"You bumbling, blistering, blithering barbarous fool of a man! How could you sleep during a summoning ritual?!"
SMACK!
"Excuse me?! I did NOT sleep-!! It was a momentary lapse of my braincells that caused my vision to blackout and tongue to stop chanting!"
"Momentary my arse! You missed a whole fucking paragraph!"
"Shh- mind your language! The Priestess is around!"
"Well, excuse me if I dare accuse thou Holy self for exempting a FUCKING paragraph from a summoning ritual that has now resulted in the soul being LOST! And on occasion of us not finding it, the next thing around will be YOUR BLOODY CORPSE!!"
"Chill out, it's a soul from Earth, it wouldn't know how to adjust here. She'll stick out like a sore thumb! We'll find her in no time!" 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGGdBCJqQK
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"To avoid sticking out like a sore thumb, I must know about the history, culture, customs and traditions of this world!" Aurora whispers to herself, feet perched against the prison wall and hands folded under her head.
"But how?" She wonders out loud again, eyeing the glorious afternoon sun from the small square on the wall.
"I should stick by the prince, use him for information and run away." The ravenette concludes, nods to herself, then frowns and groans out loud again. "But what if I am really a thief?!" She cries to herself, rolling on the floor now.
"No, no, no, I cannot be the thief. If I am the main accused then my living quarters should have been the first to be searched. They would have found something by now if my body had hid it...it looks like it is afternoon now, maybe I won't be caught..." She peeks at the inaccessible square again. If only she could climb up there and jump out. Not that she would know where to go. She'd be lost all over again.
Was she really dead in her world? If not dead, she would be fatally injured...she wonders what her family would have been doing. Maybe they would be happy to have gotten rid of her.
Aurora sighs to herself, eyeing the empty steel plate laying in a corner. They had given her breakfast, egg and bread, quite like Earth. Incomprable to the jasmine tea, buttered toast and bacon she had gotten used to, but something close enough to childhood. It really made her wonder if someone had kidnapped her— but no, how could she be in such a small and annoying body then. It must have been magic.
The mere thought of it makes her shudder.
"I wonder if this body has a family...?" Aurora had searched the body high and low for any signs or markings of family crests or any other ambiguities but all she found were scars and bruises. It made her wonder what the previous soul had went through. Was she abused into stealing something?
Probably.
"Well, if I am poor then I must quickly work my way up to be rich! I cannot imagine to live a life of poverty again," Aurora grumbled to herself, sitting up straight and checking her breaths.
She relaxed her back against a wall and pressed the side of her palms in front of her ears, humming. Once, twice, higher in pitch then lower in pitch. It was an exercise she had learnt to discover the normal speech pitch of her voice, back when she had started taking vocal lessons as Aurora.
She is Iris now. So, she will figure out Iris' normal speech pitch early on in her life. A healthy voice equals better singing which equals more popularity which equals more money! Her ultimate goal now!
She spent her afternoon talking to herself, accentuating pitches and finding an ideal temperament to continue as she introduced herself, "Hello, I am Iris! I have black hair and brown eyes. I am a pauper in Maynard. Do you know me?" And when the scarlet hues of dusk bled into the orange of the afternoon, it weighed down on her.
Will Arcel keep his promise?
Would he really get her out?
Had they found the necklace already and abandoned her?
She shudders over her latest thought, unwilling to be pessimistic, she pinches her cheeks to focus. "You literally escaped death, Aurora Harper and Iris, you both shall not go in vain! I refuse to be taken down as a plain looking pauper!" The ravenette fist pumps with encouragement, much to the amusement of her visitor.
TING! TING! TING!
Iris jumps up, momentarily loses her soul, and turns to see a grinning Arcel knocking his ring against the metal of the prison bars. He wore a turquoise suit today, complementing his eyes, not that Iris noticed. She was more excited over his presence.
"You're back! Which means they did not find anything on me! Which also means that I can get out of here! Hurray!" The ravenette exclaims, skipping around in circles.
"The final decision is Grand Duke's to make," Arcel laughs at her excited stance.
"You'll take me out, I'm sure," Iris turns to face the Prince now, grinning ear to ear. She had a pretty smile, one could say, when her eyes turn into crinkled cresents and button nose scrunches to give way to a toothy smile with dimples on either side.
Arcel coughed, heart aflutter, as he gestures the guards behind him to open the door for the jumpy little girl. "But you must promise to stay by my side, okay? Like the fairy Godmother," Arcel speaks out, his hushed tone almost making it sound like a mumbled order. The gate was pulled open and Arcel stood outside with a hand stretched out for Iris to take.
The ravenette didn't.
She merrily skips out of the prison as a sound of utter glee escapes her. The thought of having been to jail was not all that embarassing at all! Rather, it was another one of the experiences she would berate to anyone who'd lend a ear to hear. Aurora would have never fancied it back on Earth. Maybe a new life wasn't all that bad. She turns when Arcel repeats his request and replies, "But a Fairy Godmother is a benefactor! I don't think I can benefit you in anyway."
Arcel retracted his hand and intertwined them behind his back. He stands there with hooded eyes staring Iris down with, what one could say, an omnious smirk. "You'd be surprised," he muses out, walking ahead with his trail of maidservants and guards in tow, leaving a confused Iris behind.
What had this child planned? Why was he so intrested in her? Did he like her or something? Oh well- who wouldn't like The Aurora Harper's charm. Too bad, who cares! She will run away as soon as she finds out the historical backdrop of this place and scrape out a use for herself.
She hastily follows the young prince's trail through a series of mediaeval walls decorated with colourful tapestries of fire breathing dragons, swords that looked like the Excalibur, and demi-beast like creatures, of whom Aurora had no idea of. She wondered if the myths here were same as back on her Earth.
Evening was slowly darkening into night and florescent slips of shining paper had begun levitating around the ceilings of dark corridors. She had heard a maidservant call it 'lumine.' These paper strips had a mind of their own as they followed people into the dark, illuminating the path for them, until they reached a well lit area whereafter it would leave to find someone else to guide.
Talk about customer service.
Iris' curious eyes were grasping all that they could comprehend when a sudden sparkle caught her attention. Opposite to the corridor she was walking in, was a bridge laden in darkness. Hidden behind a faun colored pillar was a figure, going unnoticed by all. He seemed to be fixated over something and that is what caught Iris' attention. For between his fingers was dangling a pendant.
As cold as an ice bucket challenge, the realisation hit Aurora's head — was she being falsely accused?! Why had she not fathomed this thought?!
Her lips parted to speak, but words never made it out. She could not afford to make baseless accusations, no, she needs to be sure! Her brown orbs take in the surroundings and a small smirk plays over her lips. The best part about being a plain pauper is the invisibility it provides you, no one ever notices you.
Her existence has become incognito and Aurora did not know how to feel about it. Was she grateful? Was it a relief? Or will she succumb, one day, to the inability and remain in the shadows forever?
Arcel's trail was walking steadily forward and Iris took it an opportunity to sneak away. As she ran through the empty corridors and the lumines never followed her. Her eyes only focused the cobalt head, unaware of her impending presence.
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for he flinches with his whole body when Iris grabs him by the shoulder, panting akin to a golden retriever in his face. Aurora was now affirmed that Iris' body had never left a room prior to this day.
His golden eyes widen for a split second, before they narrow on her intruding presence. How had he not felt her approaching him?! He swats her hand away before she could start speaking.
"What are you?" He rudely cut in, eyeing her disheveled appearance and laboured stance. Her brown frock was scrunched around her waist, drooping over her small shoulders and threading out over its hem. Her feet were clad in thick black shoes which looked like they would bite. Her hair was a shabby cloud of raven, littered with what seemed like sand...? Which freakshow had this piece of work escaped from?!
Iris all but pounced at his collar, standing on her tippy-toes as she jerks the tall and oddly compliant (he was shocked) boy closer to her face. "Y-You Thief!" She wrings his collar, shaking him along with it.
Too close! This is the closest he had ever been to a girl who was not his sister! Flustered, he jerks her away with a swift push and she dwindles, with a yelp, while trying to stand straight.
"Y-ou-ah, you, are the — fuck my kidney hurts," the ravenette clutches the side of her stomach and groans as a stabbing pain rattles her for a second. "You useless body," she groans before continuing her rough inquiry, "You- you are the one! with that necklace! Is it Duchess Arabella's?!"
The necklace of conflict looked like a choker, much to Aurora's suprise, it had a silver band linked together with a glistening opal in the centre. The band was adorned with intricate handiwork but what caught Aurora's awe was the alphabet 'A' engraved in the stone.
The boy leans against the cold guard rail of the bridge, folding his arms over chest as he snickers. "Whatever made you think that?" His stare is cold and unblinking, a contrast to the warm glow of gold that were his eyes.
Iris was quick to point at the 'A' etched on the stone.
The boy raises an eyebrow in surprise. "I didn't imagine you..." His tone was beyond condescending, downright ruthless, with the way he looked her up and down, before continuing, "...to be well versed in the Imperial alphabet. I stand surprised."
Iris scoffs in his face, trying to grab the necklace but failing as he pockets it in a swift motion. She tsks.
"Ha-Ha, look at your superpower of jerkisim failing on me." Iris mocked. "Why are you trying to frame me? Do I owe you something?" She asks, alternating her focus between his face and his pocket. He was beautiful, quite otherworldly, for someone who looked hardly eight. His slanted golden eyes seemed to mock the sheer existence of Aurora and Iris as a whole.
Trashcan.
"Shouldn't you know that?" His reply was ambiguous.
"Confess at the court! kids should not steal!" Aurora flicks his forehead, trying to sneak her other hand into his pocket but got swatted away in no time.
"Okay ancestor, try me, you're no master of mine," the boy muses out, pretty carelessly, much to Aurora's disdain.
The ravenette sighs, clutching her forehead before looking back up with a sparkle in her eyes.
Very well then, he asked for it.
"Let's make a deal. You sell it to me now and I will get you three times its price!" She bargains, knowing most thefts root from an utter feeling of helplessness and poverty.
He snorts at that, ruffling her hair. "I am no short of money." Yeah, he looked like it. He was wearing a white shirt that had felt like silk upon Iris' touch and navy velvet breeches. Modest, not screaming poverty like all of Iris did.
"What do you need then?"
He stayed mum, refusing to answer as he eyed the girl with a bland, handsome, stare.
"Why do you care?" he replies after a good minute of contemplated staring.
"Because my freedom, my innocence, my whole life is at stake!" Iris declares passionately, much to the boy's surprise. There is an inexplicable sincerity in her brown eyes that he couldn't really refute. "I am being accused for YOUR theft!" She presses a small, accusatory, index finger over his chest. "How do you feel about that?!" She drags it further, chin jutting out and eyebrows contoured in a strict frown.
Guilty. He felt guilty about it. Suddenly, the necklace had started weighing down his pocket, becoming a burden he couldn't unload.
"Will you surrender the necklace to me now?!" Iris demands with an expectant glance, hand stretched out toward him.
He clenches his jaw, looking away from her. "I can't." Was his reply.
Iris sighed. She needs to do it the hard way then.
She steps back, standing as tall as her five-year-old head could reach, before biting her lower lip. Summoning the Aurora of 'back-in-her-days,' as her small nose started twitching and tears began pouring out of her eyes.
"Prince Arcel! Maidservants! Look at this man trying to harrass me! He is trying to take me away and sell me! HELP!!" Aurora shouts, as loud as she can, making a scene that catches him off guard. There is evil watering eyes, demanding him to submit. He tries to shut her up by caging her mouth behind his hand, though she bites it away.
If the humans didn't, the lumines sure caught their attention and collectively floated over the hiding spot. Illuminating it more than the rest of the floor. She was an accused, missing from the Prince's trail, people would come running to her if she caught their attention.
"Come this way!! Someone is trying to hit me!! AAA IT HURTS!" She shouts again, faking it louder, now that footsteps had begun resonating. A small smirk played on her lips, proud. Where will he go now? He was surrounded on all sides!
"You're such a pain," the boy voices out between grit teeth. Aurora lurches for his pocket again, just when he pushes her away and jumps down the bridge.
Say what-
Jumps down?!
Iris gets up from the floor and rushes to the guardrail as knights and servants surround her. She cannot reach it with her height, but through the gaps in design she spots no dead child on the castle floors.
"He ran away..."
No. Her evidence and innocence just jumped down and RAN AWAY?!
Aurora turned and lo! She was surrounded by an angry hoard of people accusing her of causing chaos. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUnPnGBDtuM
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Above the roof of Mercy Bridge, camouflaged with the darkness of night, the cobalt-haired-boy levitated with his majestic wings. 195Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYLL9ibpDR
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