The two cultivators were pushed aside without any resistance. The whale-like sound had left them completely frozen.
It was better described as a vibration that traveled through every medium. In an instant, it surged out of the deep well and spread in all directions.
As it scraped at their eardrums, their bones and muscles resonated with its dull rhythm, making even their organs tremble and their blood flow sluggishly. Their stomachs cramped as if they were about to vomit, and their vision briefly went black.
Green was no exception. Sensing the change in the sound of the water early had bought him precious time to react. He used the momentum of his head start to shove the two of them out of the way, keeping them from being split into two or more pieces like the stone steps cleft by the ravine.
The torches slipped from their relaxed hands, went out in the water, and tumbled down the steps.
They landed sitting in the Cold Current and used the last of their strength to prop up their upper bodies, trying to keep their belongings dry. Even so, they still lost some of their lighting supplies.
Only after the sound from beneath the Giant Well faded did their bodies gradually break free of the nauseating tremors. Yet the sensation of their bodily fluids churning still made Green feel as if his entire body were an overripe berry, with liquefied matter flowing uncontrollably beneath its thin skin.
The extinguished torches left them entirely within that strangely incomplete light, allowing them to understand it more directly.
It was the barest possible interpretation of the concept of light. Aside from letting their eyes perceive the outlines of their surroundings, it served no purpose. It was too weak to comprehend.
And yet there was so