The Abyssal Kingdom: part 1

Chapter Seven

'Morning. Sal!'

Salantina opened her eyes to her mother standing over her bed. She jumped up fast wondering what was going on. 'Are you planning on moving today?'

She stood waiting for a response but before Salantina could form a coherent sentence her mother spoke again. 'I'm about to leave for work but your father is here watching. You're not allowed to stay in your room today so downstairs, please!'

'... okay,' Salantina replied groggily reminiscing on how not so long ago her sleeping was exactly what her mother wanted her to do, ironic?

'Good then. See you this afternoon.' She kissed her on the cheek and left. Salantina thought it was better not to argue her point and instead dressed and went downstairs. Her Dad was in fact not here. He was on the farm. And Peppa was with her Aunt.

Instead of wandering around doing nothing she decided to go for a walk. Today, for the first time in weeks, they walked through the woods. Bella happily wagged her tail obviously glad to be back on her normal walking route.

Once they came into the wooded area, they passed the bridge and heard the familiar rush of water beneath their feet. For the first time since she was bitten, she didn't think of the mark on her hand and instead of how beautiful it was here. It made her feel calm. The way she felt when she was in the water.

On the way back down the hill just as she was about to pass the river when she changed her mind... she was going to sit on her rock and write.

*

Walking back, while raising her arm to push the tree branches that covered the pathway out of her way, she noticed the mark on her hand had reappeared. She pulled her sleeve down covering the mark. It wasn't going to ruin her day, not anymore. Continuing to push the branches out of her and Bella's way, exposing the path to the stream, she noticed that it appeared to be different. A warmness passed around her body when she stepped forward.

The pathway seemed, at first, exactly the same but brighter with a sweet scent of spring in the air. The trees had flourished from what she thought was a beautiful day on her summer walk through the woods just moments ago - now looked dull in comparison. From the evergreen pine trees, a bright luminous green glowed, and beside them were trees with all different colors of pink, blue, and lilac radiating around them like a cherry tree had blossomed in early spring. But this wasn't the case on any other part of her walk there were no colorful trees all the way through the wooded area, only the plain pine evergreen she was used to. And even then it didn't have the same shine. Even the water in the stream was a turquoise blue, so clear she could see the pebbles at the bottom, something she couldn't do before because of the algae.

As she walked towards the stream she noticed that Bella wasn't beside her anymore. Looking around frantically she called her name but there was no response. Turning around she looked back at the bush. When focusing her eyes she noticed that there was a rippling effect in what appeared to be a wall of water. It looked like heat rising from a tiny flame, barely visible but distorting the air around. Looking up, it went up as far as the eye could see.

Through the wavy wall, there was the dark green color from the evergreen trees that she had walked through just moments ago. Walking back toward the road to find Bella, she heard footsteps and she turned to see a hooded man wearing a long black cloak appear at the river. Frozen with fright she stared blankly at the dark figure.

'Welcome, Salantina.' The man spoke slowly in a calm voice. His face wasn't visible beneath the cloak until he lowered his hood. It was her neighbor David. She thought to run but her feet froze on the ground.