The Light in Aquala

Rivia's Neon began to brighten, swirling in patterns that grew faster and more complex.

The colors shifted from a soft to a darker purple and then to vibrant purples to brilliant golds and shimmering silvers. The air around her seemed to have an iridescent shine, and Mara felt a coolness spread across her skin.

Rivia reached up with her hands, seemingly gathering the Neon threads of color around her like a living mist. They swirled and twisted, forming shapes that were almost recognizable but not quite.

Then Lena and Mara saw what looked like a circle, a shimmering arch of light that flickered and grew. Through it they saw landscapes they did not recognize, forests of glowing trees, mountains that seemed to float in the air, oceans of liquid light.

Then everything was suddenly gone.

Rivia lowered her hands, and her Neon faded back to its usual gentle swirl. She looked tired but happy, satisfied with what she had been able to show.

"What I just showed you is what happens when people with strong Neon interact with the Neon threads. They open portals to the different worlds, various paths that can be followed. There are very few of us that have enough of our own Neon gravitational pull to do this.”

Rivia looked kindly at Mara and Lena. “I have a feeling that both of you will one day be able to do what I just demonstrated. I can tell from how your Neon glows are affecting the vegetation around you.”

Mara and Lena looked around and only then realized that everything that was near to them had changed into the colors of their own individual Neon glows. The plants, the insects, even the fireflies and trees. It seemed like all of the events from yesterday and today had intensified the strength and the effects of their Neon glows, to an extent they never imagined was possible.

Mara sat in stunned silence. Beside her, Lena was equally speechless.

The implications of what they had witnessed and heard were enormous. Rivia was telling the truth, and the Neon truly could connect different places and lead a person from one world to another. Everything they thought they knew was wrong.

They both sat quietly, thinking about this new information and what it means now that they knew about it.

Above them, at the top of the long path they had hiked down last night, the Aquala kept up its steady roar. The sound was softer here than it had been up on the cliff. Every few seconds, a fine mist drifted through the clearing and touched their faces, refreshingly cool compared to the humidity of the jungle area.

The fireflies had come out again while they sat there, even though it was morning. They drifted through the canopy of trees with their lights glowing in colors that were completely unique. Most of them were dark gold or silver while others were a deep purple. A few were orange, blue and green, and an occasional yellow one could be seen.

“When did you realize you could redirect the Neon threads and combine them to open portals?” Mara asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I don’t really know,” she replied, with a look of contemplation on her face. Her gaze drifted past the sisters toward the river, and she watched the threads of Neon blue and silver moving around a few large river rocks that were along its edge.

“I cannot pinpoint an exact moment. I have had the ability to use the threads for a long time. At first I thought everyone could see them. I thought it was normal.”

She smiled ruefully, and a tiredness showed in her face. The grass under her hands glowed a little brighter, as if it had heard her, and her Neon purple glow spread further across the clearing and then drew back again.

“But when I told people about it, they looked at me like I was crazy. Even the ones with the faint Neon glows did not believe me. They could see their own Neon and some of the effects that the Neon had on things, but they couldn’t see all of the Neon threads surrounding us that were moving around objects. They couldn’t feel the Neon threads’ gravitational pulls.”

She let her hand rest flat on the grass and watched the color brighten under her palm and then settle.

“It took me a long time for me to realize that the glimpses of the different worlds I was seeing were real. I stopped talking about them after a while. There wasn’t any point.”

Rivia went on. “So I kept it to myself and soon I was able to collect and follow the Neon threads. I have seen amazing things and visited places beyond my imagination and I always came back home.” She paused. “Until now.”

“What changed?” Lena asked.

Rivia's expression grew thoughtful. “This time, after I had collected the Neon threads and they opened a portal, the threads suddenly became stronger than when I started. They started pulling me further and in a different direction. I saw the waterfall at the end of the portal long before I reached it, and I knew that was where the threads were taking me. I was caught in such a strong gravitational flow that I couldn’t stop. It was like I was swimming in a river that suddenly turned into wild rapids with strong currents that I couldn’t escape from.”

Mara felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Rivia shook her head. “When I’m traveling I am looking for others, anyone with the Neon glow. The Neon threads must have brought me here because your gravitational pulls affected them and changed their course.”

She looked at Mara and Lena, seeing their Neon glows swirling rapidly on their faces. “I know that when two people with Neon are close, they can collect the wavelengths of Neon threads quicker and redirect them. Their combined gravitational pull becomes stronger than the pull of the Neon threads and that is what happened. It was only a matter of time before someone was caught while traveling and pulled to you.”

Mara and Lena exchanged a long look as the weight of Rivia's words sunk in.

Mara thought about the early Season change and the strange readings on her equipment. She thought about the light at the waterfall, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, and the cold blast that had followed it. Could it really all be connected? Was Rivia's arrival here the reason for everything or was it the other way around, like she said? Did they somehow cause all of this to happen?

“If that is the case, what do we do now?” Mara asked carefully, then looked sharply at Rivia. “Or rather, what are you asking us to do?”