August 5, 1997, 13:53
The moonfolks kingdom,
The royal garden
Evdokia remembers the first time she walked across the stoned pathway of the royal garden, grasping her mother's long fingers in her small fist. She remembers all the names of the blooming flowers her mother pointed at with her index, singling the Gardenia roses as her favourite. She remembers the times she ran through the hydrangea bushes across the garden, bare feet stumbling over the crisp wet grassed surface while being chased by Felony. The sky behind them had a soft shade of pink colour with purple and blue smoky clouds painting the sky like it came out of an artisan masterpiece. The sun fell on the edge of the clouds with a tangerine orange colour, reflecting a blush of red over the two moonfolk siblings white hair.
She remembers always losing against both Felony and Amara in every race that took place in those pathways till she reached the age of 13. She remembers all the times they spent together here, laying flat on their backs, stargazing and naming the groups of galaxies after ridiculous names they make up on the spot.
She remembers the countless of times she slipped off the smooth granite rocks across the marble white stream to reach the waterfall. She remembers how Amara would give her a shoulder ride when crossing in waterfall's wall, where behind it lays the mesmerizing cave filled with white glowing flowers and crystals. It was truly a breath-taking place. A place where a being can easily get high over it's majestic beauty and long forgets reality.
The three siblings had chosen the luminous cave as their secret hiding when Evdokia was old enough to, well, keep it a secret.
Evdokia glances at the waterfall with glassy eyes, the trail of memories hitting a fragile spot in her soul. Things just weren't the same anymore.
The moment didn't last long as the black cloud of agony was blown off by the comforting voice of Amara.
"I've been looking for you." Amara utters.
Without turning around to glance at him, Evdokia splayed herself on the damp ground with little to no care about her clothes getting soaked. She faces the sun's direction, twirling the gardenia flower she had picked earlier while strolling between her fingers. She can sense how tense Amara is from where she's sitting.
"What's on your mind?" She asks.
"Nothing much." Amara says. He sat cross legged next to her and ruffled her hair.
She hummed, and Amara could tell she wanted to say 'I don't buy your shit but okay'.
"What? Can't a man have some quality time with his sister just because he's missing her?" He says with a pout.
"Sure."
"I'm serious."
"Of course."
"I am!"
"right."
"Don't look at me like that."
"I'm not even looking at you!" She says with a smile she can't contain, she misses this type of conversations with him. Nothing regarding the responsibility of their people's lives or deaths.
"You're doing it in your head I can feel it."
Evdokia closes her eyes and lets her back fall backwards, white hair splayed all over the grass as she hums at him again with a sly smile on her face, which tells Amara that this is a lost battle and his instinct of spilling everything to her will kick in.
"I'm worried about leaving you." He says, eventually.
"why? Dad and mum have finally settled down, Felony will be announced as the next hire soon, there's nothing to worry about, really." Evdokia's eyes are shut. She knows there's more to Amara's words, but she chooses to ignore it, for now.
"You know what I mean. It's not your plans I'm worried about, but rather.." he pauses. He isn't entirely sure what to worry about. There's a lot. There is-
"But rather the other kingdoms and clans' plans." She gets it, she really does. But there isn't much to do about it. "Have faith in us, our kingdom has stood tall for centuries and decades, even if the fire elves are thinking about colonising us, we've got much more developed weapons."
Amara gives her a stern look, "see, its because of that exactly, I'm worried. This isn't you who's talking anymore."
"Amara you've been away for more than four years, I'm bound to change through them, don't you think? You're not so much like yourself too anyway." Evdokia sighs heavily. She sees a butterfly fluttering its wings above her face. Its blue and its beautiful.
Evdokia allows it to stand at the tip of her nose. She closes her eyes and wishes to go back in time to the first time she let a butterfly stand onto her finger. She was young and carless, she believed there was good in everything, she believed violence was never the right option. She was naive, that's what it is.
"Keep your nerves calm, I promise you, and on Felony's behalf, that we will not do any stupid shit that could get us in trouble, and hey if war ever started against us you can just come back to join the family massacre." She grins at him and he hits her shoulder playfully.
Evdokia doesn't think that war isn't starting any time soon. In fact, if what she heard last night while walking to her room was true, then they're doomed to take a hit and possibly fall, literally.
Amara's worrisome is right on point, but he doesn't need to know that, not now, not ever.
*
July 13, 2021, 23:00
The Garam ocean
The world around her is silent, somewhere at the back of her head, there are no noises, for the first time in years. She doesn't like it, now that all the voices have become part of her, but she allows the calmness to soak into her all and bones.
She appreciates it, because she thinks it's only a matter of time before they come back lashing at her.
The concealment of the waves sound are present, keeping her grounded to reality.
She feels her lungs empty it's last particles of air, leaving her out of breathe and stranded.
She still fights it, trying her best to take every last second of this silence and comfort for granted. It fucking hurts but it's about right as well.
She can see their faces, hundreds of people she has failed, hundreds of people she has taken their lives with her bare hands, hundreds of ghosts and demons that will haunt her till her last heartbeat. She can see mum and dad, they don't lash out at her like the others, but they have a disappointment look on their faces, and she doesn't like it. She sees Mizuki and his smile, she sees her aunts and uncles, standing tall, towering over her like the pillars that have kept the sky castle held high in the sky for decades.
She sees Amara's face, Amara's petrified face, petrified from her. She sees him squirming in his place, trying to escape her claws. But he couldn't, not with an amputated leg and broken wrists. He was helpless, and she was a monster that lost its sanity and took it out on the wrong people.
She thinks she's crying, but she isn't quite sure, as her salty droplets dissolve and become one with the ocean's waters.
Evdokia feels her lungs fill up with water, slowly killing her. She allows it, she allows the sting to settle in, she allows herself a look at her parents and brothers, one last time.
*
July 14, 2021, 00:06
Garam Ocean's shore
The boobrie lands
"Evdokia!"
She isn't sure if what she's hearing is just another dream or if its the afterlife, she'd rather it being the latter.
Evdokia shoots off her back and coughs out the water that has filled her lungs to the brim, the sting of the salty water finally allowing her to feel something within her numb body. She's shivering but she isn't sure if it's the fact that she was just dying or if it's the weather.
She rests her spine back onto the damp sand, the waves playing along with her hair strands from wave to another.
Her eyes are closed for a while, as she feels two people hugging her. Probably Jean and Ira. She lets them be, as she slowly opens her eyes, met with the beautiful sky of their world, with hundreds of moons hung up in their sky. With every new addition to the royal moonfolk families, there's a moon born in the sky to guide the moonfolk through their life. She can see hers from where she's lying at the end of the sky. She missed it.
The beach too. It's the Garam ocean. The one she used to come to along with Felony, see how many animal species they can name from where they stand behind the waves. The animals here illuminate at night with bright neon colours. It never fails to blow her mind away, how beautifully constructed their world is next to other realms, they were truly blessed, and its a shame that some folks lost their fondness of this beautiful world and decided to shackle it and break it to a million pieces for the sake of power.
It settles in.
They're back.
She's back.
Home.
The weather and overall atmosphere overwhelms the joy of the moment. Its not the same smell or density of air. It smells like death and charcoal.
Jean and Ira pull away from the hug and she realises that Ira has shapeshifted into his real cecaelia form, red tentacles splayed around underneath him, one behind her nape, balancing her head comfortably on the same level as her body.
"Hey." Jean looks at her worriedly.
"Hi." She smiles at him, and it instantly mirrors on his face. He has also shed his human skin and shapeshifted to his real elf form.
He kisses her briefly and she gets herself up, Ira dusting the sand off her hair.
"You worried us all, why didn't you swim upwards once we arrived?" Valodya runs to her side, cupping her face the same way he did when she did something stupid when she was a child.
"I don't know, I didn't wake up." She lies, and Jean gives her a questionable look.
Evdokia waves her hand in front of her face as she stands up, Jean helping her, only for her legs to give out and she almost topples onto her face, but his arms press firmly onto her pelvis and keeps her upright. She sees around her most of the creatures have shapeshifted to their real skin, most of the aquatic folks dragging their colleagues and friends out of the water and then shifting back to their regular elves form. She allows herself to do so as well, closing her eyes, letting her ears grow, her hair grow, her white skin lose its pigment further, her body slightly becoming taller.
She opens her eyes and looks at her hand. White as snow and all. She smiles to herself, and she finally feels like actually breathing.
She's still shivering, she realises, when Valodya takes off his coat to cover her.
Evdokia looks around her, and everyone is looking at her expectedly.
"So what's the plan?" YuNing asks as LiQin swings his arm across his shoulder to warm him up.
"well," Evdokia licks her dry lips, "step one was making it here safely. "
"Step two?" Gregory, one of the elves asks.
"Honestly I didn't really think I'd get past step one." Evdokia murmurs.
There's a rise of worried chatter among the presents.
"Okay, before anyone freaks out, how about we get to a safer place first? There are enforcers near this beach, and boobries wouldn't be that excited to see us on their lands." Thomas goes to say.
"Agreed, sounds like a plan." Evdokia flicks her wrists and allows Thomas to lead the way, deciding on being behind the line in case anything happens.
Thomas sets off and so does everyone else behind him, only when Evdokia starts walking she realises Ira isn't. Evdokia turns around and so does Jean when he halts in his steps, their hands intertwined and handing between of their bodies. Ira is still in his cecaelia form, and he's facing them with their back, eyes wandering across the ocean waves.
"Ira?" Evdokia lets go of Jean's hand and walks up to him.
He doesn't answer, but she sees the tears flowing down his cheeks and they're as real as ever.
"Ira." She calls out again, and this time, he looks back at her.
They stare into each other's eyes for a moment, and Evdokia smiles at him and nods to him, letting him go, to wherever the waves take him, to wherever she imagines he belongs to.
Ira smiles back and hugs her before backing off and diving through the merciless waves of the night.
Evdokia turns back around when she misses the sight of the pink flock of hair in between the waters, walking back to Jean and taking his hand, feeling lighter than before, a smile she can't quite stop herself from expressing.
They're home.
*
They move accordingly to Thomas's map, walking miles upon miles into different territories. Evdokia wonders how have they still not met a single creature, but Thomas's silence when she asks tell her enough of what she might not want to hear.
Evdokia's in a good mood with Jean and her arm swinging between them, a little light on her feet, until she looks to her left and sees a city. A city that was once filled with creatures and full of life is as lifeless as it can get, buildings destructed to mere rubble and structure. It looks like a good place for ghosts to live in. She can almost hear their screams from where she's standing. Evdokia couldn't help but wonder if her kingdom is close to this.
Evdokia feels a tug to her hand and she pulls out of her daze and is met with a comforting smile on Jean's face. They carry on, and she tries her best to forget about it.
Eventually they reach a beautiful long grassed land, and Evdokia doesn't think she has seen it before. There are little fire butterflies standing at the tips of the grass, a little disturbed by the people walking by and invading their space. Evdokia watches in fascination all the forest elves, fairies, fauns, ogres and trolls interacting with the grass, as it wraps around their limbs and welcomes them to their home. Its magical, and the bright starlight she sees in YuNing's eyes when three grass strands touch his hair, getting to know him, is enough of a bright candle to illuminate her world.
They push through the bushy grass until they reach an underground tunnel. They keep on moving through it, checking on everyone's breathing from time to time. It's crowded but safe enough for everyone to come out of the other end alive, and the sight they walk out onto blows their minds off and takes their breathes out on the spot.
It's a castle with a lake encircling it, where the water is levitating in the sky, aqua animals swimming through it and creating the perfect imaginary for a painter to create a masterpiece of.
"This is...beautiful. " one of the women says, her eyes sparkling and wide open, taking it the marvellous scenery before her eyes.
Some are taken back by the sight, others are crying and sniffing, the nostalgia of home finally settling in.
They're finally home.
The castle is big enough to keep eighty-seven creatures safe and sound for now. Apparently Thomas found it by accident and decided to renovate it whenever he needed to forget about his parents and his world. He even has staff there, all the ones his father have vanished off his land at some point.
If the castle from the outside looked magical, Evdokia is shortly at loss of words when they open the gates and they walk through the large steel doors, embroidered with twigs and stems of various flowers.
The castle's interior is nothing but everything one would read about in human books about fairy tales. It's royalty at it's finest, its homey as comfy it can get, yet it's a marvellously structured building only meant for magical creatures to experience living between its walls.
Evdokia sees pictures of staff together across the main hall's walls, and it warms her heart.
After touring the entire castle's level's, Thomas assigns the sleeping bags and rooms to every group. He lets Evdokia and Reema's team together, as they're all the closest to each others.
When they've all settled in, they gather in the main living room, all sitting in a circle around Thomas and Evdokia, who are standing with maps and guides in their hands in the middle of the room.
*