Misty Creek (RPDR AU)

XXI

When Anetra opened her eyes, she was in a completely different world. She raised her head from where she had fallen to the ground, all of her senses heightened and on edge. She looked around to find that everything was in grayscale. The long strands of grass around them were a dark gray, and the even darker sky flashed with lightning. But no sound of thunder followed it.

"Where are we...?" Amethyst asked in a scared whisper, standing up beside Anetra and wrapping her arms around herself.

Anetra shivered when a cold breeze hit them. "I'm not sure..." She answered, looking around for any sign of life. The dark trees around them were dead and leafless, their branches looking as if they were clawing at the sky.

"Their world." Irene spoke up from behind them, stumbling slightly as she stood up. She groaned, laying a hand on her head. "The dark spirits..."

Anetra watched her in concern. "Are you alright?" She asked, looking her friend over.

Irene's eyes glowed a soft light as she blinked, her fingers rubbing her head in an effort to dull the ache in it. "I'm fine, there's just...a lot of energy here. More than I've ever felt before."

Anetra nodded a bit, turning to look out at the path in front of them. Despite the cold chill surrounding them, nothing moved. Nothing made a sound. It was eerily silent. Amethyst grabbed onto Anetra's arm.

"Where do we start?" She asked, her voice sounding so small but loud in the silence.

Anetra sighed, letting her hold onto her as she started walking forward down the path. "I don't know exactly."

She didn't understand why she had to lead the way. If anything, Irene should be doing it. Anetra thought her abilities were much more important to what they had to do. She was about to glance back at her to make sure she was alright until something gold flickered ahead of them towards the end of the path.

Anetra stopped walking, feeling a familiar energy around her. She squinted, seeing the gold again against all of the darker colors. The more she concentrated, the more a figure started to take shape. "...Raja?"

Amethyst looked up at her in confusion. "W-Who's Raja?" She asked quietly.

Anetra grabbed onto her before taking off quickly down the path, having to dodge twisted roots and large cracks in the ground. "My friend." She said, glancing behind for a moment to make sure Irene was following before looking at the shining gold ahead of her again.

But once she got close enough, Raja disappeared. Anetra froze in confusion, looking around for any sign of the gold flecks.

Amethyst tilted her head up at her. "...What are you looking for?"

Anetra peered into the dark trees, trying to see through their winding branches. "My friends are here..." She said quietly.

Irene caught up to them, having grown paler in just a short amount of time. "If your friends are here, then wouldn't that make them dark spirits?"

Anetra shook her head defensively. "They must've followed us." She said, catching a glimpse of what looked like red hair against the trees in the distance. "If they chose to stay instead of cross over like Loosey explained, then they must be able to walk between worlds as they please." She took hold of Amethyst again and led the way into the trees.

Irene was hesitant to follow, the energy around her making her feel sick. Almost like something was feeding off of her. But she forced herself to continue forward, having no choice but to trust that her friend was actually seeing something and going the right way.

Anetra's eyes were focused on the figure that started to take shape. Hope that everything was going to be okay sparked in her chest when she saw that it was Jinkx, and she sped up to get closer to her faster. "Jinkx?-"