Main Prompt Pt2: The Hidden Gate

What lurks beneath?

"Hurry up, Hurry up!! We're gonna lost their trail if we're any slower!!" a beige Stelciar with bright green wings frantically whispered behind him.

"Urgh, I'm going as fast as I can, Mori! You just have a tiny little bun tail and it's easier for you to maneuvre through thick brush like this compared to me!" a sleek pale grey Stelciar replied, their fire and wings a vivid sky blue, their embermark, a unique stamp upon each wing. 

"Yes, yes hurry, hurry!" piped up a tiny orange koi-like Phosray spoke up. Chittering anxiously and waving with her wings towards the grey and blue Stelciar lagging behind, stuck in a low hanging vine. The trio were scrambling to keep up speed with chasing the elusive Stardust! Kinka the orange koi Phosray had found a peculiar mysterious broken statue piece, and had immediately went to her best-bud Mori to figure out what it was, which then led them to talk to ace detective, Aeon, who was also a friend of Mori's. Aeon had heard through the grapevine that an elusive secret lay hidden deep inside the Forbidden Forest, that only showed up after the False Whale disappeared! And apparently other Stelciar and Phosray who had a mysterious statue piece, had been tailing a Stelciar called Stardust to find the secret of the Statue.  Hurriedly they rushed, chasing after Stardust's, pale white sea jelly tail, which (luckily) was super easy to spot against the dark forest forest floor. The trio were also lucky, in that Stardust had yet to catch onto their shenanigans behind her. They continued to sneak deeper and deeper into the dark forest, and the  forest was getting spookier and spookier.

"G-guys... on second thought... s-should we be doing this? What if we get in trouble?" Mori said his brow furrowed with concern causing the small green marimo growths on his ears and face to wobble.

"Just go!" piped up the tiny koi-like Phosray, tugging at his left ear and egging him onwards. The silver Stelciar sighed,

"Don't worry so much Mori. I'm sure Stardust would've heard us bumbling around by now, and anyways what's the worst that could happen? A lecture? It'll be fine, you've got ace detective Aeon with you." Aeon said puffing up with pride, and tipping their deep blue indigo hat.

"Alright, well, that's true. At least there's three of us." Mori said nibbling the edge of his paw with worry. The trio continued onwards, and soon they came to a standstill at a peculiar large mound in the middle of the forest. "What's she doing now, Kinnie?" Mori asked holding the orange koi-like Phosray up over a boulder they were hiding behind. To which Kinnie just shrugged in reply. Aeon facepalmed at the shrug, took of their hat and peeked over the top of the boulder, while keeping their ears and halo flat and down. Stardust seemed to be staring at the mound lost in thought, their pale white tail waving softly in the breeze. It looked like they were making a silent prayer of sorts, before she turned away and started... heading towards them!

"Oh crap crap crap, MOVE HIDE!" Aeon exclaimed as quietly as they could, and the trio scrambled to find a hiding place. Aeon flattened themselves blending into the rocks. Mori, jumped into a bush and Kinka.... well, Kinka grabbed a hold of Aeon's cape and hid under it. The trio sat very still, listening for any change in Stardust's footsteps, as she wandered nearby. Luckily, it seemed she was now in a good mood and was whistling some tune under her breath as she disappeared into the brush. The trio waited for 15 minutes... before breathing a sigh of relief and coming out from their hiding positions. 

"Phew, now THAT  was close!" Mori exclaimed, wiping the sweat off his brow. Kinka, followed suit mimicking with her wing, before hopping back onto Mori's head as he was a much comfier ride than Aeon.

"Pft, if you thought that was a close call, you should've seen me tailing this guy the other day... anyways, shall we get closer and see what's up with the mound?" Mori and Kinka nodded and followed Aeon. The trio quietly walked over to the giant mound. The grassy mound had a peculiar door inlaid into it. Moss and Grass grew all over the door, and vines had begun to creep over the surface of the door. Still, some strange markings could still be made out, they were shaped like a pair of Stelciar flying in the night sky. 

"What a peculiar door!" Mori exclaimed rubbing his chin. Kinka followed suit, also rubbing her chin.

"Indeed." Aeon replied moving closer to the door and brushing a paw across the cool stone exterior. "It must lead somewhere... Stardust surely knows where... but why is it closed? Why is it so ancient looking? How come only Stardust knows about it, and did she know we were tailing her? Surely... but then maybe she didn't, I mean she was whistling. Maybe we should try whistling." Aeon muttered to themself. The trio tried to remember the tune Stardust was whistling, but could only remember the first 4 notes of the song. Still the door lay closed. 

"Maybe the statue piece?" Mori asked, to which Kinka, unpacked Mori's backpack and pulled out the statue piece. The trio looked down at the piece and back up at the door. They tried fitting it into the door! They tried holding it up to the door and saying magical human words like 'abracadabra' or 'open sesame'. But no they had no luck. In the end the trio sighed and gave up on their adventure, packing away their mysterious statue piece.

But as they left the sealed door they couldn't help but wonder what lies beyond~