'Clang!'
'Ting!'
'Tak!'
The sound of dropping items are simultaneously heard in the room. Zari, who followed his father inside heard Huan and dropped the box he's been holding. Luckily, there were no glass containers inside but the cooking utensils were scattered on the floor. Tala's image blurred and in a moment, she's picking up the scattered items on the floor. The rest of the family remained silent.
"Let's go." Eder led his family towards the wooden wall and they all entered. In the middle of the big room, something like swirling water rippled and faint noises can be heard beyond it.
His heart thumped. He had not heard this sound for like eternity. He held his chest and breathed in before he turned to look at his big family.
"Wait here." Then he carefully stepped into the the void. When his body completely disappeared, Latini spoke.
"Your father needs to survey the area first then we can go. Find your sister, we're going home." She hid the excitement in her voice but her twinkling eyes gave her away.
The three siblings nodded and immediately walked out of the room. It's almost dark anyway so Sasha's anger should have cooled down for now. They first looked around the house, calling her name. When she did not respond, they ran out to search for her. Huan already transformed into his hawk form so his range should be wider and with his elder siblings, the search would be faster.
But no matter where they look, Sasha can't be found. They combed through the forest and found no traces of her. Huan flew towards town instead and his siblings followed stealthily. Unable to find her, they met up somewhere hidden. Huan did not bother to cover up and just hid behind the bulky frame of his elder brother as he reported.
"She's not anywhere. Ino, can you sniff her scent?" He calmly asked. Wolves have stronger sense of smell so he's more confident finding her this way. Zari looked towards his elder sister.
"Tala, check the waters and go home. Pack our stuff and wait for us. Baba should be done scouting the entry point soon." He instructed and not bothering to look back, Tala slithered away. While she worried about Sasha, she's more excited to go home with her family. And she trusted her brothers to find their little sister soon.
There was not much to pack at home anyway, Tala grabbed all the items that they brought from Toradashi and put it in her own space treasure. Their baba, Eder, gifted it to her when she came of age and has not used it since. Today, this came in handy and she's able to stuff their things on her space treasure.
She went back to the hidden room and found her mother still waiting for their father to come out. She can hear the birds chirping and leaves swaying on the other side but all she can see right now is something akin to rippling water.
Tala looked at her mother's face. There was trust and confidence in it.
"Do you want me to check on Baba?" She inquired.
"No, you'll get lost. He's making a pathway for us now. Let's wait. Where's Sasha?" She did not leave her gaze from the void.
"She hid somewhere but the boys are already on it." She said and offered her something to drink. Latini sipped from the glass but did not take it.
A few more minutes in and the heavy panting of Zari could be heard. Nearby, a hawk is screeching continuously. Latini turned and instructed.
"Help Sasha change, we don't know where we'll end up on the other side so pack something for weather extremes."
"Nana. Sasha. Is. Gone." Zari said in between his panting. His face showed a helpless look.
"What nonsense are you talking about. Hurry, bring Sasha over and get her ready. I'll explain everything to her once we've crossed over." She urged Zari once more but he looked more troubled. In the end, he sighed and spoke.
"Huan surveyed everywhere but did not find her. When I followed her scent." He paused and Latini stiffened.
'No!' she felt her knees sealed and she stumbled backwards. A pair of strong arms saved her from falling.
"What happened?" This time they heard the voice Eder and looked to see him supporting their mother.
Zari told him the same story and finally said,
"Her scent ended where I picked her up before, where she tried to walk towards town and fell asleep under the tree. That's where her scent remained and I did not find any movement from there anymore. Baba, did she perhaps transform due to her emotions."
"Even if she transforms, her scent won't change." Huan said matter of factly.
"And besides, you said there were no other scents on that place. Nothing happened."
"The gateway opened." Tala, who remaining quiet all this time, finally blurted out.
"The gateway is in this room. Sasha doesn't even know this exists nor would she be capable of opening this room." Huan kept his cool and tried to rationalize. Tala shrugged and sighed in defeat, not noticing the horrified look that Latini threw to her husband as they conversed.
"Well, that's the only thing I know that happened. I'm just saying."
"Yeah, that must be it! The gateway opened!" Latini cried out.
"Nana," this time Tala wanted to repeat what Huan just said but Latini waived her hand to stop her and turned to Eder.
"Tell them." She urged as she scrambled to get up and stand straight. Eder breathed deeply and spoke.
"To enter Toradashi, one must go through the gateway. However, there are fissures in space that sometimes open together with the gateway and those fissures allow one to enter directly into Toradashi."
Their curious looks suddenly became full blown horror as Eder explained everything to them. Sasha. She didn't coincidentally found an open fissure and entered Toradashi, did she? How will they be ever able to find her? Oh dear!
"Is there any way we can find out if she entered Toradashi or not?" Zari urgently asked. They need to start looking for her as soon as possible. Before she runs into trouble. With her current temper, she is bound to provoke a lot of people. And these are all people capable of killing!