Page 57 of Orange Lake
Then of all the idiotic things, in a matter of a millisecond, I asked myself. How can I take off this crystal? Do I need a knife?
I can come up for air and ask for a knife or chisel but surely the others will keep me from diving again. Standing up a bit, I positioned my feet to the nearby rocks. The pink crystal I’m seeing is just at the edge of it. It is colored purple nearer to the bed of rocks. I kneeled and using both hands, grabbed the crystal.
Ouch.
The crystal had a bit of electricity built into it. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Zirc is barely alive.
I grabbed it again. The tingling stopped but the crystal glowed. Hoping it will not explode on me, I tried to pull it out. The crystal is smooth, and I am in the water. Good thing it is formed with an uneven crystal formation.
The water density is a bit heavy than if I’m on the sea on earth. I pulled and pulled. I need to decide if I need to come up for air and the distance to swim back up. The water is getting a little murky as I kneeled, some sands went up.
Just as I’m about to swim up for air, the crystal moved, still glowing. I hope these crystals are not alive and I’m not pulling them out like plants!
I pulled and finally, I uproot it. Not that there are any roots that I can see. The momentum though pushed me up a bit. My lungs urging me to come up for air. I swim upwards, the crystal light on my hand. Up above, I can see blurred images of people huddled at the edge of the lake. The crystal felt warm on my right hand. The warmth spread to my body. Like it’s healing me.
My hair popped out of the water. Treading water, I gulped huge amount of air. It was not even a huge effort on my part. I felt giddy and happy. I looked towards the bank and saw some manasties moved backwards. Like they’ve seen a ghost or a monster. Probably their first time to see a diver without a diving mask on. Coone explained that to me earlier. They need equipment to swim or dive and get these crystals.
Coone, Jigen and Roo are near the edge of the water. Coone looked livid. Roo looked pale as if he has also seen a ghost. Jigen also looked pale. I noticed he has a pole, almost like a fishing pole, extended to me.
I snorted. As if I need a pole.
I swam towards the shore freestyle. There were some shocked gasps. When I got near, Coone was the first one to pull me up.
“Hey, slow down,” I tripped and almost hit my knee on the embankment. But Coone pulled me up and crushed me to his chest. I felt his heart wildly beating against me. My feet is off the floor. His arms felt like lead around my hips. Poor guy is almost trembling so I hugged him back.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” I tried to reassure him. I grunt when he pulled me tighter. His face on the side of my head. I can feel him inhaling my scent.
I noticed the others were more further away.
I looked to my side and both Jigen and Roo still look pale. Jigen’s eyes though are narrowed. As if his scientific mind finally caught up on what just happened and now he wants to analyze or dissect me. We have no time for time that.
I thrust the still warm and glowing crystal to Jigen. “Here.” More gasps were heard. I saw Jigen’s eyes widen. I think he took a step back or maybe not. “Please take this to Zirc,” I pleaded when Jigen was not moving. “Take it!” I shouted. “You said this crystal can heal him but the equipment is out for maintenance. Take this to him now. Please!”
That seemed to wake up Jigen. As soon as I handed it to him, the crystal stopped glowing. I bit my lip, surely the crystal is not dead. Jigen looked at me and nodded. He is still speechless. With his other hand, he had a cloth and carefully wrapped the pink-purple crystal on it. He turned back and he probably issued an order because the Rin and some men followed him and walked away.
Coone is still shaking. He’s probably losing some adrenaline. Now that both of my hands are free, I massaged his back, the back of his neck and murmured soft words to him.
"This is for making me think you are going to dump me in this place,” I jokingly said.
It seemed to work. His grip loosened a bit. He took a deep breath and released it in a shudder. He did it three more times before he slowly released me. My feet touched the ground and I looked up to him. Even though he is smaller than Zirc and Roqs, I still looked up to him.
His golden brown eyes looked glossy. Like he’s holding back tears. Not sure if I liked that look on him than his normal grumpy one.
He searched my face, his hands heavy on my shoulder.
Then I saw it. The instant his eyes, his face, his demeanor changed from devastated to pissed off. Now his body is vibrating with anger.
“What were you thinking?” he hissed. At least he’s not shouting. His rounded pupils narrowed to slits. “Answer me!” and shook me.
“Calm down, Coone. I can swim.” It’s like he has a split personality. How can he switch personality so fast?
“Swim? Swim? How can you swim when you don’t have swimming gear?”
“Take it easy, Coone. And stop shaking me! You’re giving me a headache,” I complained. He stopped. I started to shiver, the wind is picking up. Though I should stay away from Coone, I moved closer to him for warmth.
I felt his hands on my face, the back of my neck, and down on my body as if inspecting me for any injuries or weapons. He even looked at the soles of my feet and my hands. There was nothing wrong with me. My knees are just scraped a bit but no wounds. That is because the rocks below are not jagged.
