The Upside-down (Norminah)

The Realm of Goth

//

Though we were walking on water, our feet were beginning to feel numb. We've been walking for what seems like hours, trying to find Lealia and Nala.

Where in this void could they possibly go without us spotting them at least once by now?

"If only I knew," Dinah replied with a chuckle, reading my thoughts. I couldn't help but smile at how connected we already became. Ever since we started looking for our guardians together, we never let go of one another's hand. It was a source of comfort for us both.

"You know," I began after we walked in a comfortable silence, "your hair is no where near as short as it was in my vision." She looked to me with amusement.

"Really?" She asked. "How short was it?"

"It was just a little past your shoulders actually. It brought out the beautiful features in your face." She blushed and ducked her down, something Lealia does often. I giggled to myself, realizing how alike they are at times.

"Oh wow," she replied laughing, "that's strange. Back home, us women pride ourselves in how long our hair gets. I've never really seen what the big deal was though."

"That's sort of how it is in my kingdom too," I said, "only instead of having long hair, our women find it very fortunate to have dark tresses. The more dark and rich a woman's hair is, the more blessings of beauty she receives."

"Then it's no wonder why you're so beautiful." Her sweet words took me a little by surprise, but in the most pleasant way. I surprised myself when I rested my head onto her shoulder, bringing my free hand up to caress her arm. She brushed her thumb back and forth on my knuckles in response, giggling in content.

After a while of walking, Dinah and I decided to stop for a bit to regain strength in our feet.

"Now I'm getting a little worried," she said, looking around for any sign of Nala or Lealia. "What if they got lost or something?"

"Hey, look at me," I said, bringing my hand to her cheek so we could meet one another's gaze. "We're going to find them, okay? There's no way they could get lost here. They know this place too well. That, and they would never purposely leave us alone knowing we don't know that much about this dark realm. As long as we have each other, everything will be fine."

My words seemed to calm her immensely. I could tell by the sudden softness in her eyes. I sensed her entire body contract itself in contentment, feeling proud of myself for being able to ease her worries anyway I could.

Our little moment was interrupted when we heard faint laughter coming from behind us. It wasn't sinister, nor was it unsettling. It was actually a familiar tone, a laugh I've heard many times, and I'm sensing Dinah has too.

"Nala..."

"Lealia..."

We both said their names at the same time, running towards the direction of the laughter with hands still joined. Eventually we stumbled upon some type of opening. It looked like a tare, as if someone had pried open the darkness to another place. This was where the laughter was coming from. I looked to Dinah to make sure she was ready to enter. After she locked eyes with mine with determination, we nodded to each other and ran in, the opening closing behind us.

⚬⚫⚬

When we emerged from the dark void, we entered into, what seemed like, a new realm. One that resembled my home far too much. But there was something more eerie and dark about this place. It was an ominous forest, with a single path leading north of where we stood. This realm had to be in the late season of fall. All the trees were barren, but their leaves were still accounted for on the soil beneath them.