colours of viridian | BOOK ONE | J a d e d ✔️

P o n d

S o n g : E a s i e r D a y - L i t t l e G r e e n C a r s

C h a p t e r XXVII
K e n a d i a

My widened eyes took in the large room --which wasn't a room at all. It was like walking into some entirely different world. I found myself standing on a large grassy clearing, surrounded by great rocky waterfalls that were towering the place like sky scrapers. The beautiful clear-blue water created a lake all around the clearing, and many people of all shapes, colours, and sizes were swimming in it without a care. As I looked back to where I came from I was surprised to see a rocky arch with green vines in the middle...but no depth to it. I walked all around the arch trying to wrap my little mind around this strange science. It was magical. A doorway to seemingly nowhere. It was impossible.

I looked back to my sister and I stepped away in shock. She no longer looked like a normal human. Her eyes glowed silver and silvery-blue tattoo-like swirls covered the top left side of her forehead and slimmed down to wrap around the back of her neck following her hair line before dropping down her spine. Her fair skin now had a metallic shine to it and her nails were longer, painted the same silvery-blue as her tattoos with tiny silver swirl designs on them. Her hair was still brown but gradually became metallic blue towards the ends. It was pulled up into an elaborate messy-but-beautiful up-do and placed on her head was a silver vine crown with blue water drop symbols. She was dressed in a lacy silver sleeved dress that revealed the bluish tint to her skin and showed off her long legs. She was beautiful.

"H-how?" I stuttered out, reaching out to touch her skin.

My hand froze in mid-air. My skin...it was like hers but instead of a white-blue metallic shine it had a white-green metallic shine and the tattooed swirls encircled my arm, the pattern only slightly different to hers.

"It's you're true form, Kenadia." She held my hand, dragging me towards the rest of our people.

Everyone looked different. It was overwhelming to say the least. Ears were sometimes longer and grew to a point or missing completely. Skin sometimes had scales or even a soft fuzz of fur. There were an impossible amount of varieties and each one was stunningly gorgeous.

"Princess Kenadia!" Orangish arms flung around me, pulling me into a tight embrace. "You've finally returned!"

Princess?

"Uh," my body stiffened uncomfortably.

I felt like I was being suffocated by all of the information I was receiving. It was like I was in a fairytale... Except for the warm fuzzy feelings, I was feeling sick and just wanted to go home.

"Saffron," my sister removed her from me, "She still hasn't done the ritual yet."

Saffron? Ritual?

I looked at the girl. Her orange-pinkish hair was short but wild and untameable, her skin had a soft golden tone that seemed to sparkle sunlight-orange in the bright sun, and her exposed left leg was covered in undistinguishable markings which were only visible in the correct lighting. She had on a orange-yellowy coloured silky dress that revealed her back and slit up to her thigh. She, like my sister and I, was also shoeless.

"Saffron? As in the butterfly Viridian-" my stomach clenched painfully at his name and I noticeably flinched, "-caught for me? And the butterfly I named when I was just a little girl?" This was growing more confusing by the second.

My sister smiled gently, "Saffron is a guardian. She watches over others and guides them by whispering into their ears when she's needed the most. She's been your guardian for many decades now. You two are quite close."

I looked at the happy girl and I felt myself slightly smile from the contagiousness. "Sorry about Viri." I chuckled nervously, biting my lip.

She giggled, her eyes a surprising blue, "I'm not. He was a cutie." She winked at me knowingly as my cheeks heated up. She felt familiar, like someone I could trust. I could see why we were close.

"Lady Alina, the preparation is complete." A young man with a scaly tail wrapped around his shin interrupted us with a polite head bow to my sister; gesturing his hand to a medium sized pond.

It was centred at the end of the grassy clearing, connected to the water with only rocks separating the two different pools of water. All the people gathered around, some in the water behind it, resting their arms on the rocks as they stayed above the deep water and others standing on the grey-stone and grass around it. Unlike the clear-blue water around the grass, the ponds water glowed magically. Blue and green shimmered around it and it was beautifully enwrapped in rocks and moss. Flowers sprouted on the sides and floated in the water, and greenery encircled the grey rocks.

But it gave me chills. The kind of chills that made me want to run the other way. Goosebumps covered my skin and it felt hard to breathe. I didn't know why. It was beautiful and enticing...but there were sinister-like invisible waves coming off of it.

I could feel myself being drawn to it as I walked the stone path leading to it. My heart squeezed in my chest and I stopped, my eyes landing on Saffron who had pinched brows. She nodded her head determinedly at me. Clearly the chilling feeling was mutual. I looked to my other side towards my sister and she smiled sweetly.

I knew what I had to do. Apparently my body was used to these rituals and I listened to it as I reached the edge of the pound where there were rock steps leading down in the water. My chills turned into trembles as I looked down. Staring back at me was my skeleton's reflection.

Well, f*ck.

†⚜†

Picture of Saffron above! I love her hair 😍
And yet, another twisty complicated web beginning to be spun. I really hope I can wrap this all up nicely without any plot holes. I'm very sorry in advance if there are any by the end...
Thanks a million for reading xx

NAME PRONUNCIATION!
Btw, I'm pronouncing Alina as Aleena. But I like the spelling for Alina better. :D
And in case you didn't know how to pronounce Kenadia, I pronounce it like Ken-nah-dia (sorta like Kenna-dia... Just with more umph on the 'a'.) it reminds me of Canada annoyingly. (I live dere!)
And, Viridian is like Veye-ri-dian (at least that's how I pronounce it lol) but Viri is like Vee-ree. It's cuter :D
And last for now - Mirella! Honestly I change it all the time. But I think I like Muh-rella (it's like Cruella :3) idc if that's the wrong spelling for it. It looks pretty like that :)