“Let me get this straight. They wiped out the Atlantians because one of them had a relationship with Poseidon’s daughter?”

“Exactly,” Ajalla said. She strode by her side with her chest pushed out and chin held high. Despite being born only minutes before Kiri, she acted as if she were far more mature and wiser in her years.

Kiri groaned, pressing her palms against the side of her head. “I still don’t get it. Why didn’t they talk it over? He should have been happy that they had feelings for each other.”

Ajalla smiled and nudged Kiri as they wandered through the edge of the forest. The coast was a few hundred feet to their left but the dense forest kept it out of view. Only the salty breeze reminded her of how close they were to the beach.

“It’s only a rumor the naiads told me,” her seedling finally said.

“Why am I not surprised to learn you mingle with our cousins?”

Ajalla gave Kiri a sharp glare from the corner of her eye. “River nymphs are quite trustworthy, I’ll have you know, and they’ve seen things underwater we can’t even imagine.”

Kiri shrugged and paused a moment to wipe the sweat off her brow before climbing a fallen tree. Once she reached the top, she turned around and held out her hand to Ajalla. “Do you think a naiad might travel between worlds? They would have it the easiest.”

“Nah, I just thought I’d try and motivate you to find your dreamy man from the sky.”

Kiri narrowed her eyes. “I never should have told you about it.”

“My dear, your secret is safe with me. Seedlings look out for each other.”

An eerie stillness laid its blanket over the forest that was masked for a long time by Ajalla’s rambling. Devoid of the usual chatter amongst animals and plants. Kiri slowly grew aware of this fact and halted. Moments passed in which Kiri could feel her heart thumping against her chest. On Amazon silence equalled danger, even for dryads.

“Kiri,” came a low whisper from Ajalla followed by a pinch in her arm.

“Not now.”

Ajalla tugged Kiri down to the ground and pointed up at the trees.

Blood ran cold through Kiri’s veins and she stifled the urge to scream out. A herd of spiders traversed between the trees, casting long lines of silk between branches.

Dread pinched Kiri’s gut. She gulped, unable to break her locked gaze from the spiders roaming above them. There had to be at least twenty of them in a single hunting pack. An unusual behavior for an otherwise solitary race.

A single shot of venom would be enough to knock her out for hours and wind up on the menu. Dryads were off limits according to unofficial rules, but they didn’t carry very far into the forest. When creatures get hungry, they feed on what they can find.

They didn’t mind the nymphs on the ground and passed on without so much as getting close to them. It helped relieve the tension building in her for the moment.

“Well, that was strange,” Ajalla snapped in her jovial tone once more. She ran her hand through her short hair and nudged Kiri out of her fixation.

Kiri blinked, still processing what had just happened. “Any stranger than the portal being accessed in our absence? We should follow them.”

“Whoah, hold up. Don’t let yourself get carried away on the first item to cross our path. Especially not one that could devour us.” Ajalla pulled out the sunstone and rested it in her palm to get a direction on where the portal was located. The tip of the stone settled down, plotting their course and Kiri raised her brows. “This doesn’t mean anything, yet.”

“But it does raise the question; what would hunting spiders be doing on the beach?”

“A change in diet?”

Kiri shook her head and continued on along through the underbrush as she played through her options. It had to be a coincidence that the spiders were heading the same way they were. Hunting spiders didn’t have any means of opening up a portal, but maybe their prey did.

The nymphs arrived at the cove minutes later and they could see the gathering taking place along the white sand beach. The spiders surrounded a group of three figures that had their backs to the water. Kiri lurched forward to intercept the victims before they were eaten and then interrogate them but Ajalla grabbed her wrist and brought her back around. She pointed toward the lead figure in the group and Kiri looked over again, closer and couldn’t believe it.

The spiders could easily have swarmed them but they kept their distance and waited. The figures exposed themselves entirely to the spiders by turning away. The water in front of them glowed turquoise with vibrant waves skirting the surface. A heavy gale swept outward and the three dug their feet into the sand to keep standing.

“So it was them,” Kiri muttered under her breath. She straightened her shoulders and welcomed the pride she experienced for completing her assignment in due time. Well, almost. All she had to do was apprehend the three that opened the portal and bring them back to the Elders.

The women stepped forward and the spiders followed them into the water. The water ceded where they stepped and the raw portal became visible. A dark swirling mass three times her size but the color shifted, becoming lighter as the moments passed. One by one the spiders leapt through the portal and were then followed by the three mysterious figures.

The portal remained open and would stay that way for five hours, after which it would close and become dormant for a few days.

Kiri turned back to Ajalla and freed herself from her seedling’s grip. “I want you to go back and inform the Elders of what just happened. These aren’t random incidents that are occurring. They’re planning something.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re thinking of going through there,” Ajalla said with a deep frown and crease between her brows. It didn’t suit her sweet face.

“I need to see for myself what they’re doing and make sure they don’t slip away. Can I trust you to bring the Elders back here before the portal closes again?”

Ajalla crossed her arms and pouted her lips. “I don’t like the idea in the least but I know you’ve got a soft spot for doing the right thing. I’ll get help as long as you promise to keep safe and not take any risks. I don’t know where that portal opened up to but I don’t want you lost on the other side.”

Kiri smiled and took Ajalla into her arms. She used the moment to steal some energy from Ajalla’s bio-ethereal basin. “I’ll see you soon.”

With those parting words, Kiri turned her attention back to the portal. She no longer felt like becoming a Warden, she already saw herself as one. Kiri ducked and rushed towards the cove, stopping at a large boulder halfway between the treeline and the water. She looked back but Ajalla had already vanished into the forest.

With a soaring heart she rounded the boulder and ran the remaining distance. The portal hissed with a crackling storm brewing on the inside and she leapt inside only to land on her feet on unfamiliar territory.

A putrid stench filled the air. Her eyes grew wide as she took in the damage around her. As if someone had turned every last inch of the soil upside down. She laid a hand to her breast. The land pained and its cries echoed in her chest.

Yelling came from behind but she couldn’t make out the foreign tongue. They were carrying an odd piece of metal together but their tone was harsh.

Someone off to the side yanked her away from the duo.

A series of snaps cracked through the air and whizzed by her ear. Both men fell into a pool of blood.