Beyond the Door

After Leena crossed the Door of Viaje she found herself stranded on the tip of a rock near a waterfall. Not only was the crashing noise of the water startling but she could hear whispers around her. She desperately fluttered her eyes trying to open them but the suns light was very radiant.

She turned her eyes away catching sight of a few blue, green colors before they disappeared into the water. Leena didn't think much of it, she had just opened her eyes and she couldn't remember anything. She sat up massaging her head for a bit hoping to remember any previous events that may have landed her on this rock but she had no memories except Amira pushing her through the portal.

She heard some ripples through the water and turned to where the noise came from, a fair maiden with light blue hair and icy eyes looked at Leena intensely. "Hello? Can you tell me where I am?" Leena was a bit surprised by the woman's looks but she wasn't in her right mind to ask anymore questions other than that.

The woman moved forward slowly staying cautious by anything alarming that Leena could do. Leena took notice of her swift movements and then looked around to find more women had appeared with different lightly colored hair and the same icy eyes as the woman coming towards her.

"Who are you?" The woman's voice sounded strain as though she were sick which caught Leena off guard, the woman didn't look sick but Leena knew she had spoken due to her mouth movement. Leena noticed that her pendant didn't react in any sort of way, she wasn't in any harm by these women.

"My name is Leena. Can you tell me where I am?" Leena could feel the difference in the air, she was no longer in Botus but she had no clue where she was. "You are in the Coastal Woods, this is the Waterfall of Eternity."

The woman's sickly voice was such a shame, to Leena she was very beautiful to sound like that.. must be something in the air? "Are we in Botus?" The woman glared at Leena was a confused expression, then looked around to the other women searching for an answer.

"We are in the Lost Realm, do you know what city you come from human?" Another sickly voice from a woman with light pink hair spoke up, she then swam closer to the rock Leena was sitting on. Lost Realm? Human? Were they not human? Their genetics did seem different but they looked human to Leena.

"Human? Aren't you all human too? And what is the Lost Realm?" Leena's curiosity sky rocketed, was she dreaming? This felt real but OUCH! She pinched herself and felt every bit of the pain, she's definitely not dreaming so what's going on. Is this the world that the Door of Viaje brought her to, but where is Amira and the stones?

"We are mermaids." The woman in the light blue hair answered Leena. "You have been on that rock for sixteen years, we didn't know why you had appeared but you were made of stone and quite heavy so we didn't try to move you."

Leena looked around her body, she was still wearing the same clothes but they seemed a little smaller and the pendant was still around her neck. How is it possible that she was a stone statue for sixteen years and now she is alive.. None of this made any sense.

"Was there another stone statue of a woman anywhere near here?" Leena needed to find Amira, it had been sixteen years a lot could have happened.

The mermaids all shook their head in unison. "Only you appeared. Come, you must meet our queen at once." The light pink mermaid reached her hand out, her palm and fingers were ordinary just like Leena's. She hesitated to want to follow the creatures but in the end she took her hand and swam with the rest of the mermaid down with the river flow.