It was an accident

8.

"Wow." Kanata and Amayeli spoke at the same time, immediately trading looks and breaking out in giggles.

"This is so cool," Amayeli said, "I wonder what the other side looks like."

Miwok paused for a second, Sioux almost running into her before she recovered from her surprise and looked back at their little sister. "What?"

Sioux shot his sister an apologetic look, "I sort of told her that there are two sides to the realm."

Miwok's expression softened, but did not regain it's former amusement. "Oh."

Amayeli looked confused, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Is there something wrong with the other side?" She asked.

Her older sister shook her head, "There's nothing wrong with it, no. ... It just serves a different purpose than this side does. While this side is a resting place for kind and neutral spirits, the other side, the 'Wicked' side, is a place where evil spirits are punished and left to wander."

The previously cheery atmosphere dampened, the four siblings walking in uncomfortable silence until Sioux spoke up. "Anyways, this place is pretty weird, but in a good way. The Bright side isn't even all bright, it's really dark just south of here in Night forest. Plus there's no day and night cycle, the amount of light there is depends on where you are."

"Don't forget the Hall of the Fallen," Miwok prompted, helping her brother bring the mood back to something like what it was before.

"Oh yeah!" Sioux waved his free hand around as he spoke, excited to be showing his little siblings around a place he enjoyed so much. "It's basically this really, really big hallway that splits this whole place into halves. It looks really fancy on the inside, nothing like anything I've seen in all of mother's land, and the souls that stay there are almost constantly battling. Some of the fights are pretty impressive, actually. I can't imagine wanting to spend the rest of your existence fighting, but, the souls I've met there seem pretty content, so, good for them I guess."

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"Wait, that sounds like Valhalla," Finland said, snapping everyone out of their daze. The world in the vision looked so incredible, they had been stunned silent. But, now that Finland mentioned it, many nations realized he was right. In fact, when the older boy had been listing off names of the 'Bright Side', they had recognized them as names given to the afterlife by various religions.

"It pretty much is," Canada spoke up. Surprisingly, everyone heard him. "Every belief system has to be based off of something, right? Every religion in the world has some truth to it."

"So that's actually the afterlife? That's-a real?" Romano gestured to the rift, where the four siblings were still chatting as they walked through the ethereal landscape. A look of disbelief was stuck on his face as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. "And you guys have been there?"

The three siblings nodded in confirmation. "Yeah," Maria said, "and before you ask, no we will not take you there, and no you couldn't get there even if you tried-- well, unless you died for good."

"And why is that?" England challenged, honestly the New World siblings were surprised he had stayed quiet for as long as he had. 

"Because you need magic to get through to the other side, which keeps most of you from getting in, and because we have hidden the portals we know of to keep the realm safe. The souls don't need anyone bothering them." Maria fixed him with a glare as she answered.

"But this has showed us that you bother them!" England shouted indignantly, gesturing to the rift with a rough motion of his hand.

"Our family has had close relations with those in the spirit realm for centuries and treated them with respect! Who knows what would happen if any of you went there!" Maria snapped back with venom, having very little of her usual tolerance for her older siblings' father.