Nebula trudged, her feet sinking in the sand.
"Goddesses above, where am I?", she rasped to herself.
After she had escaped Flumen unnoticed, she had teleported across the continent to arrive at the Midnight Forest.
Only to find, that her old home and hidden realm was now too far out of reach for her.
She had teleported from entrance to entrance, her fear and confusion rising with each switch back.
"It was here! Where the fuck is it?!", she had screamed to the empty night.
With each teleportation her magic depleted immensely.
She stood at the place she had known to be the second entrance, with no luck, and attempted to teleport herself back to the other end of the wood with no success.
Her magic used up, she was stranded.
Her panic took hold and wrapped itself around her throat.
She began to sprint, finally making her way to the other entrance. But to no avail, the Midnight Forest was shut to her.
She could sense it's presence but not like before. It was power and location heavily veiled and indiscernible.
Nebula had fallen to her knees at the tree line, unable to enter, and wept with despair.
"My lord! Please! Have you abandoned me?! Your faithful servant, I've dedicated my life to your worship and yet I am denied!", she shouted belligerently at the quietly rustling leaves.
Tears had poured from her eyes for what felt like an eternity.
After hours of silently weeping at the woods edge, it suddenly became apparent to her that there was no way in, no matter how she yelled or cried or begged.
And now she had foolishly consumed her magic to its end.
It would be days, even weeks, to have enough to portal even once. And that was under good circumstances.
Lacking food, water and shelter, it would surely be longer if she did not find somewhere to recover soon.
Her heart shattered and her throat raw, her hope the only thing left.
She decided the best course of action would be to make her way back to Flumen. She was sure she could make an excuse for her absence.
Callon would surely still have his pound of flesh for her disappearance but if he never found out that she had meant to abandon her position, she could continue on with him until she could formulate a new plan.
With a determined nod she had lifted herself off of the ground and slowly made her way towards the city, glancing back at the forest until it was out of sight. Hopeful that something would change and that she would suddenly be allowed entrance.
Nebula could hear the sound of water but could not see it. The air had become humid and salty the further she'd made her way through the trees, the spacing of the trees growing greater until she finally broke through the tree line.
Much to her dismay.
Her mouthed opened slightly and began to quiver in miserable disbelief.
Stretching as far as the eye could see was water and sand. She looked to the left, then the right, and only found more of it.
Her heart landed heavily in her stomach as she realized that she had gone the wrong direction.
In her fear and anger she had forgotten that she was at the north entrance, or at least what had been the north entrance, of the forest.
Had she been at the south entrance and turned her back to the wood as she had done, she would have been to Flumen in a month.
Nebula stepped forward, her feet raw and unfeeling from their exhaustion, and submerged herself to the knees in the crashing waves.
Her body began to shake.
How had things gone so wrong? How had she made such a monumental mistake without realizing until only just this moment?
She screamed the best she could, her voice squeaking like a rusted unused wheel.
Defeated, she retreated to the edge of the water, where the waves just touched at their crests.
She collapsed to the sand, the world spinning around her. Her mouth as dry as the gritty ground beneath her.
Before she knew it, she lost consciousness.
——————————————————————————
"She could prove to be useful.", the creature said to herself.
Her tongue flicked out, tasting the droplets in the air. Tasting the despair, the envy, the spite.
A moment later, water spirits in the shape of men, drug the unconscious galaxian under the water.
The waves washed over where she had been, the dented sand the last trace of the woman.