Realm of Wings

Kallan, rushing to Jade’s rescue:

Inch by inch I flew closer, even though the swirling storms were endlessly trying to push me back. The dry and dust-filled eyes and the curving twister from the Miragou were coming closer towards Jade, while she still stood there, unmotivated to move one single step away from the danger.

I don’t know what she is going to do or what she is expecting to happen, but surely she must have some idea of what she wants to be happening otherwise this is just some lame suicide attempt. But as I don’t believe her to be suicidal I suppose that she does have some reason as to why she is acting like this. Should I trust her judgement in this? Or should I just keep on going and save her from something that might not happen at all just because I’m too stubborn to see what is really going on?

And that’s when it happened. As Jade had folded her arms, her right hand was underneath her left arm for me to see just at the right time. She had risen her hand in a stop motion for only me to see, which instantly made me aware of the fact that she indeed had some idea of how to handle this situation. I instantly stopped rushing myself and slipped my feet through the dirt in front of me.

The big dust-whirler stopped right in front of Jade, swirling half his tornado over her, nearly engulfing her with his cloud-like form, only to centre his large eyes right in front of hers.

“You dare to hurt me?!” It spoke in a voice that sounded much like an eighty-year-old, human man that smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for most of his life. And while speaking, the clouds that surrounded his eyes, together with the dust, settled down a bit as he wasn’t moving forward right now. His tempest above him just kept on raging though, so Jade had to respond in a yell to get over the loud noises.

“You wouldn’t have been hurt, even if I were shooting energy balls the size of your eyes! So, stop accusing me of this petty action and let me through!” She said without one single inch of fear and hesitation in her voice.

Trixie gasped and I just looked astounded towards what was happening, as the Miragou bounced back from astonishment as well and took a moment to think about what he should be replying. But then he suddenly started to laugh in a way which made the tempest above his eyes hiccup in the motion and even diminish to a more gentle form of a whirlwind, if that could be possible, and his cloud-like figure became more fluffy instead of ominous.

Zeph’s scared face suddenly turned into relief upon realizing that the Miragou wasn’t going to do anything dangerous and he sighed deeply. “My sincere apologies, mighty Miragou, I hadn’t expected this to happen.” Zeph yelled loudly, for everyone to hear. We all looked towards him in confusion, except for Jade... Had Zeph been in on this?

“No matter little Zephyro, I enjoyed this very much. You may proceed.” The Miragou replied and made sure for all the other Miragou to leave a spot open for us to pass through. He then left the other way and the noise went down a couple of notches.

Zeph went near Jade and started to stutter incoherently. “How did I know nothing was going to happen?” She interrupted him questioningly and he shook his head. “Well, first of all, your name is Zephyro which actually refers to the wind, giving me the idea that you were in on something like this. Second, Echo left you in command because you knew what to do. And third, you didn’t bother to protect me even though your brother was on a rage to save me from harm.” She explained while pointing to me.

“Yeah, but he still could’ve hurt you because he is an ancient and very powerful creature! You could’ve just continued to yell to him instead!” Zeph said once he regained his certain stature.

“Sometimes you have to take a risk or two.” She replied while shrugging her shoulders and nudging for Poseidon to pick her up. “Besides, if I’m one of the important persons, I just simply thought he wouldn’t want to hurt me.” She continued while jumping on the back of Poseidon and helping Neil to get on as well.

Initially, I wanted to drop my mouth in astonishment, just as Trixie just did, but then I inwardly started to laugh as I realized that Jade is no simple person to fool. She is extremely intelligent, powerful, and as fearless as a demon from hell itself. She is one tough cookie, and I can only fantasize about the power she still has to gain.

A few moments later we continued our journey to the other side of the rift, causing me to have more curiosity on what is behind there, by each step we took.

Jade, walking in front of the small escort, nearing the magical wall:

After getting annoyed by Zeph and this sort of trial that I must have passed, we were getting through the opening that the Miragou had made for us. Dust and small clouds were whirling around us in an arch that closed behind us as soon as we had gone underneath it. I guess that there is no turning back now...

A sudden distortion in the air made us aware of some strange occurrence that was draining us of our energy and magic. It was as if a big magnet was pulling us in, capturing us in its near vicinity, hard to walk away from and frightening us with an unknown force.

“Don’t fight it, let the wall do its job!” Zeph suddenly yelled and loud curses from the ones behind me indicated that they were feeling the same thing I did.

Neil even grabbed me tighter and Poseidon was nagging softly, complaining about the same experiences. I took myself and Neil off Poseidon as he was struggling to walk already, let alone with us on top, and we continued to walk right beside him.

There was no turning back and neither did I have the urge to go back as there was a King who didn’t want to give me more information, in contradiction to what Echo already did for me. Besides, I was curious to find out what kind of power there was on the other side, especially the tree the tattoo on my back connects with, and the possibility of finding more marbles that could grant me the other talents.

Breathing became harder though, with each step we took, more energy was taken from us. But it was never enough to completely knock us out of consciousness as there was still just enough to keep us walking.

The wall came closer and whether it was because of air deprivation that I was hallucinating, or something else that made my brain go nuts, but what I saw was nothing like anything I have ever seen before. Like I had seen from the distance, the magical wall was made out of several dark colours, swirling all around itself. But what I hadn’t been able to see, due to the Miragou that was hiding the wall’s actual housing, were the small creatures that were swimming around in the magical goo, completely happy to live in there as if it were its natural habitat.

Fish with small white lights on the sides, shining through the dark water to find their way; strange birds that flew in and out of the dark wall, sometimes with those glowy fish in their beaks or just darting right back in to hunt for one again; plants growing from the bottom up, also having lightbulbs on the ends of their leaves, creating more light for the creatures that roamed around and so much more...

Where the colours of this magical ocean had limits, the colours of the creatures and plants had none. From purple to green and pink and yellow it flourished with shimmers, glitters and lights, it was just mesmerizing to witness from close by.

From seeing all this life I was wondering as to how I would be able to take this ‘wall’ down at all. Where would all the lifeforms go? Would I be killing them if I did? I have to find a way for this to safely happen otherwise I would never want to take it down at all.

“This way.” Zeph said, guiding us to a pile of seashells that were laying around close to the wall. “Our breathing will be alright as soon as we step through.” He continued and I looked for some sort of door or hallway, but there was none.

Zeph just stepped into the water and instantly used his body to tread water in a steady position. His dark hair waved in every direction and his pointed ears became visible again.

“Get in! You’ll feel much better!” He happily said while bubbles sprouted from his nose and mouth. Some little fish reached for the bubbles and accidentally were pushed out of their way by some others, but it was a happy sight to behold.

Without hesitation I stepped into the water as well, accepting the warmth and freedom of breathing once more, and instantly felt behind my ears to find gills to have grown for me to breathe like a fish! I looked towards Zeph and noticed that his fingers were webbed now and between his toes were flimsy thin layers of skin as well!

“Yes, that’s the main reason we have to go quick, otherwise we’d turn into fish-people for the rest of our lives.” Zeph replied, and instantly the others joined in as well for us to get to swimming as fast as we could.

Even Poseidon had come in with us, now showing a fish’s tail instead of that of two hind legs! But there where I had been frightened for a moment for growing fish parts, Poseidon had quickly accustomed himself as if he had been here a couple of times already. Maybe he actually had been, together with Zeph, or maybe he was so relaxed to be in this strange ocean because of his heritage. I mean, the name Poseidon could only be referring to the ancient god of the sea, I assume.

What I am sure of however is that Neil was getting behind, exhausted from swimming through the various plants and avoiding the larger fish that were just getting through their day. “Are you alright?” I asked him in a bubbly voice, after slowing down so I could swim next to him.

“This is wonderful, isn’t it?” He replied in full wonder, instead of the exhaustion I thought he was in. Suddenly he made an effortless loop in the water, happily swimming as a young dolphin and he got me worried instantly! Where was the old man I had brought along?

“Zeph!” I yelled for attention at which the young prince turned around and cursed heavily. “I should’ve known for humans to be affected more easily! Grab him and go!” Zeph shouted while taking Neil’s left arm and for me to grab the right one. Even though Zeph had been tricking me earlier, with the Miragou, testing me if you will, he did his utmost best to get Neil to safety now.

It took us more than an hour to swim as far as we were now, at which we were actually getting exhausted, and dragging Neil with us, acting as if he was drunk and high at the same time wasn’t helping us either. “I want to stay here! Let me go!” Neil whined like a young child while growing fish scales on his face and neck.

“How much further?” I asked Zeph while hoping for an easy answer.

“Just keep going.” Zeph answered unfortunately vaguely, but I accepted it for now. However, when Neil started to talk incoherently, making more bubbles even, I asked him again.

“Too far. You might have to let go-

“Don’t you fucking dare to end that sentence!” I interrupted him even though the thought about losing Neil in this ocean had crossed my mind as well. I know he is slowing us down, and even I get happy feelings of wanting to stay here, I mean, all those bright lights are growing on me.

No! I can’t think like that!

I shook my head and called for Poseidon to get to me. Without question he did and for a moment I saw Zeph and Kallan look awkwardly my way, but I didn’t care about the fact that the Pegasus listened so well to me, I had to get Neil out of here! So, I grabbed some sort of seaweeds, fought with Neil’s childlike behaviour and strapped him right on the back of Poseidon.

“Go! Get him out!” I commanded Poseidon and immediately he went ahead and quickly got out of sight.

“Don’t worry my Queen, I will save him.” A sudden strange whisper came through and again I shook my head to get rid of any confusion.

“Weeee!” A girly and happy cheer came swimming by. Trixie was getting infatuated by all the beautiful, colourful, glorious, shimmering... What the hell? What is going on?

“Zeph! How far?” I asked him again and was much more agitated than before. I was feeling affected by this fish life as well and I was really wondering when we would be getting out. He again replied with a vague answer that it would be soon, so after slapping Trixie back to normal we continued our way in a faster stride.

This beautiful scene however, reminded me of a movie I had seen once, partially. Something about a blue and yellow fish and losing her memory… I don’t know. Anyways…

After a little more time, of which I couldn’t tell you how long it had been, I was automatically swimming like a mermaid. Hands reaching in front of me, my body moving through the water like a rolling wave, and instead of my legs I had grown a tail now too, just like Poseidon had earlier. It wasn’t strange to experience, otherwise I wouldn’t have been swimming like a dolphin subconsciously, but now that I was realizing it, it suddenly made me squirm in my own skin, as if I was stumbling on my feet!

I quickly looked behind me to see how the others were doing but...

Where were they?

A/n: Is this another cliffhanger? ... 😂😱