The party didn't waste much time on the armor. Every step forward meant a longer journey back, and so far there was no sign that this strange path had an end.
It only grew stranger, filled with things whose origins and meanings were difficult to explain.
Kraft toyed with the sample he'd just acquired, occasionally holding it near the flames to watch how the creature reacted. "This reminds me of the coast back home."
"What do you mean?" Green looked at the man, surprised by this sudden expression of homesickness. He wasn't sure whether something had suddenly gone wrong with Kraft's mind, or whether there was something wrong with his hometown.
"The tides are especially noticeable in the shallows. They carry things from the sea far inland, where you normally couldn't reach them. When the tide goes out, all you see are the traces it left behind: holes in the sand, shallow channels, and little creatures living in them that can't make their own way back to the sea."
"For a child, it was practically paradise. You could find all sorts of interesting little things: shrimp, hermit crabs, sea snails, razor clams. Of course, you had to put in some effort and know the right tricks."
The thick glass bottle turned deftly in his hand, its base pointing upward. The creature's soft tissues contracted and expanded around a piece of stone, clinging to the smooth inner wall with sucker-like structures. Hopefully, that wasn't what reminded the professor of his childhood spent catching shellfish on the flats.
"They'd spend all day on the flats, chasing the waves and celebrating every new discovery, completely absorbed in their haul. Sometimes they wouldn't even notice the water rising."
"Then, at some point, the tide would come in and never go back out. The mud