The world looked similar. The ground was covered in yellow grass. It looked like it was entering or recovering from a cold season. The air was warm, which contrasted with Mesu’s theory on the color. She noted that the sky was not a shade of blue or yellow. A purple canvased above them and to the horizon.
Tai tugged at her shirt, almost toppling her. The whole group ran for cover in a small patch of trees. Mesu imagined this was in case anything decided to follow them through the portal. It would be tough to discern exactly where they had gone with the number of choices of tunnels. She crouched in silence as everyone chose a stance while they waited.
A flowery scent wafted in with the wind. It came from the direction of the portal. The size of this one looked smaller, but not by much. It was created with pieces of a mix of red and grey stone. There appeared to be some energy around it as well. Mesu could see that there were little sparks that came off of it. She tried to think back to the one in the chamber, but she couldn’t recall. The torchlight made it difficult for her to take in all the details.
Mesu’s attention turned to the tree she was hiding behind. It was physically twisted. The branches swirled and reached out in all directions. The other trees did the same, varying in height. The tops were the only parts covered in leaves. They were another shade of brown that mimicked the bark of trees back home.
A goblin appeared through the portal and wandered around. It was clear that it had been looking for them, but either his attention was lost or he got bored after a short time. He walked back through. The blue film seemed to tug a little as if there was tension on it.
“We should be good.” Zoe relaxed a little but stayed in the forested area. She walked a little farther in and found a spot for everyone to relax. “This wasn’t what I had expected.”
“I take it you mean everything?” Mesu could not stop the thought from escaping her mouth. She felt like covering it up and shrinking in size if it were possible.
“Exactly,” Zoe smirked and picked at the yellow grass. “I think we’re going to have to wait it out a little bit before going back to the other side. I hate not knowing what to expect when we walk back through. I don’t like the idea of staying here and exploring either.”
The silence resumed. There was a lot to process and an amount of time that no one was sure of. Mesu looked around and felt an urge to explore what this world had to offer. It wasn’t ideal, but she was confident in her group’s ability to take anything on here. This made her smile as she was thinking like an adventurer again.
“We still do have a world to save. Brute force didn’t seem to put a dent in it either.” Tai looked around as she talked, and Mesu agreed on this point. Even if she did want to find out more about this place, there were people she needed to protect first.
“How do we stop this portal?” Mesu raised the obvious question that no one was addressing yet.
“Well, we couldn’t break it. I don’t think I want to try and break the one on this side because we could trap ourselves here forever.” Zoe kept her eyes fixed on the portal as she talked.
“It could be that the portal didn’t exist on our side,” Tai added her thoughts on the situation. It was possible that it only existed on this plane. That raised some new questions that piled on to the rest.
Mesu thought of trying to pry one of the stones off on this side. There was something that they were missing. She thought of all the different scenarios and was unable to add something new to the conversation.
“We will just go back through in a little bit. We wait for the group to clear out and then work on it again from the other side.” Zoe looked at each member, and all Mesu could do was nod.
Enya had told her about what it was to be a legend. It was a blessing and a curse. Some of the stories were highly exaggerated. Some tales had been completely twisted to the point that Enya knew it was not her.
“You never know when the moment is going to happen. It may not even be one that you think would have that much impact. Something you do inspires others, and all of a sudden you are a legend. Your story spreads through towns and inns. If you’re alive when it happens, people will seek you out. Both good and bad, I warn you. All of them have something they want and will use you to their advantage. Follow your own path and destiny.”
Mesu thought back to the words and felt like this might be her moment. Was this going to be the end of her story or the beginning, she wondered. She picked at the ground with her knife and wondered how she would stay back to test out the theory of removing a stone from this side. The response she would get if she suggested it was going to be a no. She knew there would be a chance and that when it happened, she was devoted to trying. She glanced up and saw Anna giving her a worrisome look. It broke her heart as she knew her friend could see what was going on in her mind.
She took a deep breath and smiled back at Anna. Mesu put all her effort into making it look genuine. Anna smiled back, and Mesu felt like she was finally able to fool her friend.