Chapter 10 #2
My feet landed on solid earth, and I hadn’t even realized I’d been suspended the entire time.
How long had all of this taken? Minutes, hours, years?
More questions I suppose I’d never have the answer to.
I took a step forward, disoriented, my head cloudy, and my feet crunching into white snow.
I looked to be on some frozen tundra with no mountains in sight.
only flat earth covered in pillowy white.
No smokestacks, no lanterns, no trees, no signs, civilization or life.
There were no footprints or paw prints. No birds cawing in the breeze, just vast open cold space as far as the eye could see.
It certainly wasn’t Willowspire with its mountainous terrain, crowded houses, gray smoke, and melancholy air.
I clutched the fabric of my dress, feeling panic set into my bones along with winter’s chill.
I had no plan, no survival instincts, and no idea where to go.
Heck, I had no idea where I was. This had probably all been a trick, a cruel game by the spirit who found me in my vulnerability and took advantage of my naivety, but now that I was here, wherever here was, where would I go?
What would I do? I didn’t know the first place to start as fear washed over me.
My fingertips stung, tingling like they did on the day I saw my beloved fall to the ground.
Maybe it was magic. Is this what magic feels like?
I didn’t know the first thing about witchcraft.
I’ve never been magical as a child and therefore never invited to coven meetings or solstice circles.
My mothers worked diligently helping Rumor suppress her gifts, but there was no need to teach me any of that.
Plus, I made myself small enough as it was.
What was this magic flowing through my veins?
What could it do? Could it help me at all?
Was it possible the line of Malefic women in my family tree were rushing through my DNA, swirling in my magic, pulling me towards it.
Did I have the knowledge of enchantments within me or was it something I had to learn?
If it were the latter, I had no time to be a student.
This was it. I was at the point of no return.
Either my magic would help me or I died on this frozen tundra, a lost cause.
Icy wind bit at my cheeks, and I rubbed my arms for warmth, watching as my breaths came out in puffs of air.
“I need to know which way to go. I don’t know what to do,” I said into the snow flurries.
I wasn’t sure if I was talking to myself, my magic, or pleading with any invisible forces around, but the words tumbled out all the same.
Where was I to find a lost soul when all seemed so desolate?
At this rate, I’d freeze to death before making it a mile.
Standing still would surely turn me into an icicle, so I trudged forward, my thin shoes already wet and freezing from the snow that came up to my ankles. More and more flurries beat down, sticking to my eyelashes, pinpricking my face with dots of frigid precipitation.
This was it. I was going to die in a frozen Underworld and never see Vore again.
I tried to move my suddenly reddish-purple fingers and couldn’t. My teeth chattered loudly and every breath stabbed my lungs from the elements. Moments, surely I only had moments of life left.
It was then, in my hypothermic delirium, an image took shape in the snow. Two pointed ears, one flopped over, the other pert. The furry white creature hopped forward. I watched in shivering curiosity as it bounced over. Once it reached me, it nudged my leg with its round little nose.
Even inches away from an icy death, I couldn’t deny the urge to pet it.
So I reached down and stroked its ear, only then realizing it was a fallope.
“H-hello, there. Where did you come from?” I chattered out.
I’d always been fond of the rare and adorable little creatures that looked as if they were caught between being a bunny rabbit and a fox.
This one was especially fluffy and cute, with big eyes, whiskers, and a full tail.
He was made for the snow—I certainly was not.
The fallope nipped at my dress, pulling me forward. “Do-do you want me to follow you?”
The creature seemed pleased when I followed after its hops, always looking over its fuzzy shoulder to make sure I was on the right track.
I chased after it, feeling my toes go numb, when suddenly it stopped.
Sitting up on its haunches, it eyed me and thumped its foot, banging into something.
I furrowed my brow, not understanding what it was trying to say.
The fallope looked up at me expectantly and thumped again, and again, and again.
Thump, thump, thump.
“What is it?” I asked, shuffling near. Something wooden sat just beneath a powdery dusting of snow.
The fallope’s nose twitched, and it thumped its foot again against the door.
It was then I noticed a round, iron latch.
If anything, maybe it was some sort of bunker to escape the elements.
“I… I guess I’m supposed to pull this open?
” I asked the creature. “Okay, here I go.”
The door swung open yet revealed nothing, leaving me with the only option available, which was to sit and shimmy down into the dark.
Back in Willowspire, I never would have done any of this.
Following a rogue little creature through the snow, opening a random hatch, and entering the dark unknown beneath the elements.
But here I was, lowering myself into the darkness.
My fingertips slipped—and I tumbled forward.
Air lodged in my throat as I braced for impact, a fall, pain—but they didn’t come.
Instead, I spun, as if suspended. Darkness evaporated, making way for warmth and the orange glow of light.
This was so bizarre. It was as if I were underwater, weightless, and swimming through a dream.
I knew I wasn’t dreaming, couldn’t be. The cold, the snow, my frozen limbs, and the soft fur of the fallope were all too real to be just inside my mind.
Speaking of the fallope, the animal bounced next to me, hopping on air as if this were the most natural thing imaginable. Just another day for a snowy, Underworld fallope, I supposed.
Suddenly, the air grew warmer, and a setting began to materialize.
The invisible force pulling me through the air righted me, lowering my body to stand on a brick road of many colors.
Around me, daisies the size of trees loomed over the pathway.
They bobbed on a phantom wind as I gazed down the curve of the patchwork brick road.
The fallope jumped ahead, turning around and twitching its nose as if I should follow. Well, he’d gotten me out of the snow at least, so I may as well continue to follow him until I had a better sense of this realm and where I should go to find Vore.
Stepping lightly behind the hops of the fallope, I took in the odd scenery, though I couldn’t see much beyond the huge flowers. Loud buzzing sounded behind me as I slowly regained feeling in my hands and feet, warmth slowly returning to my body.
I surely would have been dead if this furry little friend hadn’t found me when it did. It made me think of my fearkitten back in Nisse. Did Thistle miss me? Would I ever see him again?
I missed my fierce little kitten. I missed Nisse and all the women and withers there.
What were they doing now? Had they heard yet of what happened to Vore?
I wished so badly I could speak with Fable over a slice of lemon cake.
Maybe that’s what awaited me beyond the pink door.
The deer-skulled being had told me that the pink door would lead to my contentment.
A place without pain or suffering. My mind left with only the good memories of a life had and lived.
Really, a life I’d only just started to live before it was taken from me…
If I had walked through that door, where would I be now?
Had I made a mistake?
Uncertainty tensed my shoulders. Keeping a steady pace behind the fallope, he rounded a corner and stopped. We were at a grassy round clearing surrounded by giant pink tulips overhead. The flowers blocked the sun, illuminating the ground with fuchsia from the light filtering through.
In the center of the circle looked to be a strawberry as big as I was.
The fallope bounced over, waiting by it expectantly.
Just then, orange and black wings fluttered open on the other side of the fruit.
As I neared, I covered my mouth in a gasp, and a man turned around, his large butterfly wings softly fluttering at his back.
He held a scoop of strawberry in his palm and looked at me with eyes wide in astonishment.
“Why, hello, there! Well, I’ll be. Isn’t this something?
” He straigtened a monocle over an eye and squinted at me before running a finger through his long, curved mustache.
A man in every way, except he was sporting giant monarch wings.
“Hello,” I greeted, cautiously stepping closer. “My name is Prism.”
“Oh?” He raised his eyebrows, leaned on the strawberry, and crossed his arms… before bursting out into laughter. “Hello, my name is Prism,” he repeated, holding his sides through his cackles.
Annoyance flared within me, and I crossed my arms. I didn’t know who, or what, this butterfly man was, but I wasn’t keen on being mocked or ridiculed. “I’m not sure I’ve said anything that funny, sir. And you haven’t told me your name, maybe it’s just as humorous.”
The man wheezed for a moment before righting himself and removing his monocle to dry the tears from his eyes. “Forgive me, for I am not meaning to be rude. My name is Viceroy. I’m the keeper of this quarter. The Inflorescence, it’s called.”
“A butterfly keeper of the Inflorescence Quarter of… what is this place? Am I in the Underworld?” I asked, hearing the buzzing above me again. Something between a gasp and a scream left my throat as I identified the source: a plump, black and yellow bumblebee landed in an overhead tulip bloom.
“That’s one name for it, yes, though there’s been many names for this place over the centuries.” Viceroy watched me with rapt attention, as did the fallope at his side. “Please do forgive me for laughing. Feel free to laugh at me if you like, many do as it is.”
“What was so funny?” I asked, prying my gaze away from the enormous bumblebee.
“Your introduction,” Viceroy stated as if it were obvious. “As if you need one. We all know who you are.”
“Who I am?” I asked, confusion furrowing my brow. “Who do you think I am?”
“Your Prism Malefic… The Malefic… Guardian of the Underworld. You’re back, you’re truly back. Welcome home, Prism.”