The next morning after breakfast Svetlana opens a portal to the Water Realm and we all jump through, taking Tala's bracelet with us for safe measures. After passing through we appear in the middle of a dirt pathway. Trees line the pathway, but instead of being made out of leaves the trees are made out of water up top, but form the shape of a normal tree. Little plants and shrubs lined with droplets of water surround the trees and the pathway as well as lilies. The sky overhead is bright blue and filled with clouds resembling stretched out cottonballs.
"Wow," Lucilla says and flies up to one of the trees and sticks a hand into the water, "This place is really pretty."
Down on the ground a fennec fox with strands of water running through its tail and its ears and its front right paw comes racing through the woods and darts around trees, swooshing its tail around swiftly and elegantly.
"So," Amorette says and raises a hand to shade her eyes from the sun while looking around, "What are we looking for?"
"Tala wrote about taking something from the Naiads and that someone named Neredia was mad at her," I say, "So I think that it would be best to try and find where the Naiads are."
"Got it," Blaze nods and takes out her Arcane Map.
Her map glows and lots of dots appear on it.
"Follow me!" Blaze instructs and starts walking down the path while occasionally looking at her map.
The rest of us trail after her and we walk until we come to a giant, shining, azure lake. An image of a castle reflects onto the lake, but the ground stops at the lake with no way to get across aside from swimming or flying.
"Do we fly over to the castle?" Amorette asks.
"No," Blaze shakes her head, "That's not a good idea. There's a magical forcefield in the air above the lake."
"So then we'll just swim across," Amorette says.
"No," Blaze says once more, "We can't without permission."
"Permission?" Corliss asks and raises a brow.
Suddenly there's a loud whooshing sound and a girl emerges out of the water, twirling while doing so and sending water flying around like a miniature storm. The light blue haired girl comes to a halt and her sea blue eyes watch us calmly. Her blue and white trimmed long sleeved shirt has a design cut into the sleeves that waves around, revealing parts of her arm and it dips down in the front. Her blue shorts has a silver, chain belt that wraps around her waist and she has on white shoes that look like flats, but have straps that wind up her legs and go almost up to her knees. Drops of water gleam on her sapphire, teardrop necklace as the sun beams down on it. She tilts her head to the side and her long hair shifts around, revealing silver piercings that go all the way from the top of her revealed ear to the bottom.
"Oh," Corliss mumbles.
"I am Neredia," The girl says and watches each of us carefully, "Who are you and what is your purpose for coming here?"
"I am Aella," I say and step forward, "I used to be Queen Evangeline of the Angel's first in command, but recent developments have made all of us realize that Evangeline is not who she seems to be."
"Go on," Neredia says.
"Evangeline is planning to take over all of the realms and wants to bring tyrrany, we must stop her," I say firmly, "We came here in hopes of forming an alliance with the Water Realm, we already have one with the Dark Angel Realm. We also came here to return something to you that was taken by the Sorceress Tala."
"You wish to return the Orb of Harmony?" Neredia raises a brow, "I would greatly appreciate it. The Orb of Harmony is one of the Water Realm's most prized heirlooms. It helps keep the peace in the waters and helps us in times of need. I, Neredia, am the Naiad Guardian of the Orb of Harmony and of this lake."
"That must be why she was so mad at Tala..." Blaze murmurs from beside me.
"We wish to return the orb to you, but we do not know where it is," I explain, "Tala's journal said that we need an audience with a Naiad, which we have now, but we also need a certain enchantment."
"The enchantment is kept in the palace," Blaze starts, "That is why I said that we need permission to cross earlier."
"If you need access to the palace in order to restore the Orb of Harmony, then you have my permission to cross the lake, but you must swim across," Neredia says.
"Swim across?" Salem frowns, "In our regular clothes?"
"Oh," Neredia frowns for a moment, "I can help with that."
Neredia whirls around and holds her hands out before a bright glow surrounds her hands and then all of us. Our outfits magically transform into swimsuits of all different kinds and Neredia smiles in accomplishment.
"Before you leave I will transform you back into your regular outfits," Neredia says before moving aside, "You may now swim across. I wish you the best of luck."
I stare down at my dark purple two-piece swim suit that has two black ribbons on the side of the swimming bottoms and when I look back up I find Salem staring at me with his lips parted and a dazed expression.
"Er, Salem?" I call out to him.
He shakes his head and clears his throat before smiling weakly at me. My eyes trail over him and suddenly I find myself staring at his well toned figure.
"Let's get going," He says and I snap out of my daze.
This time I'm the one giving him the weak smile and I blush slightly before nodding.
"Asher!" Blaze yells and Salem and I turn to face her.
"Sorry," Asher shrugs, "It was a compliment."
"Who says you get to call me hot?!" Blaze yells and pushes him into the lake.
He laughs as he surfaces and she glares at him.
"Come on, Princess," Asher smirks and starts swimming towards the castle.
Blaze sighs and jumps in after him. Salem and I turn to each other and shrug before jumping in after Blaze and the others follow. It takes us about five or six minutes, but we all eventually make it across the lake. I climb up onto the shore, my hands gripping the cold, water soaked sand. I stand up and then after we all dry off for the most part we head up the hill and to the giant, silver and white castle. More trees with leaves made of water surround the castle, and we cross the brown, wooden bridge that rests over a chasm and connects our side of the ground to the castle. A few hedges and shrubs surround the gate to the castle itself, which slowly raises upwards and allows us to pass through. We make it to the front doors shortly after and as I press my hand onto one of the cool, metal doors with blue dots dotting the trim, it slowly creaks open with a loud, metallic clang.
"Hello?" I call out into the dark castle, "Is anyone here?"
I turn back to the group and shrug before pushing the door open the entire way and walking inside. I stare around at the grand corridor that has a fountain in the center of it, as well as two staircases that protrude upwards and to a balcony with two visible, brown, wooden doors. Streaks of water run through the white, marble, floor tile, but are covered over with glass so that they don't get anything wet.
"Perhaps we should split up?" Svetlana suggests.
"Yeah," Corliss nods, "I'll go with Amorette."
"I'll go with Svetlana," Lucilla says.
"I'll take Blaze," Asher says and drags her off while she protests.
"I guess that leaves just us two then," Salem says.
"Yeah," I say, "I guess so."
The two of us make our way up the right staircase as we do my arm brushes against Salem's and I jump slightly. He glances over at me and I smile sheepishly before we reach the top of the staircase. We walk down the right hallway and pass by several potted plants and hanging lights, as well as more wooden doors. We reach the end of the hall and I glance in both directions, contemplating which way to go, before deciding to go right again. This hallway ends up being much shorter than the last and also comes to an end where two more hallways are possible.
"Here," Salem says and goes left, "What about this room?"
"What room?" I ask and follow Salem down the hallway.
We come to a single door at the end of the hallway, which has a golden lock on it and chains around the door.
"This room," Salem says.
"Salem," I say and turn to face him, "We don't have a key."
"So?" Salem raises a brow, "Like a simple lock could ever stop you."
I sigh and summon one of my katanas from my Chitose set and slash through the lock, which clatters to the floor with the chains after the blow from my katana. I keep my katana in my hand just in case and slowly twist the doorknob until it clicks and I glance at Salem. He nods and I push the door open cautiously, as if whatever is on the other side may come charging at us. Once it's open, however, I instantly sigh in relief when I see that it's just a room lined with shelves of scrolls and books. I walk inside and Salem follows behind me. A writing desk rests against the wall by the door with pieces of old parchment and an ink well on it, while the shelves of scrolls and books are across from the door and a cerulean bed rests against the wall in the corner of the room by the writing desk. A window with gold metal running across it is close to the bed and rays of sunlight stream through it. I step on a cerulean rug which is just a few feet in front of the door and make my way over to the shelves of scrolls and books. I pull a scroll off of one of the shelves and examine it, feeling the old parchment in my hands and unwraveling the leather strap around it.
"Is it the enchantment?" Salem asks from beside me, his breath hitting my ear, which makes me shiver.
"I'm not sure," I say as I stare at the ancient writing on the scroll and stare at the picture of the circle in the center with the rune inside it, "I can't tell."
"What do you mean you can't tell?" Salem frowns.
"I can't read it," I say.
"You can't read it?" Salem raises a brow.
I turn my head to the side so that I'm looking at him, "It's ancient writing."
"The one who wields the power of the ancient bloods may conduct the ritual needed to restore the Orb of Harmony to the Naiads, should it ever be taken," Salem reads.
"Salem," I gasp, "How can you read that?"
"I don't know," Salem shrugs, "I just assumed that since I could read it you could too."
"So this is the enchantment, then?" I ask.
"It looks like it," Salem nods, "From what I can tell."
"Alright," I say and roll the scroll back up, "Let's go then."
***
After Neredia changes us back into our normal outfits she explains to us that the enchantment means anyone who has blood that goes back to one of the immortal races, such as Angels. We all stand by the lake shore as Svetlana takes the ritual scroll and summons her main set with her staff. She whirls around and swings her staff around, white light and white sparkles floating around in the air. She points her staff to the center of the lake and a giant white circle with a blue rune in it that looks exactly like the one on the paper appears and glows, emitting light and shining brightly. The rune circle lets off a miniature explosion of light before disappearing and an orb that turns all different shades of blue appears and floats above the water before going down under. A few seconds later blue light flashes from underneath the lake and then dies down slowly, leaving blue sparkles of dust floating in the air before they all disappear one by one. Svetlana then transforms back into her regular outfit and smiles.
"Thank you for restoring the Orb of Harmony to the Naiads," Neredia says, "We will forever be grateful and we shall fight with you against Evangeline, you have my word. You can count the Water Realm as a part of your alliance."
"Thank you, Neredia," I bow my head slightly and say, "We are grateful to have the Naiads on our side, as well as the rest of the Water Realm."
"I'm glad to hear it," Neredia says, "Where are you heading next? Perhaps I may be of assistance in guiding you."
"We're going to the Fae Realm," I say.
"The Fae Realm?" Neredia raises a brow before pointing off to the right, "There is a gateway off in the middle of the woods that leads to the Fae Realm. I, once again, wish you the best of luck and thank you for helping us."
And with that, we start our journey to the Fae Realm.