he had been told about this by the elders.

every newt on the cusp of adulthood was sent to experience this for this one and only time.

they lived deep in a set of limestone cave, in a giant river labyrinth that tangled itself through the cave system it had created over the centuries.

but just this once, so you knew what else there was, and how good you had it here, you were sent out.

usually, one of the elders took you through most of the maze, all the way up to where there was only one curve, one tangle of river left before you were out, and here he was.

he was already struggling to see anything with how bright it was getting. it felt as if there were a thousand, or maybe even a million illuminated planktons around him, coming from above outside of the water, outside of the cave.

he could go on land, of course he could, but while all of them usually preferred to stay inside of the water, he was always more partial to the drier spots in their caves, but here, with this brightness, this light around him, he was glad for the safety of the water to shield him from the brightness.

and yet, the further he went towards the outside, towards the light, the more he felt the urge to actually feel this light on his skin, to know if that light actually had a feeling and not just this vague brightness and not-seeing.

so he swam up to the edge of the water, and bit by tiny bit he pushed himself out of the water.

the air was much warmer here, but the water had already been a little bit water, so it wasn’t too surprising. it was actually pretty nice.

at least he thought so, the others really hadn’t liked it at all, but he didn’t know that. he got to experience this for himself, with barely any bias, and he was starting to love it.

his preference for land, for dryness had always made him different, and this would just make him even more different, but he didn’t know that, he got to enjoy this warm warm warm light on his skin, it was actually drying him out rather quickly, and so for the first time in pretty much ever, he went back into the water soon after he got out of it.

staying out of the water, until you were drying up always made breathing way harder and that in turn made moving harder, so he decided to stay mostly in the water, but he would definitely stick close to the warm warm warm land and the warm warm warm light heating him up to his core, and making him feel better than he ever had before