It was an accident

8.

There was a purple haze that seemed to cover everything. Though, once it had passed, Amayeli couldn't believe her eyes. They were in a forest, but one unlike anything she had ever seen. The colors were so bright that light seemed to emanate from the plants. As she looked up, she could see that the sky was a deep blue past the thick foliage of the forest.

Kanata excitedly climbed down to join their older sister on the ground. Ameyeli, however, climbed higher, jumping to a neighboring tree with all the adeptness of a woodland squirrel once she reached the end of the branch she was on. She was absolutely enthralled by her surroundings, touching and inspecting everything she could find. The plants were of such unnaturally bright colors that she was having trouble believing that what she was seeing was real. The trees surrounding the grand portal tree had bright berries dotting their neon green foliage that extended from ghostly white branches. She picked one of the berries and turned it over in her hands, it was a brilliant purple and glowed like the backside of a firefly. 

"Don't eat those," Sioux called to her from his perch in the branches of the portal tree. "They're meant for the spirits that live here, they'll only make you sick."

Amayeli turned back to the berry, her interest piqued. She continued inspecting it curiously. When she could find no new properties to observe, she crushed it with her thumb against the white bark of the tree she sat in. Much to her disappointment, as soon as its guts were spread out onto the bark it's glow disappeared, leaving her with a stain on a tree and a dark purple thumb. 

Her older brother laughed, amused by her enthusiastic curiosity, "Come on, let's go catch up with Miwok and Kanata -- there will be more to see where they're going."

Amayeli giggled as Sioux scooped her up from her perch and gracefully landed on the ground with her on his shoulder. She looked down at him with a delighted expression stuck on her face, "Is all of the spirit realm like this?" The little girl couldn't help but wave her hands around in excitement.

"Nah, not all of it, this is Bright Forest, it's the northern half of the twin forests, one of the three forests on this side of the realm." Sioux happily supplied, his own grin becoming ever more prominent on his face as he walked after their siblings.

"This side?" Amayeli asked, her curiosity knowing no end. 

"Yeah, there's two sides that are divided by the Hall of the Fallen. Everyone seems to call them different names. I heard this side be called paradise, nirvana, moksha, elysium, I've even heard a few people call it heaven. Our family just calls it the Bight side -- our people don't really have a word for it." He shifted her on his shoulder, putting his forearm over top of her legs to hold her more securely as she sat on his shoulder. "People who come to this side when they die tend to group up into regional cities, called districts, and familial neighborhoods. We're heading to a district of people who lived in Miwok's tribe when they were alive. It's pretty cool here, especially once you're old enough to explore on your own. I've met many people from across the oceans and listened to their incredible stories -- that's something you should definitely do when you're older."  Sioux pointed up to the little girl on his shoulder to further accentuate his point. They were just behind their siblings now, who could now hear what Sioux was saying.

Kanata turned his head slightly to send his brother a questioning gaze. "They spoke the same languages as us?" They couldn't always understand people from their siblings' tribes at first, so Kanata had a hard time believing that they could talk to people from across the oceans without any problems.

"No, Kanata." Miwok answered for her brother, "But that doesn't really matter, spirits are simply souls, they don't truly have voices, even though we can hear them speak. Even though they usually move their mouths when they speak and we think we hear them, they don't really make any sounds, it's all in our heads. They speak through their minds using the concentrated magic that fills this place, they know what they mean to say, and they convey that meaning to others without truly speaking, so there is no language barrier."