Amongst billions of Enchanteds and Ephemerals, Aurelia Mossbloom identifies as a citizen of the Lowlands, Sector: Fungal. She's a mushroom sprouted out of her now deceased father-figure and family.
Quarter a sprouting ago, almost 7 days, like any other day, Aurelia's family was out to search for food three sectors away from their own. The Rodent Colony always had the best food which suited to the Mossbloom taste and spirit buds.
Though the very same day, coincidentally, The Hoarder's skeleton men raided the Black Rat Colony in search of a disease orb and got into a fight with the Emperor's men. The brawl caused quite a lot of material destruction for Rodentfolk and Aurelia's family was swept as collateral damage.
Aurelia had never, even mistakenly, thought that she would live more than the others. For unlike the rest of her family, Aurelia only survived on plants and grew at a considerably slower pace. It wasn't a hidden secret that everyone disliked her because Plantfolk were beloved in every part of the World and Aurelia had to literally feed on them. Kill them for survival.
One would sooner, more willingly, be a criminal than a herbivore in the World for it was rumoured that the previous world had ended because Plants had gone extinct.
Yet, sensitivity laid in the laps of remorseless - who weren't born with a compulsive urge to eat and enjoy plants - and hypocrisy with the helpless.
Everyone endeared the Rabbitfolks. Cow girls and Horse girls were even loved by the Ephemerals! For whatever reasons unknown to Aurelia, but they were extremely popular in Ephemeral parts of the World. And don't even start her on Pandafolks...
Likes and Dislikes catered to a very subjective perspective, yet the general consensus regarding Aurelia was majorly negative. The collective conscious of the World was biased and Aurelia had experienced it first-hand.
Like any other day her family had left her to wander the forests and fend for her food, on the day they died. Queen Roachie of the Lowlands, a woman with vigour enough to live through eternity, had came over two days later bringing along condolences and a "compensation" as she had termed it.
Aurelia did not want compensation but they did not ask.
The Ephemeral Emperor and Queen Roachie had already decided that she needed it.
With her shiny ebony eyes piercing through Aurelia's soul and her prickly hands entwined with Aurelia's dry ones, Queen Roachie had whispered like she'd chanced upon the dingiest sewer of her life (something utterly joyful for her), "The Emperor proposes a union between you and The Hoarder. You're going to have the privilege to bind the villainous man with mortal knots! You're doing a great service to The World!"
A marriage. Some twisted way to redeem for her lost family was to force her into a new one.
Aurelia wasn't even in mourning. Heck, she did not even like doing service. The world hadn't given her much to service for. But, she was in no place to voice these thoughts, because, at the end of the day, she was just a shroom from the Lowlands.
She was dispensable, replaceable and purposeless.
"We're giving you a purpose!"
Aurelia was quite comfortable otherwise, thank you very much. Though, she held onto hope over, 'Why would the Great Evil Man even agree to marry me? I would be such a weakness to him! If our cores bind, he'll be immensely vulnerable. He would surely know its a trap to find him and kill him easily!'
So, she had spent a few nights in comfort - albeit hungry - until yesterday when she received the Royal Edict. The summoning. Her appetite was lost and she had spent the better half of her day focusing on finding food rather confront her problems and do something about it.
But, even in the thickest recesses of the the Jungle, in the face of a red foxgirl, her problem had made its way to her.
"...But aren't you late?" The fox girl wipes the gooey plantjuice off her spearhead with an index finger. It falls onto the soil and subtly sinks inside the surface.
"Late? Am I? For what?" Aurelia picks out the lumia and places it on top of the spear wound. The Plantfolk's dead, green, corpse bursts into a green mist and whirlpools inside the coin.
"Your first meeting with the Hoarder and the Emperor."
Soils digs into her fingernail as Aurelia picks up the lumia and puts it in her pocket. Deliberately avoiding eye contact, she searches for words, "I'll, um, be there. Soon." Though, her spores betray her discomfort and a dusty pink cloud surrounds her head and gills.
"I cannot believe The Hoarder agreed to it. I wonder what they promised in turn...or do you know him personally? Have you seen him?" The Foxgirl curiously invades Aurelia's personal space, inching her pout closer with every word. Her big emerald eyes blink with expectations and it makes Aurelia's spores drop.
"No, I haven't," she mumbles, taking small steps away from the foxgirl.
"So you're just a bait, huh? To get him weak and dead," the Foxgirl grins, pointy canines peaking through a smile. Her eyes wander all over Aurelia's face, as if searching for something.
Aurelia only nods because where's the lie? She would find comfort in her mortality, soon enough, probably now is the start.
Foxgirl raises her hand and Aurelia jerks a little, her four fingers cup Aurelia's chin between her pointy nails. "You don't seem... bothered by it?" Her voice dips low as Aurelia gulps, eyes still evading contact whilst Foxgirl's stare is unblinking.
The Jungle is a part of Ephemeral territory, brimming with non-sentient trees which would be mute to Aurelia's probable murder. Though, if she were to use her spores to overwhelm the fox—
A bright blue light flashes over the Foxgirl's pointy face, the source behind Aurelia's back, and a person zaps into existence.
"Aha! Here you are! Searched you, everywhere, I did, for you! Well, not really, only thought about it. I'm excellent at navigation, you see. Teleportation crystals are expensive and Lowlands aren't big on taxes. Well, we are, but you people don't pay so we have to force you and find other means, we do. So, not that sort of big, but the other sort of big which means that its actually small," Queen Roachie flutters around Aurelia and the Foxgirl.
She slots herself between them, using her prickly hands to create a distance between the two young folks.
Queen Roachie is taller than them, possessing a slender and agile frame, subtly reminiscent of her real form's lithe body. Her movements exhibit a remarkable fluidity, with a grace that echoes the insect's agile skittering.
"My Queen," Aurelia faces her palms toward eachother then slowly separates them, mimicking the growth of branching mycelium. She continues to move her fingers in a spiral motion, representing the interconnectedness of all living things. This gesture signifies unity and respect for Queen Roachie.
The Foxgirl kneels on one knee and presents what she has in her hand, the glass jar of butterflies. It is an offering of respect and curtsy which Queen Roachie politely denies, knowing so. "Duke Spidero would appreciate a butterfly offering more than me, he would. Sort of desperate, he is, recently," the Queens offers, eyes narrowed at the Foxgirl's head.
Her skin retains a hint of a golden-brown hue, reminiscent of the exoskeleton that once protected her. It has a subtle iridescence, catching light in shimmering patterns that mimic the shifting colors of a roach's shell. Though smooth and person-like, her skin seems to possess a faint texture, almost resembling a delicate network of minuscule ridges.
Aurelia would sob in awe of the Queen if she wasn't being offered death on a pretty platter by the said folk.
The Foxgirl knows that Queen Roachie wants her away from Aurelia. It was prominent in her dismissive tone and an open opportunity of better business. She sees it in her majestic eyes, glinting with an ethereal gleam.
"It is so kind of you to provide me such important information, Queen Roachie, I shall make the best use of it," Foxgirl promises, standing up and retreating with her spear in hand. Her pupils turn into slits as she looks at Aurelia and smirks, "I'll have it now."
"Huh?" Aurelia looks decidedly confused.
"The lumia as compensation for help."
"Yes yes yes," Aurelia nods as her hands are already finding way to a bunch of lumias. She carelessly grabs a fistful, unaware of the starstone classification, and hands them to the Foxgirl. "Thank you, for the help," she urges with determined eyes. The spores around her head burst into pastel blues.
Queen Roachie as well as the Foxgirl was quick to take a few steps back.
Though, the Foxgirl never leaves Aurelia's gaze, staring unblinking even when she is bagging the lumias. "Long day, mate."
"Good day...?" Aurelia replies, quite unsure of herself, but the Foxgirl is gone as stealthily as she came.
Queen Roachie brushes her hands over her attire which reflects a fusion of regality and earthiness, which was all of her existence.
For the two times Aurelia had seen her, she wears flowing garments in rich, earthy tones, adorned with intricate patterns that resemble the delicate, intertwined paths of cockroach trails. Hidden within the folds of her clothing, are her shimmering iridescent wings.
"Very well then. She did not look the most trustworthy. Did you tell her anything?" Queen Roachie frowns, ebony eyes searching all over Aurelia's face and body — a flaw, something off, a tell, something uncanny.
"Nothing that everyone already doesn't know," Aurelia shrugs, trying hard not to sound like a pessimist but failing. All of her body slouches and her spores puff a cloud of pastel purple around her.
"The World will thank you one day," Queen Roachie gently pats Aurelia's cap with the tip of her fingers, still distant. Her prickly hands birth tingles all over Aurelia's spine and the shroom girl is quick to take a step back.
'They can thank my grave,' Aurelia thinks but never words out. If it wasn't a world of magic, Aurelia would consider running away. But that wasn't an option with Enchanteds having magic and Ephemerals having technology.
All Aurelia could do was die resisting or die trying to save an unkind, ungrateful and selfish World.
The latter of which was somehow a more peaceful approach.
"I'll be waiting for that day," Aurelia replies, pushing her lips to mock a smile. Queen Roachie usually travelled with a number of Insectfolk but today, she was alone. Why would one risk more than one life to bring in front of The Hoarder?
"Let's get going, shall we?"
There wasn't much of a choice and Queen Roachie did speak kindly, over everything, it reminded Aurelia of her second day teacher whose class she could only attend for one sprouting before she was kicked out due to overpopulation issues.
Aurelia never had a reserved seat for herself so whenever she wasn't trying to convince Plantfolk to be food, she would hide behind some logs and listen to whatever a teacher was teaching in the Lowland gardens.
The teacher used to politely tap their caps and say, "You didn't complete your homework, you get a treat for it. But it's not a good one!"
It was weird and so was Queen Roachie, but they used a gentle tone which was calming enough.
A blue light emits from a transparent crystal etched in Queen Roachie's forehead and before she knew it, Queen Rochie has their fingers intertwined and destination set to the Center of The World.
To answer the summoning.