LUNA: The Invisible Princess

[Third Person POV]

As the leveling continues, Luna still couldn't help but think of the portals that have opened. She feels like she is connected to what was happening. It’s a strong feeling that can't be ignored.

Meanwhile, when Leena entered the mysterious portal tree, she was taken to an unfamiliar place. She was in a forest and all she could only hear was the sound of crickets and birds chirping. She felt her surroundings and suddenly, a white bird approached her. Her face lit up and talk to the bird.

"White Bird! Can you tell me where I am?"

'You are here in Agua town,' the bird replied.

"Agua? Then can you lead me the way out of this forest?"

The bird squeaked and flew, then Leena followed. It took them twenty minutes to get out of the woods and a road greeted her with different vehicles passing by which differed from Moondrous World. However, it amazed Leena. Now, she can prove to herself that she is indeed in a different world. The bird flew again, and she quickly followed. She almost runs over someone and she just apologizes to the people. She reached a crowded street where the surroundings filled with laughter and talking. It’s so noisy. She gasped when a seller was shouting something she didn’t understand because the words were foreign to her.

"Come, everyone! Buy something to eat! It's delicious and cheap!"

Leena just looked around the busy street. The surrounding people were so busy selling their products.

"Ouch!" Leena fell when someone bumped into her harshly. The man she collided with stood up and ran away without apologizing while carrying something, and a girl at a distance was shouting at the man.

"Waahhh, my bag! Huhuhu, help me! That man stole my bag!" the girl cried while catching her breath. She was still chasing after the man. But the surrounding people just ignore what is happening.

Leena stood up and narrowed her eyes at the man. Without wasting time, she chased after the thief. Because of her super-speed, she caught up with the thief and immediately grabbed the bag, causing the man to stop running. They fought for the bag, but Leena overthrew the man away. The man winced in pain. Leena looked at the man with a deadly glare. The thief stood up in a hurry and ran away in fear.

"Waaahhh, my bag! Huhuhu," the girl coughed and stopped running in a huff.

Leena immediately handed the bag, and the girl stopped crying and hugged her bag like it was so precious to her.

‘It must be important,’ Leena thought and looked at the girl.

"Waahhhh, this is my bag! Huhuhu, thank you! Thank you very much!"

"It doesn't matter. That idiot hit me, so I chased him." Leena said, emotionlessly. The thief still pissed her off.

"Still, thank you very much! What's your name?" the girl asked with a smile.

"Ah, I'm Leena Ayesha McCleen. And you are?"

"Your name is beautiful! My name is Marga Asuncion!" the girl held out her hand for a handshake.

Leena smiled and shook the girl’s hand.

~~~

[Leena]

I looked around the house. It’s so… simple and comfy. Marga took me to her house because of my request. I told her I had no place to stay in the meantime. She agreed to let me stay temporarily in return for giving back her bag. She said she will help me find Luna.

The house is made of wood; it is simple and airy; the furniture is also simple and made of wood. Well, the house is small and has only one bedroom, but it is quite large enough to fit three people in the bed. Also, the house has a small kitchen and living room. But it looks fine because it's clean.

"Please excuse my house, Leena. I'm poor, but I can say that my house is okay. At least that’s what I thought. Hehe."

"No worries... your house is ok. The only important thing is that I can sleep while I look for my twin sister. And your house is indeed comfy and clean." I said, and that made her smile.

"Yay! Finally, I have someone with me at home!" she said with excitement.

I just smiled at her. She seems so energetic.

~~~

When afternoon came, Marga showed me around the town. I found out that there was a castle close to the town. The Paladdin Castle. Marga told me about the town and the castle while I just listened to her. Until we arrived at a plaza. Surprisingly, there are so many human-shaped statues around. It covers almost the entire plaza. It’s kind of weird though.

"Why are there so many statues here, Marga?" I asked, curious.

"Ah, that?" she uttered and looked sadly at the statues. "They are the people who turned to stone because of Medusa..." huh? Medusa? My eyebrows furrowed together.

"Huh? Who is Medusa?" I asked in confusion. Marga sat down on the bench while sighing, and suddenly, tears rolled down her face.

"Medusa is a half-snake and half-human. Her hair is covered with snakes and when you look into her eyes, you will turn into a stone. That happened to those people..." she said while pointing to the statues and wiping away the tears on her face.

My eyes widened while looking at the statues. Now I know why the plaza looks abandoned. It reminds them that these statues were once alive.

I looked at Marga when she continued. "She's my best friend. When we were kids, I knew she wasn't normal. She covered her hair with a cloth and she was always wearing a shade. She never removed it and she always told me not to touch her shades and cloth over her head. Once it is removed, anyone who sees her eyes will turn into a stone. I used to laugh at her because I thought she was just joking, but suddenly, a cat jumped at her and her shades were knocked off. When she stared at the cat, it turned to stone. I just stared at the cat, dumbfounded. And she shouted that I shouldn’t look into her eyes. Since it scared me to turn into a stone, I did what she told me to do and I’m glad I did."

Medusa was scary. But I know Marga’s best friend is not the real Medusa. Because the real Medusa was long dead.

"How did she become a half-snake?" I asked because an ordinary human can’t have such scary power unless the girl was being cursed. I found out that the people in this area have no powers. Fortunately, I haven’t used my power yet or else they’ll get scared of me.

"I don’t know. Only the people in the palace know the truth. And because of what happened to the people who turned into stone, the King ordered his people to look for Medusa and kill her."

"So Medusa is hiding now?"

"Yes, it's been three years since I saw her. You know I somehow missed her. She is my only bestfriend. Medusa won’t be hiding now if it isn’t because of me. She just defended me from those who bullied me. In the end, she was being bullied too. Those bullies took off Medusa's head covers and shades without warning. When Medusa shouted to close my eyes, I immediately obeyed her. Despite her warning, everyone looked at Medusa and even taunted her with disgust and shame. Of course, looking at Medusa’s eyes has a price to pay. So in an instant, they turned into stone because they didn’t listen to us and now they are still standing here." She said sadly and let out a deep sigh.

Suddenly, we heard a lot of footsteps. When I listened to the sound, it was a horse’s footsteps. We looked at the road and a bunch of knights riding on a horse coming our way.

"What are the knights doing here? Are they patrolling?" I whispered as we hid at the back of the benches.

"They are searching for Medusa again."

I nodded and looked at the statue next to me. It saddened me because he was a child.

"Look at this poor child..." I uttered.

"Yeah," Marga sighed.

I touched the statue of the poor child and it surprised me when Marga suddenly yelled at me in horror.

"Don't touch that!" but it was too late because I had already touched the statue. At the same time, it surprised us when the statue gradually cracked and our eyes widened because it tumbled down. An unconscious child was now lying on a cold floor. Marga and I looked at each other, perplexed.

"What happened?" I shrugged because I don’t know what happened either. Marga checked the child’s pulse and her eyes widened.

"He's still alive! This is a miracle!" she said in astonishment. She looks at me, full of hope.

"Leena, try to touch a statue again..." Marga said as if she wanted to confirm something. I looked at the statue next to the child. Maybe this is the mother. I approached the statue and slowly touched it. It gradually cracked and fell like what happened to the child’s statue. When we look, it’s an old lady, also unconscious. Marga checks the old lady’s pulse and confirms that she’s alive.

"I knew it!" she said with a smile and looked at me with tears of joy in her eyes.