The rivers shall run as blood; the stars shall dim without their souls. Brother against brother, Mortal will become unto God. That which is Outside shall be drawn towards the Harvest, woe upon ye Angels, for ye are least pure in God.

  ...

  Adam gasped for air, barely managing to poke his head above the dark waters that surrounded him, his black hair remaining slick, as if a thin film was extricated from the water when he surfaced. The original vertigo from the Shift he had performed was fading as he calmed down his mind and spirit.

  He felt his body floating in the dark waters and was capable of movement, but there was nothing to behold in any direction he sought to turn. No land, no moon, no sun or stars. While Adam was still a novice Passenger, he knew that he found himself in a rare situation, even more so given the ritual he had performed to Shift. Before, when he was back in the Physical World, his ritual was rather simple: his First Ingredient was the scale of a freshwater fish, his Second Ingredient was a small tin cube, and he even properly made his Anchor to the Physical World, despite the dangers that process entailed. While the First Ingredient being the scale of a freshwater fish would indicate that his destination would be a Realm filled with water, his Second Ingredient was a cube of tin- at the very least, the spiritual identity of the Realm he found himself in should correspond to the powers of life, there should have been at least something more here than these dark waters.

  I need to get some light somehow... if I tune my spiritual frequency to my memory of Uncle Bruenor's Realm, I should be able to make some.

  As Adam began to concentrate on the memory of the warm light that had fallen onto his body when he had just performed his first Shift, he felt a faint tingling sensation coming from deep within his heart and chest. After a few moments, he managed to manifest a small yellow and gold light about the size of his hand. Sending the orb of light slowly up into the air above him, he was able to illuminate the area around him. However, he was unable to glean any new information about his situation, other than he at least did not accidentally go blind while attempting the Shift.

  The light from the orb spread out further and further, but no matter how much spiritual energy Adam poured into it, all he could see was the utter darkness above him, and the unknown waters below him. When the light was approaching that of noon in the Physical World, he gave up and dissipated the energy, taking a moment to catch his breath.

  This is hopeless, I knew I would end up somewhere with water, but I used tin as my Second Ingredient! There should be life here somewhere, and there's no good reason why I didn't end up in a place at least with a sun or stars.

  Thinking on his predicament, he realized that he was probably underground! Even in the Physical World, some underground caves had waters that stretched for hundreds of meters. In a Realm with a physical affinity towards water, it was entirely possible he was in an underground sea! Unable to call his Shift a loss quite yet, Adam channeled power from the only other Realm he had ever been to- a Realm of wind with an affinity towards change. This memory was fresher, as he had just experienced the Realm a few days ago. He said a quick prayer to the Many Winged Angel, the ruler of the Accepted Pantheon, and channeled his memory of the power of those gale-force winds into his feet, shooting out of the water at nearly 60 kilometers per hour.

  With great difficulty, Adam began to ascend, a hundred meters, two hundred meters, five hundred meters. At a certain point, even a Passenger with experience would have difficulty keeping up any further ascent, and Adam, as much as he wished otherwise, could not yet be counted as anything other than a novice. Slowing his ascent, he manifested another orb of light and sent it upwards. Injecting his spiritual energy into the light, he resolved to use everything he had to at least find out where land was in this Realm. Even if he had to use his Anchor to return to the Physical World, he could still get back to the rough area he was in now so long as he took some of the water with him.

  Phew, this is exhausting, no wonder it takes people years to actually harmonize with a Realm, I need to find land soon so I can rest! Nearly blinding himself in the process of creating the orb of light, Adam found that the underground lake was much larger than he expected- no matter what he did with the orb of light, he still couldn’t see any sign of a ceiling or end to the waters below. Not even ripples on the surface of the water were revealed, despite the orb's light being truly blinding at this point. At this rate, Adam would pass out from exhaustion and drown if he didn't make it back!

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  Resolving to end this experiment of his, Adam allowed the light to extinguish once again and gently coasted down with small bursts of wind. He was inexperienced in using his spiritual energy, as well as the powers of the Many Winged Angel's Realm, so his movements were jittery and harsh. If anyone was around to see it, they would think he was being tugged along by some string or pushed with a baton.

  Once Adam made it back to the surface of the waters, he took a moment to breathe and recondense his spirit. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally harmonize too much with this strange Realm! After calming himself down and re-tuning himself to his own body to dismiss the powers of the two Realms he had just invoked, he began to spread his soul outwards from his form, tracing the faint path of his soul from where he currently was back to the Physical World thanks to the Anchor he had consumed in his ritual. He was inexperienced, so this process took a number of minutes to get right. Just as he was locking on, he felt the waters around him ripple.

  At first, he barely noticed it, believing it to be a side effect from his spirit emanating outwards. But as seconds passed, the rippling water began to become waves that lapped at his body. Looking around, Adam felt an indescribable pressure bend towards his psyche, as if a hundred tendrils of some evil existence were bent towards the sole purpose of breaking his mind. His ears rang with the pressure and started to bleed, he lost his breath and quickly sank under the dark waters, accidentally swallowing some of the liquid.

  This…is…unbearable…Devil?? Adam’s thoughts slowed to a near halt as he began to lose consciousness, a primal fear taking over him. His spirit began to quiver and shake, losing its harmony with the space around him and dragging him back to the Physical World.

  As Adam reentered his home, he collapsed to the ground, retching up water that was slightly too dark to be normal. He lay there for some time, shaking in a newfound chill as his mind swam. It felt like he was under the effects of a fever. After an unknown period of time, Adam managed to sit up and wipe away the blood that had seeped from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He swiftly crossed his body in the sign of the Many Winged Angel, drawing his right hand from his left shoulder to his right hip and then repeating the motion with his left hand and right shoulder. After slowly calming down and repeatedly praying in thanks to the Angel, he was finally able to open his eyes.

  Taking in his familiar ritual room in his house was like the first breath of fresh air after nearly drowning, which in a way, it was. The afternoon sunlight filtered in from the window through beige curtains, giving the small space a cramped feeling. The wool carpet underneath him was damp where he was laying, but inviting and warm elsewhere. The ritual altar he conducted his practices on lay ahead of him, its solid oakwood form a small reassurance of stability for his fragile psyche.

  It’s good to be home…I wonder if Uncle Bruenor is back yet, I need to ask him about that strange Realm. Adam looked up at the altar, preparing to stand, and froze. The fish scale that was his First Ingredient was laying there on the altar.

  Impossible! How? When a Passenger Shifts, the ritual consumes both Ingredients and the respective Anchor! If the fish scale is there, then what ended up being consumed in place of the First Ingredient? Adam tried to recollect but found that the memories of the past day were hazy at best, he barely remembered setting up the ritual at all, let alone what else might have gotten in the way.

  I definitely need to talk to Uncle Bruenor now! Adam swiftly stood up, but almost immediately had to steady himself on the ritual altar, his mind swimming. He felt as if his mind was still partially under that indescribable pressure, linked to it in some way. It was not a pleasant feeling.

  Maybe that can wait until I replenish my strength… Adam took a moment to calm himself and reign in his spiritual presence, until he heard knocking at his door. Adam paid no heed to a small cloud of mushroom spores as they drifted across the street, and went to the door of his ritual room, finally remembering what day it was- Diell Day, the annual celebration of the Diell Empire’s birthday!

  …

  In the watery darkness, unbeknownst to Adam, a powerful pressure began to slowly extend its spiritual presence towards a tiny pinprick of light in the midst of the still waters.