Balancing Her Majesty's gift on my head, I slowly swim to her chamber. I don't know what's inside, but I don't want to break it. I already hold the record for most complaints from her.
I arrive at her chamber.
"Knock, knock."
"Who's there?"
"Ling Yue."
"Ling Yue, who?"
"Ling Yue's got a present for you."
The door swings open. The Queen rushes out and snatches the gift from my head.
"I've been waiting for this for so long. Where did you get this?"
"From the Kraken."
"I knew he was keeping this from me."
She fiddles with the box, opening it excitedly like a child on their birthday, she gestures for me to come in.
The coral chamber is draped in colorful silk curtains.
Long Fei is sitting at the guest table, casually sipping tea.
I dart to him, beaming.
"Guess who completed five quests in a day?"
He points his cup at me as though giving me a cheer.
"How did you know?"
"Her Majesty informed me."
Oh, I forgot that the water whispers to her. What a buzzkill. I wanted to surprise him.
I watch the Queen admire her gift. It's a hand-held mirror, adorned with gems. It glows as she fixes her hair looking into it, admiring herself.
"Mirror, mirror, in my hand. Who's the fairest in the land?"
No response from the mirror. That's probably a smart move.
"Oh, I thought it would talk back. Never mind. It still does its job."
"So does that mean you've forgiven me?"
"Oh yes, it's all water under the bridge. The Elder has already apologized on your behalf."
I sigh in relief. I feel bad for having him clean up after my mess, again.
"Master, when are we heading off to get the next artifact for me to evolve?"
"Shortly, when Her Majesty tells us where the ancient ruin is."
I turn back to the Queen with doe eyes.
"Your Majesty, can you please, with the cherry on top, tell us where we need to go?"
She looks at me, placing a finger on her chin, then sighs.
"All right. Only because you ask nicely."
She flips the mirror to face us.
"Mirror, mirror, show us the location of the Ancient Ruin of Whales."
The magical item lights up and shows us an image of a gathering of humpback whales swimming over an ancient ruin. Then the sun rises and the ruin lights up, shimmering as its door opens. As the sun sets, the door closes, and the whales disappear. Then the light dims and the magic item glows in the Queen's hand again.
"Did you get that?" The Queen asks both of us.
I glance at my master, trusting that he would know. I have no idea what the image means.
He gracefully places the teacup back on the table and then stands up.
"Your Majesty, thank you for your hospitality. We better head off soon, if not we'll miss the timing."
He looks at me, his hands behind his back.
"We must leave now. Try to keep up with me."
Then like the wind, he dashes off leaving a trail of bubbles behind.
I flip my tail like a dolphin in a triathlon, chasing after his trail of bubbles.
Not even a glimmer of his afterimage lingers.
I'm just following a trail of bubbles, past the border, past the Kraken, until I reach a desolate part of the Ocean Realm.
I finally arrive at the end of the trail.
Long Fei waits in front of the ancient ruin.
But the thing is... there are no whales about at the moment.
He places a finger to his lips, hushing me, then points to his ear as I pant my tiny heart out. And from the distance, I hear a soft cry of a whale. A herd of them slowly approaches and circles the ancient ruin. I watch in awe for a while, in silence. They are so much larger than me. Even the baby calves are at least double my size. So this is why everybody has been calling me tiny.
As the sun rises and its rays strike the ruin, it begins to shimmer and the door opens; just like the image shown by the enchanted mirror.
Long Fei motions his fingers, telling me to follow him. I barely fit through the entrance; it's a very tight squeeze in here.
Although the ancient ruin looks dilapidated, it feels like a temple. Suddenly, walls slam down on the ground ahead of me, frightening me. This must be a trap.
My master moves aside and turns to me.
"This is to test your physical power now. You need to break through these walls to get to the center. I'll be right beside you. I won't run ahead this time." He gestures with his hand, signaling me to ram the wall down.
I am about to use my elemental power, but he raises his hand, shaking his head.
"No cheating."
Oh, tides! That means I have to use my head. I didn't realize it would be literally.
I close my eyes, sensing if it's imbued with elemental magic, but it's not. It's just cement. Given there's no room for me to move anywhere but forward, I can only hit it with my head. This is going to hurt. Don't try this at home. Holding my breath, I brace myself, and charge. My body vibrates from the impact; my slam has left a crack in the wall. I swear by the sea, I'm seeing stars right now. I slam my head against it again, then it crumbles.
After breaking down a couple of cement walls and having a pounding headache, I groan. I don't know how much more headbanging I can do.
We're finally at the center of the ruin. As usual, there's a glowing artifact, floating in the middle. This time, my master didn't use elemental magic to light up a rune. He put a medallion in its holder. He must have received it from the King for this ruin. The ceiling creaks open, revealing the humpback whales circling atop. And a newborn floating in the middle.
I slowly approach the artifact and its glow transfers to me. My body tingles with warmth as I float up. I gaze down at my master. He looks back up, eyes glistening, and my body keeps floating up to the middle of the gathering of whales. My fins, tails, and head expand to the size of a baby whale.
Then my body shudders. Something is wrong... The call of the whale echoes around me as the world darkens.