The small grey tiled floor were the only open space in the density of plants. To get here you would have to sing to them or cut you way through. Little flower fey trot about making sure their Lords and ladies favourite place was clean of dirt, decay or free of mess from evil feather monsters. Delicate little people whose village is the very vines protecting this spot.
"Its been years since I last sat here. I was talking to Mother about her plan to spread more forest across to other countries and realms." The youth spoke gently to the trees around him and was in great delicate touch with the fey butterflies sitting on the wood carved table.
They smile in welcoming the young, little low tone voices hyper asking about the outside world beyond this island. He smiles back with them, listening to something different. He wasn't listen to them in the sense of their months moving.
"You see, I broke my soul in two at first. This part will and never left this country. You could say that I am bounded as a dead soul to this place. It terms of breaking the no leaving the country law, I haven't broke it. I am stuck here." The fey are tilted with how the prince was... now changing, "Looks like my other half has killed himself."
The pull of powers flexs as soul fragments puts breath into lungs. What was transparent flesh has now filled out and plumped with life. He stood to fast in a moment of celebration when clunched as all sorts of old scars and new scars carved themselves to his flesh... breathless by how much agony he was in.
This had not exactly stopped the pain, a moment suddenness of clear mind. It was as if he been trained to ignore this, as if the threshold of tolerance to torture held nothing over him. Deeply, it was distorted second wave of feelings that clashed then washed away.
"Well, inpite of having four ribs out of place and snapped off. I really do have some work to do." He shook in a being thrown with waves of to many voices in his head, but they too settled as background statistic.
The fey trees bends and twisted, hugging around and created a bark wood corset... a sort of stabilizing method to keep his back straight as it healed. Vines do tendrils that warp around arms and legs. Moments of stepping forwards had clicked displace shards of bones pushed into thier places. Limb joints pulled into stronger muscle tendence. His voice tested and ptiched accordingly the further out of his mothers secret garden he is.
"Hey!" He pointed a finger the snaps in joint with a plant mirror the movement, "You tell my beloved uncle to get his sorry kester here and make it quick. Tell him I will be at the church."
The inhuman noble rank Damned drops all mock of being human, as it mask twisted into sick and proud smile. Stepping backwards into a spirit door of its making, to do as the prince asked.
The skin over the structure warps and stretched, bloating out. Blistering and discoloured. He pulls off the cloth illusion that he casted the moment of his previous dead. A grown young man with tanned skin and sleepless eyes. He was more exhausted looking then dying.
Opening the hallway doors and instantly off to do living needs, like eat and have a wash. He does so in great enthusiastic dances, no longer really taking life for granted... even in needed the basic of needs.
"You are looking well." The young prince froze at the spot with how rude his reflection spoke.
He was ignoring the long stretched metal mirror that was instilled by his grandmother. This mirror reflected light from the garden back to the plants, as acting as a green house. This single metal sheet warp not tapped by any modern machines but pulled shape by the artist whom master flame magic. The imperfections of the metal sheet looked more like decorative stamped veins, this distortion was what blurs your reflection when looking at it.
"I dont remember you." He looks into the reflect as the less blurr it became. It soon warped and pulls out of the relfect, a blank stone oval... it cracks in breaking two eyes through, thus being a impression of face, "What are you?"
"I am you. The... well the fragments of soul lost out of space and time." It mouth breaks through and dusty creaks mashed in motion of lips. The rest of it pulls as inky fluids and it twirls in pulling into a liquid like cloak. The mask hung half over the face, "You have me to blame because I asked the outside you to fetch the spells book." the masks voice rings in speech him his mind then it did making any vibration to air.
"So my other half died because you told us to walk in death's Domain?" the prince ask out loud still and the sense having that answer filters in his mind, "I should continue where I left off."
The Manor house was several mansions morphed into one. The shape was sort of donut like, with the secret garden at the very centre.
The corridor around the garden had a parallel twin. All rooms between were used as government offical duty spaces. There is several stairwells for house servants to get up to the Royal closed section. No one uses the inner corridor as people whom try were used as plant fertilizer. It was safe to say, only royals and those trusted can walk the inner corridor due to close connections to the plants and fey whom live there.
The Manor has many rooms that were not used by even the royals as there whole villages of spirits and inhuman things. From cursed objects to the few lost gods that became followerless.
The Royal mages were peace keepers of the strange. The land is full of these many gates to other parts of this world and other worlds. All poeple are followers of all faiths, each practice at the request of the spirits. The island is so inflexed of strange energy that the poeple are magic adapted, bending nature's law at the cost of health. Royals and nobility was higher staus, not for there money or influence of poeple but the ability to do more with magic the average.
Those whom fail to have any ability is mind wiped and smoothed into another countries population. There is a inward cult system where those from outside with ability is captured, taught and then sealed protected by mage laws. Tattoos mean everything from breaking laws of mages to breaking spirit laws set by the Hunters of oath. There is a sort of moral grey area that mage royals and Guilds of hunters are peacefully negotiate.
"Prince..." The bow of a trusted servant at the bathroom door. They are going to say a long list of things.
"Dont talk forever about everything, Geryscale. It would likely just be by the time you die of old age when you final finish trying." soaked long enough and stepping out. Some habits from the life away from here are managing to be here to. Prince drying off with a towel then well... using magic. Adapt at breaking all rules without the cost of health - still chooses the least helpful way of doing things. The servant looked up confused with watched these mannerisms. It wasn't royal like at all. Even in putting clothes on.
"Where is Uncle Mark at this moment?" chooses to use magic for styling hair and painting runes with many colours. Most of these patterns weren't for human knowledge and it makes the servant shiver.
A lot of this shivering was due to the thoughts with being asked where his masters murderer went, his master being dead as dust and the very wrong with seeing the young man doing things unnaturally in confidence.
"He was outside of the Isle among the none. He was livid over a current set of new mages. He was has became dangerous in hearing that you requested him back home at church."
"Grey, your chin is flaking off." The reflection of the prince wasnt mirroring his master at the mirror having his paint done. The subtype demon steps backwards, as the servant is in God cloth. Making sure that the demon was every fleshy bit human to anyone. Even mages with thier eyes. To be pointed out to have his scales and demonic shape... wasn't healthy. However, given the runes the prince is painting on himself and the discord of his soul not mirroring the body. This made the demon think it was likely natural that god wear wouldn't work against primordial rune.
"I appreciate the point out... but it is not much I can do." The bow was sincere once more and with confidence. The many paint brushes were put away and the marks of runes were so blended together seamlessly, the primordial runes could not be copied by anyone else. It was talent at its finest, to how the runes seem to keep working inspite of being altered by other runes on top.
"Well... I guess it be like having a healthy adult wisdom tooth pulled out with a wire cutter." The young man walks past... no walked through the demon. The law of spirits unbroken, when it should not have been for a dead human to walk through a spirit pretending to be human, "It would be a very bloody trouble for you."
Turned with a hand snatching the demons clothing callor, pulling shadows around them both with the other. The Prince drags the servant instantly through outside of the Manor, dropping the demon ground.
The crowd around was to focus with trades or life business to realize that the royal brat was stood at there back. The demon stands with coughs and dusting off. Having choked in the dark mist of the what the demon can assume was teleporting.
In being all prideful and proper, the demon had to quickly catch up with the young prince storming his way in between the other humans of the crowd. People avoided the demon but wasn't paying any mind about the royal brat fleeting impressive dodging skills.
Such ignorance was broken as the prince continues to act improperly, the lad stopping to a food stall of fruit and helping the owners pick up dropped products. The large brute of the farmer was a then a suddenly pale ball on the floor bowing to the prince.
"Dude, don't bow to me. I am the least formal royal that ever lived." The lad picked the farmer from the floor, "You're more important then me. You fill empty bellies and give the weakest of us jobs on your fields. You, my friend, are a unsung hero. Don't ever let a stiff lipped noble dishonor you place in society." The face of the farmer and the farmers wife were gasped at how realistic thinking this kid is. They still bowed but not to the dirt like any other noble would have made them do.
"And you, you are a healer. You're gifts are given to you for a reason... its best to continue practicing them. Never give up." The prince said this to the wife and gave no indicator of leaving. He was at the seconds of saying something else but quickly just turns away. The two stall holders watched him walk away, still waiting to hear him say something else. Posing confused looks to each other when it was sure that the kid walked to the church of gods. Whispering questions to each other about the whole interaction.
"Grey!" The demon was pulled by darkness and dropped at the floor of church, "Can you fetch me..." the prince thinks a moment of what he was about to ask the demon and changed his mind. The kid picked up the demon, forced the demon to change from mock human to a small creepy stick man. Placed the servant to his shoulder.
The prince then further continued to steal or replace things around the church grounds. From taking all the holy water from the baptize bowls or completely making broken God statues be dropped into darkness and pushing a much nicer detailed versions on place. He would repeatedly do this for every statue of everything here. Leaving approved god offering at the surrounding of everything statue.
"Dont you dare touch my statue with your..."
The prince flicked holy water over the god and the stares confuse for a moment as if he could not tell if the spirit god wasn't human or not. He poke the god in the arm and shrugs the blank expression of the God. He proceeded with ignoring the fella and took down the statue and replacing it. Putting a few very exact necklaces and gemstones in the statue hands. He steps back in studying the statue, he gives glance at the god spirit and back to the statue. He now also froze with staring.
"You are meant to be a pile of dust. I made sure that you were char." The strom of power had shattered the church door in splinters.
"What in the many gods is wrong with you, uncle? Do you realizing how hard it is to farmer wood out of yggdrasil?" The prince hissed in walking past his uncle and inspecting the door, "Oh. Never mind. This is a ash tree wood." he picked up a door chunk and tossed it backwards into the void of nothing. He turns it pulling a new door out and taking battery power tools out. A level spirit to aligning it by hand. He mutters to himself with replacing doors is child's play.
"What has exactly happened here?" the god asked in trying to be not inflected by the growing cursed ambiance around the Dark Royal.
"I dont really need to be here then." Three grim reapers looked to a fourth. They all mutter and now the fourth is joined in flicking pages of miniature death tomes. Each unable to really find the names of whom their meant to be collecting here. The Spirit god stares at the four death gods, perplexed by the issue of them acting like this.
"Stop looking for my names, Grim. You would be the ones I collect if you do." The four stop instantaneous. The death tome slammed a echo across many. The holt in taking souls, "Will you just skip me and get back to work. Your Death gods have to much to do then standing around waiting for time to die." All four took that at face value, left without further pressing, "Apprentices... they never understand." Pulling the drill through the wood and the door now sufficiently standing. He tries the hinges and then sprays something over it. The aerosol can wasn't in his hand but it still sprayed real WD40.
"Maybe I should ask what you been up to, since you seem to be a little to alive for my liking."
Mark growl and had even snarls as his being totally not respected by the one person that used to kiss the ground he walked. It was causing a strange feeling in the cold dark heart.
The prince having swept up every last shard of wood from the floor was now back to musical statues dancing. Flicking holy water only at every finished standing statue.
"I hate you too." The prince tone with accent that didn't belong to mage society. It were disgusting for the adult of the room to take. Why has no spells been casted? There is a diplomatic void of energy which would not all any sort of elements to be bent here. Not even darkness or light was to be disrupted by souls here. Its further to panic why the prince would be pulling off such feats of removing god statues like he is. Making old statues disappear and new ones appear.
"I want answers." His uncle takes a few steps to stand over the boy, at the spliting moment to strangle the very voice from him. The Kid slips around at impressive dodging. The displacement of weight of his uncle had tripped the man to the floor.
"I think you missing something." The boy is now the one standing over and peering about his uncle... worse was his further choose of words, "Well, not exactly my doing at all. You make the complaint to the nut job mask side. His the freak for gore stories." The boy turns away and stood with inspecting the church ceiling, "I mean... If I wanted I could but then that just a hassle. Why do that when I already have had enough tome cleaning after your mess? There becomes a point where I am sure both death and life are just going to kick you in the but out of time and space. If that happens, don't come crying to me about your screw up."
"I dont think the lad is talking to you as you think he is." The spirit of the god making some answers to Mark's angered questions. The man seething in trying to get answers from all of corners of the universe by prayer at this moment.
"Since when did gods ever listen to me?"
"Well... The rules aren't completely fixed yet again." The prince was staring to empty space, he seems to watch dust drifting from the ceiling to the floor. He look back up in a light scowl and then back with looking at his beloved uncle. Now that the man as lost a few marbles and was fuming at the mouth long enough.
The kid just smiled back with knife at his own throat. He shivers with long thoughts as once again, he knows and for sure is not accepting this need. He in fact just stopped having any emotion showing at all, blank as a China clay dolls in fancy dress.
"Would you please next time just throw me into the moat like I suggested? Disintegration of my ashes isn't going to cut any slack for either of us." The blade torn from throat to sternum. It were swiftly adjust straight to the heart and slipped around the back of the neck, disconnecting the heads signals from the body.
"Maybe burning you to hell isn't enough." The creep of what would remain as the only true living blood, check triple sure thay this twirp is actual not going to come back.
Added, he wasn't going to take orders from a snot like this. Ordering his puppets in the dark to stone seal this corpse with the brother and meant to be his wife. Those three don't deserve any part in the afterlife. They would only get in his way to bring down the powers of the one whom murders all.
"It's almost amusing that you think that." The ceiling spoke. It drops blobs of blacken goo at a centre of this statue chamber. It the was dropping materials within the goo to land there.
Such as several thousands of versions of necklaces knotted together. Pendants of all the faiths and the counterparts from other worlds having miniture necklace pendents too. It stood tall claws meshing about the knots, softly snarling as the worse the mess of necklaces were tangling the hands. More fingers were forming to hold bits or pull sections. A distraction to take away staring at more gathering gods and followers.
Many lower at shock of seeing the young dead on the floor whereas the nobility were at bow to the royal seething at the meer disgrace this interaction with his nephew. The boy was beyond everything but what his poeple call him as.
"Get that corpse out of my sight and bury him with his filthy father." The some were flummoxed, as this kid... No one really recognized him.
"My lord, if I may?" Greyscale at waiting for the order.
"Now." Storms to slam the chruch door broken... breaks his own leg and foot. He howling in more rage and anger. Snarl with opening it and casting flames over it. The flame went out, unscaved. He didn't not have the way to balance himself to tare it from the hinges. He blinks with see just how many hinges there was.
"My lord." A healer crawls and fixed his foot in place and casting the right amount of water bending to flex the leg bone back to place with his own blood cells. The lord was way to pissed to flinch, maybe even lost for words with looking at the door.
"Yggdrasil... as in... the tree of life?" He plays with the door, "Whomever can dismantle this door and have it moved to my lab will be rewarded accordingly." He limps a few times and disappeared by a little air and darkness manipulate.
"Moron thinks that the door can be removed from the hinges. His really lost his common sense." the necklaces untangled, "Greyscale, will you just go do as your asked. Throw it in the moat or another petty attempt core lock the soul in a box again."
The Demon was not about to wait anymore then possible near that horrific being, a monster whom smells of rotting corpses and lacked any sense concern for sanity to hide from humanity. Gods stood protecting the humans around this world eater. Most busted out the god artifacts.
The being is unfazed by the actions, been here before and seen them do this again. Every time the poor soul was acting as bridge gap of life when the two living bodies were dead at the same time. So annoyed of this, it throw a necklace at the dead corpse. Made the soul fragments jerk back to this side to have life.
The wounds made a disturbing splosh, and at it instinct turned over to cough out blood from the lungs. The staring a little dazed at the floor. In look closer at the carpet, he stands up and slapped the demon trying to pick him up across the face.
"Sorry... jerk reaction." He takes a moment in sorting out a headache, "Dead... was about to be throw in the moat. thats what should be." talking to himself, "Sometimes it just quicker for you to do it yourself." Grappled the demon to be dragged along with, taking himself to the moat. For no reason at all, throws the demon away from the edge and free falls himself.
"What court allows a bringer of all things past to wake the dead up?" The madness of life is whom soon goes to try stealing soul out of the tall voided goop.
She is instead showered in god offerings and a few hidden artifacts. Her blade was ripped from her hands poked about and then tested on her. She felt her soul be touched and left be. She soon was thrown her item back, kicked backwards into the worlds she meant to be working in. She was back here instantly, with the wish to rip this disgrace to shreds. Death, place a hand forwards- stopping short from touching her. She steps back away from Death.
"Remind me, just how many times have you been here doing this?" Death asking the figure. Death also now the one being thrown items, covered in lost necklaces and were smoothly dropped a library of books. A cottage worth of books. The Lord of decay is unfazed but unable to fathom the gesture of good will. Just in looking at the four large stacked tomes at Deaths feet, those were assumed lost sections of the Death records.
"I think it was meant to be about..." the figure posed in thinking and then smoothly continues giving lost items to the gods and humans. He freezes again and look a odd angle... snapping something, "Fine... Then I will not. Sheesh." tilt back to the death and life god, "In accordance of soul laws, you not allowed to know."
"That does not." life is cut off from speaking as death waved at her to stop.
"By which souls would you happen to be listening to." Death asked as most souls are bias law makers.
"All of those whom are not in the sections you are no access as duty. In fact, they are mad that you sealed them in the core tomb and were a little vengeful for pay back." The twist of looking around, "You lot are very sick thinking individuals. Why are you even in my tomes? Half of you don't belong here in this time space." There a morphic pull of it shaping into broken forms and speaking so much broken languages that all the gods look at each other for any translation.
"Yeah, I dont really know or remember those souls being written in our tome." silver eye flicker at the the side of death... maybe even guarding death from the mass. A grim in the complete undertakers uniform and posed in crossed arms of the whole banter, "And you were not meant to be written. Get back to living, idiot." Throw a soul from out the pages of what most assumed was death's book.
"This is why I hate having disconnected hosts. Always making a mess of my book keeping." the broke shape twirls and bend and folded into a cloaked figure... well a cloak that seems to be a figure under it, "Silver, I will have to leave the mess of souls that do belong to you to sort out." The long aggravated sigh, "You don't have to try through pry eight souls out of time in order to prevent them being ate by the existence eaters."
"You make a valid argument. Don't forget to life untangle them from space and time." there is a moment as Silver push all back from the cloak being sick over the floor, "You need to see a..." It growls at the undertaker, "Hey, I am looking after your well being. Do not growl at me for it."
"I have just the..." A god was at the mist of using something they shouldn't. Until they were turned to dust and swallowed into abyss of passageways for the dead.
"You're a moron." The undertaker snatched the soul from escaping just yet, "What were you thinking?" the duration of a answer passes and he follows to throw god where it belongs, "We have some serious problems with what souls seem to think they are allowing to do. We have to make some sort of punishment for it."
"I have nothing to do with what the universe does within itself. You do realize this, partner. You go have this serious soul talk with the gasping fish out of water around us." the two altered languages and the moment to fight these two seems to slipped away, "For the record, I wasn't growling at you. I was having stomach problems. One the two sides of host had decided to be hospitalized. IV drip make my stomach ache." The cloak figure pouts.
"I maybe should have asked about that instead." the silver eyes pose with inspecting Death, "My lord, I have a lot of questions to discuss with you over tome correcting." The undertaker walking in deaths power to drag the lord along. This were about the moment all gods flee and that the humans starting casting prayers of was over the entire church grounds. Purifying the bad warps of broken law.
"Nurse, my John Deo is awake." the metal cuff was linked with the bed rail, clinking it a few times in confusion. A doctor is rushed over, there instantly with doing basic checks.
"Are you able to see and hear me?" The fluorescent light stings the eyes a little but overall making out the brown bread with tin nice framed glass is easy. The doctor white coat and blue nonlatex gloves.
"How did I get here?"
"You were crashed into a tree off a dirt road. A local pest control van had spotted several crocodiles scratching the door of the stolen rental car." I turn in facing the lady in police uniform, she on the same side as the hand cuffs.
"Can you repeat what she just told you?" the doctor looking at monitor screens and then at full focus of looking at me.
"I crashed the car I borrowed into a tree and some local pest control guy rescued me from being at by the local wildlife."
"You're luck that it wasn't snakes, spiders or the many other threats native and non-native to our state." the cop sighed.
"Can you tell me your name or if you remember anything?" The doc glares to the cop and to me.
"My name is James. I am not from around here, clearly. I must have forgotten which way on the road I should be driving."
I looked around the hospital room for anything out of place. Sometimes I have been in mock hospital rooms set up by the mage society. Yet the sterile cleaning products, clattering trolleys and constant level of voices around. Heart monitoring machines beeping out of sync of each other. The room has other folks behind curtains in bed.
"How old are you?" I can't lie about this to a professional whom can age me with my own teeth.
"16..." The doc is satisfied that for now I have no brain damage or memory problems. My speech is clear and without difficulty. He was also happy to fill out the paperwork at the end of my bed.
"Your real name... full." the cop now taking over.
"Take a pick because I have lost track of what my last name is. I am going to be really honest with you and you can call my shrink too if you think I playing some joke. But I ran away for homes all the time. I don't feel welcomed by the families whom accept me." I looked around and realize I can take a phone out of thin air near them, "I lost my phone..." She took it from her pocket, "I really must have been stupid to answered it while driving or something. I was hoping to park up someplace safe to do so... must have forgotten which way roads work here and crashed a tree." I see that the screen is totally destroy, "Well if I plugged it into a computer, I could get the number for you." I put it on me, "I dont want to go back."
The cop sighed, maybe due to not being the only child to say this and might not even be the first run away she's watched. Middle aged, tired crow feet eyes and the uniform is more like a hospital security then police.
"This would actually be your first recorded offence. Although we treat young juvenile cases very seriously. You had the potential to kill someone. You stole a car and without driving with a license. Even if you did, you had no supervision to watch you- thankfully.
So, here's what we are going to do. You are going to be put to a boot camp when you sentencing with court Judge finalizes. You are to pay back the rental company their fees and be taught a few life skills during you stay at boot camp."
"Not your first twit to steal a car." I noted because she's not following law requirement. I have the right to remain silent because what I may say or do can be accountable as evidence in court. This is the speech I was expecting. I looked at there being a button for a nurse to be called and press it. The lady cop at my side left, the gaping through her chest. I blink as she was gone.
"John Deo on ward 3 is awake!" A rush of real living people do it all again. They had a real cop come it and the full kit speech about court was given. I gave my name again, age and background of what happened as I remember it. They took my statement and all the paperwork is filed.
I am treated for dehydration, malnutrition and severe deficiencies of vitamins and so on. They found nothing like drink or drugs in my blood yet they also struggled for blood.
All because I was in that car wreck for two days before someone found me. A actual pest guy was called out to investigate why the local wildlife was making a lot of disturbs for the main road near there. Having tracked a gator that was walking across the road in search for my meat in the wreck.
So according to the news on TV, as highlight of a growing issue with juvenile behaviour ruining spring break for everyone else. The news was fuzz noise for me the more I watched, a flow of being forgotten by staff here once my treatment was paid for. The police did look for me but didn't remember which juvenile or how many of them was here for court collection.
I walked out and hired a uber.