"Brother," yelled Lune and Kael as they came back running.
"Is something wrong?" Blanc asked, thinking that something might have happened.
"We found another cavern," Kael replied, as they stopped in front of the three, "And it's huge."
"Is it?" Blanc sighed in relief, "Lead the way then."
It did not take long for them to find it. The cavern was indeed gigantic. It was a hundred feet deep at least, and the walls extended upward for no less than twenty feet.
What made Blanc curious the most was that it also held a pool into which large quantities of water were falling inside of. And just as before, almost no water escaped the large pool.
"Interesting," Blanc muttered as he looked over the cavern.
"Indeed," Celine agreed as she brandished her sword, "But let's look at it after, before all the turtles escape inside of it."
Blanc looked downward and saw many turtles struggling in a panic to flee. All eighteen turtles he counted were between two and four feet in length, all of which were perfect for harvesting.
Blanc rushed forward, "We need to block their way into the pool," he said, as he grabbed a turtle and turned it swiftly on its back.
And the others did not delay.
Celine and Miyanna dashed, with Miyanna putting herself between the turtles and their water escape.
Kael and Lune sprang forward too, turning whatever turtles crossed their path on its back.
Unfortunately, they were not able to stop all of them from escaping, with three managing to enter the pool and either dive deep or climb the waterfall.
"Fuck," Miyanna muttered as she attempted to reach for one, but was out of her range.
"Forget it, my love, I think catching fifteen again is more than plenty," Blanc said as he looked at her useless attempts. "We cannot be too greedy."
So Miyanna gave up, pulling her hand out of the water, "All right."
"Well then," Blanc muttered, turning towards their hunt, "Kael, Lune, you two will harvest first, each of you taking two for yourselves, to see how your Marks change."
To which the twins nodded as they pulled their swords, looking at the turtles on the ground.
"Can I take this one, Brother?" Lune wondered, pointing at one of the smaller turtles, between the bunch.
"Is there a reason for your pick, Little Flower?" Blanc asked.
"I just find it cute," Lune shrugged, as she attempted to think of an answer.
"Is that so?" Blanc chuckled, "Feel free to take it then."
"Do you have one in mind, Kael?" Celine asked as she sat down near the pool.
"Sister Celine?" Kael muttered, realizing he was being spoken to.
"Did you pick your first turtle?" Celine asked again.
"Ah, yes, yes, I do," Kael nodded sharply, pointing towards one of the turtles near the water, with nothing to it in particular besides being a large one, "That one."
"Good choice," Celine offered him a smile.
"Get to it, then," Blanc spoke, "And let me know when you're back."
As Blanc looked at the water, two crunchy stabs reached his ears, and when he turned, Lune and Kael were already on their knees, harvesting the Raw Vita.
"We walked quite some distance," Blanc muttered as he looked at the waterfall. "Are we under the same river?"
"It would not make sense," Celine shook her head, "It felt as if we were walking in a different direction than the direction the river came from."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too," Blanc nodded, lost in thought.
"Do you guys want to linger in these caves for longer?" Miyanna asked.
"Depends," Blanc replied, "Depends on our Marks and how far deeper that corridor goes."
"In that case, go into the waterfall and see where we are before you come back," Miyanna said casually. A remark that made Blanc and Celine's eyes open wide in shock.
"Oh my," Celine giggled, "Am I dreaming, my love?"
Blanc pinched his arm. "I wonder that too."
"What?" Miyanna asked, confused by the way the two acted.
"Seeing how against you were earlier, I did not expect you to send Blanc off like that," Celine explained.
"Stop acting like I'm against everything he does," Miyanna clicked her tongue.
"Oh, I know plenty of times you are with whatever Blanc is doing," Celine grinned, pointing out a less-known obvious fact.
"Celine!" Miyanna hissed, her cheeks catching a shade of crimson.
"Don't mind me, I'm just talking," Celine replied with a shrug, holding her hands up.
"But it does sound tempting," Blanc muttered, now looking back at the water, not paying any mind to the conversation of the two, "Since Miyanna gave me the idea, I think I'll go and check."
"As long as you remain safe," Celine replied, heading in his direction.
"Of course, I will," Blanc smiled, kissing her.
"Come back quickly before I change my mind, and I start demanding twins," Miyanna muttered as she approached him as well.
"That is a threat I haven't heard yet," Blanc laughed as he locked lips with her.
"Take care," Miyanna said as she pulled back.
"I promise," he said, "Keep watch on Kael and Lune's Marks while I'm gone."
"Be at ease, my love," Celine replied, waving him off.
Blanc nodded, smiling at the two before he jumped into the waterfall and began swimming upwards.
It was easy to climb the rush of water, but now, with the Raw Vita from the turtles, it felt twice as easy, since with each push, he was able to make even greater progress in swimming upwards.
However, this waterfall was both longer and larger in size than the other one.
It took him almost two minutes to swim to the top, escaping the tunnel from whence he came. Only to hurry to the surface, his lungs getting uncomfortable.
As the heat clung to his wet skin, he gasped for air, opening his eyes to see what was around them.
The side he faced showed a wider river than the one they used to fish and enter from, but on both sides of it, the same rainforest he was used to stood tall above his eyes.
He also noticed that the river was slowly pulling him backward towards whatever lay at his back. So he turned swiftly, trying to see where it led. But what he saw made him freeze on the spot.
He was about a hundred feet away from being taken into a waterfall that, by the scenery in front of him, had the gap as its destination.
One would wonder how Blanc came to that conclusion.
And Blanc would only tell you how the taiga stood in front of him, closer than ever.