Rex lifted his head and felt chilled inside. The doe he had seen earlier was back again, staring at him more intently. It was odd. There might be demons here. His brain tried to warn him. It was as if the doe was trying to tell him something, as if it was telling him that he shouldn't be afraid. It was comforting to Rex, which made him follow the doe like a sacrificial lamb.
The doe walked slowly, but precisely as if it knew exactly what it was doing. Rex's heart was racing with fear, a part of him was telling him to run away from the doe; as far as he could. But he couldn't. It was as if something was pulling him. An unseen force; urging him to move on, urging his feet to have minds of their own, even though he tried to stop them. It was a long walk and the moment Rex thought they won't stop, they came out in an open and a stone throw from the point Rex stood, was a mighty flowing river.
Rex smiled and laughed, what was the point of bringing him to a river when he knows nothing about this place. He nodded a thank you to the doe and was surprised that the doe nodded back before it disappeared into the tick forest. Something about its golden eyes reminded Rex about a lost friend, but he knocked the thought out of his head.
Standing alone in the middle of nowhere Rex decided to plan his next move. He would follow the trail of the river and prays it leads him to a better destination, to a place if he is lucky, where people would hopefully inhabit. He was about to move when he heard someone laughed.
Rex turned immediately and sprinted to the direction. He looked over the dune in front of him, but could only see green vegetation, water and white sands. The laughter hadn't ceased though, it was fervent and lovely and was coming from the other part, where the river had meander into the forest. Rex walked carefully and leaned behind a tree with a giraffe neck, to catch the sight of what was going on. All his life, the few stories in Anadan said that Anadan was the only surviving human race after the plague of darkness, centuries ago. But standing here in this unknown forest, all those stories were washed away from his mind. If these ladies bathing are not mermaids, then a new story would be written and his name would be on the front cover.
Rex smiled to himself and watched with much interest. As he studied them, he realized that they weren't actually bathing. They seemed to be performing some kind of ritual procession. They were all ladies. Some among them carried a bowl filled with unknown fluid, others with huge peacock feathers. They were all dressed in fine clothes, but in their mist, one stood out in terms of clothing and movement.
Rex fought the urge of taking pictures with his camera. The figure wore a silver bottled neck gown. Her transparent robe was decorated with crimson colored butterfly, which seemed alive when the rays of the sun cast its radiance on it. The only place visible on her body was her face and wrist; even her feet were covered by a red embroider, making her movement to be more of gliding than walking. Her face was as pale as the moon, her eyes, as bright as the scale of a fish, and her lips were as red as the crimson butterfly on her robe. She was standing away from the other five ladies, who were inside the river with their clothes on and were chanting.
The procession led away from the river into the forest. Rex at that instant recovered from his shock and sprinted after them with all his might. The pain on his arm was forgotten. The only thought that fog his mind was the beautiful lady.
I will give the whole world just to see her one more time, just to behold her beauty again. Rex ran after the ladies. As though enchanted, he forgot he needed to find his way back to the others before two hours' elapses.