238. The River

“Did it work?” Jay asked, half squatting. His leg started to shake the longer he stood in that pose.

Daphne gazed around. She shook her head. “No.”

Jay fell onto the ground. He was sweating from the short workout. “Are you serious?”

“Yea.”

“Are you sure we were supposed to dance?” Jay asked Snow. He was now lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

“Yes.” Snow walked over. Her hand reached out.

Got up on top. Snow gaze traced across the ground. She noticed sharp indentation in the floor carved out lightly. One wouldn’t have seen it as much because there was quite a bit of moss covering it.

Snow sighed. She wasn’t a big fan of dancing, but her instinct was telling her she needed to do the same stances as the one in her mind. She glanced up at the wall again before she shook her body once.

Her hand raised up slowly, she bent.

It didn’t take long for her to remember every single step. The motions were coming to her in waves. The magical power of Light glowed around her and surrounded her. Her hand tingles, glowing softly.

Everyone watched her, mesmerized by her action.

The sigil underneath her feet started to glow.

A soft glow of blue and white hummed out from underneath Snow’s feet. The light magic in her body was amplifying the magic around her. Everyone could feel the power that was coursing through the air. Some were dazzled or shocked by the powerful light magic that lingered in the air.

Many fell onto their knees, unable to handle the purity of the light magic. Others stood fast, mesmerized by the show as the magic became stronger and stronger.

Snow danced.

Her feet moved with power and perfection. The magical energy became streams of Light that swirled around her. Small orbs appeared, giggling and dancing in between her arms and legs.

Children's voices became more vigorous, and soft hymns echoed in a whisper. A lone violin played with gentle fever, pacing with her.

In Snow’s mind and ear, she could hear the violin becoming louder and louder. Her tempo became stronger. It was a mind-numbing experience, dancing on top of the rock. The whole world seems to spin around her, blurring the faces and the images.

Only the magical energy of Light stuck to her closely.

Her feet started to slow down, and the movement of her body became much more tighter. She was able to perfectly finish her last pose without much trouble. The hum of the magical energy around her drifted away.

A jarring silence remained.

Nobody clapped. Everyone stood in place in silence.

Snow opened up her eyes. Her sight was slightly blurry.

The ground rumbled, causing Snow to dropdown.

A loud sound of doors opening was heard. Snow blinked a few more times to see what was going on. Before her, where the statues on the wall were present, the stone walls broke open, opening up a large passageway.

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A stream of smog blew out, followed closely by the sound of whistling wind.

Everything eventually settled down.

“Did the door just open?” One of the Priestess dryly laughed. “There isn’t going to be a demon coming out from there...right?”

“I hope not.” Another replied back. “I’m good with not having to meet any demons if possible. I didn’t sign up for this.”

“Oh, be quiet, you big cry baby. This is just a testing of our faith.” An older man spoke, scoffing at his people. “If we don’t take up to this challenge, how are we supposed to be able to ascend to our holy status?”

The others who agreed with him nodded their heads.

“You’re crazy.” Another priestess spoke. “If that was the case, we would have all ascended by now!”

The bickering between the people ensued.

Snow took a deep breath. She was finally back to normal. With a Light jump off the side, she landed softly. Her steps became confident, her demeanor changed.

Everyone opened up a path for her to step through as silence descended upon them.

Snow made her way toward the dark gate. She didn’t stop and was the first one to enter through. Awash of cold rattled her bones, shaking her to the core.

Even still, she kept walking until she exited out and was welcomed with a large green river. All around her were dead plants that were grey as if ash landed on top of them and dyed it. Twisted trees of black were knotted up tightly together. Small pebbles decorated the floor on the sideline of the river.

Off in the distance, the sky was orange and yellow, reminding her of the sunset. The hot air was damp, a bit hard to breathe. She wasn’t a big fan of hot places, but it was manageable for her.

The others appeared from behind her. They were surprised by the sudden change of environment baffled everyone. Many of them have never seen such a change before.

“Where are we?” One of the Priestess asked. “Is this hell?”

“We are in a dungeon crying out loud.” One of them was getting tired of their constant questioning. “What do you expect?”

Snow ignored the group. She was getting tired of their constant bickering and worry.

Snow searched around, trying to find something to cross over the green river. The hiss and pop bubbled, letting out a wretched smell of gas. It was the same smell that she had remembered smelling when they had arrived in front of the church of Light. It was worse than she remembered.

Green algae plants swayed in the water, and if she leaned over a bit further, she saw skeletal remains submerged. There weren’t just one or two; hundreds and thousands of the dead remains were present, carpeting the whole river bed. The longer she gazed into the water, she thought she saw the dead alive.

Jay and Daphne were directing the others to search for a way across. Time slowly went by.

“Did you guys find anything?” Snow called out. They have all spread apart to look for something to help them cross.

“Not yet, Saintess.” One of the priests called out, who was near her.

“Why don’t we swim across?” Daphne asked.

Snow stopped for a moment, turning toward Daphne. “You aren’t joking, correct?”

“No?” Daphne said with embarrassment. Snow's intense gaze was unsettling.

“Would you want to step in a river with dead people in it?” Snow pointed at the skeleton that was submerged in the water. It looked like it was waving its hand at them with a crooked smile.

“Well…”

“I wouldn’t. We don’t know what’s in there that would cause so many deaths. It’s unnatural.”

“True.” Daphne quickly nodded her head vigorously. She didn’t want to argue back.

“Let’s keep searching.”

“Yes, Man!” Daphne stood up straight.

Just when Daphne was about to turn around, shouts of excitement could be heard.

“Look! Over there!”

A group of Priestess waved everyone down.

Snow turned toward the shouting, turning toward their direction. She squinted her eyes, she noticed that there was a small boat coming toward them. It wasn’t just one, but multiple.

The closer it got, Snow could tell that there was something different about these boats. A skeletal was covered head to toe in a deep red cloak that looked close to black. It’s eerily green eye cast in their directions, making many take a step back. They raised their hand in a prayer, praying at their God out loud.

Some gasped, covering their mouths. They weren’t sure how to take all of this in.

“It seems we got our way across,” Jay said with a sigh. Glad to see that a solution had come their way. He took a step forward as if he was getting closer to his destination, but the water stopped him from treading in.

On the other hand, Daphne rushed out into the water, throwing her hand in the air. She shouted, “over here!” in excitement.

“Daphne!” Jay called out in disbelief.

“What?”

“Get out of the water!” Jay said in panic.

“I’m fine.” Daphne rolled her eyes. “It’s just water.”

“For crying out loud, did you really just not take Snow’s advice?”

“I did, but nothing is happening.” She placed her hand on her hip.

The boats were now a few feet away.

Daphne walked in deeper, heading straight to the boat itself. She was now hip-deep into the water.

Softly, but surely, the boat arrived next to her.

“Hey! Could I get on the boat?” Daphne reached out and grabbed the side of the boat.

The skeleton glanced down at her coldly and didn’t say a word. Daphne took it as a cue to allow her to get on.

More and more people started to waddle into the river, heading straight to the boats that were arriving close to the edge.

Jay, on the other hand, was shouting, “Stop! Are you crazy?” He frantically waved and even pulled on a few to not go into the water.

“Let go.” One of the priests pulled away. “She’s fine.”

Jay was stunned at how easily these people were not taking this seriously. He couldn’t say anything anymore.