Chapter 3: Handmirror Lake

The drive took longer than she first thought it would. Instead of taking the original road from Grandfather's house, they turned at the first fork and headed closer towards the mountains and deeper onto the outskirts of the forest. All the while, Alisaie was beaming, her heart beating a little faster in excitement as she wondered what these ruins would be like?

Perhaps her father could see the smile on her face from the mirror, for he was also smiling faintly at how happy she was. Still, he was on edge and he wanted to return home as soon as possible. While he dreaded the talk that he had to give, he knew his wife was right and that now may be the time to finally tell Alisaie the truth.

If taking her on a short detour before sitting her down for their talk would help even just a little bit, then he would take it. He glanced up at the sky as he drove, watching how the sun had sunk down even lower than he first though and felt a frown appearing on his mouth.

"It looks like it'll be getting dark soon," Alphinaud pointed out obviously and Alisaie shot him a warning look to get him to shut up, least he give their father any ideas.

"Right," Father said worriedly with his eyes on the horizon. "Mayhaps it be better to postpone it until tomorrow…?"

"No, please, we're almost there, right?" Alisaie begged and he sighed again, unable to bring himself to turn around.

"Very well, but it will still be a short visit," he reminded her as she beamed, "I rather avoid driving out on these roads at night. So remember, don't go so far in. A quick turn at the lake and its back to the car."

"Not to worry, dear. We can come back later this week for just a family day out," Mother compromised, patting her husband's hand comfortingly.

Everyone seemed satisfied with this suggestion as they drove on for another fifteen minutes before they reached a large hill with a few scattering of trees near the foot of the mountain, and the car came to a stop along the side of the road.

"Alright," Father said as he unbuckled his seatbelt, "The lake should be right over here, if I remember correctly."

"It will be nice to see the lake again after all this time," Mother sighed happily as she set the basket of groceries on her seat after she got out.

"You've been here before, too?" Alphinaud asked as he tucked his phone into his back pocket while Alisaie already popped out of the car to go dashing on ahead of them.

"Yes," Mother said happily, "I always did enjoy coming here in the spring when I was a child. It was full of wildflowers, and it was always prettiest just after winter and the blooms were first coming in. It was such a fun time. At least until the ruins were closed off."

"Again, for good reason," Father added as they began to trek up the hill, with Alisaie in the lead. "It is for everyone's safety. Alisaie! You promised not to go far!" he added in warning until she slowed down, not wanting to risk being forced to leave when they just got here.

"I think I can see them from here!" she called, vaulting herself forward after her family caught up and she made it through the last few trees to get a look down below.

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she was filled with awe. It opened up to an enormous clearing of trees and gave her a look into a shallow valley with a sparkling blue lake that was as smooth as a mirror, like its namesake, while being surrounded on all sides by pine trees and wildflowers. It was a flash of color while a sweet, yet piney, scent filled her nose and she gasped at the strange rock formations of crystal also littering the landscape.

It was truly beautiful here, despite the remains of old houses and farmlands here and there that gave a glimpse into the past. It was even better than she first imagined… with only leaving her the mildest form of disappointment that there truly no traces of a palace that could be seen here. If there had been one… it was reduced to nothing but dust.

"Strange," Alphinaud said from next to her and she looked up as he was squinting to get a better look at the houses covered in creeping vines and moss. "These are supposed to be much older than the ruins around Idyllshire. Yet… they seem to be in much better shape than the stone buildings we've seen before… yet they aren't made of stone or anything?"

"I guess that the people of Veobert knew how to make things last. With them in this good of condition, you'd think that people would move in," Alisaie suggested as she looked from the lake and to the distant mountains. "This is a beautiful place to live and everything's in surprisingly good shape."

"That's because this area is prone to flooding," their father said as he approached from behind, looking surprisingly calm as well, clearly enjoying the view with them. "During the rainier times of the year, it's not uncommon for the lake to overflow. If you look down into the water, in fact, you can see the remains of the city of Veobert. With that as a reminder, I can't say that I'm surprised that no one moved back in."

"The entire town at the bottom of the lake?" Alisaie questioned. "I know you said that there was a flooding problem but…?"

"Valleys are notorious for flooding. Once the waters were beginning to rise out of the original lake, the foundation became unstable," he explained. "The people realized that there was nothing they could do to save their city and packed up to leave before the waters drowned them. It's been empty like this since the foundation gave way and the entire city ended up sinking to the bottom. Only the houses on the outskirts of the town survived, but with it so far removed from everything, they too, were eventually abandoned. No one else lived here since the last person left; save for a few wild sheep."

"It reminds me of something out of one of Grandfather's stories," Alisaie muttered as she looked around. "I almost expect some kind of fairy or a dragon to appear and attackb?"

Her father gave an old chuckle, but it didn't quite reach his eyes as Alphinaud pointed to the sharp-looking rock formations that resembled teeth from some giant creature and asked, "What kind of stone are those? I don't believe I've ever seen something like that before."

"Made of some type of crystal," Mother said with a smile, also having finished climbing the hill to join them. "You should see it on a sunny day. When the sunlight hits it just right, it casts rainbows. Oh, this brings back so many memories, doesn't it, dearest? I think that we should return for a picnic or something in the next few days."

"We'll see," Father said as they moved over the hill and more down the slope so that they could get a better look at the flowers.

Alisaie couldn't help but feel cheered up as she moved along, imagining that they were explorers or something as they crossed over into unknown territory. It honestly felt good to be allowed to do something that she wanted for once, and not have her butting heads with her father. Yet, despite her enjoyment, she couldn't help but feel a strange sensation that distracted her. It was this odd pulling feeling in her gut that seemed to be forcing her to want to keep moving forward. In fact, she found herself becoming oddly light-headed the longer they were here.

She gave her head a little shake and instead focused on listening to her brother's excited babble about the possibilities that this land could have become and what it may have been like way back when people still lived here.

"With all these hills and plains I'm guessing that they must have been shepherds or farmers," he said brightly. "Along with the lake and forests, then there must have been no shortage of woodcutters and fishermen here as well. I imagine that much of their work was sent to the town in general…?"

"My little historian," Mother laughed as she ran her hand through her son's hair fondly. "Mayhaps you should look more into taking classes on lore and history next semester."

"You aren't wrong, either," Father added, also enjoying the role of teacher, "These lands often became bitterly cold during winter and they survived thanks to the sheep. They kept themselves warm thanks to their wool while having their bellies full of lamb stew. I believe that their coat of arms was said to be that of a two-headed wolf, born of an alliance between two nations. Not much else is known about it, sadly, save that the name Grueness Licht was linked in some way to the royal palace. But as you can see, there is no such palace. Not even the ruins of one."

"You think that it was destroyed when it flooded?" Alisaie asked, still looking around as if hoping to see some kind of a hint of said palace.

"Doubtful, like I said, there was never any trace of it," Father explained, "While you can clearly see the remains of the city itself in the lake, there was never any hint of anything resembling a palace anywhere near here. More than likely, there was never one at all."

"Pity, I think that one built in such a place like this would have been very beautiful," Mother sighed at the thought. Much like her daughter, she was something of a dreamer and always did have a wild imagination as she imagined a sparkling palace standing somewhere among the flowers.

As her family talked and moved more towards the flower fields, Alisaie felt a sudden chill that caused the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end, along with a sudden urge to sprint off towards the lake. Because of this, Alisaie was losing interest as she felt every part of her being pulling her towards the water once more, not really noticing when her feet began heading towards the path that would take her directly there, not even realizing that she was now walking opposite of her family.

With her parents talking fondly about the past and her brother still going on and on about something or other, Alisaie's boots scuffed the path and kicked up clouds of dirt around her as she stopped at the water's edge.

A slight breeze picked up and ruffled her hair, slowly waking her up as she breathed it in and closed her eyes to enjoy the sensation while the scent of flowers soothed her nerves. It was here that she finally noticed that her family was gone, but she wasn't too concerned. She knew exactly which direction she needed to go to return to the car so she decided that she could spend a few minutes enjoying some quiet.

Still… that sensation was continuing to pull at her mind as she walked. Something in her gut was steadily urging her closer and closer to the water while the horrible sensation of eyes watching them seemed to pierce through her. But when she looked around once more, there was nothing but green hills and pines in the distance.

Eventually, she approached a bit closer to the water's edge to enjoy the setting sun reflected off the water, where she glance down and gasped at the sight below the surface and almost ended up falling in herself. Deep below, she could see the remains of what looked like buildings. They were covered with algae and she could see tiny fish swimming about happily even from here. She looked about for something to help give her a more bird's eye view and spotted some boulders a short distance away. She heaved herself upwards on the stone before she was able to look down at the vantage point and stared at the remains of a town at the bottom of the lake! She could see entire buildings of homes and even the remains of an old church while what appeared to be what was left of some old shopping stalls lining a street; not unlike those she saw back in Idyllshire…?

"Wow!" she gasped to herself in awe. When father spoke of a flood, she didn't imagine it to be of this size! To think that there was enough water to sink an entire town? Her eyes followed the roads until they came to rest at a series of stairs that led up the side of a stone wall and up towards the cliff that pointed directly out over the water.

But then…?

She squinted a little more into the water, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. She could see the perfect reflection of the surrounding area looking back as clearly as a mirror… save for one thing…?

No, it couldn't be? It didn't make sense…?

She felt her heart beating hard in her chest as she leaned ever farther off the boulders and stared at the image of a sparkling castle looking back up. Her jaw fell open in shock before she looked up to the ledge directly in front of her and back to the water. There was no castle there! just an empty cliff… whereas in the reflection the castle towered high and glittered like diamonds in the sunlight and even the form of what appeared to have been butterfly wings of light sprouting off near the tip of the spire, casting even more rainbows around it so that it glowed a reflection of multiple colors.

Again, she looked back to the cliff in front of her but still nothing! There wasn't anything on that cliff! So then why was there a castle in its reflection? A trick of the light or…?

She felt another breeze wafting about her as if a wind came directly for her and she picked up the scent of wildflowers again, even though there were definitely very few flowers around her. That uneasy feeling rose up in her gut though as well as the voice in her mind telling her to find her family and to leave now before something happened. Yet as she was just in the process of sliding down the rock, her hands, which were starting to sweat from nerves, caused her to lose her grip. She then slipped and fell with a startled scream…?

…?

Only to land safely in a pair of strong arms who caught her as if she weighed nothing.

Wincing in slight pain from the impact, she screwed up her eyes to stop her from yelling out, thinking that her Father had come looking for her, when…?

"What are you doing here?" asked a woman's voice and Alisaie's eyes snapped open to see that the person who caught her wasn't her father… but rather a young woman whom she did not recognize. Alisaie was so startled that the image of the castle's reflection was momentarily wiped from her mind as she stared at her rescuer.

Embarrassingly, Alisaie's first thoughts about what was going on was that she thought she was really beautiful…? A woman with long, vibrant pink hair that flowed down her back in gentle waves; while dressed in shining armor of sliver with a sword at her side and a shield upon her back. Alisaie watched with wide eyes as the woman stared back, clearly as startled by this sudden meeting as she was. Not only did she look like the spitting image of a knight from some book of fairy tales… she was holding her up like she was some kind of princess from one of those cheesy fantasy movies.

The two stared at the other, not really sure what to say at that moment, before the woman's eyes narrowed slightly and said in a firmer tone, "Are you lost? You shouldn't be here."

Alisaie, who was still too stunned at this woman's sudden appearance, found herself unable to get her mouth to form words even as she was set back onto her feet.

"Ah, yes… I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't have strayed this far…?" Alisaie blabbered on in an attempt to apologize and play herself off as cooler than she was, but the woman wasn't even looking at her at this point as something off towards the mountains drew her attention. Alisaie turned to see what she was looking at and was surprised to see how much the sun had set since she arrived for it looked to be about twilight now. She didn't even think about anything that was happening nor how much time had passed as she stood there staring at the freaky water castle.

As if guessing what Alisaie was thinking, the woman informed her, "A slight change of perception is all that's needed. Oftentimes one forgets how much time can pass once their minds are distracted."

"Sorry?" Alisaie questioned, not really understanding, but it seems that the woman wasn't interested in elaborating.

Instead, she reached out and grabbed Alisaie by her upper arm, and with surprising strength, turned her about and pulled her along the ground towards the path she used to arrive.

"There's still time if you hurry," she informed her, "You really shouldn't be here."

"Ow! H-Hey!" Alisaie stuttered as the woman pulled her without listening to a word she was saying.

"You need to get back to your family and leave this valley before it gets completely dark and the lights come on," she warned. Even as Alisaie could only stammer out protests and indignation, the woman unceremoniously pushed her along the path and said, "I'll see if I can distract them so you can leave without being noticed, but I doubt that I can keep them interested in me for long. You really need to go! And don't do anything to the leafmen you find scattered along the path!"

Who? And the what? Alisaie didn't like that sudden tone and was feeling the first stabs of fear at the seriousness of the woman's tone and decided it wasn't worth arguing.

Alisaie just started running, almost compelled to do so now, and raced along the path while throwing a confused 'thanks' over her shoulder. As she ran from the lake, heading back up the steep incline, she did slow down long enough to see the woman's back to her as she stood against the lake as if trying to stop something from chasing her. Alisaie didn't like that thought and turned her attention back to just finding her family and getting to the car as fast as possible.

Still, the image of the mysterious woman lingered in her mind and she couldn't erase it even as she moved faster than ever. As she was still trying to grasp what was going on, her thoughts were overtaken when lights from lanterns across the water were beginning to turn on even as the sun's rays were continuing to disappear over the mountains. She looked about, feeling shocked about this when she thought that this supposedly abandoned area might just not be so empty after all.

…

Meanwhile, her family was looking high and low for Alisaie, all of them having different levels of anxiety now that she was no longer in their sights.

"Maybe she's already heading back to the car?" Ameliance offered slowly, "I know that all the shopping we did today must have worn her out…?"

"She couldn't have gone that far?" Alphinaud offered with a frown, shielding his eyes from the sun that seemed to be sinking unusually fast now. "She was just here? Maybe she headed down towards the lake…?"

"Damn it…" his father muttered, looking about wildly, a cold sweat breaking out as he was trying to find a trace of his daughter around. "I knew coming here was a bad idea! I just thought that since the locales have been able to come to the valley for years and there were never any problems…? I figured it would be safe!"

"Honey, it's not your fault," Ameliance said bracingly, "I'm sure she just wandered off. You know what she's like…?"

"She's been wandering off since she was a child… we should have guessed that she'd do something like this," he muttered, "But we can discuss this later. We need to find her and leave right now."

He headed down the slope in the direction of the lake as his wife and son followed close behind, still continuing to sweep about the area for any signs for Alisaie. Alphinaud looked between his father and mother—who was also looking uncharacteristically nervous at this point but he couldn't understand why. Sure he was worried for his sister, but it wasn't like this area was known to be particularly dangerous, though? And like father said, this wasn't the first time his sister had wandered off and gotten lost…?

But as he thought that, he could see what looked like lanterns farther along the eastern side of the lake start to light up, which took him by surprise. He stared at them, unknowingly mesmerized by the sight but also very confused. He had thought that this place had been completely abandoned for years save for the occasional visitor—so why would there be lights going on?

At the sight of the lanterns lighting up, his father swore under his breath and began to call out wildly, "Alisaie?! ALISAIE!"

"Father? What is it?!" Alphinaud yelled out, now feeling a fresh wave of panic himself from how much his father was clearly terrified.

But Fourchenault didn't answer him as he hurried down the slope, his heart hammering in his chest, knowing better than anyone the danger that his daughter was in if such spirits were around them.

"Both of you! Go back to the car! I'll get Alisaie and then we leave!" he shouted back as Alphinaud could only watch on with bafflement. He made to follow him, but his mother grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, concern all over her face.

"Listen to him, we can't risk getting lost here," she whispered as she pulled him back towards the hill they came from.

"B-But mother? What is going on?!" he gasped, now truly scared and confused. "What is happening?"

"We'll talk when we leave," she promised him, biting her lower lip in anxiety. "Let us just hope that your father can find her before they come to spirit her away."

"Who?" Alphinaud demanded, his mouth going very dry at how white his mother's face had become. "Mother? Who or what are you talking about?"

She just looked to him, unable to voice what it was that was now plaguing her heart with worry.