Cassima found herself standing on a large boulder at the edge of a broad, golden beach, bordered by an azure sea. The air was warm and humid, not unlike the climate of the Land of the Green Isles. Behind her, tall, grassy cliffs jutted upwards, palm trees dotted the soil, and further inland were large meadows, innumerable trees, and many pools of varying sizes, with massive cliffs barely visible in the distance.

So this is Kolyma, Cassima thought. If it followed the pattern of all the other lands she had visited or been instructed to visit, it was somehow connected in some way to either her extended family or Edgar's. She racked her brains, trying to remember where and if she had heard of Kolyma before. Soon it came to her – Alexander's father, King Graham.

When he had visited the Isles for his son's wedding, Cassima had been eager to hear about Graham's travels. They had exchanged little other than brief accounts of each other's pasts when they had first met each other in Mordack's fortress, but despite that, Cassima felt that any man capable of penetrating that wizard's stronghold alone was definitely an experienced adventurer. She was more than correct on that account, and she and her parents sat mystified as Graham retold the story of how he had won the crown in his homeland of Daventry, traveled to a foreign land to seek out his bride (Queen Valanice had smiled warmly at him throughout this tale) and how he had journeyed through Serenia to rescue his family.

But that land to which he had gone to find Valanice…it was Kolyma. That was why the name had seemed so familiar to her.

As Cassima surveyed the land, she could see no sign of human life, though Graham had reported finding a cottage, a monastery, a castle and an antique shop in Kolyma (when Cassima had stared confusedly at him when he first mentioned the last item, he merely shrugged and smiled sheepishly, as if he couldn't understand it either). Perhaps she had landed in this land's distant past, long before it was even discovered.

But if this land was uninhabited, who could advise her on where to look for Shadrack? She couldn't just change into an animal and wander through the woods, interrogating every bird or squirrel she met in the hopes that one of them had information that could help her…

The words of the black unicorn suddenly replayed in her mind: "If the creatures of the land and the air haven't been able to help you on your journey, why not ask someone…different?"

Different? Cassima gazed down at the frothy waves lapping against the great boulder she stood upon and immediately she understood what the unicorn had told her. The creatures of the sea. That's what he meant by "someone different."

And didn't Graham say that the sea surrounding Kolyma was where King Neptune, lord of the ocean and all that dwelt within it, reigned? Of course he did, and Cassima couldn't think of a more knowledgeable entity to seek advice from…provided she could approach him.

But first, she had to figure out a way to stay underwater. She wasn't a very strong swimmer – the strong currents of the water surrounding the Isles discouraged all but the bravest and/or the most foolhardy from taking a swim in them – and she certainly couldn't hold her breath for much longer than a minute. Graham had met a mermaid who summoned a gigantic seahorse that he rode to Neptune's kingdom, somehow able to breathe underwater, but Cassima didn't see any mermaids in sight.

Then she remembered her charm bracelet. There was only one animal she hadn't transformed into yet, and that was the most bizarre of them all: the sea lion. She rolled up her sleeve and stared at the carving on the bracelet, then removed the now much-wrinkled piece of parchment that contained the instructions for the bracelet and examined it:

Sea Lion: An odd animal, not to be confused with the half lion, half fish creatures of the wilder regions of the multiverse. The sea lion is sleek and swift, a fast swimmer, capable of holding its breath for at least two hours at a time (which is very useful if the wearer is in a situation that requires an extensive period spent underwater).

And I am in just such a situation right now, Cassima smiled to herself as she tucked the parchment away. A sea lion would be the perfect form for exploring Kolyma's ocean. It would certainly be different, but probably no more so than scaling the Impossible Mountains or flying beyond the Edge of the World.

She had used the charm bracelet so many times and grown so familiar with the way it worked that she decided to undergo this transformation in a slightly more exciting way. She faced the ocean, took a few steps back on the boulder, then bolted forwards, whispering the word "Pinnipedia" to herself just as she reached the boulder's edge, so that while she was a human when she leapt into the air, she was a large, nearly hairless, flippered creature when she plunged into the water.

The water was much warmer than she had anticipated, and her new form made her feel right at home in the cool, enveloping wetness. She could see surprisingly well underwater, and the shadows cast by the undulating water above created a dazzling pattern that played across the weeds, rocks and sand that adorned the ocean floor.

Below her was the shadow of her sea lion's body, oblong and alien in shape. Aside from that, Cassima couldn't see much of herself except a long, tapered body and the strange pair of flippers that her feet had become. Though her hands were equally long and webbed, their resemblance to her former hands was uncanny – she even had five fingers, though the membrane between them made it impossible to move them in the usual manner.

Towards the west, the sea floor dropped away sharply as the reef became the open ocean. Cassima knew that King Neptune was out there somewhere, and she had to find him. She quickly surfaced and took a breath much deeper than any she could have taken as a human, then ducked beneath the waves again and swam out into the blue unknown, kicking her hind limbs and moving with remarkable swiftness.

The ocean was teeming with life. Vast schools of fish moved like flocks of birds through the thick forests of kelp, while the occasional dolphin or ray darted past her. All sorts of less active creatures populated the reefs beneath Cassima, creating a natural tapestry of texture, pattern and color. Tall rock formations eroded by the constant flow of the tides created obstacles that Cassima was able to maneuver around with ease. The sea lion was no mermaid, but it was just as nimble and graceful underwater. It was also liberating to stay beneath the waves for so long without having to come up for air every few seconds.

As Cassima ventured deeper and deeper into the cerulean depths, the light from above became dimmer and dimmer, and the rock formations became more numerous. It was as if some force was trying to slow or even halt her progress by placing these barriers in her path.

Then, looming out of the blueness, Cassima saw it: an enormous figure, at least twice as large as the average human, seated on an immense slab of stone which strongly resembled a primitive throne. The figure had skin the same green color as seaweed and thin, green-gray hair as well as a long, trailing mustache and beard. He wore a simple, yet elegant white robe, an exquisitely decorated crown encircled his brow, and clutched in his powerful fist was a large, scepter-like instrument which ended in three prongs – a trident. Cassima immediately knew who this mighty being was. She had found King Neptune. Now all she had to do was hope that he approved of her presence.

She slowly swam up to him, on the lookout for any sign that Neptune didn't want her there – she knew that gods could be quite temperamental at times, especially when it came to dealing with mortals, and she didn't doubt for an instant that Neptune knew that she wasn't a true sea lion.

She stopped when the distance between her and the sea king wasn't much more than twenty feet, staring up at the monarch's large, glassy eyes, which gazed expressionlessly down at her from beneath wispy white eyebrows. An unpleasant notion crossed Cassima's mind: How was she going to communicate with King Neptune? Graham had told her that in spite of the fact that he was able to breathe underwater, he was unable to say anything to Neptune, and Neptune had never said a word to him.

Just to make certain that she wasn't making a mountain out of a molehill, Cassmia tried to speak to Neptune and only succeeded in losing several seconds of air in the form of a rush of bubbles. So talking was indeed impossible, even in this enchanted form. Cassima's mind raced as she tried to figure out how to explain her problem to Neptune…how could she describe that she was on the trail of a dark sorcerer who was planning on wiping out her husband's family?

She then noticed the broad expanse of fine, white sand at the foot of Neptune's throne. An idea finally came to Cassima. She swam down to the sand, and with her right front flipper, she scratched the only word that she felt adequately expressed the urgency of her situation: "HELP." She then moved out of the way of the word so that Neptune could see it and gestured frantically at it.

Neptune stared silently at the four letters. Did he understand what Cassima was trying to tell him? Could Neptune even read English?

A slow, solemn nod confirmed that Neptune could. The strange deity raised his muscular left arm – the one that wasn't holding the trident – and pointed towards the north. In the distance, Cassima could see a gigantic form looming above the ocean floor like a squat, rounded mountain. Why Neptune wanted her to go there, she had no idea, but he must have had a reason for pointing it out to her.

Cassima began swimming towards the gigantic formation that resembled a hill of stone, interrupting her short journey only once to head up to the surface to breathe. Immersing herself again, she swam down and down until she reached the base of the stone hill. There was a wide tunnel that seemed to lead into the hill for a short way, then start sloping upwards. A strange, greenish light seemed to shine down from wherever the tunnel led. Cassima would have swam through the tunnel straightaway if it weren't for the two creatures guarding it.

Cassima could easily tell what they were: they both were mermaids, though they were quite different in appearance. The one on the left had flaming red hair and pale skin that was nearly translucent, with a branch of coral nearly as red as her hair tied to one arm. The one on the right had skin as dark as night, with equally dark hair that was plaited into a multitude of braids tied up with strands of ribbon, with a necklace of shark's teeth hanging around her neck, while various other ornamentations sparkled against her flawless form.

Both mermaids had large, glassy eyes that remained perpetually open like those of fish and hair that drifted lazily with the currents, and no matter how Cassima pleaded, both of them refused to let her proceed into the tunnel. Writing "HELP" in the sand near them had no effect either.

Disappointed but not beaten yet, Cassima returned to King Neptune. She pointed in the direction of the stone hill and attempted to shrug overdramatically – not an easy task when she had no arms or shoulders to speak of. Neptune apparently understood what she was conveying to him, however. He pointed to a small slab of rock near his right foot. Cassima swam up to it and found a small stone about the size of a plate sitting atop the slab. Thinking that Neptune was gesturing to the stone, she pushed it aside with the flipper, attempting to get a grip on it.

To her surprise, the rock wasn't merely sitting on the slab – it was covering a small hole in it. Cassima peered into the hole and discovered a small, intricate statuette of a mermaid. Apparently, she had to show this statuette to the mermaids in order to show that she had permission to enter the tunnel – not unlike the formality she had to go through with the wolves in Icebella's kingdom, now that she thought about it.

When groping at the statuette with her flippers couldn't liberate it from its hole, Cassima resorted to using her teeth – which were quite sharp and doglike – to lift it out. She held the sculpture in front of her to examine it. It was beautifully carved, quite detailed and whimsical. The only odd thing about it was that the mermaid's tail seemed to be wrapped around something that seemed quite different than the rest of the piece – it was a strange, green piece of stone with a small pearl set in it.

As Cassima was turning the statuette to get a better look at the odd object, it suddenly loosened itself from the mermaid's tail and floated down, coming to rest on the stone slab. Cassima snatched it up and whirled around, fearful that Neptune had seen her unintentionally break one of his possessions. Fortunately, he wasn't looking her way. Relieved, she carefully gathered up the statuette and the strange trinket and swam back to the pair of mermaids.

The mermaids became much more obliging when Cassima showed them the statuette. When the queen made her way towards the tunnel this time, they bowed and drifted aside to let her pass. Relieved that she had made it past yet another obstacle and even more grateful that the mermaids hadn't noticed a piece missing from the statuette, Cassima slowly made her way through the tunnel, with no clue where it led, nor why Neptune had directed her here.

The green light became stronger as Cassima followed the tunnel. It sloped sharply upwards, eventually becoming nearly vertical. Suddenly, Cassima's head was no longer surrounded by water – she had come to a tiny air-filled underwater cavern, through which the tunnel was the only entrance and exit. Strange, luminous algae illuminated the cave, undoubtedly the source of the green light Cassima had seen.

With some difficulty, she was able to drag herself out of the tunnel and onto the cavern's dry floor. She may have been as graceful as a bird underwater, but she was as ungainly as a slug on land. Once she had made it out of the small opening and dried off slightly, she decided to change back into a human, since there didn't seem to be any reason to be a sea lion for the time being. When she regained her proper form, she marveled at how her clothing wasn't even damp, and all of her possessions seemed dry as well. Perhaps this was just another of the charm bracelet's features.

Cassima examined the eerily lit cave. It was completely barren except for a strange form near the opposite wall. She slowly approached it, trying to figure out just what it was. Superficially, it appeared to be the head, arms and torso of a man protruding from the side of the cavern, with the hands placed firmly on the ground. Upon closer inspection, it didn't resemble a man at all. It had the basic form of one, but everything about it was as different from a man as the stars were from the clouds. Its hands were webbed, its head was flat, with a webbed frill bisecting its pate and a similar frill running down its upper back, and even though its huge eyes had no pupils, they seemed to penetrate Cassima's mind.

Cassima couldn't tell whether it was a sculpture or a living thing. Though it was the same color as the stone that lined the cavern, she could almost swear that it was breathing. Was this what King Neptune had wanted her to find?

"What are you supposed to be?" Cassima asked the strange fish-man.

She had become quite used to all manner of strange and remarkable occurrences during her quest, so it didn't surprise her at all when the man replied:

"You do not know?"

It was a distant, ethereal voice, like the sound of waves roaring from many miles away.

"No…"

"Your kind rarely does," the man replied. "I am King Neptune's Channeler. I transfer his words and thoughts from his mind, and channel them into a language that can be heard and understood by humans."

It was a strange and unusual concept, but Cassima hadn't expected anything less remarkable from a god.

"So that's why you directed me here, to this cave?"

"Yes…Incidentally, I apologize for forgetting to show you the statuette first. It has been ages since I have been visited by a mortal who wished to speak to me, so I nearly forgot about that bit. I knew that you were not a normal sea lion, child."

"I suppose the headdress gave it away," Cassima muttered.

The Channeler raised one webbed hand.

"No, it was far more than that," he explained. "You have an aura that surrounds you, both in your animal and human form. You are on a mission of great importance, are you not?"

"Yes. I am."

"You need not tell me about it, however. I wish to find out myself."

Cassima felt a touch of unease. How exactly would a god go about divining knowledge from a mortal?

"Can you see what my mission is just by looking at me?" Cassima queried.

"Not while speaking through this face," the Channeler said. "You need to bring your thoughts into a sharper contrast in order for me to see them clearly."

He raised one hand and held it still with the palm up. A small hollow shell with delicate, curved spines pointing downwards appeared in it.

"Drink this," the Channeler commanded. "It will help me see what you are looking for, and thus help you find it."

Cassima looked dubiously at the shell. It was filled with a mysterious blue liquid the color of an ocean beneath a cloudless sky.

"You want me to drink this?" she asked nervously.

"If you want me to help you, child," the Channeler said. "It won't hurt you, I promise."

Though Cassima wasn't altogether sure whether she trusted this god or not, she reminded herself that he had been kind to Graham, and that if he had wanted to harm her, he could have easily done so with that trident of his without resorting to such an elaborate setup as this. Cassima gingerly took the shell from the Channeler's palm and slowly drained its contents, which had both the taste and consistency of icy water. When she offered the shell back to the Channeler, he refused it, so Cassima tucked it away in the hopes that she could find another use for the empty vessel.

After a few moments, she began to feel burning with warmth, yet at the same time freezing with cold.

"Stay calm," the Channeler told her before she could voice her concern. "That is how thoughts feel, when they are rising to the surface."

"What do you…" Cassima began.

"Silence," the Channeler said sternly. "Don't disrupt the process."

Cassima suddenly noticed her fingertips beginning to tingle. She raised her right hand and stared at it. The tips of its fingers were beginning to turn a shade of brown so dark that it was nearly black. The color was quickly spreading down her fingers, quickly darkening the rest of her hand as if it was a piece of paper being singed by a flame. The same thing was happening with her left hand as well, and when Cassima looked down, she could see that her feet had also turned brown.

Numb with fear, Cassima watched as her wrists and forearms began darkening. Her confusion and shock rose to a whole new level when she saw that the dark wasn't covering her entire arm – portions of it remained pale, but they had taken on the form of several bizarre symbols that ran up the length of her arm, slightly lighter than her skin's original color. They were so perfect and well defined that they looked as if they had been painted or stenciled on. More and more marks appeared as the brown raced up her limbs.

"Channeler, what are these marks on me?" she cried. "What's going on?"

"Don't be frightened!" the Channeler said gently. "Let it spread easily. It will soon be over."

Not eager to irritate a god, Cassima remained as quiet and calm as she could as the color spread over her entire body, with a slight tingle in her skin preceding it. After a few more seconds, the tingling had ceased and Cassima knew that whatever was happening to her had stopped – but what had happened?

She leaned over the pool at the end of the tunnel and saw that her face had turned dark as well, and there were more pale symbols on her neck, looking like thick worms on her flesh.

"What's happened to me, Channeler?" she said, whirling around to face the strange figure, trembling violently. "What are these things?"

"Those are your thoughts, wanderer," the Channeler replied sagely. "Your thoughts brought to the surface of your being, and brought into sharp relief to allow them to be read. See how light they are on your skin? They can easily be seen and understood now."

Cassima examined her marks with a great sense of relief but with an even greater sense of confusion.

"I sure don't understand them," she remarked. The Channeler extended a hand and made a sweeping gesture towards her.

"That is because they are in the oldest of languages: the language of symbols and images, from which sprang not only the language you speak, but the language of magic."

"And what do you see when you look at these…thoughts?"

"Hmm…" the Channeler muttered, pointing towards her arm. "Your right arm tells me that you have already been through much trouble and chaos. A sharp point…a circle…and what is that further up your arm?"

Cassima obligingly rolled up her sleeve, exposing her charm bracelet, glowing like an ember against her dark skin.

"Ah! So this is how you were able to change. I'm sure that charm proved useful in cases like the many I see you have experienced."

"That couldn't be more true," Cassima said, smoothing her sleeve back down.

"And your left arm," the Channeler said, indicating the limb in question, "Let me see now…

"This symbol," he said, pointing to a symbol that resembled a stylized lighting bolt cutting through several small triangles near Cassima's wrist, "Denotes great power within you, power that you are afraid to use, except to protect what is close to you.

"And this…" he continued, pointing to a broad, sweeping curve arching over two tiny angular forms just above her elbow, "Again, it shows me that you have traveled a long way to get here, and your goal still shimmers in the distant waters. You have crossed oceans and mountains, leaped across time…quite impressive for someone like you, child.

"And what is this?" he asked with some surprise, pointing to a symbol with two intertwined curves looping around a solitary dot. "Union? How interesting."

"What do you mean?" Cassima asked.

"This symbol has a meaning that is split apart," the Channeler said pensively. "I know that you have a soul mate, and you are tied to him by love and devotion. I also know that you have not been on this quest alone."

"Then you know about Edgar?"

"Is that his name? Well, he is the second piece of this symbol's meaning, but the third piece…"

He paused for some time. Cassima finally dared to interrupt him:

"Well?"

"It is too vague at the moment," the Channeler admitted. "You will have to find out on your own, mortal. But I am still interested in this other human. He is more than a mere traveling companion, I can see."

"I don't love him," Cassima said defensively. "I could never love anyone other than Alexander."

"I don't mean it that way," the Channeler said, sounding almost embarrassed, "I mean…There are marks around your shoulders and neck, and they seem to point downwards."

It seemed as if he was attempting to change the subject, but Cassima had no reason to protest such a thing.

"Towards my heart?" she asked, glancing down.

"No, not that, child. It's something else that seems to give off a strong vibration. Are you…"

Cassima pulled her blue-green pendant out of her shirt and held it before the Channeler. The glow of the algae reflected eerily off the pendant's polished, curved surface.

"By my heavenly brothers and sisters!" the Channeler exclaimed. "You have more surprises in you than any mortal I've encountered! That pendant…I don't know its origin, but something that powerful…surely there can't be more than one in its existence."

"Oh, but there is," Cassima said, concealing her pendant again. "Edgar has the second one."

"So that's the riddle's answer," the Channeler mused. "It all makes sense now, child. You and your friend have gotten caught in a great, tangled web, and the only way to get out of it – the only way you are going to find and conquer the dark wizard you are searching for – is together."

"You're telling me that I can't find Shadrack alone?"

"True. Though you have been apart from your friend, you have been together since the moment you slipped those pendants on over your heads. Whatever you can't do, your friend will do, and what neither of you can do alone can be done together."

It was an interesting piece of wisdom, but by itself it didn't do Cassima much good.

"Not to sound rude, your majesty, but what I'd like to do now is find out where you think Shadrack is at this time."

The Channeler slowly shook his strange, frilled head.

"You cannot go where he is. Not right now. I'd suggest going back to the surface land, then to the cliffs to the eastern side of the island."

"Why? What's there?"

The Channeler's mouth grew wider in a fair approximation of a smile – a gesture that his curiously formed face wasn't built for.

"You will see. And one more thing: look at the back of your hands."

Cassima did so. On the back of each were several pale dots arranged in a circle around a single larger one.

"You see the points revolving around the central circle?"

"Yes," Cassima said. "There are nine of them."

"Nine is the number of completion, the sacred three multiplied by itself. And see how almost all of the points have grown bright?"

"Yes…all but that one, near the top," Cassima observed, pointing to the dot that was slightly less bright than its brothers on her left hand.

"Your journey is nearly done, but you still have one last deed to accomplish," the Channeler intoned. "That mark will glow brightly with its brothers in due time, but only when your quest is over, for that is the way it is written in the Great Story."

"The Great Story?" Cassima asked, puzzled by the term. "What's that?"

"It is something that few mortals can comprehend, my child. Just understand that everyone in this world is involved in it to some degree, and you and your friend are at the moment playing a major role in it. Perhaps someday you will understand it, but for now, you must make haste to the eastern cliffs. Remember what I've told you, and farewell, young mortal."

There were many more questions that Cassima wanted to ask Neptune's Channeler, but at the moment, only one felt urgent enough to ask him:

"But what about these things?" Cassima asked, indicating the marks on her arms and neck. "And this color? They aren't permanent, are they?"

"No, no," the Channeler said, waving a hand dismissively. "See, the marks are fading already. They will be gone by the time you depart."

As Cassima examined her arms, she could see that the brown covering her body was indeed beginning to fade, slowly but surely.

"Then good-bye, your majesty," she said. "And thank you."

Within two minutes, Cassima's skin had returned to its normal light tan hue. She returned to the entrance to the tunnel, changed back into a sea lion and left the secluded cavern. The two mermaids guarding the tunnel's exit gave her acknowledging nods as she swam past them.

Cassima returned to King Neptune's throne. She managed a decent bow to the ruler, then placed the mermaid statuette on the sand before him. Neptune nodded in response to this, which puzzled Cassima. Hadn't he noticed that a piece of the statuette was missing? She withdrew the section that had fallen from the sculpture and held it out to him on one flipper. The king's brows furrowed as he stared at the tiny object, and when Cassima attempted to place it on the sand beside the statuette, Neptune raised a hand and shook his head. For some reason, he didn't want the trinket back. Why not? Was this some sort of gift to Cassima? Or was it even part of that statuette originally? It did seem oddly out of place…

Cassima shrugged to herself and stowed the odd trinket. She then turned and began swimming east, towards shallow water and dry land.

Cassima's exit from the ocean wasn't nearly as graceful as her entry into it. Not wanting to change back while standing in shallow water and get her clothing drenched, she had to drag her sea lion's body out of the surf, through the gritty, unpleasant sand. Only when she was finally out of reach of the most ambitious of the waves did she finally mutter "Andros" and gratefully rise to her feet. Her legs were slightly weak from her underwater escapade, but she still felt strong enough to walk up the beach and start making her way through the lush meadows, picturesque lakes and tall trees, heading in the direction of the tall cliffs that bordered the eastern edge of Kolyma.

The sun was hanging low in the sky when Cassima reached the base of the cliffs, and dark clouds were beginning to gather in the west. She examined the cliffs and found that they weren't as steep and sheer as they had appeared from a distance. They were quite craggy and irregular, and many places looked as if they would provide decent hand- and footholds. Remembering Graham's story of his journey through Kolyma, Cassima knew what was at the top of these cliffs, and she was determined to find a way up there.

As Cassima was examining the cliffs and wondering where to begin climbing, something to her left made her turn sharply. Towards the south end of the cliffs was a small waterfall cascading down the gray slope, ending in a small pond. Between her and the waterfall, however, was a plainly dressed figure slowly approaching her. Cassima couldn't help but smile kindly at him when their eyes met.

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