Welcome back! Before I start this chapter, I'd like to bring up one related thing and one unrelated thing. First, for those of you who participated in my poll last story, I am writing Sdurb, and that will hopefully be up in January. Second, for any of you that have seen the movie Dark Shadows, look up David Collins. You know, the little kid that could talk to the ghost of his dead mother. Yeah, compare him to Kankri Vantas for a second. Anyway, let's start.

I don't know why I didn't expect to end up in a different place in Underland. Maybe it was the thought that returning here was meant to spur my memory. Maybe I thought that this was a test to see if I could get into Underland, which I was clearly capable of. Apparently, this was the gateway between the real world and Underland.

I got through the room hastily, not making any mistakes. But this time, when I walked out of the door, I was alone. Nobody was waiting for me. So, without much left to do, I walked aimlessly through the we had defeated Lord English, it didn't seem that peaceful. There was still the indescribable tension in the air, as though there was still war. It made me feel slightly nervous.

Soon I found myself in the same forest that I had run from the Alternian army. This time, there were no consorts here to guide me, and I couldn't find Hussie.

"Do you need some help?" someone asked. I turned my head, and saw the same girl hanging by the arms from one of the tree branches. At least, I believed her to be the same girl. This time, she seemed cleaner, and her clothes resembled those of a knight. She still had the same long hair, and her blue eyes were a bit greener.

"You again?"

She laughed and released the branch, hitting the ground with a thud. "Yeah, me again. Nice to see you too." She opened her hand and blew dust in my face. I coughed and tried to wipe it away. I looked down. I was now back to my normal height. "Where I come from, we say hello first."

"Lys, how did you get here?" I asked, choosing to ignore her use of magic and her blatant smartass-ery.

"Rose, I think we have established that this is a real place. Did you truly think that you were the only one with access to Underland?"

"I always thought that this place was... Untouchable by the rest of the world," I replied. Frankly, the idea of having other people here scared me.

"Very few make it here. Even fewer realize that this is real. The people who realized this are cursed with the burden of being split between worlds," she said, suddenly very serious.

"Cursed," I muttered. "Can you lead me out of here?"

"I could," she said.

"But you won't, right?" I asked.

"Well, I never said that. Awfully rude, that is, to assume. Ha, they tell kids my age to respect our elders. Where's our respect? The teens are tough years, and no one cares." She looked at me. "But you're pretty young too. What do you think?"

"Well, it's odd to have such a serious talk with a teenager, I will admit. But I can relate." I was being honest too. She seemed way too grown up to be a teenager.

"But yeah, I can show you the way. Which kingdom, Skaia, Prospit, or Derse? Pick your poison."

"What happened to the White Kingdom?" I asked.

"That fell apart a few months ago. It split into the warring kingdoms Prospit and Derse. Skaia's the middle ground. Which one?"

"Skaia, I suppose," I replied. I hadn't seen any problems in the White Kingdom when I was there. What had caused war to erupt so quickly?

Lys stood and led me through the forest. I was skeptical at first when she said war, but I was forced to believe her. Some of the trees were pushed down, and many had holes blown through them. The few bare patches of land were piled with carapaces and blood stained the grass.

"Sad, ain't it," Lys said, kicking the dirt. "This isn't even the beginning, I think. It'll probably get worse, too. War sucks."

"I thought it would all be better after we defeated Lord English. I never thought that war would strike again. It seemed so happy," I said. "So safe."

"I studied the politics when I was younger. Believe me, it was anything but. The turmoil between the two races was sickening. I'm surprised they didn't break out into war sooner."

"Really?" I asked. She nodded. "I never knew." The blood-stained grass gave way to a painted ground that looked like a chessboard. In my head, I saw Lord English and my friends, fighting for peace. Obviously, our victory had been short-lived.

Lys stopped as we saw the outline of a kingdom. "If I go any further, I'll get you in trouble. You're on your own for the rest of the walk. I'll see you again Rose."

"Good-bye, Lys," I said. I watched her walk away, thoroughly confused. What exactly had she done? Was she some sort of criminal? Then again, she didn't seem as though she was capable of doing wrong. Besides practical jokes, insults, and smartass comments, she seemed innocent.

Shaking these thoughts from my head, I began to walk to Skaia. As I went on, the blood got worse. At least the fallen soldiers here had been picked up and (hopefully) buried.

It seemed disrespectful to leave them out here. After all, they were just soldiers following orders.

Even though it looked like I was close to the kingdom, it didn't seem as though I was coming close. There only carpaces that I saw were raiding the remaining dead bodies, and when I tried to speak with them, they ran away. Suddenly, I was very lonely. Last time, I was never truly alone. One of the other heroes was always with me.

I sighed. This was going to be a long walk, and thinking wouldn't get me to Skaia any faster.

I know, it's a slow start. And short chapters it seems like. But it will get more interesting and awesome. I promise. Leave a review if you want to tell me how I did, or what I can improve on! I'll see you guys next weekend. Also, if you like my writing, you may like my other story, Prompts via My Reviewers! Oh jeez, I have to go before I keep self-advertising.

Alright, I'm out.