Chapter 6 Across the Universe Where We're Going We don't have the Senses, We ARE the Senses

"This is a little hard to grasp at first but all you have to do is go along with everything that happens to you." Leer laughs as he becomes a serpentine creature, part dragon, part sea serpent who dives in and out of the water pulling Blue at breakneck speed toward a volcanic island looming in a pitch-black sea. Blue is on Leer's back, riding his serpent companion like a horse.

"I can tell I'm really in for it now, Leer." Blue shouts to a silent Leer. The transformation is complete for him. He has become the serpent. Blue barely squeezes a breath in before the serpentine Leer dives deep, deeper than any ordinary man would dare to dive. Fortunately, Blue is no ordinary man. In fact, he isn't actually a man at all. The ancient folk called them Avastrana,"of the water" for lack of a better translation-Blue had become the translation, part sea creature, part ninja warrior. He moved with the serpent as if it were an extension of himself, guiding it with the long fibrous whiskers which turned out from the corners of the serpent's mouth which was huge, open and feeding on the thousands of smaller fish which had grouped in the deepest part of this undersea ravine where the pair glided through the icy waters as if they had been doing so all of their lives. Blue heeded Leer's advice and trusted his instinct to let the sea creature, who had moments earlier been his friend, feed. In his bones, or whatever they had become, he felt an overwhelming certainty that the bond he shared with the serpent was critical to his own survival, as he felt this, the whiskers wrapped gently around his forearms, becoming a second skin. Now rider and serpent were one. Together, the companions raced through the open sea, covering an incalculable amount of distance in a seemingly insignificant length of time. Just as suddenly, they were swimming through a tunnelled maze, so narrow, Blue could feel the walls brush against his back, his head tucked in so close to the serpent that Blue could hear its breath more clearly than he could hear the water rushing past his ears. They reached an opening in the maze. In front of them lay three more tunnel entrances. They were surrounded by sheer rock walls, above them only blackness.