Albion's POV

It was very humours travelling with Tasi and Hudson, because only after ten minutes of vocal interaction, the two of them had gone into a silent huff. I understood both of their perspectives, but I didn't see why they couldn't realise the other's. I took it that Hudson was still extremely upset with his legs, putting him in a foul mood. Though Tasi seemed to be the stubborn type. Ler and I chatted quietly whilst the two of them were sulking.

"Are you sure that you don't want gills? We could ask Tasi what she said to get hers. I think it'd be really unhelpful." Ler had been bugging me about it for the past few minutes, not understanding why I, a human who spent most of my life on land, would rather not have the anatomy in order to breathe underwater.

"Outside of the abyss, maybe," I replied with a shake of my head. "But it'd be very helpful on land, where there's plenty of air and no water."

"Exactly, oh wait. I don't like this 'being careful with our word's situation we're in/. It's making it very easy to have a conversation without using our brains." He pouted as he tugged on Hudson's hand, trying to make us swim just a little quicker. "Where are we going, anyway? Tasi said that the abyss wasn't that big."

"Yeah, and it's not. It's tiny if you compare it to the ocean, so it's really difficult to make our way around." Tasi swam a little further ahead of Ler and gestured in a direction which I assumed was random. "If we keep going one way, then we're at least knowing where we're going."

"Not necessarily," Hudson interjected. "We said something like that earlier, and we ended up back where we came from. Though, I assume that you came from the same place, since you interacted with the yellow octopus."

Tasi's frown deepened, and her gaze turned into a glare. "And you assume there isn't more than one yellow octopus in the whole of the abyss? There are plenty of sirens down here, apparently."

"I thought you said it wasn't that big?" Ler retorted with a huff. "Either it's so small we can't get lost, or it's big enough for several yellow octopus. But, judging by the size of that dolphin we saw earlier, it's huge."

"You forget the fact that most creatures here are created just to mess with the people inside of it." Tasi appeared to be getting more and more irritated, as she was getting stopped with almost everything she said and given a counterargument. "I don't know if the yellow thing is just something which stays here and guards the entrance, or even if there's just one entrance. I'm sure that these creatures don't last long. Where would they go?"

"There's probably some kind of pocket dimension which holds them," Hudson replied with a sigh. I hadn't a clue what that was, but I wasn't going to let that be known.

"What if this is a pocket dimension?" Ler questioned, and it must've been a good suggestion, because both Hudson and Tasi went silent.

"I suppose by the literal definition it is." Tasi slowed down, facing us properly once more. "The rules are different, we entered it through a point, it's not like where we're from. It could be a pocket dimension."

"Then why would it want to drag people into it?" Hudson let out a groan of frustration. "There has to be some kind of controller, or entity involved. It must feed on some kind of chaos or despair."

"That sounds very pessimistic," Tasi commented. "I thought that it would feed on joy and rainbows, because they are so abundant here."

I sighed, knowing that this could lead to an argument. I tried to think of something else to talk about, something which would give me any contribution. But that's when my eyes spotted something drifting in the distance. "Is that my bag?" I asked loudly, trying to push forward to get as close to it as I could.

"Wait," Hudson exclaimed and grabbed onto me tightly. "You can't trust that."

"Why not?" I asked, looking between the three of them with a small frown on my face. "Do you think it's bait? Or could something have happened to it?" I felt strangely protective over my belongings, that was all I had down here besides the clothes I wore and my father's diary, which I was sure had been ruined long ago.

"We can't trust anything or anyone down here," Tasi said with a pointed look. I knew she didn't trust us, and I had to admit the feeling was mutual. "Something could've crawled into it, or it might just be taking the image of your bag."

I nodded hesitantly. "But we lost it when we escaped from the octopus. Do you think that it's here?" I backed away, not wanting to deal with that again. But I really did want my backpack. From where I was, in the dim light of the ocean, it looked exactly like it had before. I knew it was mine because I had to fix the strap so many times I made several knots in it, which meant that it looked very worn, but also distinct.

"We don't know what could've happened to it, so it's best to leave it alone," Tasi spoke slowly, staring at the bag.

I was agreeing with Ler about this word thing now. I didn't know if Tasi's words had done anything to the bag to make sure that it was safe, but I really wanted to find out.

Hudson's grip on me tightened and he began pulling me back. "We can't trust it."

I shook my head. "The dagger came in useful, didn't it?" I couldn't help but challenge his words. I knew that he had a point. I recognised that and yet I still wanted to examine what was practically my only reminder of home down here.

"And it won't come in useful now if the abyss has tampered with it." Hudson continued to pull me back, one of his fingers rubbing circles into my skin. "Come on, we can change direction as long as we're not going backwards."

"Um, there's something happening," Ler spoke up, the confusion in his voice catching my attention.

My eyes wandered to the bag again, only it didn't look like a bag anymore. Actually, it did, but it didn't look like a real bag. The bag looked as it had before, but there was something squirming in the fabric, not inside the bag. It looked truly bizarre. It was shaking and there was a noticeable temperature drop in their direction.

And then the bag flattened. Every little bit of free space no longer existed, every object I put in there clear to see from the outside. It rippled like a wave and began to quickly move away.

The four of us remained still, dumbfounded by the display. The bag continued to shift in the direction we were heading, a strange feeling emanating from it.

"Do we follow?" Tasi asked, voicing what we were all probably thinking.

"I don't see the point," Hudson replied, but he had apparently changed his tune as he began trying to follow it, Ler needing to take his hand and pull us along whilst I reached out to take Tasi's other one.

"I don't think that this is the most efficient way to swim." Ler huffed after speaking, turning his neck which cracked audibly. "That shouldn't be happening to someone as young as me."

"Let's not talk about ages and what we can and can't do." I had heard many stories and myths about people growing old under witch's spells, I didn't want that to become a reality for any of us. "We're all ill-suited for this situation."

"Which is the point," Hudson added before shaking his head. "Come on, before it goes out of our sight."