A nervous breath escaped her. She clutched onto the rails of her boat that continued down the stream of a path she couldn't quite make out. But she could hear it, the sound of trickling water.
The darkness was lit up by stars, but instead of the sky, it came from the water. A huge glittering spiral, her boat accelerated. As it tipped forward, she held onto her boat for dear life.
At that moment it was as if someone removed the curtains from the world. As she descended, a whole new scene was unveiled. A purplish night sky with a big yellow moon. The speed of her descent slowed suddenly as she drew closer and closer to the giant body of water below her.
The ruby heels her Mother had chosen as a joke, landed on the floor of the boat with a light clack first, all the presents and luggage strapped to her waist all neatly fell in place.
With the moonlight shedding light upon her and not the lake, Cui Ruiling scanned her new surroundings warily.
SPLSH!
Her boat wobbled violently, even though there were heavy things in her boat that should have kept it balanced, she held onto the sides instinctively. Something else was definitely in the water. Something big enough to make her boat rock! Her boat spun around, as something circled her. At the sound of the waters rumbling, she closed her eyes and suppressed her desire to shriek from fear.
"I want to go home..."
The second she whispered this, her boat began to rise. She opened her eyes. Her boat was sitting atop a gargantuan tail. She could feel a presence behind her, but before she could turn around the tail flicked her forward into the air. She shot across lake, bouncing across the surface of the waters like a skipping stone.
A scream escaped her as she zoomed onto the shore and crashed into what at first looked like bushes.
She caught her breath for a second only to notice the boat tilting downwards. The bush was not a bush, but a tree on a lower plain of terrain! Her boat slid off, the view of a lower forest beheld her. Somehow she managed to fall into a small river that continued through a valley.
Trembling, Cui Ruiling clutched her beating heart. It was a miracle her boat hadn't yet sunk from all the falling it had to withstand. She didn't want to waste much thought thinking of the worse that had yet to happen. If she recalled correctly this boat was made by a famous glass artisan and boat manufacturer as well as a colleague of her Father's.
"Thank you for making such a sturdy boat, Dad, Mr. Tsu. You all worked hard. Thank you." She lowered her head towards the boat. Her nerves so taught from the tension she nearly forgot to breathe for a second.
As her boat continued downstream, she slowly began to recover. Patting her chest, she sat up in time to witness another shock as a man fell from above and landing atop her luggage.
"Ugh." The man let out a groan.
Blinking, it was hard to miss the greatsword protruding from his side. Blood seeped out of the giant wound as the man somehow managed to sit up, his face pale. Both hair and eyes were as black as and soulless as the night. Even the air he gave off was chilling, giving her goosebumps. Ruiling tried to swallow.
"Who're you? Speak!" The corpse's voice sounded deep and inhuman.
Could this be... a ghost?! No, a demon?
With this consistent string of shock after shock, Cui Ruiling had finally reached her limit. Everything went black as her eyes rolled up in the back of her head.