great delight, a sea cave. And this sea cave looked exactly like the image shown on our map. "There it is!" I exclaimed, pointing, while huffing and puffing. "It's actually the sea cave!"
"Oh my gosh!" Kaylee responded, breathing heavily. "We almost passed it!"
"Come on!" I shouted with eagerness, ushering Kaylee. "Maybe we can make it out before the tide comes in. This is our chance, and we may not be able to find it again. There's still hope, and I don't think we should give up just now." That moment, for some reason I did not feel nearly as afraid, only determined now. I entered the dark cave without any fear, only interest, and I shined my lantern inside. All the rock formations due to erosion captivated me. "Kaylee!" I hollered, my voice echoing inside the cave. "You have to see this! It's incredible!"
"Aubrey, are you sure about this?" Kaylee hollered. "Remember the tide?"
"I'm sure it will stay low for a little longer," I hollered back. "We will be quick."
"Well, if you say so," Kaylee responded, sounding nervous and unsure. After she entered, her expression grew wild with wonder. "Woah," she said with a gasp.
"I know right! It's so cool! Come on, let's hurry and find that hidden sword. I'm sure the sword won't be far. I mean, how far inside can a sea cave possibly go?"
But the cave kept going on in the direction we headed, longer than I expected it to, and that was when we began to feel nervous. A cold chill ran down my spine, and I shivered a lot. Then I started to feel claustrophobic and very panicked; I was afraid we were going to get lost and that the tide would come in and trap us. This was no longer an exciting exploration, and now I forgot about the sword since all I thought about now was getting out.
"We should have waited to come here!" Kaylee yelled with panic. "We should turn back now so we don't get lost." I definitely agreed, so we decided we would attempt the search again tomorrow when we would have more time. But as we were heading back, for some odd reason, we did not recognize where we were heading. Then we realized we were heading the wrong direction. "I don't understand!" Kaylee said frantically. "I don't recognize where we are! How are we lost already!"
My heart raced, and I never felt more panicked. "Uh oh," I said anxiously.
"If you had just listened to me then we would not be in this mess!" Kaylee exclaimed with panic.
"Okay, I'm sorry!" I replied in distress. "I didn't think this would happen!"
Just then, suddenly, I heard Kaylee scream. Then I heard a loud splash. "Kaylee!" I cried out with great alarm and panic. I realized she had fallen into a water hole that was only a couple feet ahead of me. I frantically dropped my lantern which ended up shattering and jumped into the water. Everything was pitch black now, and I felt not only a cold shock from the water but from great fear. I started to think that there was no hope now but only death that awaited us. I could not even see Kaylee. I screamed out her name multiple times, and to my relief, she answered.
"I'm here!" she hollered back, coughing. "I can't see you, Aubrey! It's so dark!"
I swam over to where I heard her voice, and then I felt her hand. We both shivered like crazy and could hear each other's chattering teeth. "The tide must be coming in!" I said, trembling. "Look for the edge of this water hole."
Kaylee and I swam to the water hole's edge, but as hard as we tried to push ourselves up, we could not since the side was too high up and slippery. Then we swam to every other part of the water hole's edges we could find, but they were just as high and slippery. All of our endeavors to climb up proved useless. We didn't even know how large this water hole was; we were screwed. Because I was so exhausted and my body was numb, I didn't know how much longer I would be able to swim. This was the worst predicament in our life. Just as I was beginning to lose all hope, suddenly, I felt a rock that was slightly emerged from the water, and I was able to grab hold of it and rest. "Kaylee, over here!" I hollered. And she immediately swam over and flopped onto the rock as well. Unfortunately, the rock was very low which meant we could not get out of the water hole standing on it. A moment later, suddenly, I felt something like sharp teeth bite my leg, which made me scream out of shock and pain.
"What is it, Aubrey!" Kaylee shrieked frantically with great terror.
I did not get the chance to respond because next thing, I was abruptly pulled off the rock and down into the depths. I never felt so terrified in my life. My nose and throat burned from the water that I inhaled, and my lungs screamed for air. I struggled to get free, but I could not. The creature that was pulling me down further and further had a tight grasp on me. I began to feel delirious. Just then, I saw something on the bottom, glowing so bright, and I thought it could be an angel. I reached my hand out to it and was able to feel it. It felt like a metal handle which made me realize it was no angel. I grabbed a hold onto it and pulled it up, then immediately, the glowing stopped. Feeling confused and discombobulated at the same time, I placed my hand below the handle, and my hand got sliced. I realized it was a blade then figured out that this object was a sword. There was my hope right there, and I took up the sword and slashed at the creature. Then I heard a piercing shriek that came from it, and it let me go. However, at this point, I was nearly unconscious and the weight of the sword weighed me down. But next moment, I felt a hand grab my arm, and then I blacked out.
I woke up back on the rock, coughing up water. "Aubrey!" Kaylee exclaimed, crying. "You scared me so much! I thought you...." Then she sniffled and embraced me, still sobbing. "I almost lost you. If it were not for God helping me, then I would not have been able to save you."
I still felt extremely light headed, and I thanked God and Kaylee for saving me. I began to cry as well. Then I remembered the glowing sword and realized that it was probably the sword of Nayu. "The sword!" I blurted out. "Where is it?"
"What do you mean?" Kaylee questioned, sounding confused. "I didn't see a sword." I then explained everything which astonished her. "That was definitely the sword of Nayu!" she exclaimed. "But I don't recall seeing any glowing light though, so maybe you hallucinated from lack of oxygen. Or if it was real, the glowing must have stopped once you grabbed it. Then when you went unconscious just as I found you, you must have dropped it. But it does not matter now because all that matters is that we are alive and that we get the heck out of here."
"But it was right there," I said, giving a heavy sigh of disappointment since I had lost it. "We can't come back empty handed. We went though all this trouble to find it, so I'm not going to let it go that easily." At that, before Kaylee could stop me, I went back under the water in pursuit of finding it again. As I swam deeper down, to my delight, I saw that same glowing light again. It was really no hallucination but was real. I swam to the bottom and took it up. Then I saw Kaylee swimming down toward me, and she saw the glowing light too which revealed her astonished expression. After we emerged from the surface, the sword stopped glowing. We gasped for air and felt lightheaded. Then we went back to that same rock, but strangely it was no longer slightly above the surface; instead, it was way below the water line. "That can't be the same rock," I said, confused.
"Unless... the tide is coming in!" Kaylee exclaimed, panic-stricken. We screamed as the cave was quickly being flooded with water. "We have to get out of here now!" she shrieked with wild terror. "We are going to drown if we don't try!"
Very soon, the whole cave was nearly submerged with water, and we desperately fought hard against the forceful tide coming in which made swimming forward extremely difficult. But even if we did not know if we were going the right direction out, only prayer gave us hope. I was determined. Just as the cave was almost submerged entirely, something very unexpected and remarkable happened all of a sudden. The sword that Kaylee and I held on together started to glow again, brighter than ever, and in that moment, we were abruptly jerked forward. We glided through the water as if we were being pulled by something. Very shocked, I realized it was the sword's magic doing this. Then before we knew it, we were out of the sea cave and back into the fresh, sea air which never smelled so amazing until now. We coughed up a storm and inhaled the air like vacuums. We thanked God and cried for joy because we had made it out and were safe. We were so relieved. We then grabbed onto a huge, floating piece of driftwood which was luckily there for us. We finally relaxed, and we were so exhausted and weak. All I wanted to do was drift. The sea was surprisingly peaceful and tranquil, and the full moon made it look even more beautiful. I glanced at the sword and realized it had what appeared to be a ruby on its handle. Kaylee also glanced at it, her face full of awe and wonder. "I can't believe what just happened," she said with shock. "That sword is truly powerful."
"I would have never imagined to find it on the bottom of a water hole," I replied. "If it were not for that creature, I would have not found it. I guess the sword glowed because we were destined to find it."
"I believe so," Kaylee replied, nodding. "If you had never found that sword, we probably would have not made it out alive. Oh, and by the way, how is your leg? Is it bad?"
"It hurts, but the salt water is soothing on it. I'm just curious what that creature was."
"Maybe a shark," Kaylee concluded.
"I don't think sharks shriek though because when I slashed at the creature, I heard a piercing scream which sort of sounded like an evil siren's scream."
Kaylee shuttered in reply. "Well, whatever it was, I sure hope we don't encounter it again."
"I have to say this was by far the craziest mission we've done," I remarked. "And it's not even a mission Rumpelstiltskin sent us on. Let's never do anything this crazy again. We may be lucky this time, but that does not mean we will be every time."
"Yes, and speaking of crazy, I think drifting in the sea at night is a good example of that," Kaylee responded with an amused smile. Then suddenly, the two of us burst out into laughter.
"Oh, we can call the Blue Fairy to help us!" I blurted out once the thought stuck me.
"We should have thought about that before," Kaylee replied with a grin.
Once we called for the Blue Fairy, she immediately appeared to us but remained her small size since she was fluttering far out at sea. "I'm glad you have called me," she said. "I see you could really use some help," she added amusingly.
"Yes, thank you," I replied with appreciation. "I'm sure you weren't expecting to find us here." I let out a giggle.
Blue chuckled then appeared us safely on the top of the cliff. Then she enlarged in size and said, "Congratulations, you have found the sword of Nayu. You have proven yourselves worthy of it by the pureness of your hearts. That is why you were able to find it, and now you are the new masters of it and control its power. It shall serve you well. Take good care of it. You two have shown outstanding courage and strength, and I know that you are destined for great things; for I sense great potential."
"Thank you, Blue," Kaylee and I responded.
"We won't let you down," I said with confidence.
Narrated by Kaylee (continued)
"I know you won't," replied Blue with a grin. "Now, it is time I send you back, Dears. Do good with this sword." She then swished her wand, and immediately, we disappeared. We appeared back in the Enchanted Forest.
"Well, we will have quite the story tonight," Aubrey said as she breathed in the fresh, pine scent of the Forest. "I sure got tired of the salty smell of the beach. It feels so great to be back in the forest again." We gazed at the sun rising in the horizon, and tranquility filled us.
After walking, we reached the dwarfs' cottage. The dwarfs, as it seemed, were heading straight for the mine. Their pickaxes were over their shoulders, and they merrily whistled a fine tune in chorus. At the sight of us, they all dropped their axes in exclamations of delight. "They're back, they're back!" exclaimed Grumpy. Then they all rushed over and surrounded us with a flood of questions. "And I see you found Nayu's sword! How'd you find it so quickly! You have to tell us everything. That is a mighty fine-looking sword you have there," he added as he examined it with fascination. "Not even rusty. Probably all the magic protecting it."
"It makes sense that magic would have prevented it from rusting, considering that it was underwater," I said. "We will tell you about our mission."
"Sounds great!" exclaimed Grumpy. "Now, Sister, I will go get the urn, and we shall all have the pleasure of watching that dangerous thing being destroyed and have the satisfaction of Rumpelstiltskin or even the Evil Queen not getting their dirty hands on it." Grumpy then disappeared, and a few moments later, he returned with the urn. He placed it in the middle of all of us.
I held up the sword, and it glinted in the sunlight. Here I go, I thought. I forcefully smashed through the urn, and immediately, a strong force was emitted, knocking all of us backwards. The urn then turned into a pile of sand. "What just happened... what was that force?" I asked nervously, standing up.
"That was without a doubt the sword destroying the dark power of the urn," replied Grumpy. "That explains the force we all felt. The sword sure did its work." He took a handful of the sand and poured it slowly from his hand. "You did it, Sisters," he added with a nod of appreciation. "If it weren't for the two of you, we could have been endangered."
"We wouldn't have destroyed the urn if you hadn't insisted, so you're the one we really should thank," said Aubrey.
Grumpy blushed then smiled. "I guess I ain't such a dumb dwarf," he said with a chuckle.
"You're the strongest, smartest, and bravest dwarf, Grumpy, and a true and noble friend to us," I said warmly.
Grumpy looked emotional, and we saw tears appear in his eyes, but he tried to hide his emotion. "Well, looks like that sword belongs to the two of you," he changed the subject. "It's about time you learn how to use it."
"Would you hang onto it for us so that it is protected from Rumpelstiltskin and the Evil Queen?" I asked. "It is dangerous to expose it. The sword would be a powerful and dangerous weapon in their hands."
"Trusting this powerful sword to me would be an honor," Grumpy replied, taking it from me. "I will guard it with my life. I promise you that, Sisters."
"Thank you, Grumpy," I returned with appreciation.