The Marked Phoenix: Little Red Bird - Chapter 11

Emerine expected her body to splat onto the floor as life drained her head. She thought of how ironic it would be if the princess of the kingdom rotted to her death in the pits of the palace. She thought of how a servant would react if they miraculously stumbled across this concealed and hidden tunnel only to discover a corpse. But that did not happen.

Her entire body crashed upon something soft, cushiony, yet prickly. Her eyes stared upwards where she couldn’t even see how far she had dropped. She could not believe her fate nor her circumstance. A drop this high should’ve shattered her bones, regardless of what type of air cushion was used.

When she slowly sat up, she was at a loss for words. The walls were dark, dirty, and grimy, but it had an ethereal glow reflected upon them. Her eyes landed upon a patch of Essence Roses, so beautiful that she couldn’t help but reach out for it. It was a glistening color of ruby red whose petals emitted a blushing glow of pink. “Impossible,” she breathed out.

Essence Roses were supposed to be extinct from the wild. Essence Roses were known for their ability to replenish the mana of a magic wielder. One waft of the rose was enough to charge a person for at least a day. When news of this spread, people sought heavily after it, so much so, that the supplies could not meet the demand. Mysteriously, the seeds stopped germinating and for over a century, it stopped blossoming. Or at least, that was what the Kingdom of the West told the world.

Emerine’s eyes flashed. Of course, her father wasn’t truthful. How could this flower go extinct when the Kastrel’s family, for centuries, had always been destined to be Growers whose ability could harness any sort of plant in existence as long as they had a vivid image of it in their mind? The only question was how did the Essence Rose thrive at such a low level in the castle? Didn’t it need sunlight…? Unless…

Her head whizzed around, seeking for some windows. She found none. Just as she had predicted, the Essence Roses relied on the aura of a person. Slowly but surely, it’ll suck the life of those within at least a ten-mile radius of it. And what was the closest floor to this level? The servant corridors.

She could not bring herself to stomach the fact. Emerine might’ve known she had a secret room behind her painting, but only her father knew where it led to. He knew these plants were killing off his people.

Emerine squeezed her eyes shut and forced herself to climb off of this place. Her entire body was drawn to lay upon the flowers, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She had to leave this place, she had to run and get out of here. But to where? Where could she run off to?

“Ow,” she grumbled upon feeling her fingers prick upon something. Lifting it close to the roses, since it was her only source of light, her eyes widened. Was that liquid gold on her finger? Shakily, she pressed her fingers together and sure enough, a substance the color of ambrosia leaked from her cut. That was her blood. It wasn’t crimson red, but a shimmery yellow.

Emerine took unnerved steps backward, not believing this discovery. And without warning, a droplet of blood fell upon the floor before disappearing as fast as it came.

“What the hell?” she breathed out when suddenly, the dark stains on the floor shifted and began to change color. The change started with a dark amber before slowly transitioning into a bright glow, the light seeping towards the other spots on the floor. Her eyes followed the path the light traveled to and soon, she could see it was seeping into a specific direction, almost as if the floor was directing her to head somewhere.

Lost in a trance, Emerine could do nothing but follow the small trail on the floor that guided her down the ominous hallway. There wasn’t a single source of light and she could do nothing but grab a handful of the roses hoping that their glow would help. To her shock, the roses had completely shriveled up and died in less than a few seconds. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She didn’t understand why the roses behaved like this. If it happened in the past, how were people able to massively transport this from the West to the other three kingdoms, and the Emperor who ruled over the Four Kingdoms?

The light that originally began in front of her feet was slowly losing color and shine. She panicked and realized that if she did not follow the direction the path was pointing her, she would not make it out of here.

Abandoning any thoughts or rationality, she left the roses behind and rushed to follow the lines on the floor. Her head turned back and sure enough, the glow behind her was dying off which proved her first theory: the path will turn back into mere dark stains on the floor.

Not wanting to waste time and find herself trapped down here, she picked up her pace. Light steps turned into hurried thumps until she broke into a full sprint as the trail leads down one hallway after the other, one corner after the other. It was not long before Emerine found herself outside the palace grounds, forced to strain her head to see her room high in the air.

“Emerine?”

Emerine’s head snapped towards the source of the voice and relief filled her entire body. If she hadn’t controlled her emotions, tears would’ve welted her eyes and blurred her vision. But it didn’t. She was never a crier and would not start now.

“You’re a mess. What happened?”

Without warning, Emerine crashed against Kalesin. Her hands grabbed his sleeves before wrapping itself around his large frame. Her body trembled and she didn’t miss his slight hesitation before wrapping his arms around her. Her heart raced a mile per second and she couldn’t stop herself from shaking. “There was people in the hallways and my room—”

“Did someone hurt you?” Kalesin gently whispered, a hand entwining itself into her silky hair. They parted so beautifully in his hand, he thought he was holding strings of gold. Every part of her radiated wealth and royalty. Wealth that she did not acquire through hard work, but at the expense of others. Even so, he couldn’t blame her for the things she didn’t change. He could never blame her.

“Why are you wearing a servant’s outfit?” He questioned her with a patient and soft voice, waiting for her to respond. His copper eyes glanced down upon her pitiful form, shoulders so tiny, yet was expected to hold up the world. His hand twitched to clench her hair in his fingers. “Why are you covered in grime?”

“Kalesin, we have to leave. We must go.” Emerine pulled back from him, panic seizing her. “The castle is under attack and—”

“I can’t leave Emerine. My duty is to this kingdom,” Kalesin responded as he took a step back from her. He realized this was the first time he had called her by her name without hesitation, but it would be the last time he called her that.

It was then Emerine that saw the blood-splattered upon his face and the blood smeared on his armor. She glanced down in horror and saw her clothes were soaked with red. As it should be. “You killed someone.”

“It was either their blood or mine,” he detachedly answered her, a voice so foreign and cold, she thought he was a completely different person. “I’ve killed before. This isn’t the first time.”

Emerine glanced up at him and her entire world crumbled. The moonlight descended upon him, casting a ghastly white glow over his armor. No amount of shimmering moonlight could restore the lost hope in his eyes.