As Malleus stood there with a glare and a bump on his head, he grumbled, "This is the first time, someone is so bold as to have hit me on the head."
"Then, make it your last." Peony scolded him without restraint, "I told you to wait outside! I can't believe you are so childish as to follow me!"
She sighed before shaking her head, "Nevermind. It was my err for not keeping a close eye on you, myself."
"I'm not a child." Malleus huffed in disdain.
"Really? You don't seem any different from that lion cub the way I see it." Peony huffed in disdain.
"The lion cub?" Malleus raised a brow, "You mean, the second prince of Sunset Savannah. Does he know as well?"
"Did you think he had the permission to know?" Peony sighed in disappointment, "I'd rather him not knowing. After all, he's quite fun to poke at. The way he tries to roar but mews like a little kit instead. In fact, he's no different from you. Hehe!"
As she giggled, Malleus glared at her angrily but forced himself to let it go. He hated being compared to someone as childish as that guy, but, compared to the previous comparison, it was better than he feared.
"Speaking of wish, you are also not very different from some of the other housewardens either." Peony hummed curiously, "I've only been with you a few times, yet I can already figure out a couple of things."
"Oh really? Do tell." Malleus sneered upon hearing this. SHE understand HIM? What a farce!
"There you go." Peony sighed, "Like Riddle, you are ready to deny something that pertains to yourself, but, unlike Leona or Idia, you neither deny it strongly or cover your ears. Yet, similar to Leona, you enjoy a challenge to your abilities. You do not understand the human value of objects, yet you understand the value of those that have no forms the way Azul does due to the knowledge you gained. When it comes to situations and dilemmas, you have the aid of others at your side and your own optimism similar to Kalim. Yet, you are just as naive as he is when faced with simple problems you do not understand the weight of. When motivated, you become as diligent as that peacock does when he tends to his own appearances, yet you lack the insight to see the situations of those you face without getting to know them or hearing of them. As for Idia... The two of you understand what it means to be left alone as those pass by you whether you willed it or not."
"Ignihyde Dorm Leader Shroud?!" Malleus looked startled as the words caught him off guard and forget all the other comparisons she had made previously.
Peony huffed, "Did you really think those around you do not understand the pain you have? Humans and Faes have their differences. However, the only differences are their life spans and their abilities. In the end, they both can feel just as intensely. Their feelings can dull just the same either from time, environment, or experience. In the end, both breaths will one day cease all the same. As long as you are sentient, you are no different from one another. What really separates one another is the will each other holds. Their resolve and how brightly it shines. Like the shooting stars, they will lose their light and extinguish one day, but those memories are eternal and the light of most stars do not fade over time. Their wills are not something that can be easily washed away. Even when their names are forgotten and their faces can no longer be pieced together in our minds, what they strove for and how brightly they shone could not be forgotten. No matter how fleeting the life was or how quietly they lived."
"From the sound of it, you've also felt such pain before?" Malleus looked to her in confusion.
Peony paused in surprise. What did she just say? Thinking of the words, her mind had drifted back to the past once more. In the past, Mo Li had asked the same questions once. The flowers she grown had withered away no matter what she did to help save it. Little did she know, it had withered away from old age.
It had lived its life to the fullest. Have you already grown so attached to it? With how attached you've grown, would you like to rest your heart before getting a new one? Peony had asked these questions once as those she watched by her side for so long were destroyed by herself. Yet, these were her answers when she had questioned the small child back then.
"It does not matter if you give me another life. The outcome will always be the same. Why is it that all the most beautiful things must disappear like this one day while we still draw breath? Why can it not wait for us? Where I come from, all life lives in a constant cycle, playing till we're hungry and return for food till satisfied. In the end, will they too disappear when they were with me just the day before?" Peony took a deep breath before turning to Malleus and responded, "When you have lived long enough, you have experienced many passings. However, when you've survived long enough, you would have experienced many torn away from you. How one handles the problem depends on what they have come to terms with in which manner. I, for one, have never came to terms with them and never will."
With that, she continued forward without looking forward. Carefully, she treaded through the caves with her ball of light. Watching her walk away so calmly yet with a cold aura, Malleus felt as though he had stepped on a land mine! Peony had never been one to act this angrily before. In the past, he had gotten used to her outburst, but he had never thought that her silence could be far more terrifying than her nagging! What could have happened to her in the past for her to act so coldly?
After walking for a while, Malleus frowned, "There's something up ahead."
"Take this." Peony tossed him an item.
Malleus looked in the hand once he caught it, "A black mask?"
"It will suppress your aura enough to where you can suppress the rest on your own. It can also hide the aura radiating around your soul." Peony huffed as she put on her red angry mask, "But don't rely too heavily on it. In your hands, it's like a fragile glass."
"Again?" Malleus grumbled then sighed before putting it on, "You have some strange tastes, Princess Peony."
"What was that? I smell something!"
"Hush!" Peony grasped Malleus's arm and pulled him over to a boulder as she quickly tightly bound the mask onto his face, "Don't say a word or move. Just listen. Only move on my signal."
Before Malleus could respond, that rough voice quickly replied, "I told you already. You were hallucinating."
"Bull!" That rough voice spoke again, "I may be old, but I'm not senile yet!"
Surprised, Peony didn't say a word as she waited quietly behind the boulder and extinguished her light. As she heard the footsteps coming closer, she quietly pulled Malleus further back with her. Though he was unwilling, her hold was surprisingly powerful enough to drag him across yet it was also cold to the touch. However, while thinking so, he accidentally kicked a nearby rock as it skidded across the cold rock floor.
"There!"
"Crap!" Peony hissed quietly and pulled Malleus behind her, "Hold your breath and freeze!"
She opened her eyes just in time for an ugly-looking face contorted in blemishes to appear before her!
Had it not been for Malleus being startled, she would've already been the first to release her breath!
She could feel the surge of unusual dark energy circulating from them as she remained motionless. The staring when on for what seemed like minutes felt like hours. Did it work?
Just as she thought this, the old man pulled back and looked around before he scowled, "Where is it?"
"I told you already, you old crow. There's nobody here!" A young yet brash teenager popped out with a scowl and yanked the old man back, "Just accept the fact you've gotten senile and retire already!"
"Wah?!"
As the old man was pulled away, Peony tightened her grip causing the fae to freeze once more behind her. It wasn't over yet?!
Sure enough, a skinner human stuck their face over blinking with blood shot eyes nearly startling him! Had Peony not warned him, he would've definitely lost his breath right then and there!
"Seriously! How difficult is it to kill one child? Coming all this way..." The teen continued angrily, "Once I finish, I'll take his soul and grind it before I consume it!"
Consume it?! Grind it?! Treating souls like that…
"You want to grind a soul then eat it? As expected, you are so unrefined. One must eat the soul whole and slowly savoring the scent. Crushing the souls destroys the texture and ruins the taste." The elderly responded with a scowl.
Consuming souls? However, only demons are able to consume souls and demons are too powerful to enter through a weak and fragile portal into another world. Unless it was another race that can consume souls and, seeing their attire, a race from her world…
Suddenly, it dawned on her as a horrible chill ran down her spine!
GHOSTS!!!