Ancestors: The Other World

Chapter 4

Sophie was the third to fall through the portal, right after Sumedha, who fell on top of Jarrett, followed by Sophie squashing them both, and then followed by Kelvin landing on his back on Sophie's stomach.

Jarrett was basically squashed three times in a row.

Andrew came tumbling out of the portal and Jarrett managed to shove the three of them off and roll away, leaving Andrew to fall onto the hard earth, with Xin Ming, Felicia, Paul and Hanlu falling on him. Sophie got to her feet, staggering slightly, using her bruised hands to wipe off the dust. "Kelvin, you're heavier than I expected," she commented, holding her stomach with her two arms.

"We need to strategise falling through portals," Xin Ming suggested. It was to no surprise that no one disagreed.

"Who goes there!?" screamed a voice. "Everyone duck!" commanded Felicia. Instantaneously, everyone dropped onto their hands and feet as a spear soared past their heads. "WOAH WOAH WOAH!" screeched Kelvin as another spear stabbed the spot next to him. "How did you...know that something was flying at us?" whispered Sophie. Felicia paused, as if she just noticed that. She shook her head, unable to answer Sophie. Sophie couldn't blame her. They didn't know the full extent of their powers yet anyways.

"Who dares trespass the territory of the Nagaul Clan?" bellowed the voice.

"Eh?" exclaimed Sophie. Then, she felt someone shove her head, and her body followed her head as she tumbled to the ground. Fortunately, she was only shoved and not actually hit, because through the experience of accidentally hitting her head, she knew that hitting the vulnerable part at the back of the head was bad. She fell to the earth and managed to roll over, seeing a jaguar baring its gnarly fangs at her. Her heartbeat instantly began racing as terror took over. She used all her might to try and shove the jaguar back, who tried to slam its claws back down on her face, but a blast of fire exploded from her fingertips and threw the jaguar backwards. Her heartbeat exploded widely as terror squeezed her bravery out of her. Not that she was brave. She never dared to talk back against someone.

She managed to shuffle backwards as the jaguar stabilized, growling at her. "Wait! We come in peace!" yelled Felicia as more jaguars surrounded the 9 students. The jaguar stared at her, before rearing up onto its back paws and turning into a human.

"She has the ability to transform too," whispered Xin Ming. "I think everyone in the Other World can do that," replied Andrew sarcastically. "Gabriel, back off," ordered the woman as the three other jaguars turned into their human forms. "You aren't lying," affirmed the woman, looking directly at Sophie.

"Uhm...I mean, what could a bunch of sixteen year-olds do?" spluttered Sophie, her legs trembling as she stumbled closer to her newly made friends.  A small sense of pride washed inside her for daring to speak up against total strangers. "You're right. But anyone in the right mind knows not to trespass Nagaul territory," the woman warned. "Abigail, I think they're travelling gypsies. The scholars who seek knowledge from around the world. They probably came into our territory on purpose to look for us," a man prompted. Abigail's eyes lit up in excitement. Sophie swapped glances with Paul, who was right beside her. Did being a travelling gypsy have such beneficial purposes?

"Scholars of mixed backgrounds? Welcome, welcome! We never had scholars visit us before!" she welcomed as she clapped her hands and did a few small skips.

Sophie didn't know how to respond, looking at her friends for affirmation. Everyone nodded eagerly, except Kelvin, who bent down to pick up a pebble. "This...smooth pebble was staring at me," he wondered aloud as Abigail shot him a puzzled stare. "Aha...don't mind him. He's too curious about everything," Jarrett chuckled nervously as he dragged Kelvin towards him.