"WHAT SORT OF WAY IS THIS?!" Screamed Wara as they plummeted towards the ground.
Zelda was laughing manically as they fell and as soon as Wara had heard her,she suddenly felt hitting the ground was a good idea.
But unfortunately for poor Wara, they were headed for a large body of water and not land. In fact, she could not see any sign of land anywhere.
Wara knew the water wouldn't hurt her, but the guttural scream that escaped her lips when she realized she'd hit the water told the others she was not getting over her fears anytime soon.
She hit the water, and then her eyes opened.
She was free falling again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
Wara lost consciousness.
***
When she woke up, she felt lightheaded. She didn't think, she rolled over and puked. Lightheaded and groggy, she looked up to see Zelda standing right above her. For once the mad woman wasn't smiling but was staring directly at something.
What can a blind woman see? Thought Wara only to hear something whoosh and she immediately stood to her feet.
As she slowly recovered, she realized that she and Zelda were the only ones awake.
Ask her! Hissed the voices. They were back but faint and muffled like something was obstructing them from reaching her.
"What are you lo-" Wara didn't get to finish when she felt it. She couldn't describe the feeling but she immediately knew magic had brushed across her. It felt wrong.
She turned in the direction of where it came from and could finally see what Zelda had been facing.
A veil.
Only this one was wrong in every sense of it. If she crossed it, she would die. Wara knew immediately. The veil was only one color, it wasn't a color that belonged in this world. Wara's eyes couldn't make sense of what she was seeing and soon they began to burn her to the point she felt like ripping her eyes out.
The worst part was that she could not move.
"So he truly did it." came the strangled whisper from Zelda. She looked like she was about to ... Cry?
"The madman he- and they call me mad. Look at this monstrous creation." she kept on whispering, though it was not much of a whisper since Wara could hear her admist the whooshing.
Wara was finally able to tear her eyes away from the veil and as it healed, she saw that Zelda wasn't truly crying. She was grinning but tears were sliding out of her eyes.
She was talking quietly to herself but it sounded like whispering.
It was then that Wara noticed everyone else on the ground. Save for Nak and Fjammi who were still missing, they were all sprawled on the ground.
The wolf was no where to be found and in place of it was a young girl...
A shifter the voices spat out with venom. 'So they hate shifters huh?' noted Wara to herself.
She could feel the irritation deep within herself. They did not like the young shifter girl.
All these were not any of her concern.
"Where are we?" Wara finally spoke, removing the mad woman from her seemingly deep thoughts. Zelda had tears streaming down her eyes as she smiled back at Wara.
She opened her mouth to respond but then they heard a groan. Someone was waking up – Yhra.
The woman reached up to rub her forehead and her arms and then opened her eyes. Wara watched as her eyes comically widened on seeing the veil. Then it was Wara's turn to widen her eyes.
Yhra did something that would have been considered suicidal. Thin stripes of energy left her fingertips and wrapped around their unconscious party. Those energy stripes then dissolved into them, waking them up.
Wara was aware that Yhra could do more than she looked but wasn't she limited by her race's curse? The worst part was that there was no visible cost being taken from her. No life withering around her or within her.
Wara saw Zelda grinning from her peripheral vision and shivered. When is this lunatic ever not grinning?
Her instincts which had been silent before reminded her to not stare into Zelda's eyes often and now they warned her not to stare into Yhra's eyes too.
Something is off about her. She could find out about us. Avoid her.
The caution at which the voices held these women greatly puzzled Wara but she decided not to look more into it.
By the time she had recovered from her shock, everyone had sat up. The shifter girl– Cloelia, vomited.
Pax was observing the veil with what looked like existential dread and Sica was trying his best to not have a crash out over his one good clothing being ruined by vomit.
"How? Why? It shouldn't be here this early!" Suddenly screamed Pax. "Why is this here?"
"What are you talking about?" A disgusted Sica unintentionally glared at her while trying to wipe his shirt.
"This abomination shouldn't exist y-" Zelda cleared her throat before Pax could complete her words, earning an eyebrow raise from everyone and a relieved sigh from Pax.
She was about to say something. Find out what it was.
"Dear friends" began Zelda and Sica immediately looked concerned, forgetting about his ruined clothing.
"No! No more bad news!" Stated the irritated man as he pointed a finger in her face. Zelda ignored him.
"It seems we might have run into a little issue." The sick looking Cloelia looked up, looking every bit as concerned as Sica, maybe even more.
Zelda continued.
"There's been a little hitch in plans. We can no longer directly visit the Faery King."
Before Wara could think, she responded. "What? Why?" She did not understand the urgency at which she responded with. There was something important with the king but she could not recall what. It was probably her throne.
"This veil is the issue." It was Pax who responded this time. "If I'm not wrong, it was artificially created."
The collective reaction was as expected.
Everyone paled apart from Wara who had been out of the loop for two decades and Zelda who was.. well, Zelda.
"That's not supposed to be possible..." Sica weakly retorted. Wara would have found it very comical how everyone was standing around and just staring if the situation didn't seem urgent.
"We can't pass through." Whispered Yhra. "Unless we're allowed." Pax completed it for her. "Although I don't think that wretch would let us through."
No one understood the sudden venom that came from Pax.
"So what do we do now? Do any one of you even have any knowledge of where we are?" Asked Wara finally. "I am not pleased with the possibility of us being lost in the middle of nowhere."
No one spoke for a while until someone snickered. Obviously Zelda.
"I know where we are."
Expectant eyes snapped to hers and looked away immediately.
"We are on the human side of the veil."
Cloelia threw up again.
Happy New Month Readers.
For more than a year,I haven't uploaded any chapters and for that I truly apologize.
I've probably lost all my readers but I promise to overcome writer's block, my busy university schedule and keep writing.
As an apology, I will upload two chapters and then the one after tomorrow or next tomorrow.
Forever 14 stuck in a fantasy world...