MythEye *On Hold*

MythEye-Chapter 6

I figured that if I'd been thrown back then Alex probably had too.

I was about to sit down to take a break when the area started to feel familiar. I walked a couple more steps and saw the wooden bridge. Oddly, the naiad was sitting on top of it. "Hi!" I called, but she jumped back into the water. So much for her help.

Now that I knew where I was, I finally sat down to relax. Since the ground was muddy, I sat down on a fallen tree. The air was humid and soon enough, there was thousands of gnats swarming me. I held my hands above my head to keep them away from my face.

I estimated it to be about twenty minutes before I stood up. It was about 8:00 pm, which meant it would be getting dark soon.

I went over to the bridge to see if I could get the naiads help. Hesitantly, I stepped on it and peered over into the water to call for the naiad. "Hello?" I shouted to the murky water. No reply. "Hello?" I called uncertainly. I started to pull myself up from hanging over the side when the naiad's head popped up.

It startled me so much that I fell in.

At first I kept my eyes closed, but curiosity of what I might see got the better of me.

I peered through my eyelashes but couldn't see anything, so I gradually opened them all the way.

What I saw surprised me because I would have never thought it possible. Everything had a red tint to it, but was still perfectly visible. The clearness reminded me of the what the fairy's stone had done.

"Hello?" I said. I'd expected my voice to be unaudible like when I tried to talk underwater to my friends, but it sounded exactly like it had a couple of minutes ago.

The next thing I noticed was that I was breathing. Panic welled inside me. Had I become a mermaid? I looked down at my legs and laughed. How could I be so silly? Both my legs were still there, but I remained confused as to why everything was so...normal.

I felt something on my back and a scream escaped my lips.

I turned to see the naiad. At once, my thousand questions jumbled into one and I couldn't speak. Thankfully, I didn't have to.

The naiad took my hand and started to lead me somewhere. I pulled my hand free because I didn't want to become lost again.

She crossed her arms and turned to look at me, "Do you want to find your friend?" I was surprised by her tone, but could she really know where Alex was?

"Where are you taking me?" I said in the same tone she'd used. "Not far." I was hesitant, but decided to go with her anyway.

This time I just swam closely behind her. The way her hand felt gave me the chills. It was like slime, grease, and bone mixed together.

As we swam I memorized my surroundings in the water; just in case this was a trick.

I felt something rub against my leg, but was relieved to find that it was only a fish.

The naiad turned towards a narrow passageway that was lined with bones and I stopped dead. "Oh no, there is no way I'm going through here." The naiad laughed, "Relax, these aren't human bones." I wasn't so sure. "Then what are they?" I asked. "Just decor." she stated simply.

Noticing my look of disgust, she continued. "I you don't believe me, see for yourself." She picked up one and threw it to me. I caught it easily and saw that she wasn't lying. It wasn't heavy as I'd predicted, but light enough that it confused me as to why it didn't float.

As I advanced a step towards the naiad I discovered why. The passageway wasn't full of red water like the rest of the river, but instead full of air. I looked to the naiad and saw that she was still able to breathe.

"Where are we?" I asked. "You'll see."

I set the fake bone back in its spot. "Why would you have bones as decorations anyway?" I wondered. The naiad smiled, "To scare away any unwanted visitors." "Oh, I guess that makes sense because so many people swim in this creek voluntarily." I said sarcastically. The naiad smirked, "Humans aren't the only things that can trespass you know." The way she said that gave me the chills. What else could she mean? Actually, scratch that, I didn't really want to know.

I was kind of in a daze after that. I didn't take in anything around us. The only thing I felt were my feet moving in rhythm. Everything seemed to speed by until we reached a room.

I gasped, finally returning to reality. The room reminded me of those fairy tale gardens you see in movies and read about in books. There were so many trees I could hardly see the other side of the room. I didn't see any that I knew the name of, but then again, I didn't really study trees. I saw large rocks randomly positioned here and there and tree stumps serving as seats.

The thing that surprised me the most were the flowers. The room smelled amazing because of all of them. I saw roses, bluebells, marigolds, tulips, you name it, it was here. I couldn't walk without a soft petal brushing against me.

I turned to the naiad, but she didn't appear as stunned as me. I guess that's because she's probably been here many times before. "Where am I?" I mumbled. It wasn't meant to be heard, but the naiad answered me anyway, "You are in Rainbow Ash." she replied cooly. "Why is it called that?" The naiad smiled at me and grabbed two silver pebbles from the path we were walking on.

She began to rub them together and I stared at her. What was she trying to do?

I saw a spark shoot from the rocks and it came in contact with a flower. "No!" I shouted, "Why would you burn the plants?" I demanded. "Just wait."

I saw why she had told me to wait and it made me glad that I didn't try to put the flame out. It quickly grew from red to orange and continued through the remaining 5 colors of the rainbow. I expected it to stop or start over, but it continued through many more colors. The ashes and the flame matched colors as they seemed to tickle the sky.

I laughed, the name made perfect sense now.

We kept walking through the garden. It was longer than I'd realized. "Can we take a break now?" I complained. "Not yet, we're almost there." she stated. "Almost where?" "You'll see." she responded vaguely. I groaned, but continued to follow.

"Hurry up!" I heard the naiad call. "Why does she sound so excited?" I thought.

The giddy naiad had run ahead a while ago, leaving me in the dust. "Where are you?" I called. She'd seemed to forget that I had never been here before. "Hello?" I called again, stretching out the word.

The naiad grabbed my hand, surprising me. I felt myself jump and she pulled me to the right.

"Wait! There's bushes..." I was cut off as she pulled me through them. It felt as though I was walking through jello.

The naiad shoved me into a clearing with trees surrounding the perimeter. There was a small pond in the middle, which I thought was weird since we where in the middle of the creek. I noticed that someone was sitting on a rock looking into the clear blue pond.

I recognized the person immediately. "Alex?" I called running over to the pond. As the person turned around I saw that it wasn't Alex at all. Everything looked like him, but the face. It was covered in green reptilian scales.

"Ah!" I screamed as the thing reached out to grab me.

I turned to face the naiad, but she seemed shocked. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The creature managed to grab me while I was looking towards the naiad.

"Help!" I screamed. The naiad tried to run to me, but another reptilian creature stepped out from the trees to restrain her. I screamed again.

Two more of the creatures stepped out holding someone between them. And I knew that someone.

It was Alex.