Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I am quite curious as well, Mag," Snow said. "Is is something dangerous?"

Mag sighed.

"You can open it if you really want to. But I'm warning you, the result isn't gonna be pretty," she said nonchalantly. Snow, being somewhat curious, opened the door once more.

An avalanche of empty soda cans spilled out, filling the corridor. There were hundreds of them, different brands and languages on each. They washed over Snow in a tumbling cascade, before settling on the floor below about waist height. Somebody had apparently stacked all the cans to ceiling height before shutting the door, and now they were all falling down because of the chaos outside.

Snow, who had thrown his arms up over his face when he heard the first of the cans fall, removed a half crushed can from its landing spot on his head. He made several attempts to say something, but couldn't seem to find the words to describe what had just happened.

"See?" Mag said smugly. "I told you not to open the door."

"I didn't even know there was soda on this world," Mag crowed, laughing hysterically. "The look on your face was priceless, Myu!"

"Well, at least they were empty," Snow said, somewhat relieved. "I'd hate to think what would happen if hundreds of full cans had rained down on us."

"Oh, let's try the door across the hall next! Maybe next it'll be pies or money! Yeah, that'd be awesome!" Mag chattered on in excitement. This was one of the best things that had happened since she came to this world. She'd cherish this memory forever.

"Yes, well, that would be interesting..." Snow said cautiously, not really sure what to think. "Would you like to do the honors this time, Miss Myu?"

Mag stared dumbstruck at the contents of the room.

"Is that even possible?" she asked incredulously.

The room appears to be filled entirely with water from floor to ceiling. Some kind of magic must be keeping it in, for none of it spills into the corridor. Within the water, several schools of colorful fish swim, coral dots the corners of the room, and seaweed waves in the current. Several of the fish hover out to the corridor, circling the heads of the inhabitants before returning to their watery habitat.

"Er..." Snow began, looking to his guardian.

"Well," she said, giggling nervously, "I've seen flying fish, but nothing like this before!"

"I really can't give an explanation. Perhaps we can ask Lady Perla, if we manage to find her." Snow said, smiling happily.

"Forget her!" Mag exclaimed. "Open the next door!"

Laughing at his guardian's excitement, he walked over to the next closed doorway, and pulled it open. He then stood to one side to let Myu and Nyx see its contents.

An endless sea of stars and galaxies swarmed before them. It spun gently in an arc, a miniature representation of the universe. Stars shot across the sky, racing against one another, while others burst into an array of brightly colored lights.

"Oh!" Mag said, voice hushed in awe.

Snow scanned the area, looking for something amiss. Then, suddenly, he picked up on something that he had been ignoring before.

"That odd smell is stronger down in this direction," he said, scrunching up his nose. He had gotten used to it after having been concentrating on other things, but now that he was paying attention to it, it really was quite overwhelming.

"Perhaps the source of it is somewhere in this corridor? If we find it, then maybe..."

"Better find it quickly then!" Mag said, hearing the sound of scraping metal from back out in the main room. "I think junk head is finally getting its bearings again!"

Snow moved down the hallway slowly, face upturned trying to catch the smell as best he could. Each step hesitant, he moved as slowly as he could, trying to find the source of the elusive stench. Eventually, he came to a stop outside the fourth door on the right, resting one hand on it's wooden surface.

"If my senses tell me correctly, then this is where the smell seems strongest," he said, running his hand down the door to the handle. Removing it, he turned back to Myu.

"Don't you think so?"

Snow nodded to her, and steeled himself for whatever was behind the door. He placed his hand on the knob, resting for a moment, before twisting it, pulling the door open.

The stench poured out of the room in clouds of billowing pink smoke, engulfing the corridor. Snow recoiled, taking a few steps back involuntarily. He was lucky to have done so, for soon after the smoke had escaped, a thick, puke green liquid oozed its way out into the hall, stopping just past the doorway.

"My god..." Snow gasped, eyes tearing up, "What on earth is causing that horrible odor?"

"My guess is that it's the goop that's on the floor. Nasty looking stuff!" Mag said, very grateful at this point that there was no chance she would have to touch it. Glancing into the room beyond, she could see that it covered nearly the entire floor like a thick carpet. The room held several marble pedestals, raised to waist height and above the goop, along with another shelf that ran around the perimeter of the room. This shelf was covered in vials and bottles, filled with all kinds of liquids and foreign objects. A cauldron in the center of the room, however, was the focus, as it appeared overflowing with the slime, most likely the source. Peering through the fog, she could just see the outline of another door across the room.

"Hmmm, wonder what's in there?" she pondered aloud. Snow, who had apparently decided that holding his nose was the best course of action, became curious.

"In where?" he wheezed in a nasally voice.

"Door," she said, indicating the general direction.

"Is there any way for me to get across without stepping in the...err...substance?" Snow asked, thinking that it was probably acidic or had other magical qualities that would wreak havoc on his body. The last thing he needed was tentacles growing out of the sides of his feet or something.

"Well, ya got two choices. A, you jump from pedestal to pedestal across the room," Mag paused, just to see the dumbfounded look on Snow's face. "Or, you can just walk around the shelf that runs around the outside of the room."

"I think that option two is perhaps best," he said, smiling sheepishly. "A superhero I am not."

Moving just to the side of the doorway to avoid the leakage, he stuck his leg around, feeling for the shelf. When he hit it, he used the doorframe as leverage, swinging his other leg around and landing on the shelf. When both feet were firmly on the solid surface, he let go, stumbling a few steps forward as he lost his balance momentarily.

"Graceful," Mag commented, snickering. Scowling a bit, he worked his way around the room, stopping where the ledge ended just before the door.

"Miss Myu are you okay?" he asked, looking for the smaller Zahdl.