Sorry for a late chapter post, band has consumed my life. A lot has changed recently and has left me in a tizzy. Do you guys like it when I respond to your reviews, or am I too bland? Should I just go straight to the chapter and not respond or…? Sorry, when you're a sixteen-year-old ambivert, you don't know exactly how to respond to this sort of thing. I'll go ahead and respond to reviews this chapter and let you decide. This is a rather short chapter, by the way, because I'm a cruel person and love to stop chapters on cliff hangers.

Anonymous: No problem, I'd update more if high school weren't such a drag. Don't apologize for asking questions, I love to answer them! As for the RinxLen vs. RinxRei, I'll leave it pretty vague; you're going to have your heart ripped out, then you're going to be so torn between which one you want Rin to end up with, that you'll probably crawl into a corner and have to re-think your life. That is, if I don't change the plot. Have fun. :D

SnowWhiteQueen802: Haha, yes I will continue to update, I'm sorry I take so long! Thank you, I'm glad you think that this is an interesting story, and I hope you continue to read it! You'l eventually come to hate me though, and you will understand soon, because the plot will begin to take off shortly!

Previous Chapter:

There was no sound, much less movement for miles around me. Everything had either flown south for the winter or was currently hibernating. There was no wind here, but it was still deathly cold. I scanned the ground for prints. After a while, I almost gave up, that is, until I found a pair of lone paw prints. They were fresh too, the new snow barely covering them.

It piqued my curiosity, and I quickly climbed down from Maya and followed them, grasping the reins to guide Maya. I ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, seeing the mountains that separated the village from the Royal City. The tracks began going down hill, and I did my best not to slide in the snow. I reached the bottom of the mountains, the prints no longer visible.

I sighed softly and turned around, heading back up the slope. The sky had begun to clear up, and soon the sun was reflecting off of the snow. As I was almost over the slope, the snow caved beneath me and I plunged into a deep crevice.

Chapter 3

It happened too quickly for me to react fast enough. I felt myself plunging deeper and deeper into the cavity, hearing a loud ringing noise. What is that loud noise? I realized I was screaming. I became more conscious of what I was doing and started to reach out for anything to catch myself, feeling my fingertips scrape against smooth rock. There was nothing to grab on, nothing to slow my fall.

I landed with a harsh thud that knocked the wind out of me. My vision became blurry from pain, but I willed myself to not black out. I could only gasp for air, trying to breathe through the pain as I lay there. My right side hurt terribly bad and I struggled to roll onto my left side. I must have been crying, because something wet was on my face. As my vision cleared, I realized I wasn't crying, that there were large green stalactites hanging from the ceiling, water slowly trickling from them. I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position, crying out from my wounded side.

I looked around me, seeing that I had fallen from an opening into an underground cave. It was warm inside, and I slowly stood up, hissing under my breath. There must have been a hot spring nearby, because it was humid. I could see steam further up ahead and I slowly limped towards it. There were several large rocks, some shaped like large logs, others like large boulders. They were green like the stalactites; some were a dark green, others were paler in comparison.

"Have you never seen emerald before?" A voice echoed throughout the cave. I flinched, and groaned as I clutched the right side of my chest as pain shot into my ribcage. I looked around warily.

"I can see that your hurt…emerald has healing abilities, please, do come towards the spring. Drink and reside in it to heal yourself." The voice came again. It was obviously a female, as there was a soft maternal edge to her sweet alluring voice. It almost made you sleepy, as if you were under a spell.

"Come, no need to be wary, as I cannot cause harm to a mortal." She said. This voice said that it could not harm a mortal, something that caused me to break out in goose bumps. That jerked me back to my senses. Was this the voice of a god? The church had described the Lord as a man, but this was by no mistake a woman. I cleared my throat and spoke out huskily.

"Are you…are you God?" I inquired, still looking around as I came closer to the water. There was a pause, and then a giggle. I felt my face flush with embarrassment at how simpleminded I must have sounded. I edged towards the water and looked around. There still wasn't anyone in sight, and I slowly looked down into the steaming water. I quickly screamed as someone else's reflection appeared before me.

I fell backwards and quickly tried to scoot away, still staring at her mesmerizing eyes. The steam began rising much faster and took the shape of the figure that I had seen in the water. Her long hair went to her waist and her kind eyes were looking down at me. She smiled faintly, as her form kneeled in front of me.

"Sweet child, no harm shall come from me to you…please do step into the water, and heal your broken ribs." The figure reached out to me. Her voice was like an angels and it compelled me to listen to her. I felt my eyes closing, my fingers reaching for the hem of my dress as I pulled it off. Pain shot through my body, but I could only focus on her voice.

It felt like my body was moving on its own, almost as if it were floating. There was sudden warmth surrounding me, and I realized I had stepped into the water. My body felt so light and warm. I realized that there was a tingling sensation in my upper chest and that the water was glowing around my body. I've never been so frightened, yet at peace my whole life…it was almost a numbing feeling. The steam had me completely surrounded now, and it was too thick to see the edge of the spring. I quickly began to try to wade back the way I came, but I was then immersed deeper into the water.

Water was pouring into my mouth and nose, burning my throat. I relinquished bubbles of air, watching them slip from my lips and float to the surface. I could no longer move. I could only gaze up at the surface, watching it continue to slip away from my grasp as I sunk deeper and deeper. It was almost as if time had stopped, my body no longer feeling light, but dreadfully heavy. The silver chain and the lapis lazuli charm floated up around my neck, gleaming in the faint rays of light that managed to shine through the water.

"On your becoming of age day, the moon shall shine blood red and the curse will take immediate action against you. A terrible fate awaits you; how you chose to change it depends on your actions."

The alluring voice from earlier was no longer soft and sweet, but cold and cruel. I felt my conscious slowly fading away as my feet hit the bottom of the pool.