Something's Wrong With the Different Realms

Twenty-Eight: A Failed Attempt

Fleur grimaced. "Okay, I really don't want you to climb that but if that's your way home... then you'll need to climb it eventually. Just be careful, okay? I don't want to file your autopsy report."

Allaira grinned and grabbed my hand and the two of us walked to the edge of the rocks that led up to the waterfall. Malum followed close behind, his face tight with concentration. He was probably trying to detect the energy of the cave.

"Hey, one at a time!" Fleur called out.

"Be careful!" Gillian yelled.

Allaira climbed up first, crouching down so she had a lower center of gravity. She used the largest, sturdiest rocks as a set of stairs, pulling herself up step by step. Once Allaira was safe behind the waterfall and at the mouth of the cave, only then did I start my ascension up the ledge and into the cave. I followed the same path that Allaira followed and after what seemed like an eternity, I was safely tucked away behind the waterfall. Then, Malum followed suit.

When the three of us reconvened, we each turned on our phone's flashlights to help us see in the dark. The cave is deep and filled with gray-brown rocks. Even with the light from my cellular device, I could not make out the end of the cave. A few rock piles lay on the uneven, dented, rocky floor of the cave. When I looked up, I could see pointed rocks called stalagmites hanging overhead. A drop of water dripped onto my face and I quickly whipped it off. It seemed that none of us had night vision, so without the light, we'd probably stumble into a pile of rocks and end up with a bruise.

"I think the portal has opened," Malum stated after staring at the cave with some concentration.

"What?" I asked him since his voice was lost in the deafening roar of the waterfall behind us.

"I think the portal has opened," Malum spoke, this time much louder.

"Oh," I said.

"Can you draw from the energy from the water and make sure you're prepared in case Cassie or Minra decides to hurt us?" Malum asked.

"Why?" Allaira yelled over the roar of the waterfall.

"I'm going to try and see if I can guess which realm the portal is connecting to. But to do that, I have to get close to the portal, close enough to detect the energy of the other realm leaking into Earth. Right now, I can only detect the strong energy of the portal, and some of Earth's energy."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Allaira asked. "What if you end up in another realm more deadly than this one?"

"That's what Horizon's here for," Malum stated. "You're going to hold Allaira's hand because of, you know, the pain, and you'll pull us back in case we wander too close to the portal and start to go through it."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Allaira turned, looking only at me with a serious expression on her face.

"I think... okay," I nodded, stumbling over my accented English. "I... am... strong enough to."

"Alright, everyone link hands. I'll go in front, Allaira you're in the middle, and Horizon you'll be behind us. We'll walk side by side first because it'll be quicker that way. When we start to see the portal, we'll go into formation. Is that clear?"

Allaira and I nodded. Allaira placed her phone in her pocket and took mine and Malum's hands. Malum and I lifted our phones higher, providing light so the three of us could see. Carefully and steadily, we made our way through the cave. The deeper we went, the chillier it got and we started shivering.

After a while of walking, I started feeling a sharp, burning feeling coursing through my body. Cassie or Minra must've noticed our ploy by now and we're trying to get us to stop and turn back.

"Allaira, now!" Malum called out.

"I'm trying," Allaira wheezed.

An icy feeling started coursing through my veins and the pain subsided. But it didn't subside enough because every time I took a step, it felt like I was being stabbed or burned alive. Either Minra or Cassie was teaming up to unleash double the pain on us or Allaira was too far away from many natural elements to cast an effective spell or both.

But that didn't stop us from moving forward. Eventually, we saw a spark of green light which indicated that we were getting close to the portal. Using the last of our strength, we continued walking forward until we reached a small stream within the cave that blocked us from getting too close to the portal. Perhaps it was a good thing since it prevented us from getting sucked into another realm. I realized that the stream must've also led out of the waterfall and I probably fell into the stream and ended up somewhere different from Allaira when we first arrived on Earth.

"Thank goodness there's water," Allaira muttered.

The pain subsided even further to only a sting. Allaira walked behind Malum and I walked behind Allaira. Malum held a hand up, probably to detect the energy and Allaira squeezed my hand as a sort of comfort. We stood there in silence long enough for me to count to 200 slowly before Malum spoke up.

"I could detect a different type of energy but it's foreign," Malum stated. "It's a type of energy that I've never felt before so that world can't be the Place, Shallngsea or even Faellie. It isn't even remotely familiar so it isn't even one of the many places that are connected to Faellie. It's foreign."

My face fell. "Now what?" I asked.

"We go back," mumbled Allaira, her voice laced with disappointment.

The walk back to the mouth of the cave felt longer than the walk to the walk to the portal. Maybe it was because we were disappointed that our search had yielded nothing. When we climbed down the rocky ledge and made our way to the trail, the sky was beginning to darken. The sun was slung low in the sky and the sky was dashed with light streaks of orange.

"What took you guys so long?" Fleur inquired, concerned, "we were beginning to worry that you were hurt or that you'd somehow wandered into another realm."

"Sorry, the cave was just really deep," Allaira shivered.

"And cold," I added.

"Did you guys find anything?" Gillian asked, looking up from his phone.

The three of us shook our heads at the same time. "No," we said.

"I tried to feel the energy of the other realm by getting close to the portal and it was foreign," answered Malum, switching to the Shallngsean common tongue. "So this portal leads to a realm that none of us have even been to or heard of."

"Do you..." Fleur lowered her voice, switching to the same tongue, "want me to see if I can see what the other realm is?"

"Wait... you can see into other realms?" Malum asked, scared.

"Why do you look so horrified?" I asked, switching to the common tongue as well because it was easier to speak in.

"It's because Cassie and Minra and the other Cassilynyas have the same power," Malum answered.

"Don't worry, I'm not a Cassilynya," Fleur assured. "You said it yourself, my energy is similar to Horizon and Allaira's. Just make sure you don't tell anyone about this okay?"

Malum heaved a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I just got scared for a moment."

"That's alright, it happens to all of us," Fleur reassured. "Now do you want to see if I could figure out what realm that portal led to?"

Allaira shook her head and switched to the Shallngsean common tongue. "No, it's no use because none of us have any idea of what that realm could be. There are many realms out there and you'd just spend half a day looking around and find no answers. Besides, it's not the right realm anyway."

Fleur nodded. "Makes sense, but what should we do now?"

"I'll come back in a few days and track the energy. Perhaps in a week or maybe a month, the cave will gather enough energy to form another portal. One that'll lead us to the correct realm."