Discontinued Version of Running from Eden

Hiding in Plain Sight

The pure white vanished, and Naomi's eyes settled onto the shrine between the Forest and Golden Wasteland portal.

She quickly sped over to the customization area. Her eyes wandered to the little pool. Boats floated gracefully as a school of fish splashed around. Naomi wondered how the fish always just swam around and around time and time again in circles. Constantly.

She immediately rushed over to change her pants. She swiped her cape over her legs and puffy blue pants appeared. She kicked her legs out to admire them before moving to the mask station.

She ripped off the chibi mask and threw it into the air. She immediately grew tall, but only a little taller than the average sky kid. The chibi mask turned into a thin mask, with the ends tilted upwards, like horns. She grabbed it from midair and stuck it onto her forehead. She continued to the hair.

She tapped on the sprouting pigtails and her hair fluffed out, stopped below her neck. She patted it before going to the cape changer.

She stepped on the platform, held her arms out, and did a quick twirl. Her cape was replaced with a blue one with glowing yellow lines. The bottom of the cape was laced with the yellow color. At the bottom, yellow dots were connected, flapping as she walked over to the final station, the back accessories.

She twirled once again and a staff appeared on her back. At the top, a diamond shape was formed, but only a trace of the diamond. It was technically just a hole.

She walked back to the pool in the middle, glancing down at it to look at herself. She stared, her bright yellow eyes glaring back at her from the reflection. Chills ran down her spine.

She looked back up and glanced around her eyes stopping at the Forest portal. She jogged over and stepped through.

-

She finally landed on the staircase, leaping her way up it. She quickly slid against the wall, pressing her front against the lantern. She turned her head and looked up, seeing the huge palace that lay in the rainy area.

She turned all the way around and lit up the diamond switch behind her. One of the jewels in the door turned, indicating it unlocking. She went on the other side of the door and did the same. The other jewel turned as well. The scribe in the middle glowed and turned after. She walked through as the door slowly creaked open.

She jogged up the ramp and skipped along the cracked pieces of the pathway. She flapped her wings and flew up to the top platform.

She lit up the pendulum on the ground and the ground cracked open, another platform rising to reveal a shrine with three candles in front of it. She lit the three candles and another glowing circle appeared on the ground.

Sitting on the circle, she meditated. After a moment, she opened her eyes and the room shook, a growling noise heard above her. A huge circular machinery turned, opening the huge door that sat in front of her.

After getting up, she ran over to the ramp, hopping on and sliding her way down. She smirked under her mask as she slid her way into the most beautiful part of the forest.

She leaped off the edge of the ramp, landing gracefully on the soft grass. She basked in the yellow-ish atmosphere.

She walked forward, turning and admiring all the birds that weaved through the gargantuan, thin trees. They were all headed to the same direction; the clouds that lead them to Valley.

She glanced down at the swaying grass that reflected the yellow light. No matter how many times she's been here, she knew she would never get used to how amazingly beautiful this place was.

She paused right before she stepped into the pool of water. She held her hand out and one of the jellyfish flew over and grazed her hand, calling out in greeting. She giggled and honked back. A butterfly grazed her fingers after the jellyfish floated back to it's family.

"NAOMI!" Naomi jumped as a familiar voice honked her name. She turned her head to look up at one of the attachments on the tree. They had added attachments for the sky kid that decided to stay there to learn.

"Skylar!" Naomi gleamed as Skylar leaped down. She landed roughly on her feet in front of her. Naomi held out her arms and her and Skylar embraced tightly.

"I thought you were going to Eden?" Skylar tilted her head as Naomi waltzed her way over to the bench to the left. She sat down, huffing as she did.

"Er, I decided to stop before I got anywhere," Naomi awkwardly coughed. Skylar tilted her head.

"Don't you want to get your stars? You'd get really cool, y'know!" Skylar sat beside her, summoning paper in her hands. She started to fold it into a boat.

"Oh, am I not cool already?" Naomi sarcastically scoffed. Skylar chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"No, you're a loser. Naomi, you know what I mean."

"Yeah... but- my escort abandoned me. I didn't want to go by myself."

"You're a big kid, you can do it yourself. Or I can come with you. I haven't done my Eden run this week."

Naomi pursed her lips. Of course she'd want to go. She's been to Eden at least ten times.

"I don't- want to force you. I'm tired anyway."

"Naomi, you know the cycle. I hope you're not lying to me," Skylar stood up and slowly walked over to the pool. She got on her knees and softly placed the boat onto the waters. She closed her eyes and thought of a message before pushing the boat into the waters.

Naomi's eyes stared at the boat as it drifted deeper and deeper into the pool.

"The cycle... could affect everything. You know that, right?" Skylar looked back at Naomi. Naomi got a good look at her friend. She wore a fox mask with a flower in one of the ears. Her hair fell right below her shoulders, with a piece of it tied in a tie as well. Along with her cargo pants, she had a manta necklace draped around her neck that went with the white cape with gold designed at the bottom. She had the same staff her friend had.

Naomi opened her mouth to respond, but her eyes caught onto the pool. Skylar blinked in confusion, following Naomi's gaze. Skylar froze, her mouth open under her mask.

The boats... had sunk right in front of their eyes.