Aurora, a fading Aspect of the Seraphim of Dawn, watched her Monarch-to-be stride towards the seelie with his head held high after he had handed her his Spatial Ring which she was to hand over to his little sister.
She felt a mixture of pride and irritation, for someone of his status should not be subjecting himself to such a humiliating treatment, yet he did it to uphold his own honor, which made it tolerable, perhaps even laudable. She certainly felt proud of him for enduring it for his little sister’s sake.
After all, Lady Chryse had told her just how much Arakiel valued his family, even if they did not… yet.
Inside her, golden soulfire circulated in abundance, filling her to the brim with bliss and power, a power she didn’t even want because it wasn’t meant to be hers.
It was meant to be Arakiels, yet her beloved had entrusted her with it, had entrusted her with so much responsibility she just wanted to curl up, cry and then scream at him for making her do this. She didn’t want this, yet for him, she would do it.
But he better make it up to her later on! She already had an inkling as to how, given how increasingly stifled she felt by that accursed ring around her neck.
When the seelie Nyanna put her hand onto his face and the fiery rose-colored sigil formed, Aurora felt even more irritated. The immortal’s actions were a mockery of the way things should be and the more she thought about the previous days, the more she felt actual anger and outrage arise in her.
This seelie had done so many inexcusable things to her and Arakiel that Aurora found it impossible to forgive her, but she wouldn’t act hastily now. She had a task to fulfill.
But she would not forget.
Aurora heard Selene comment something about madness next to her, but she paid the liar little to no attention. Until the silver seraphim apologized in an upright and sincere manner, they were done talking. In a way, she couldn’t understand why Arakiel kept mentioning her, but it was probably out of respect for Ezekiel.
She approached Alanna who looked her over with caution.
“Release her,” Nyanna appealed from the side and the other fae sheathed her dagger and began to hold her pink-wreathed hand to Lady Mellia’s face.
In a matter of moments, the young Enchantress’ clouded, green-golden eyes regained focus and then she stumbled forward as the seelie gave her a light push.
Aurora dashed over towards her, having wished for a way to reach her Lord’s little sister faster. Her soul had responded in kind and she made it just as the utterly disoriented girl tripped over. Aurora embraced the girl with arms and wings right away while giving Alanna a glance that demanded she remove herself from Aurora’s sight.
She then turned her entire attention towards Arakiel’s little sister.
Lady Mellia’s breathing was quick and unsteady as incoherent fragments of what might be a sentence or perhaps question spilled from her mouth. In addition, her entire body trembled like leaves as though she was deathly afraid of something.
It pained Aurora, seeing her Lord’s kin in such a dismal state and although it might be a little intrusive, she wished to soothe and heal the adolescent’s mind.
Once again, her soul listened and acted to make it happen.
Aurora softly grabbed Lady Mellia’s temples and then put her own forehead onto the girl’s; as she did, some of her golden flame jumped over, veiling the girl with the lustrous ginger hair and the pinchable cheeks in a soft golden aura.
Little by little, the trembling stopped and her breathing steadied until at some point, she whispered a quiet, soft word of thanks after which she attempted to push Aurora away in misplaced embarrassment.
Aurora let it happen anyway.
Then – after confusion about the whole situation once again took hold of the little Enchantress – she spent the better part of an hour to softly explain the basic gist of what happened. During that time, Lady Mellia’s face took on a lot of different expressions that Aurora had never seen her make before, but two outshone all the others: anger at her elder brother’s actions, fueled by the deep gratitude she felt for his ‘sacrifice’. She received the Spatial Ring with trembling hands, not daring to put it on.
The two seelie had spent most of that time treating the damaged grove with all kinds of spells which made Aurora wonder just why these two were so keen on preserving this Site.
Meanwhile, heavy snowfall had begun to cover the rest of the clearing with a thin blanket of white now that she had pierced the fake sky.
And while it came across as just a little awkward when Nyanna eventually suggested they head back into the cottage to clear up further details, Lady Mellia agreed for lack of a better option. Aurora concurred, especially since she wanted to dress in something other than light.
It might keep others’ gazes away, but she still felt naked. She much preferred something on her skin. She queried Lady Mellia for her al-Aliriqean clothes and after a brief pause, the little Enchantress took heart, put on the ring and after a bit of confusion, handed her the items.
Inside, the two sides moved over into the parlor where the seelie sat down on one side, their charmed men standing next to them while Aurora, Lady Mellia and Selene took a seat on the opposite side.
There, the two fae roughly outlined their plans for the next weeks while also answering just about all of Lady Mellia’s many questions – questions during which she completely forewent her usual way of speaking.
Aurora had to comment the young woman for not only getting a grip of the situation in a relatively short amount of time, but she further had to admire the way Lady Mellia gleamed information from the seelie without offending them. The longer the talks continued, the more the two immortals began to treat the young Enchantress with the faintest modicum of respect.
The talks lasted for pretty much the entire day and when the sun began to fade, Lady Mellia proposed for a second round of negotiations on the morrow now that she was aware of many details – she just had to mull them over.
The two seelie agreed even though Aurora could tell that they didn’t take Lady Mellia’s overall attempts at ironing out certain details too seriously just yet. If anything, they entertained her because they found it funny, even if the constant glances over towards Aurora revealed why they did so.
Aurora wasn’t sure whether the seelie were afraid of her, but they most certainly treated her with some of the respect that she deserved. It wasn’t enough by any means, but Aurora was a gentle soul and she wasn’t stupid either.
She forgave them their transgressions internally – for the moment.
When the sun’s light faded for good, Aurora half-expected most of her soul to dissipate and when it did not, she realized that she had spoken in ignorance earlier and the more she thought about it, the more sense it made to her.
The sun’s light had heeded her call, had fed her soul… why would it suddenly go away. It was hers, after all.
But for once, she was quite happy with having made an error, especially as no one would ever know.
Aurora watched over Lady Mellia over the course of the night, not wanting to be near Arakiel when he was not his own. She was also not very tired, hungry or thirsty and so she kept her main focus onto keeping her promise, which concerned Lady Mellia first and foremost.
The young Kalanite slept relatively well, not because she wasn’t distressed, but because whatever the seelie had done with her made her extremely fatigued and now that she was free, she had a lot of catching up to do.
Selene the Doormat chose to return to Ezekiel’s side and although she crossed the ‘line’ on the next morning, Aurora still paid her next to no attention.
She wasn’t quite sure who had made breakfast, but it looked decent enough. Some bread, cheese, fruits and the like – but she didn’t take a lot.
Outside, a storm had raged over the course of the entire night with the snow piling up to ankle-length, perhaps more.
Nyanna and Alanna sat on the opposite side of the wooden table, their plain green dresses an affront to Aurora’s sense of fashion. She had her thoughts on how they should dress, but it wouldn’t be relevant until much later, when proper order had been restored.
Lady Mellia had reclaimed her usual attire, most notably her long white hood that she once again chose to wear in order to hide her beautiful countenance and after breakfast was over, the young Enchantress picked up where they had left of yesterday evening.
Aurora wore her soul openly just like the seelie did. It wasn’t a necessity, but it showed that she was ready to react at a moment’s notice.
A certain sense of tension permeated the air, but she had no intention of escalating it, even if she had to keep her gaze away from her beloved to make it easier.
Today’s situation greatly differed from the previous days; the love of her life had given her authority and even if she didn’t like it, she would see it through, would radiate it in order to help his little sister.
When Mellia eventually spoke up, her crystal-clear voice rang calm and collected. “Lady Alanna, Lady Nyanna – thou intendeth to use mine brother and his ally for what thee referred to as ‘unification’ – is that correct?”
The two seelie looked the Enchantress over and while Alanna’s lips formed to a grin, her sister chuckled out loud and it took her a good minute until she got a grip on her faculties.
Aurora noticed Mellia bobbing her right leg in annoyance, but she did not speak up.
“Yes, little lady!” The seelie next to Arakiel exclaimed. Unveiled amusement pervaded her tone.
“Do elaborate what this entails. Thine explanations have drawn an opaque picture at best.” Lady Mellia inquired in a perfectly polite voice.
“Then allow me to paint you a beautifully clear picture, little lady.” Alanna returned in a slightly mocking tone. “My sister and I are fragmented and we’ll collect our parts over the course of the coming weeks. Once that is done, we will undergo unification.”
Lady Mellia retorted right away. “Thy words seek to conceal, Lady Alanna. What purpose doth my brother serve in this ritual? Elaborate!”
Nyanna was the one who responded as she possessively stroked Arakiel’s arm. “Your wonderfully handsome and virile brother will not only watch over me, he’ll also nourish me.”
Aurora had a hard time keeping her face straight. This mockery of the intended order… it really riled her up.
“Again, thy words drip with deceit, seelie,” Lady Mellia answered and although the words she chose could be interpreted as accusing, her tone remained thoroughly steady. “Speak of this ritual and speak plainly.”
Nyanna slightly tilted her head and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. “We are seelie, little lady. We are entities of nature and dreams… and that is all I will divulge on the matter. Your precious brother won’t be harmed… that’s all you care about, isn’t it?”
“Mine interest lieth in the details, seelie. Elaborate, for I wish to assess whether Arakiel is in danger. In light of this, what happens to him pertains crucial information.” Mellia responded instead, not letting go of the issue.
The seelie sighed once again, having a hard time keeping her face straight by the looks of it. Nonetheless, she evaded the answer once more. “Your men will be indisposed while we undergo unification. But we will return them to you once the matter is done.”
Aurora couldn’t take it any longer and spoke up in barely suppressed annoyance. “Seelie! You will answer her question or I may just consider the deal void. You keep claiming that you won’t hurt my love, but the past days haven’t exactly made me confident that you intend to stay true to that word!”
Two pairs of rose-colored eyes fixated onto her. “Spawn of the Great Betrayer, you dare renege on our deal?” Alanna queried in a threatening tone.
Tension ended up increasing after all.
“My name is Aurora and you will address as such!” Aurora returned, about done with these immortals’ disrespect. “My Lord gave me the authority to oversee and interpret the deal, which is exactly what I’m doing!”
Nyanna looked her over once more, her expression hard to interpret.
“If thou wishes to remain silent on the matter, we shall have to assess that thine intent is to maim mine brother,” Lady Mellia continued and then turned towards Aurora. “Say, Miss Aurea – thou art able to sense mine brother’s whereabouts, art thee not?”
“That is true, Lady Mellia,” Aurora responded politely while focusing on Arakiel’s soul. She perceived the faintest tug imaginable from it, but it was noticeable and it was there. It wasn’t her own soul she felt inside him, but his.
“Then let us return to Kalanaar and beseech my mother, Demigoddess Alexandria, the Seat of Alexandrite.” Lady Mellia suggested out of the blue.
“Huh, but why? Arakiel’s here… we can’t just leave him!” Aurora exclaimed, feeling outraged by the very notion and she certainly had no intention of concealing it, even if she spoke with Lady Mellia.
“Rest assured, miss. Mine intent is not to abandon mine brother, but include our House to save him.”
“Do you think we’re just going to let you leave?” Alanna asked, her voice having turned tense as well.
Aurora slightly held out her hand, causing some of her golden flame to flare out of her palm. And although she was deeply afraid of fighting on the inside, she put on a proud face nonetheless. “I don’t think you can stop me, seelie.”
“So go back – it’s not like we’ll be here by the time you return!” Nyanna challenged, but Lady Mellia chuckled lightly.
“Mayhap you’re right, seelie. But as I just said – mine brother’s aurea can sense him. And wherever thee runs, our House will find thee and hunt thee down, especially when I tell mother of mine intent.”
“You cannot scare me, little lady,” Alanna retorted but the way she said it put it into question. She didn’t sound scared just yet, but certainly worried.
“None of that needs to happen, though. Merely state thine intent and I shall weigh the merit of thy words. What doth thee plan with mine brother?” Arakiel’s little sister went on to ask yet again, still sounding perfectly neutral.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“His blood will nourish and accelerate my unification. It won’t cause any permanent damage,” Nyanna then went on to explain.
“In that case, thou should strife to make up for his injury. Once thy deed is done, help him conquer this plane as thou suggested earlier.” Lady Mellia suggested, perhaps even demanded.
“We already said that we’d most likely do it!” Nyanna objected, none of her former amusement remaining. Right now, she seemed to regard Arakiel’s sister as an equal partner, which Aurora found fascinating.
“Not likely, thou shall do so.” Lady Mellia returned, adding. “In return, we shall leave this matter between us, for involving the House would tarnish his reputation a bit.”
“Fine!” Nyanna affirmed irritably.
“What? Why!?” Her sister exclaimed, turning sideways.
“It’s not a big deal, Anna-dear.”
“Yes but why do we allow some seedbed to order us around?” Alanna queried, her countenance one of annoyance which in turn pleased Aurora.
“She’s not ordering us. We’re fulfilling our part of the deal.”
“We’re seelie for dream’s sake!” The other seelie cried out as if that explained things.
“Yes, that’s precisely why I say we do,” Nyanna affirmed, sounding annoyed as well. Then, after a rather upset sigh, she went on. “Very well, little lady.”
Alanna finished her sister’s thought. “You win this one, but that’s the only time we’ll accept such a… violation.”
Aurora thought she heard the faintest chuckle from Lady Mellia, but her words still came across as perfectly calm and polite. “I concur, then do what thou must.”
And with that, Lady Mellia had reneged on the deal in a minor fashion, but it might just be incredibly important later on.
Aurora and Lady Mellia kept close to Nyanna and Arakiel over the coming days while Selene stayed with Ezekiel and Alanna and while she wasn’t too interested in the silver seraphim’s actions, she still had to acknowledge that the silver seraphim kept a part of her independence despite constantly submitting to her master and his seelie’s ‘training’.
Perhaps it was Selene’s way of spiting Alanna because no matter how little resistance she offered on most things that Aurora would deem humiliating, she not once obeyed when Alanna ordered her to do menial labor.
Aurora mostly found her wanton moans over the course of the day irritating to the point of annoying while Lady Mellia was seemingly flustered if not downright disturbed, but they had no authority there.
Unfortunately, Nyanna often kept close to the other group, but not always.
Sometimes, they walked the grove which soon bloomed in spring again and even the fake sky returned, keeping the outside world at bay.
Until the end of the current month, things were more or less a continuation of the earlier days. Nyanna and her seelie sister had Ezekiel and Arakiel spar at least twice to thrice a day to ‘keep them in shape’ and ‘strengthen their battle sense’; given Aurora’s influence, her Lord did not lose another match even if it cost her some of the abundant soulfire inside her. From what she could tell so far, she didn’t gain any new soul for the time being. But she wasn’t afraid about that in the slightest and whenever Arakiel beat Ezekiel, she felt another personal triumph over Selene.
Lady Mellia commented that her brother did indeed seem to grow more adept with every match and overall, she didn’t seem to mind this ‘training’ too much.
Neither of the man, of course, a say in it.
And since everyone except Selene sometimes played their part, the need for punishment sunk to an all-time low.
On the first day of the second month, Alanna suddenly left the grove.
Nyanna oversaw the continued sparring matches of Arakiel and Ezekiel while Lady Mellia continued to provide her enchantments for the two whereas Aurora familiarized herself with some of the changes that had occurred since deepening the covenant with her Monarch-to-be.
The most important one certainly concerned her referring to him as such, for this was the path they had chosen together.
The second most important change concerned her having regained control over her soulfire. The only way she could explain that was because of the last kiss through which her beloved must’ve returned some of the authority she had given him, even if she couldn’t yet say to what extent.
It manifested in some truly odd ways that she hadn’t quite yet figured out, but a guiding theme seemed to be that Aurora was indeed his guiding light, for any astral spells that she applied to herself also automatically happened to him. It had a significant downside, however – for it took soul from him and her, effectively doubling the cost. Irritably, she had yet to find a way to ‘disable’ it.
In the same vein, Aurora’s control over the air path seemed to have improved significantly to the point where she actually began to seriously test her wings again.
She hadn’t yet been able to retake to the skies in full, but she was beginning to learn how to use her wings in combination with air magic to jump onto the cottage’s roof or glide off of it.
In time, she felt confident that she could greet the dawn properly once more.
On the flip side, her control over fire seemed to have taken a nosedive, with the sigils sometimes even refusing to form in response to her wish of burning something.
Granted, she didn’t have a lot of experience with regards to evocations in general, but she wanted to at least entertain the notion of fighting against the seelie and honestly, it might be best if that didn’t happen.
Thankfully, Arakiel’s own spell casting seemed entirely unaffected by this phenomenon and the only thing she’d need to do is cleanse him which she felt exceedingly confident in doing.
Over the course of the next week, a few things became apparent which Aurora found a bit surprising at first, but maybe it was just the nature of living together for over two weeks by this point.
Nyanna and Lady Mellia often spoke about alchemy and other things that Aurora roughly categorized under ‘nature talk’ which she deemed incredibly boring, but she found it quite curious that the Kalanite Enchantress treated the seelie as a sort of teacher – and Nyanna was more than willing to share her insight.
Ezekiel and Selene also didn’t remain idle and constantly improved their own bond and through it, their fighting style, even with Alanna’s absence.
The difference only became more and more apparent the longer the two Mortal Ascendants sparred with one another and although Aurora still detested Selene as a person, she had to acknowledge that the girl grew into her role as a seraphim, only in another station and manner.
When Aurora greeted the dawn, then Selene greeted the midnight moon.
Where Aurora had a choice, Selene did not – yet both were content with the role they had been assigned and it had to be that gradual acceptance of their place that furthered their bond, their covenant.
The way Aurora interpreted it, Selene had not only accepted, but also began to embrace her role as Ezekiel’s submissive argent while he began to truly act on his role as her dominant master. Although they wouldn’t be able to define their nature until Ezekiel’s mind was freed from the seelie’s embrace, the two could well get to that point, even if Aurora wasn’t quite sure what would happen then.
She kind of doubted that Selene would do anything on her own, but despite her entire demeanor having grown servile, she still kept up her act as an utterly spoiled princess. Or maybe her being this way was part of the covenant… Aurora didn’t know and she certainly wouldn’t pry.
She could only say with certainty that Arkiel’s and her own bond ‘stagnated’, for he was not acting like an upcoming Monarch and she wasn’t acting like his supportive servant-consort – for that’s how she saw herself. Him returning authority to her marked her as a something more than a mere servant… but it was something they would need to figure out once he was fully himself once more.
It’d certainly explain why Aurora felt increasingly agitated and sometimes even downright miserable whenever she had to endure the sight of her beloved acting in such an unseemly manner – and it spoke to her failure that she had not yet freed him from it.
But she kept true to the trust he had put into her and so she endured, even if she wanted nothing more than to free him and overwhelm the seelie, but something stopped her from going through with it.
Maybe it was her own weakness, or maybe a part of her considered it as crossing his authority since he had made the deal with Nyanna.
Whatever the case, she dared not free him from Nyanna’s spell until the seelie gave her a reason – and so far, she hadn’t given her one.
She continued to do so for the two upcoming weeks, at which point Alanna returned a changed woman or perhaps entity might be a more fitting term; one that was truly terrible to behold or rather imagine. Her entire outline burned in bright, almost blazing rose-colored flames, concealing most of her physique but what shone through looked oddly misshapen and downright gruesome. Her body’s limbs contorted in a nonsensical way and it almost appeared as though there were too many. On first glance, Aurora wondered whether she had seen seven fingers on the hand that called out to Nyanna while she was also fairly certain that a third arm had grown out of the same shoulder.
Nyanna, calling everyone else, hurried over towards her seelie sister right away and even she gasped audibly, profusely apologizing to Alanna for having her ‘shoulder the burden’.
Even the other seelie’s voice sounded strained and hurt, as though she was in constant pain, but she claimed that everything was fine considering the circumstances and when Lady Mellia politely inquired where she had been, the creature let out a truly haunting chuckle. With a flick of its definitely seven-fingered hand, it stated that it had ‘reaped’ all the ‘seeds’ that the seelie had ‘sown’.
Then, it and Nyanna who also began to burn in her soft rose-colored flame joined hands and their auras merged. As the two seelie headed over towards the large central tree, the two’s aura began to slowly but surely equalize and the more bright flame rushed over towards Nyanna, the more the seelie appeared to tense up until…
Aurora, Lady Mellia and even Selene gasped in dread and horror as the immortal’s skin began to grow incredibly lustrous and then… crack as something began to shift underneath just about everywhere.
When Nyanna’s free hand suddenly split open in order to grow a sixth finger, Aurora averted her gaze in disgust and by the time the two immortals reached the tree, their silhouettes had once again hidden underneath bright fires as though they were ashamed of them.
And they should be.
“As you can see, these vessels cannot contain us,” Nyanna explained in a pained, gruesomely sounding voice that could haunt Aurora’s mind for the upcoming nights, not that she intended to sleep.
A six-fingered hand beckoned towards Arakiel. “Come, my suitor. Help me alleviate this agony I feel…”
At the same time, a seven-fingered hand beckoned Ezekiel, sounding almost the same. “Over here, my little dominant. It is time…”
Both men exclaimed the same answer at the same time, shouting. “As you wish, my Lady!”
And as the two slowly marched towards the bright rose-colored over there, under the tree… Aurora wondered whether now was the time to free them, to make them see.
She flared up in her own fire of gold which wasn’t nearly as bright as that of the two seelie. Her eyes focused onto Arakiel, onto her beloved Monarch-to-be… on him slowly walking over there towards this creature.
It should be easy… a mere wish to cleanse him and her soul should do it.
But did she have the authority to do that?
Once again, she was faced with the question of whether it was appropriate for her to put a stop to this.
It’d be so easy, wouldn’t it?
But if she did, then she…
Indecision kept Aurora in check until Arakiel and Ezekiel reached for their respective seelie’s hand and as they did, the fire began to engulf them and as soon as they stepped closer, their silhouettes vanished underneath the bright flame which then flared up even more, burning so bright and tall that it put the tree above to the torch at first, and then the grass around.
But it did not burn the blades of grass or leaves to cinders, it caused them to grow, caused them to multiply at a shocking rate and in a matter of moments, the tree above began to grow new branches which caused more branches to grow and soon enough, these new limbs crashed under their own weight while down below, the grass and flowers started to grow out of control, only to be crushed by the falling branches and the more the fire spread, the more chaotic the area became as life grew without restraint.
Aurora, Selene and Lady Mellia shied back in horror, retreating to the cottage at first but when the pink fire came closer and made no sign of stopping, the three hurried out of the clearing and when the fire didn’t even stop there, they fled south.
Thoroughly disturbed and honestly overwhelmed by this event, Aurora suggested they head back to Seelenrest and inquire with Bidina but when they arrived at the thoroughly snowbound village several hours later, they only found five empty wooden houses and several dead horses amid the treetops.
In each house, they found an empty dress with a bit of dust on the floor at which point Aurora finally connected the dots as she recalled Alanna ‘reclaiming’ the body inside the cottage and from one moment to another, she became deathly afraid for her beloved.
Driven by worry, Aurora took to the skies without fully realizing it until she had arrived at the thoroughly overgrown area of the Seelenforst grove which was still burning in pink flames. They didn’t seem to have spread any further, though.
A snowstorm raged all around her and even if she wasn’t particularly cold, she had trouble keeping her body steady even with the help of her air magic. Furthermore, the flurry of snow made it quite hard to see into the distance and when she descended back towards the edge of the grove, she nearly crashed when a particularly harsh squall of air came in from the side.
Slightly below her, the entire area seemed to grow and then collapse onto itself all the time and her instincts told her that it’d be nigh impossible to traverse.
A thought crossed her mind, but her soul flat-out refused to even entertain the notion of forming any kind of offensive fire spell, especially as it would go against her Lord’s wish.
And so, Aurora could do nothing but to return to Seelerest and when she landed in the village’s center, Lady Mellia and Selene approached her worriedly, asking what she had seen in her roughly one-hour absence.
The time frame came as a surprise to Aurora as she had thought it to be much longer – but she was apparently quite quick on wings. Shoving that realization aside for the time being, she instead reported her findings and given the lack of explanations, they decided to wait here for the time being as the seelies’ deal lasted for two more weeks.
The five ‘vessels’ of the immortals that used to live here had a full storage of food and there was enough dry firewood to keep the cold at bay for Lady Mellia.
All three kept to the same house and for the rest of the day, they didn’t speak much as neither wanted to entertain the notion that something had gone truly awry.
Aurora greeted the dawn alone on the next day, having taken to the clear skies earlier. It felt so easy now, but she could take little joy from it when she realized that she couldn’t give the lustrous full shard to her beloved Arakiel. She descended once more and cried until she had no more tears to spare.
It hadn’t even been an entire day and she already missed him so much, but she also felt the little tug from the north. He was alive, she knew as much… but she wanted to be near him and when she couldn’t take it anymore, she ascended above the treetops once more.
When Aurora reached the Seelenforst grove a little later, she was shocked to find the entire area withered, the formerly emerald vines brown and brittle while the central tree looked on the verge of dying, if it wasn’t already dead. It held no leaves and the branches seemed dry and ready to break and fall off at the earliest gust of wind.
She descended towards the center an instant where she found a truly curious sight.
A large cocoon of lush and healthy emerald vines had grown at the place where the two seelie had flared up yesterday. It was half-buried in the withered undergrowth and covered by a nigh countless amount of roses that bloomed in blue, green and white.
Inside that cocoon, she felt Arakiel’s soul but Aurora was afraid to touch the thorny vines and after a while, she realized that the cocoon seemed to thump just a little, as though it was beating like a heart.
With nothing else to do for the moment, she returned to report her findings, but when the three of them made their way back on foot, the formerly withered area had once again grown and blossomed into a thoroughly overgrown forest that was impossible to penetrate.
On the next day, Aurora visited early to once again find the forest withered and this time, she stayed in order to figure out a pattern, of which there was none.
At some random point, the cocoon began to burn in soft rose-colored flames that then revitalized the entire clearing until at some seemingly random point later on, everything withered while the cocoon beat at an accelerated rate.
She observed the event for two more days and found that they began to equalize slowly but surely, but then her suspicions were thrown overboard when a full week had passed since the outbreak. The emerald cocoon hatched into two largely over-sized rose flower buds on the eve of the sixth day. These buds were closed and their large petals held the same soft rose-color like the seelie’s soulfire and from inside one of these, Aurora felt Arakiel’s soul.
Being near the twin flowers made Aurora feel unwell, almost like they sucked the life right out of her. She retreated quickly and reported her findings once more.
By that point, Lady Mellia had more or less made herself at home in the small wooden cottage and from what Aurora could tell, she studied a treatise on the complicated political and diplomatic landscape of the Eternal Cities while Selene did something that Aurora didn’t bother to query.
On the next morning, the three headed over to the grove once again and this time, they found a snow-covered, dying forest that they could traverse with a quite a bit of effort.
When the three eventually reached the heart of the grove with the two flowers, their clothes had suffered dearly and as vexing as it was, they couldn’t do anything.
Even overpowering the low sense of dread she felt right next to one of these flowers, she could do nothing but knock on them, for the buds’ petals were exceedingly robust and appeared impervious to outside physical influence.
Lady Mellia surmised that the seelies were using these flower buds as a sort of incubator and it seemed likely, not that there was anything they could do about it.
Selene couldn’t cast any spells, Aurora couldn’t cast any offensive spells and Lady Mellia was an Astral-Nature Enchantress – she also had no offensive means whatsoever.
In the end, they agreed to wait and observe which they did right until the very end of the seelies’ allotted time frame.
In the evening twilight of the 14th day, right on the Lightday of the 2nd Mend, the petals opened.