A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

6; Over the river

"The people of the Gods"

🌿

Two days ago.

Upon arriving on this island I thought it was one. Turns out it's two islands, separated by a storming river called the "snake tongue", whatever that means. Those tall women kept repeating the words, I picked it up at some point. And truthfully, the syllables they pronounced matched the river. Harsh and unforgiving, the way the water floats down an endless amount of waterfalls and sharp rocks. And yeah, I was scared to cross it.

The river is there for a reason.

Unlike where I am from, the women and men are separate here, and they don't speak to each other. The women simply threw a long, heavy plank over the river and pushed me on, pointing with their fingers. I don't really know what they were saying, but their serious and repeated shouts of, "get over there!" Sounded like I should go. With my hands sweaty and tears running down my cheeks, out of fear, which I will not repeat because it's embarrassing, I slowly walked over the river on that d*mmed wooden plank. The river made awful and loud splashing sounds underneath me, and I know that I can't understand anyone here, but their voices drowned out and I didn't like it.

When I finally reached the other side, they crushed the plank with a heavy hammer and I might have screamed, but once again I will not repeat that because it was embarrassing. More tears dropped down my face but at that point I was too scared to notice. I didn't like this place, I still don't like this place, and at the time I missed my sister more than ever.

In front of me stood a similar forest to the one I traveled through before, and to my side, a big mountain of beige rocks. I turned to the women on the other side of the river, pleading with my eyes for them to tell me anything. Where should I go? What will I do? And it seemed like what my sister always says, my cute appearance really did me a favor. They took pity on me and pointed towards the forest, shooing with their hands, and I got the memo. Go, walk, get over there. Sometimes you don't have to speak the language to understand basic things.

I didn't want to leave them behind me. I would be alone on an unfamiliar island, and who knows why they sent me across the river? But I was also scared of what they would do if I didn't obey, so with tears still running down my cheeks I began to head down the hill, towards the forest. The leaves are sharp, a dark green kind, the type that grows on trees made for hot weather. It looked similar to home, similar to the forest I had arrived in too. Colorful flowers, birds singing in the distance, I might have shooed away some bees. Honestly there is not much of the walk I remember, being scared to the point of shivering despite the heat.

After walking, slowly, and unsurely, for about thirty minutes, the forest started clearing up. Above me the morning I had awoken to was beginning to turn into evening. The sky turned into a colorful mix of orange and pink, the clouds looked softer and despite the women healing most of my wounds, I was still dead tired from the storm that had brought me here. They were kind to me, I realized, but that didn't stop the fear once I saw the second city of the day.

I came to the conclusion that this must be the city of men. And yes, I was very, very scared. More scared than I am willing to admit openly. This city was of course different from the city of women. The farmlands and acres that I had first seen upon arriving here, existed on the opposite side of the city here, and instead a field of training soldiers stood in front of me. Their screams and grunts of battle were heard all the way to the edge of the forest, where I stood with my sweaty hands and tear stained cheeks. Just as I was about to turn around, run and hide into the forest, my arm was grabbed for the second time that day.