The Centre of the World was a point of peace in respect for the Fountain of Life but now its decorated with the Ephemeral Emperor's blood. A patternless puddle pooling from his neck and blending with the red of his cape.
He had a kind smile. Now he has no head.
The landquake returns and this time it intensifies. Her heart isn't as fragile as whatever feeling is causing the tremors. Maybe insecurity.
She has a dead person's blood on her.
Her pale skeletal hands which only had a plant's goo to account for, until this morning, are drenched in a pale red liquid which she knew was a sustainable element for the ephemeral life.
She had seen blood when she was eight sproutings old. Some handful children of ephemerals were on a, "school trip," as they said, to learn about plants in the Jungle. Aurelia was there too, for she was convincing a stranded plantfolk to be her food. Plantfolk in the Jungle were easier to convince than the ones based in enchanted forests.
Midway through the talks, the plantfolk escaped because Aurelia was too distracted by curiosity. Not minding her business, Aurelia followed the ephemerals around as they talked and laughed in a strange language, whilst making notes in a strange yet intriguing way.
Everything seemed merry until a person accidentally cut their leg on a pointy log and a red liquid oozed out and stained their fabrics. Everyone called it, "blood," and it alerted the Mortiflora laying dormant.
Mortiflora are a ravenous branch of plantfolk that survive eating enchanteds as well as ephemerals to cope with their insatiable hunger. They have a deadly allure, unknowingly luring victims to the heart of the Jungle, which was seldom visited by Enchanteds and usually by Ephemerals. It gets incited by soul essence or soul fluids.
Aurelia then deduced that an Ephemeral's soul fluid must be 'blood' as the Mortiflora's elongated stem rose from the ground, adorned with deep, velvety midnight petals, concealing razor-sharp edges and wickedly barbed tendrils.
The tendrils were thick enough to wrap around people, pushing and pulling like it was playing a game with them screaming for their lives, before bringing the prey in a gaping maw, lined with rows of glistening, serrated teeth.
Death did not affect Aurelia all that much, but, The Emperor had a kind smile.
"That could have been you."
Aurelia flips her head in realisation of The Hoarder's presence. Her eyes narrow at him, his hidden behind a crystal mask, a beckoning mystery. "Is this a warning?" She questions, wondering if the Hoarder intended to kill her before the Emperor, but merely missed.
"A revelation, really. He wasn't the Emperor, it was a decoy projection meant to kill us," he gestures his head to ring laden hand which looks translucent under light. "The bonding ritual can only include the people who are to be bonded. Queen Roachie and the Emperor's presence was a red herring in itself. Surely, if you look behind the bushes, you wouldn't find your Queen anymore. At least she made an effort to escort you, the Emperor, on the other hand, an absolute coward. His eyes glinted when he mentioned the wise priest. How did you not notice it?"
Aurelia shakes her head. She was blinded by her mortality so much so that she looked death in the face and thought that he had a kind smile. Truly, the World remains as untrustworthy as day one.
"I — uh, so are we bonded?" She questions instead.
"Yes and drenched in some lowlife's blood. What a day!" He exclaims before kneeling in front of the corpse and holding its hand in his. He carefully moves the fingers, inspecting the rings. "Nanotech," he says before tapping a ring. "No biometrics required, how utterly careless," he shakes his head as a screen pops up again.
Aurelia bends to take a look at it, curious as she was, and sees a white flat block with several yellow blocks and symbols that she did not understand. "Is this some secret spell?" She asks curiously, gold eyes peeking bright through her blood laden face.
It bursts a laugh out of the Hoarder.
Aurelia never thought she'd live to see a day when the Hoarder was laughing whilst kneeling in front of her. Life is strange.
"No," he laughs, "It's the most basic language of Ephemerals. It's English," he explains. Aurelia nods in understanding.
"How many languages do you know?" She cannot help but ask out of curiosity.
His gloved hand pats her cap and a cloud of blue spores burst around her head, birthing chills. "Aren't you a little too curious?" He takes his hand away just as Aurelia takes a few steps back. Strangeness reigned the moment as Aurelia realises that the landquake was gone again.
The Hoarder pulls the rings out of the dupe emperor's fingers and stands up, "You'll be living with me," he announces, pocketing the rings and taking out a green orb.
"I suppose," Aurelia shrugs.
He holds out a bloodied hand and she takes it. Before another thought, they're zapped away.
The Hoarder's castle is majestic, breathing a life of its own. It doesn't feel like a stretch from home, it feels even more familiar.
They approach the castle through a winding pathway which leads them through a mystical garden. Aurelia gasps at the sight of bioluminescent mushrooms and flowers lining the path, casting a soft, ethereal glow. The air is filled with the sweet fragrance of enchanting blossoms, while colorful butterflies flit around, leaving trails of sparkling dust in their wake.
The Fae ruins.
"Huh, they're being awfully welcoming. I'd recommend you to not touch anything if you want to live," he warns. Aurelia merely nods, jaw unhinged in awe.
At the entrance, a massive arched doorway welcomes them with intricately carved wooden doors. They stop infront of the doors and the Hoarder turns to give Aurelia a nod. She blinks, curious with her expectations, as the door opens by itself.
Though, only the door infront of her and not the Hoarder.
He scoffs and kicks open the door in front of him, mumbling something along the lines of, "real mature," and, "picking favorites." The door is quick to swish shut again, just as the Hoarder was about to step inside. He growls but Aurelia doesn't wait to find out more as she takes the open door as a sign of consent and steps inside.
The door leads to a courtyard bathed in warm, golden light. The ground beneath her feet is a mosaic of shimmering stones and crystals, reflecting a kaleidoscope of colors. Just as she is about to take a step, a soft petal blossoms beneath her foot.
"Yes yes, make yourself at home," the Hoarder drawls, stepping beside her. No petals bloom underneath his shoe laden feet, he merely steps on stones, with much exasperation.
Within the courtyard, a bubbling fountain stands as the centerpiece, its water flowing through a series of intricate sculptures resembling fairies and woodland creatures. The gentle sound of water creates a soothing ambiance, something unlike all her expectations of being in the Hoarder's presence.
"Are we really in the right place?" Aurelia cannot help but ask. All of it feels too good to be true and she feels undeserving to her roots.
"Why yes, what did you expect? The pits of hell? All dark and black with a lava bridge to go over and prison bars and chains with gremlins sucking unicorn blood?" He scoffs, pocketing his hands as he strides forward.
"No, I mean — am I in the right place?" The petals feel like stepping on clouds as they've passed through the courtyard and enter the heart of the castle.
"Geez, I'm a villain not an arsehole. I wouldn't make you stay in the cellars," he tsks. Somehow, his words tug something, somewhere, within Aurelia.
"Thank you," she whispers. Ornate hallways adorned with tapestries and enchanted paintings lead to passages unknown to Aurelia. The walls are decorated with shelves filled with gleaming artifacts, ancient tomes, and delicate glass orbs containing swirling mists of magic.
They stand in the centre of separation, with one hallway leading to the left and another leading to the right. "We part here," he draws a line with the tip of his shoe. "Everything beyond this line will be yours," he gestures his chin to the right side, "and everything here would be mine," he points a thumb behind his back, indicating the left side. "We never cross, unless it's mortal peril, okay?" He taps his foot, demanding an answer.
"Y-yes, sure, of course!" Aurelia instinctively salutes, and realises how dumb it is, pulls her hand swiftly behind her back.
The Hoarder turns to leave, abandoning her beyond a line like everyone else. Though, this line was more material than internal and maybe not all bad things wait beyond. Right...?
"Right, remember," he turns and with two big strides, he is standing in front of her again with his hands on her shoulders. "You are dispensable to everyone but me, okay? If you do anything that harms us, know that you'll face the repercussions before me. I'm not someone whose bad side you want to be on, okay?"
Aurelia cannot see his face and it is such a pity. She wanted to see him, know wheather the words were out of selfish concern or just for the heck of it. She gulps.
"I'm dispensable to all but you...?"
"But yourself and me, so don't throw yourself away and live peacefully."
Aurelia likes living peacefully.