The Skeleton sat at the Dinner Table

Lee peered down into the lake, glancing back to the God of Strength who was busy doing whatever he needed, facing away while sat on his cart, before making the quick decision to shed all his clothes, hastily throwing them to the side without bothering to fold them.

He could always arrange them neatly later, and it was probably best for him to wash them as he had slept in them overnight, and even if he didn't smell, he wasn't going to waste this opportunity anyway.

Throwing himself into the lake with a giant smile on his face, Lee let gravity pull him down into the depths of water, making sure that he held his breath.

Lee watched the underwater building that he had seen pan out in front of him.

It was large with two stories, with the front door and all the windows missing, completely made from waterlogged wood. At the bottom of the building, he could clearly see stilts, just like he had hypothesised from looking at the suspicious holes in the Earth above.

Swimming closer to the building, Lee squinted as he examined the wood of the structure, noting to himself the lack of plant life growing within and leeching off the wood as food and a place to answer.

There was also no sign of petrification.

The entire building was made entirely of wood, not even a hint of beginning to turn to stone, or any real signs of decay, considering the lack of mould.

Lee knocked on the surface, finding it steady, before swimming inside through the front doors.

He immediately found himself inside the entryway of a fancy inn, the type that he could never afford to stay in, even if he threw the entirety of his village's lifesavings at the inn owner, nothing like the restaurant which Lee had previously stayed in - the rooms being part of an additional money making scheme that could be rented out to travellers while the family slept in the kitchen or wherever they could find.

As much as they had tried to hide it by presenting themselves as an inn, it was obvious that they were chiefly a restaurant, and not particularly well equipped for guests, considering the lack of advertisement of the establishment's particular service, and the general uncomfortableness of the staff, consisting of the family who owned and ran the restaurant, around him in the morning: eager to usher him out and send him on his way.

Lee wouldn't be surprised if he learned that the God of Secrets had pressured the side business to open its doors.

There was a desk off towards the side, no doubt for the welcoming committee to be stationed and operate from, and held a little door behind that led off into some dark room, looking pitch black and decidedly uninviting.

Lee looked up and saw a giant hole in the roof, letting all the sunlight stream in and illuminating the structure. From where he floated, he could see that there were two rooves oddly. There was one which eclipsed the entirety of the ceiling should be, and was the one punctured by some force either from above or below.

Lee couldn't tell from his depth.

The secondary roof, as far as Lee could see, seemed to only cover half the first roof for whatever reason.

Lee could examine it later when he needed air.

He turned back to gaze at the giant doorway, opposite from the entrance that Lee had come through, framed by two stairways which travelled upwards to the first floor. There was another visible door, where the two staircases connected as they reached a balcony that looped around to encircle the hall, clinging to the wall as numerous doors led out from them.

They led to two wide corridors, both in front of Lee which led down further into the building, to what Lee assumed were extra rooms that would sit above the restaurant.

Satisfied with his musings, Lee pushed his body up to the surface, deciding that it was best for him to take another deep breath of air before he was to explore the bowels of the building.

As he passed the hole in the roof, he took note of the directions that the larger splinters pointed.

A shiver ran through him as he saw that they pointed upwards.

Whatever had made the blow, that forced a significant portion of the ceiling to stop existing, had come from within the building, and could only be made while the building was underwater, with no ledge to stand on to even punch a hole up there, the height difference from standing on the balcony too great to reach the ceiling.

Once he reached the sunlight, Lee panted, breathing deeply, in and out, several times before spending the time to fully make sure that he would have enough air to last him exploring the bottom floor.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around him, focussing on the still occupied God of Strength, and his messy pile of discarded clothing, regretting that he hadn't pulled out his second set of clothing from his bags before he jumped into the water, momentarily.

When he was sure that he was ready, after several moments of filling his lungs up with air, he dived back down, striking the familiar balance of pushing his body to gain speed and the amount of oxygen in his lungs, discovered after countless hours playing within the shallower parts of the river during what almost seemed like endless summers where he would be swimming and splashing around with everyone else, before the shame, sadness, and isolation kicked him, the betrayal of his feelings being the final nail in the coffin, which led him to never approach the riverside again except for chores, until he ran away.

Lee entered the entry way and swam first into the restaurant part of the underwater inn, choosing to not enter the room close to the welcome desk for now and wondering if there were any other light shafts that he could use, fully knowing that it was extremely unlikely due to the secondary roof.

And Lee saw almost immediately that if he wanted to investigate, he would be needing to bring himself down a water proof lantern, fireflies in a glass jar, or a mirror to reflect the light.

He wandered in, admiring the wooden floors and the wooden tables, tracing the lines of the intricate carvings which decorated the walls, swimming further and further into the darkness where he could almost see nothing.

Lee squinted as he saw that something was occupying the table at the back of the restaurant, almost completely cloaked in pitch black.

He swam closer, trying to make out it was, reaching a hand out to feel for any clues.

His fingers touched something smooth and cold.

Lee felt his eyes widen, and his mouth drop open involuntarily as a giant bubble of water escaped out through his throat. He thrashed to get away from what he had just caressed.

He pulled himself away and pushed his body to move as fast as it could to get out of the water, immediately coughing as soon as Lee could breathe as he threw his body to shore.

"Ran Ling! Ran Ling!" he screamed out, uncaring for his soaked, dishevelled appearance as he ran through the mud to the cart.

"There's a skeleton underwater! There's a corpse in the lake!"