Henry was practically skipping all the way to the area Lily was hauling us. The streets all looked the same. Flowers adorned everything and pixies and elementals were everywhere. It was the most crowded I had ever seen a level besides the one with The Grapevine on it.
We wove through the crowd and finally found a clear street. This street however was much darker and gloomier than the others. It smelled of moss and water. It was a very earthy smell that filled the air. But it seemed.... slightly rancid for some reason. "We'll be staying here. Very few people come around here anyways and Thor won't think to look for us in a lower level."
We went in front of a house shaped building. It looked like a plastic house from a boardgame. No windows, door, or chimney. It looked like a house that forgot it was supposed to be a house. The only semblance that people were supposed to get close to it was a set of black stairs leading up to it.
Lily walked up and placed her right hand in the center of the wall. "Purchase Faction House." She said loudly. I heard a tweeting sound as the screen from last time appeared before her with options for outside looks. There was skull filled flower pots, a skeleton covered door, etc. It was like an emo got happy go lucky on a design spree of creepy things.
I pointed at a house feature that stood out the least. An emblem above the door that was barely a foot in diameter. It was a flower with a skull in the middle breathing out rose petals. If you looked closely the skull was obvious. But from far away we would look like any other building. "We should get that at the very least. A place covered in dust would stand out like a sore thumb in this level." I said.
Lily nodded before clicking on it. After that we were allowed to configure the building on the outside. The color scheme we decided on was a problem. An overly bright and shiny house with pinkish red paint on the outside and a bright yellow door. The roof was bright green with white spotting. Just looking at it almost made me vomit.
I quickly snatched the color changer from Lily. "You really have no understanding of inconspicuous housing do you." I stated as I went to mess with it. I didn't get the chance before Horacio snatched it from my hands.
"I'll do it. I was an art major before all this anyway." He grunted as he began to design. The roofs color turned a light brown and had grass growing on it with mechanical sheep running around on top of it. The walls were changed to waterfall blue and had fountains coming out the sides going into a moat around the premises. The door was changed into an emerald green with a jewel type of glitter coming from it.
We all turned and stared at him.
"What? I spent alot of points on decorations ok! Didn't want to always live under the context of Lilies design abilities." He complained at us. I felt a smile come to my face as I began to laugh. Beth and Henry followed soon after.
Lily did her best not to smile before strutting forward and pushing the door open. The inside was exactly like our other one had been. A coffin shaped couch sat inside with a large open space. A table sat in the middle with 5 chairs surrounding it. The stairs going downward still needed cleaning which I would do soon after noticing.
The air was clean and the ceiling wasn't cracked like previously. The walls were no longer worn and the wallpaper was smooth. I smiled as I stepped inside. The floor boards didn't creak from me stepping on them. Freshly varnished by the smell of them. I breathed deeply before letting out a long sigh of relief.
Lily looked at the stairs. "Might want to keep up with the chores Sil. You can still get the points if you act fast enough." She said with a slight grin. I nodded before letting the scarabs out. I grinned a little when I saw a few cocoons had formed telling me that I was going to have some more friends helping me out soon. It was then a that a question occurred to me. But I knew it had to be asked after my duties were done.
"What are your pet's like?" I asked the others. Beth held out a hand and was holding a cute ball of light. It had a mist that surrounded it but it had a black stickman like face. Two black eyes and a line for a mouth.
"Mine are whisps. Like the little lights in myths. They light the way or destract enemies if I want them to. But otherwise they just chill around the place." She said as she let it drift around the house. It hung close to the ceiling giving off a ghostly blue light that was kinda beautiful really.
Henry smirked a little but said nothing as his ranch opened up and a small dog walked out. It was the size and build of a Yorkie and had bone armor instead of fur. It actually looked kinda cute if it wasn't for its glaring eyes.
"Not much to be said there." Horacio said with a bored look. He opened his and a cat walked out. It was regular sized and had very little to really speak of besides an aura of darkness that emanated from it. I looked closer as I thought its fur had just moved only to realize it was completely see through. And the thing that had moved was Horacio's foot.
It looked around in a bored fashion before licking its paw and washing its face with it. "Now now. Be nice and say hello Bartholomew." Horacio said tapping the cat which lightly growled at him. "This is why I never let you out." He said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose in a dramatic fashion. Meanwhile Lily didn't move to bring hers out at all.
I looked at her expectantly and Beth stepped forward. "Lily has a bit of a fear see. A fear all girls can understand. She has... bugs. Not the kind you have cause your bugs are nice and cute with a little fuzz still on them. Hers are..."
She was suddenly cut short by a hand in front of her face and another waved, opening the way to Lilies ranch. How do I know it was Lilies? One half was dead and decaying while the other was filled with grass, flowers, and overflowed with life. And there was a couple dozen things sitting amidst it all that made even me a little nervous. Spiders. 20 spiders were before me. But they weren't doing anything threatening.
No. They were doing something extremely comical. In front of the hoard sat a book. It was an exercise book. A yoga book. So I got a look at these little spiders while they were doing their stretching completely ignoring me.
They were as large as a Deshaun dog but their carapace was covered in flowers and grass like a creature that was made from the ground. The only thing that really made them creepy was that they had humanoid skeletal parts for limbs. Human hands at the end of their appendages and four skulls sat on the top of each of their heads facing every direction.
I swallowed nervously at what I saw before relaxing a little. Suddenly I heard a squeal and clicking. On my shoulder sat Khepri and he was squealing and clicking at the spiders in front of me. One of the spiders stopped and turned to me. It actually walked over to the edge of the ranch doorway. It waved at Kehpri very politely and suddenly the gateway shut. I turned to see Lily who was sitting on the floor breathing heavy and seemingly trying not to pass out.
"You're an Arachnophobe." I said in slight shock.
"Yeah. A nasty trick the system pulled giving her pets that she fears more than dying isn't it?" Henry growled in irritation. "If she used them more we would probably be better off. But because she is afraid of her own companions... kinda makes it difficult. Normally we'd just tell people that the system glitched and never gave her a ranch to use. Saves time and avoids dumb questions." He said as his dog turned and entered the ranch area again.
Horacio's cat meanwhile had hopped onto his shoulder and was using it as a pillow to take a nap. Beth called hers down and sent it back to join the others in her ranch. Khepri sadly clicked it's pincers as its new playmates left before grabbing a rag that had been forgotten and taking it downstairs.
I bowed slightly to Lily. "Thank you for showing me. And sorry that it made you uncomfortable in the process." I said as I turned and went down the stairs after my scarab.
Khepri was sitting on the edge of the bucket sulking at the fact he didn't get to play. I tapped his shell. "Hey. You'll get the chance. Just wait patiently." I said as I picked up the bucket and placed it into the cleaning closet.
I heard the chime of the system and new that I had another 20 points stacked up. "Only 40 more to go." I said anxiously as I rubbed my hands together. I looked over at the equipment for the workout room and started my workouts.
The thing about the workout room was that it only served to make your civilian avatar look stronger and more chiseled. Which I already knew. But it also helped to let off some steam. I started bench pressing. The bar was fairly heavy at 40 lbs so I only added two 10 lb weights to it. I started my routine and worked hard at it. As soon as I saw steam coming from me I got up and doused myself with water.
I went back up stairs later to find everyone in different areas of the house. Lily was tending to her plant that was still here miraculously. The sunflower head had grown incredibly large and was pointing toward the artificial sun. Lily had a sad smile on her face as she examined the plant itself. I realized why when I ventured closer.
The part of the plant that was normally black was white and had several odd indentations across its surface. As I inspected it further I realized that the black part was originally seeds and that those seeds had now turned into dozens of tiny white skulls.
"Do you know why skeletons and plants are part of your abilities?" I asked. She slowly nodded seemingly out of it. "Persephone was the goddess of fertility and life. When Hades took her he tricked her into eating a pomegranate seed. No being can ever leave the underworld after consuming the food of the dead lands. But the Gods forced hades to return her. Only for them to realize what happened. The gods couldn't bear a world left lifeless and fruitless. So they struck a deal with Hades. He'd release Persephone for a time every year and she would then return after her time was over. Hence allowing life to continue. But death was always the end. The underworld became Persephone's home. Hence it's poisonous deathly aura penetrated her still. Hence what my abilities are now." She said with a lost look in her eyes like she was looking for someone.
"Maybe one day he'll come back..." She whispered quietly. I looked at her with a quizzical expression. "Who will come back?" I asked. She turned her sad gaze to me for a moment or two before answering. "My husband. Hades." I stumbled back in shock. "You're married!?" I exclaimed.
She smiled sadly but there was a dancing light in her eyes. "My husband holds a unique trait. He founded the Death Hunters many years ago. But every soul has to be handled by him. The system made it so and took him for a time. That was 10 years ago. Now... I have to wait... and wait... and wait... hoping he'll return." She sighed as she leaned on the window looking out at the vast sky filled with flower petals and flying fairies.
"Days like today are when I miss him most." She said as the sun set behind the house and the flower couldn't follow it any more. Then came a knock on the door.