Chapter 10

 Daiki suddenly ran through the trees, searching high and low, his once calm collected self started falling apart. I went ahead and searched around the flowers Brier was playing with, I suddenly saw small footprints heading west. I called out to both Daiki and Cephas but they seemed to take a different direction. Conflicted with the situation, I questioned if I should find Daiki and Cephas, or run after Brier on my own, gritting my teeth, I ran west. I kept running and running, I could feel my legs aching, and then I remembered. "Mama!!!~", the young Aden yelled as he was chasing his mother, her bright smile, her dark locks, and fair skin, young Aden smiled. "You got to catch me baby!~", mom said while giggling, I ran after her, the pleasant memories soon filled me with sorrow. Reminders of what I had lost and what I wished to have again. I awoke bursting through the dense trees to find myself at the end of the forest and entering a new terrain, a terrain of water.

 The footprints continued west to a strange Pond, after standing a few feet away from the pond I could tell it was not like any other. The water in this pond was clear, but foggy at the same time, the pond didn't look anything more than 2 feet deep. Brier suddenly popped her flowery head out of the water, "Big Brother Aden!", Brier shouted towards me. "Brier!, Are you ok..?! What happen-", before I could finish my sentence, Brier suddenly disappeared into the water. "Brier!!", I shouted, I shouted her name again but got no response. I suddenly started taking off my shoes and was about to dive in after her when a tall creature started rising from the pond. Brier was sitting on its shoulders, she brushed her flower hair away from her face and she started chuckling. I suddenly fell back, crawling out of the water, and looking at the creature in shock. What stood before me was something of similar size to Daiki, but looked completely different. It stood at around 6 feet, had gray hair with purple highlights, and grey skin. Its eyes were completely scared over, almost like its eyes were completely out of sight. Its body was covered in seaweed and water, almost manipulating the water to act as clothing. "It's ok Big Brother Aden! She won't hurt you.", Brier said as the creature put her down on the ground. "Uhh…- who is this..?", I asked, still startled. "Who are we??", a sudden voice came from behind me, I turned around to see a little white and purple fox humanoid with pink highlights standing on top of a giant rock. It suddenly jumped down and stood in front of me, trying to look intimidating with its short stature, I would say not much taller than Brier. "We should be asking you the same question.", it slowly approached me. "Aella be nice to big brother Aden!", Brier said while stomping over. "A-Aella??", I stuttered, "Yea!~, Aella's the name-", he suddenly zoomed past me, I could barely see him. "Speed is my game~", he stood with confidence, "Ok.. Aella, and you are..?", I turned around to direct my attention to the creature on the pond. "Cordelia, my name is Cordelia.", she said while sitting on the water, without sinking. "Well… uhh..- Cordelia, Aella, it's very nice to meet you-", I said with a slight uncertainty in my eyes. "Big Brother Aden why don't you play with us!?", Brier said with a bright smile and glowing yellow eyes. "I would love to stay and play Brier but Daiki and Cephas are severely worr-", suddenly Daiki and Cephas burst through the trees in my direction, Daiki, in particular, did not look pleased.