//------------------------------//
// preperation 
// Story: A Dreamless World 
// by SilverHoof1 
//------------------------------//

Tracks were left in the sand from Bio's pacing, nervous energy coursing through her body. She had a feeling Selena was fine, but she still couldn't help worrying about her. Pomella was sitting down near Samuel, who had decided to lay back in his glassy grave to reset, and was playing with the sand. The fish head had stopped twitching a while ago, but Bio's eyes kept getting drawn back to its still form. Besides Selena, that was the other thing that she was nervous about. 
"Hey Pomella, excuse me for asking a worst-case scenario, but... can you revive the undead?"
"Mmm... I don't like your line of thinking I must say, but I'm not sure since I've never tried," she hesitated, then with a small smile added, "And if possible, I would prefer not to try please," 
"Of course, just checking... just in case," Bio conceded, rubbing a hand on her neck. She swore if Selena didn't come back soon she was going to develop some kind of tick. To her relief though she saw the door to the house Selena had gone into open, then Selena herself slip out and dash for the beach. Her eyes found Selena's and they both smiled just a bit, although Selena's seemed more tired than Bio had expected. The man in the wall must have been something.
"Good to see you back, I was starting to worry..."
"Don't worry I'm fine - well, for the most part anyway," she soothed, casting a slightly annoyed glare over her shoulder at... nothing? "Gem -" she cut off coughing, clutching at her chest in surprise. 
"You okay there?" Pomella asked alarmed, standing up from her seat and reaching a hand towards Selena. Bio was already only a few feet away before Selena waved them off. "Y-yeah I'm fine, just choked on my own spit..." she assured, clearing her throat. Then, as if a sound only she could hear were sounding, her head tilted slightly to the side and her eyes went glassy, losing focus. Her lips then began to move as if she were speaking, but no sound came.
Bio was really beginning to worry, and a glance at Pomella showed she looked about as worried as Bio felt. Then just as she was about to question if she was alright again, Selena snapped back to attention, eyes focusing as she shook her head. Bio wanted to ask if she was alright again, but knew she would just say the same thing so instead asked, "So... do you have a way to get us through the sea?" 
"Oh, right that's what we were doing... uh yeah actually, Gem - I mean, the man in the wall gave me something to get us down there, but he didn't promise how safe it would actually be,"
"Can you give a percent chance?"
"Hmm... about seventy?" she estimated, tilting her hand back and forth to say 'more or less'. While Bio couldn't say she was happy, it was better than a zero percent chance so she simply shrugged. "It's going to have to be good enough, we should probably do it as soon as possible,"
"I second that notion, I'm not sure how well I can do when I'm so tired," Pomella agreed, rubbing at one of her eyes. Selena nodded, walking forward till she was at the water's edge. As Pomella and Bio watched her, their eyes were drawn to the wave's hypnotic rhythm, unable to look away easily. Samuel had helped keep away the nightmares the sea brought, but the water itself was still as hypnotic as ever. Selena on the other hand though looked into the sea unaffected, cracking her neck and back before slowly raising her arms. 
Bio dragged her gaze off the sea to instead look at her hands, only just realized she was wearing a pair of black silk gloves, the back adorned with silvery metal in a spiderweb-like design. She also noticed with some shock the seemingly wet and darker patch around the mark, the silk looking ever so slightly maroon red...
Her attention was snapped back to Selena though as she began to speak in a language that she had never heard before, the sound grating against her eardrums with a vile intensity. Pomella covered her ears with her hands, staring at Selena in shock as the inhuman sounds seemed to erupt from her throat. Her eyes began to glow ever so slightly, and the metal on the gloves shown wetly in the moonlight. While she knew it must have been her imagination, she could have sworn she was seeing double of Selena, a second transparent her standing only just behind her.
Then the awful noise stopped, and with a flick of her hands the water immediately in front of her parted like the red sea, the sea cracking before her and leaving the wet sand bare to the wind as the crack widened into a small circle, big enough for just the three of us. Dead fish and other ocean life twitched where they had found themselves beached, and Selena looked back to them expectantly. "We have to go quickly, I can only hold this for so long so we will have to be quick,"
"Selena... are you sure your okay? you seem..." Pomella faded off, seeming unsure how to finish the sentence. Selena frowned just a bit, annoyance and sadness evident in her face as she gave a quick nod. "I promise I'll explain later... but we need to go quick, Pomella can you make a light for us? I can't imagine it's going to be bright down there," 
Pomella nodded, still speechless and walked forward into the vacant sphere, Bio right behind her. Bio shot one look back to Selena, who followed in behind her. She didn't say anything, except giving Bio a small side hug, her eyes tired. Bio, hesitantly, returned the hug, mind whirling in confusion and panic. Selena's hand was wet against her side.