Chapter 44 - Is it really a real fairy tale without any fairies?
Scarlett found herself walking up another staircase of water, surrounded by silver light, and a completely different kind of forest presented itself in front of her eyes when she reached the top of those stairs. The leaves on the trees here were a deep violet, fluttering in strange patterns along with some unseen wind. Fluorescent lines carved themselves into the trunks of the trees, continuing down into the ground, where dozens upon dozens of them met up into a complex weave of veins that seemed to encompass the entire forest floor.
That wasn't the only odd thing about this place. The sky was almost completely pitch black, with no stars at all visible in it. The only thing visible there was the full moon. Yet something about this one was off, even though she couldn't quite put her thumb on what. She knew it was a sort of replica of the moon she had just seen, which had also reached its full phase. The game had been relatively simplistic with its calendar after all, and the moon phase followed that by having a full moon at the end and start of every month. That was also part of the reason she had wanted to visit this dungeon first, although it most certainly wasn't the only reason.
She looked back. Behind her was a lake much like the one she had just descended into, surrounded by several strange flowers and plants. Yet, unlike the other lake, this one was situated right next to a cliff wall that stretched high into the air. Water cascaded down one part of the cliff in a waterfall that ended in the lake, but there was almost no sound coming from it. In fact, this entire place was eerily quiet.
Scarlett heard a light gasp from beside her and turned her head to see Allyssa looking around with a marveled expression.
"This is amazing," the young Shielder said with wide eyes.
Scarlett was inclined to agree. It had been a pretty impressive sight in the game as well, but it was completely different witnessing it directly like this. She almost wished she had a camera to catch the view with.
"It'd be nice to have a drawing of this place," Rosa commented, having come through right after Allyssa.
Scarlett looked at the woman. They were both thinking on the same track here, it seemed.
Rosa smiled at her. "If you're thinking I should do it, then I'll have to disappoint. I'm afraid this is a bit out of my wheelhouse." She curled one of her brown locks around her finger. "Tried out painting, once, but decided not to. Didn't want all the famous painters to feel threatened, you see."
"You certainly acted knowledgable enough on the subject yesterday," Scarlett said.
Rosa put her left foot back and her hand forward in a very exaggerated bow. "You're very generous. Thank you."
Scarlett skipped pointing out that it wasn't really a compliment, instead looking towards the others. Shin and Fynn both seemed busy examining their current surroundings, presumably for any threats. Fynn had a perplexed expression on his face for some reason, though.