The Dawn of the New World

Princess Ceni gingerly accepted his offer and took his hand.

"P-Please, lead the way."

"Then, do excuse my impertinence."

"Sorry?- AH!"

Before she could say anything he bent down and picked her up princess-style. Her face turned red in an instant, "You d-don't have to, I can walk."

"You can't walk to where we're going, your highness."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

Rather than waste even more time explaining he showed her exactly what he meant. His knees bent slightly before he pushed against the ground and shot up into the air.

"AAH!"

Princess Ceni let out a shriek instinctively but realized she could neither feel the sudden increase in g-forces nor the wind blowing against her face. There was an energy barrier around them both that completely separated everything.

Still, she couldn't help herself and had to hold onto him for dear life upon seeing the vast expanses of land passing underneath.

They were moving so fast that everything looked like a blur for the first few seconds until they stopped. Thinking they had arrived at the destination Princess Ceni loosened the grip around his collar just as he jumped again.

"AAH! CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME BEFORE DOING THAT?!" she berated loudly, making him apologize.

"Please forgive me your highness but you must get as far away as possible."

This lasted for approximately two minutes with close to twenty-three jumps in total.

The world began to stabilize around her for the last time, "We're here."

She opened her eyes on his assistance and got down, stumbling back and forth for a few steps before steadying herself.

'Huh? Sand?'

Her shoes were covered in grainy yellow sand and before she could ask where they were a gust of salty ocean breeze blew threw garnering her attention.

She turned around and noticed the sparkling green water as far as the eye could see. A little to the left and further down was a group of 'people' standing by.

Upon noticing them a humanoid creature walked came out of the group. It was a merman but a lot more human than the ones Princess Ceni had seen before. He had light blue fish-like scales and gills around his neck while his hands and feet were webbed.

"Oi, are you here for the last passage?" he asked from afar.

"Yes," the vice-captain responded.

He quickly came up to them and cheerfully shook hands with the vice-captain.

"I don't know who you are but I really appreciate you financing this expedition sir."

The vice-captain shook his head once, "It is nothing. As long as you deliver her safely to the other side I will be in your debt."

"Huh? Deliver who to where?!"

Princess Ceni realized they were talking about her.

The merman looked at them both and quickly understood what was going on.

"Well, I will give you two lovebirds a chance to talk while I bring Bertha up."

He winked towards the vice-captain and sprinted into the water ocean leaving them alone.

Princess Ceni crossed her arms and refused to move an inch.

"What is going on? Where are you sending me?"

"You must go with them, your highness. He will take you to safety, somewhere they won't ever find you."

"And where is that?"

"To one of the other worlds."

"Th-OTHER WORLD?! ARE YOU CRAZY?! Why don't you just kill me now and save everyone the trouble?"

Each world was separated from the other in every way possible. There were no means to travel between them because they simply existed on different wavelengths of reality.

To actually get to another world and in one piece at that was nothing less than a miracle because one would have to travel through the holes in the fabric of reality.

They would have to pass through regions of space that were completely independent of the rest of the universe, where the laws of nature and more importantly the laws of physics do not apply.

They would move over the veil and into the abyss, jumping from one segmented plane to another in hopes of finding one that led to another world.

There was no telling what they found along their journey or even how long it would take. There was a very good chance they might even all die before reaching it or simply be lost forever.

The vice-captain sighed audibly since he expected some opposition.

"Your highness, please. His majesty has already cleared this and it is the only option you have left. We cannot trust anyone here and from now on things will only get worse. They will find you as long as you stay here so you must leave for now. Once things are settled I will come look for you myself."

Princess Ceni looked into his eyes and could tell he was being sincere.

'But you won't, no one will. Tsk, why am I even concerned about this? If I was sent here then that must mean I will find Hao Xuan as long as I do what I am supposed to do. There is no use trying to fight it.'

"Fine."

"Thank you, your highness," the vice-captain got down on one knee.

Even now when there was no one else to witness them he was still keeping up the formalities.

'What a stuck-up man, I hate people like that,' Princess Ceni thought inwardly and moved down the beach where the other people were.

In total there were about fifteen or so including her. Some young, a few old but all from different backgrounds from the looks of it.

'They must have some stories to tell if they are willing to risk their lives trying to go another world.'

*Splash*