-93-

I fell for a while before a hot gust of wind slowed my fall and I landed on my feet.

I looked around a glowing grassy plains that stood before me and the skies of red and black, swirling and flowing but never mixing into one color.

"Well there is a start to all." I said, I've never been able to do this and I do it in a few seconds now? I guess I got even better.

This is a world hidden deep in ours, all of us are connected to it and yet few achieve entering it in their life times. The soul world or more commonly known as the spirit plains even tho it isn't said to only be plains.

I started walking through the dirt path as the grass sank into the ground to reveal it.

When you die your soul gets dragged here, to live with spirits, some good, some evil, this is heaven and hell, this is the afterlife.

Head mages need to be able to access this plane of existence, needing to have a grasp on this world as many answers can be found here but entry is really difficult, your soul is to be set free, escape your body in search of this place.

No one, not even the queen, was permitted knowledge on this sacred place, only head mages had the right to it and was knowledge passed down mouth to mouth to keep the secret safe.

Wind blew like a loud whistle and I covered my eyes, uncovering them I was standing in a dead forest, just tree trunks and branches reaching to the sky as snow fell without clouds and covered the ground, the lost forest.

The lost forest was a cold and treacherous part of the spirit plains, where the souls of the damned wondered in search for salvation they would never find if they weren't meant to leave.

I took a deep breath, face of determination plastered on as I walked forth.

"You are not supposed to be here." A being of many voices said, some young, some old, some male, some female, some at peace, some in pain, some screaming, some whispering but I didn't answer it.

"You do not belong here, you are not a lost soul." I gulped, skittering of hundreds of legs heard from the fog between the trees.

"What are you doing here?" Tears sprang to my eyes as the voices of my parents came from the fog settling over the lost forest.

"What are you doing here?" One voice said this time before another said it again and soon a cacophony of voices were screaming that at me.

I covered my ears but it didn't damped the noise.

I jumped up and slammed my feet in the ground, one knee touching it, a blast of air shooting up around me before I shifted my second leg and spun on my self, blasting the fog away with air.

The voices faded as I stood straight up with a frown, the creature of many voices, the soul stealer, the puppet master, this being had many names as Belladonna taught me and no one had ever seen it, it will try to get you to speak to steal your voice and add it to its collection and you'll cease to exist if it succeeds.

I let out another strong blast of air at the ground that kicked up the snow and when it fell back down I was standing on top of a brown rocky mountain with valleys and mountains until the horizon.

I sighed and started making my way down, watching the dragon-like spirits in the sky, like scaly bodies, powerful wings but with the faces of bears and tails of ribbons.

I squatted down and thrusted my arms in the air, a pillar of stone shooting up from under me and sending me up, blasting flames just as I lifted off the rock to send me higher.

With a spin I threw out a whip of water and laced one of the lower flying spirits, pulling myself on its back, it didn't have a reaction as they couldn't care less for a humans soul.

I rode on them for I don't know how long, searching for a sign about what I was searching for.

The many ways this worlds showed itself past under me and I hopped off the spirit, landing in a jungle, the same gust of wind catching me.

"You seem lost, let me walk you."

"Mother." I turned back to be met with a less serious looking Seraphim there in the tree.

"The spirit plains welcome all whom died in it." I know she would be here but my first reflex would have been to ask how is she here and answered it before I could speak.

"Right, I am looking fo--" "I know whom you are here for, come with me." She walked passed me, here her silver hair seemed unending, she was walking but the hair wasn't dragged after her just creating a trail behind her.

"I missed you, all of you, father, my human parents, all those I care about." I told her after a while of following her through the vines.

"We know." She said, not as much as even glancing back at me. "But learn from the past to build a future, we'll always be with you."

"Yeah I know.... So where is she?"

"Deep deep in the spirit plains, she escaped death by sending her soul here herself and binding it to her physical body, that's how she is dead but alive."

"Do you know how to save her?"

"That's for you to figure out Arianwyn, it is your journey, your goal."

We stopped in a clearing where a deep, almost unnaturally dark blue, lake sat, I couldn't see down into it.

I stepped forwards and despite the depth I could clearly see her body down there.

"Arianwyn." I looked back at my mother. "Do not doubt yourself, doubt weakens the individual, yes you've never had training in the art of wild magic but it is a type of magic that comes from the heart and dictated by feelings, if you doubt your success you will fail." I nodded at her words, it does make sense.

"Thanks....For every thing." I hugged her.

"Of course." We hugged for a bit.

I turned to the lake and took a deep breath and walked in, it reached my thighs when she spoke again.

"Arianwyn magic will be of no help in the realm of the fallen, you'll need to rely on your inner strength, if you fail you'll be stuck with her and all will be lost."

I looked behind me but she was gone, nothing remained, souls tend to do that.

I took a deep before and closed my eyes and fists before resting them knuckle to knuckle.

Suddenly I plunged into the water as the ground under me was gone.

I opened my eyes and I was floating in darkness with blue flowing through it in many hues as I had seen the sky do with black and red.

I started swimming downwards.

I am not getting closer and as she said my magic was nothing.

I need to get to her, I need to.

But why does she seem so far away?

My lungs started to burn and I heard a shrill echo through the world, catching the end of a tail swim into the darkness from the edge of my vision.

The more painful in became the closer this huge creature's calls became and soon its red scaled body with fogged over eyes, a huge under bite that showed its razor teeth, the webbed paws, the shifting blue fines, became visible.

it was sensing my trouble, waiting for my failure to swallow me up, the shrills of it hurting my ears as my lungs screamed at me.

I can reach her, I must.

I gasped as the long slick tail whipped me in the side but caught myself fast enough to only have water in my mouth I blew out before I was slapped down again.

I tried swimming down but was slapped upwards.

So I floated there, covering myself at the reptilian being whipped its tail at me, fighting to not take a breath.

"Mystery there is no such spirit as a good or bad spirit, they all live by their own moral, to have a spirit give you something you need to give it something worth it."

"But how will I know?"

"Study the spirit, learn from it, understand it, some spirits are not what they seem."

I can't offer anything it wants me to fail.

But what if I don't.

My arm shot out and grabbed the tail, it felt like a wet ribbon and as I tugged on it only red ribbon with blue edges came and unwrapped from around my body.

I got it!

I grabbed the ribbon and whipped it at Belladonna's soul and it moved through water like through air, tightly wrapping her as I threw the other end it and it pierced the surface and kept dragging upwards and pulling her up, I grabbed on her arm when she passed by me and let myself be dragged as I clasped my hand tightly over my mouth as my vision blurred.

The spirit was not a creature trying to kill me, the lake had brought my fear of drowning alive as the longer I remained under the more prominent and dangerous it was so the fear lashed out but when I got a grip on it it became a life line.

When I was dragged out of the water I coughed as on the last few meters I did inhale some water.

I looked to the side with a smile to see her soul was indeed up with me and looked around to see many spirits of many sizes gathered around to watch what happened.

I sat down in my meditating position but one fist holding Belladonna.

I came back to my body with a gasp for air and loudly coughed.

I looked into the pond and sighed.

Don't doubt yours powers, you are strong, you are a dragon of silver, nothing is impossible to you.

The green glow that made my clothes and hair float as if I was in water when I healed Em slowly came out, the pond and the drawings pulsed as they shifted from blue to green as I closed my eyes again with a deep breath, concentrating.

"Mystery are you a......Alright." I heard Ethan's voice and several other sets of foot steps but I didn't pay attention to them, Belladonna was my goal.

Like with Em a soundless song rang out, recounting my time alongside Belladonna, from my first day at the castle to the spirit plains.

When I felt the magic dim I opened my eyes and hopped into the pond which was extremely shallow despite how deep it seemed and took her in my arms, hugging her body against me, my forehead against her as I forced the spark of magic brighter.

It came much easier then it did other times.

I backed away when I heard a small gasp.

She was still out but breathing.

I let out a shaky breath as this really tired me out, falling back against the edge of the pond.

"Get the healers now!!" I heard Ethan bark as I just smiled softly knowing I did it.

I brought her back.