It was already late afternoon, but Ara can still see some streaks of light that passed through the canopies of trees. It was what lit her path.
She was walking without direction when she heard a splash. This intrigued her, so she followed the direction it came from. Ara thought she just imagined it for she was walking a few minutes already without a sight of any bodies of water.
Ara was about to go back to the direction she came from when she heard it again.
After a brief walk, she broke out into a clearing. She didn't think anything was strange with it when she saw it: a beautiful lake. So wide that it seems to start at one end of the clearing and end at the other.
What made it beautiful, magical even, was how the lights from the afternoon sun were bouncing off of it.
It created a myriad of colors on the surface of the lake. It even looked like an Aurora borealis. She was so spell-bound by its beauty that she just stood there. For how long, she didn't know.
Ara was about to go near it when something caught her eye. At one end of the lake, there was a well. Still then, it didn't occur to her how strange the place she stumbled upon was.
It felt like something was compelling her to go near the well, so she did. Even from meters away, she could see that the well was beautiful.
There were carvings on it, like the ones found on the Arch of the Gods. She was touching the stones when something flashed to her face. She looked inside and was staring at the water when the strangest thing happened.
The surface of the water became clear and showed a scene. It was like looking through a window. What she saw just baffled her more. She was looking at a forest more beautiful and enchanting than the one where she is now.
She wasn't thinking and reached forward when she was suddenly pushed by someone. That shocked her back to reality. She tried to hold onto something, but she knew it was futile. When she looked back, Ara only saw a silhouette of a person. She should be screaming for help right now, but oddly, she's calm. That hit her as really peculiar.
Why am I this calm? So weird. She thought as she was falling.
Ara waited for the impact her body will make with the water's surface, but it never came. There was only a sense of falling. She thought this must be how Alice felt when she fell in that rabbit hole. Then, she stopped and was just suspended.
She looked around and was amazed at what she saw. Lights of every color and spectrum were dancing all around her. She was mesmerized by the sight.
Aurora thought she was dreaming and concluded that she must be and any minute now, she'll wake up and go to dinner with Sasha. But she didn't. Instead, she was pulled down. Ara resisted, but the force taking her was far stronger so all she could do was remain calm and see what awaits her at the end of this.
This is turning out to be quite an adventure. She wryly thought. I just hope I remain intact and alive at the end of it, she added.
She knows the current events are beyond the realms of logic. But as a logical and practical person, she knows panicking will do no good. Besides, she can assess her predicament with gathering further factors and information. Thus, she waits.
**********
After getting dragged down, she was being pulled up by the same invisible force. She thought that if the force's objective is to harm her, then it would have done so at the start.
Ara is trying not to be pessimistic about her situation; something that Sasha rubbed on her.
At the thought of her friend, Ara became sad. She hoped that Sasha wasn't worrying herself too much. She wondered how long has passed since she went into the forest. Her line of thought was disturbed by a light and…chanting? How can she hear chanting within this place she's at right now? It's all so confusing.
Then, she broke out of the water's surface. The peculiar thing is that she's completely dry. What's more peculiar is that her hair is flowing around her like being underwater. When she looked, lights were upon her, below her, around her. It was surrounding her, like a globe of light and she was at the center.
It added to the peculiarity since it was night time. Looking down, she realized she was floating above water. Lady-of-the-lake style of floating.