“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,” I mused aloud.

I’d heard the saying before but I’d also found it in an old book that I’d checked out of the prison library. At the moment, it seemed pretty relevant.

I stared across the surface of a lake, one which was dotted with dozens of small islands. There was movement in the water, though I couldn’t quite make out what was causing it. Considering the fact that we were inside the Labyrinth, I was pretty sure that it wasn’t anything good.

“It’s a platforming challenge,” Grayson said, gesturing to the trail ahead of us which ended at the edge of the lake. “I think we’re supposed to get across by hopping from rock to rock.”

“Some of those are pretty far apart,” Pham said thoughtfully. “And a lot of them look pretty slippery or unstable.”

“You could make it if you have good enough agility,” Grayson pointed out. “But I might be the only one of us who can.”

“I believe you are right, Mister Grayson,” Giles told him with a nod. “But I also believe that we have another option.” He looked to Pham. “Agent Pham.”

Pham stared at the water for a few seconds, then he began to grin. “Yeah… Yeah, I think I have a shortcut.”

With that, Pham stepped up to the edge of the lake and then stared down into the water. He held out his staff and gestured with it, right before using his other hand to point.

A faint shimmer spread out from his hand and into the water, much like what happened when he used his wind blade to reshape the air. A couple seconds later, the ripples in the water in front of us ceased entirely, at least in the area.

“I don’t get to use this ability very often,” Pham said as he stepped out into the water, though he didn’t sink into it at all. Instead, he was actually standing on top of the water. “Its very situational.”

Lenore didn’t hesitate before she stepped out into the water as well, though like Pham, she remained standing on the surface. “Fucking awesome. You froze the water.”

“Technically, its still liquid,” the shaper corrected her. “But I’m keeping it held in place so it won’t displace around us.”

“Why would you even pick an ability like this?” Grayson asked him. “It seems a bit TOO specialized.”

Pham looked a little self-conscious at that. “I picked this ability when I was working in another water area. The whole place was flooded up to our knees, so I used this to lock the monsters in place.” He nodded towards me. “Sort of like what Donna does.”

“I just slow things down a bit,” I pointed out. “I don’t freeze them in place.”

“At the time,” Pham admitted, “I’d hoped that I’d eventually be able to hold the water inside of a monster’s body in place. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked out that way yet.”

“Good work, Agent Pham,” Giles told him. “Now we can walk across.”

“Not the whole way,” Pham corrected him. “At least, not in one go. We can hit that island over there…” He gestured to one island that looked larger and more stable than most of the others. Then we can rest up while my power recharges.”

I hesitated for a moment, then stepped out onto the water. It felt solid beneath my feet, which was a little weird. When I looked down, I could see into the water below us. There was movement several feet down, but I still couldn’t make out quite what it was.

“Careful of the monsters,” Lenore warned us. “The fuckers will probably come at us from below.”

We carefully began walking towards the water, though Pham urged us to go a little faster so that we could get there before his ability wore off. I kept glancing down, as did everyone else. Then, I began humming the theme to Jaws, which earned me a couple glares.

When we were about halfway across, the monsters beneath us came close enough to the surface that I could actually see them. There were eels. Hundreds...thousands of eels swimming around beneath us, each with abnormally large mouths that were filled with lots of sharp teeth.

“Let’s hurry up a bit,” Lenore urged us impatiently. “Those things look nasty.”

As soon as we reached the small island, I realized that it wasn’t a second too soon. Pham’s ability was already wearing off and the water suddenly became liquid again, right as I was stepping onto the land. I dropped, with one leg going into the water before I could catch myself. A moment later, there were sharp pains all over my leg.

I howled in pain but Grayson was already pulling me out. I hit the ground and stared at my leg, which was bleeding from half a dozen small bites. Those eels were nasty.

“It’s okay, Miss Donna,” Giles assured me as he bent down to touch me. “I’ll fix you right up.”

“Thanks,” I responded with a sigh of relief. The pain vanished, and when I looked at my leg, I confirmed that all the wounds were gone. “That is one hell of a nice ability.”

“I think so,” Giles responded with a grin.

For a moment, I almost wished that I’d taken ‘Revitalize’ when it had been offered to me, but then I quickly pushed that aside. If I’d done that, I might not have figured out that I had a specialization in banes, and more importantly, I wouldn’t have survived against those rat dogs long enough to meet up with these guys.

I slowly got back to my feet and glared into the water. The eels were splashing around beneath the water, apparently having been driven into a bit of a feeding frenzy after getting a taste of my blood.

“Let’s see how you like it,” I snarled as I held out my hands a pushed out a ‘Cursed Ground’.

A couple seconds later, I saw confirmation that my ‘Cursed Ground’ didn’t actually need the ground itself to work. It seemed to work perfectly fine on the surface of the water as well, though the effects didn’t go down very deep. Still, it was enough to catch a few dozen eels in it which made me feel better.

“After this,” Lenore told Pham with a sharp look, “I think we need to make shorter trips.”

“Agreed,” Giles responded with a scowl and a worried look at me.

“Yeah,” Pham agreed with a sigh. “Probably a good idea.”

“Does anyone else want to do a little fishing?” Grayson abruptly asked as he poked his sword into one of the trapped eels. “This should be like stabbing fish in a barrel.”

----------

I walked beneath the waterfall, wincing as the cold water soaked me to the bone. I was tired of getting wet, though admittedly, this time wasn’t so bad. If nothing else, I really needed a shower.

The entire area seemed to be made of gray stone and water, with steep cliffs, long waterfalls, and lots of winding streams. It would have been beautiful if not for the fact that several of the waterfalls came down right in the middle of the trail, forcing us to get soaked if we wanted to get through.

Then, as if to prove me wrong, Grayson raised his shield and used it as an umbrella so that he could pass through the waterfall without getting wet. I glared at him for several seconds before I brushed my wet hair out of the way.

“Can you control the water?” Lenore asked the shaper. “To keep from getting your ass soaked?”

Pham hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. “I could probably block off some of the water, but that won’t stop more from pouring down on top anyway.”

“So, no,” Lenore grumbled.

“Let’s stop here,” Giles suggested, pointing to an open spot beside the trail. “This should be a good spot to rest and dry up.”

“Unless more of those ugly ass troll things show up,” I muttered, thinking of a recent fight with the local monsters. They reminded me of the goblins we’d faced before, just bigger and slower.

“Don’t worry, Miss Donna,” Giles told me. “We’ll keep a look out.”

I sat down on a large rock and stretched, intentionally pushing my chest out a bit more to draw attention. Pham immediately started to watch me, much to my amusement.

Then I looked down at myself, at the torn and filthy rags I was wearing. The robe had never been all that good, and it had really taken a beating inside the Labyrinth. What little there was left of it, wouldn’t last for much longer.

I looked around for several seconds to make sure that the area was safe, then I brought up my status page.

CLASS: ENCHANTER
LEVEL: 6
FREE STAT POINTS: 1

FOCUS: 7
PERCEPTION: 7
PRESENCE: 9
STRENGTH: 6
VITALITY: 10
DEXTERITY: 7
AGILITY: 6

TALENTS AND AFFINITIES:
-ENCHANTMENT
--BANES

ABILITIES:
-HEX
-CURSED GROUND

SOULBOUND ITEMS:
-ARMOR OF THE ENCHANTRESS

I glanced over my stats before my attention went to the soulbound item section at the bottom. That ‘Armor of the Enchantress’ has been taunting me since I respawned, and it had been stubbornly remaining out of reach. Now, I could use it more than ever.

I’d leveled up again after fighting those trolls, which meant that I’d earned one more free stat point. My plan had been to slot that into focus, but I hesitated to do that.

The armor just sat there, so close that I could almost touch it. It seemed to be waiting for me to meet the prerequisites, though I wasn’t quite sure if that meant levels or stats. However, I had my suspicions and they’d been growing. With that, I took a deep breath and assigned my free point into presence, raising it to ten. I just had a feeling that this was what it needed.

“I hope this works,” I muttered under my breath.

There was no sudden flash of light. No popup or indication that anything had changed at all. However, when I mentally reached for the armor, it was no longer out of reach. I could finally touch it.

I activated my ‘Armor of the Enchantress’ with the same ease that I used ‘Hex’ and ‘Cursed Ground’. A moment later, the new clothing appeared on my body, shredding what was left of my robes.

“RED?” Lenore blurted out, jumping to her feet and drawing her short sword.

“I’m fine,” I quickly assured her and the others. “This is that soulbound armor I told you about.”

I looked down at myself, examining my new armor and wishing that I had a mirror for a better look. The main armor seemed to be made from a very light and flexible leather that covered most of my body from the neck down. It was light grey in color and had multiple straps and connections so that I could adjust or remove it without having to rely on making it magically appear or disappear.

On top of this main armor, there was another layer, one that appeared to be more for style than for anything else. It was a fairly loose white fabric that covered much of the leather armor and which resembled a dress, including a knee length skirt of sorts. The skirt seemed rather unnecessary since the main armor completely covered both of my legs, but I had to admit, it did look nice.

I ran my hands over the leather and fabric, taking in the different textures. There were no gloves for the hands, leaving them completely exposed. That seemed like a bit of a failure as far as armor went, but this obviously wasn’t intended to be heavy-duty armor.

“Very nice,” Grayson said appreciatively.

“Very stylish,” Pham agreed. “But I have to wonder about how well it will protect you.”

“Better than a fucking chainmail bikini,” Lenore said with a roll of her eyes.

From the goofy grin on Pham’s face, I suspected that he would have preferred it if it had been a chain mail bikini, though he wisely kept from saying this aloud.

Giles stood back and carefully looked me over. “The armor is soulbound, which means that it probably has some useful effects.”

“Can you tell what it does?” Grayson asked me.

I considered that for a moment, then shook my head. “Other than covering my ass and looking nice while doing so… No.”

“Once we are finished with the mission and leave the Labyrinth,” Giles said, “we can ask an artificer to take a look at it for you.”

I nodded at that, wondering how I could pay for an artificer to do that. I doubt that any would work for free. And with that, my thought went back to the chunk of unobtainium that Pham had tucked away in his pack.

“We’ll see when we get out,” I said a few seconds later, feeling a little guilty over where my thoughts went. “That will have to wait for later.”