| another lame death

"The bane of my existence! Where are you?" A voice sang out, melodiously dragging each vowel. "Why haven't you infuriated me yet. It's been almost twenty-four hours!"

"Shh- I'm trying to connect with him."

"Him, who? Your lost sanity? It's never coming back. Quit trying. Did you complete your wishlist? I'd hate to see you die without accomplishing anything when the Priestess arrives."

"I'm trying to connect with Vasil."

"Oh! Him! Now you're talking! Why did I not think of that? Well, maybe because I'm a genuinely empathetic person and assumed Vasil to be busy with the whole necklace thing. So, well, stake me if I thought that we should give him SPACE and not reel him in OUR TROUBLES which are caused MOSTLY BY YOU!"

"Dear Holy Virae-!! Will you stop shouting in my ears?! The Priestess is expecting results and by no means possible—"

"Yes! Results! Which Vasil has to provide as well! This is the longest he has been away and why do you think he hasn't come back yet? Well, hint hint, IT IS NOT BECAUSE HE IS INCOMPETENT LIKE YOU. IT IS BECAUSE THE MAYNARD DUCHY IS A TWISTED FORM OF PURGATORY!"

"Do you think he is probably trapped or something - somewhere? You know what happened six years ago—"

"Stop—" smack! "—jinxing—" smack! "—it!" smack! "Just let this go— leave it! Now-!" THUD! "Yes, good. Now you listen to me. When the Priestess arrives, we'll tell her that we found the soul but it is in a child. That'll give us time for at least a decade or more to find the real soul. The Priestess cannot possibly accomplish her goal if the soul hasn't matured, right?"

"But she'll require proo—"

"What else do you think I was doing when you were out there brutally manicuring the dead?! I was talking to the Faeries. A bling bling accepted the request. She's brewing a potion."

"You...y- sister! Are you colluding with a Creature of God to go against your Priestess?! I am—"

"Well then does Your Selfless Highness truly wish to turn to dust?!" Smack! "Come to your senses, dammit. I want to detest you forever."

"Sister..."

"Oh shut up, don't you dare cry. DON'T! PULL IT UP! yes. Geez, you're supposed to be the older one."

.

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Vasil was plopped over the slanting roof of Arabella's chambers, all along. He had made himself comfortable over the protruding tiles and had been staring up in the sky. The blazing sun was almost overhead, but Vasil had remained unfathomed by the rays piercing his eyes. The frown etched upon his forehead was way too concentrated in a land of thoughts.

Thoughts that he normally wouldn't have taken this long to figure out if he wasn't distracted by a certain Prince Arcel Maynard.

A golden mist lurks over the tip of his fingers and he sways it left and right in the air. The cloudy wisp dims with Vasil's thoughts going astray. The reason why his magic couldn't trace the necklace all this while was glaringly obvious now.

He clenches his jaw, getting up with a frown. Scanning the perimeter for guards on duty, he spots a clear ground and jumps off of the roof.

.

.

Aurora agressively rubs the rag over a stain of something suspicious gracing one of the corners of the main hall. She had tried to rub it off, blow it off, clean it with her spit and even scrape it through the rag, but the stain almost looks like a part of the flooring now.

Her lips were concentrated in a pout, forehead pushed in a concentrated frown, muttering to herself. "I should have treated my maids better. Servants and surroundings as well. I should have learnt something from them. Not that it would have worked over this hec—"

When suddenly a hand cages her mouth and pinches down her nose tight between two fingers.

Aurora lets out a muffled scream as another hand restrains her in a chokehold. The rag falls to floor. Her hands desperately claw against her captor's muscles in vain. She writhes around, kicking her heels against what felt like steel.

Her vision starts fading.

Her chest heaves for the air it was being denied.

She desparately flips her body like a fish out of water, but her captor knows how to stand their ground. Fear pools in her mind, embracing her senses and plummeting her body temperature to a new low.

She sweats cold sweats in a split second and her chaotic mind runs a mile a minute.

Is this how the legacy of the Great Aurora Harper comes to dust?

Is this how she dies for real?

Again?

Her hands give up digging her nails into the captor's flesh. Her feet give up thrashing. The small body of Iris returns to rest as her brain numbs all senses of pain. A subtle feeling of her body being dragged ensues her consciousness into darkness.

Aurora had expected to go with a little more grandeur.

But goodbye, nevertheless, she says with a lame death. Again.

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The first time Iris had approached Vasil was on the Mercy bridge.

The mere thought of it happening was near impossible unless Iris was a supreme sorceress drunk on Virae's blood.

Vasil had enchanted himself with an invisibility spell, that night like every other night, and had created a rune barrier over the bridge to keep away unwanted people from walking in. Heck he even had an extra defensive spell on himself so that the Lumines could not sense him!

Ever since Vasil had started observing the Duchy, the Mercy bridge was its least used part. The majestic bridge often remained unused and uncleaned. Absolutely no one travelled over for weeks, if not for Duchess Arabella once or twice a month.

Vasil's magical barriers ensured his safety and anonymity around the area as he continued staying there for three weeks, meticulously planning and plotting his theft. And when he had finally succeeded, this intrusive thought akin person named Iris had barged in and caught him off-guard.

First off, he hadn't felt her presence enter his rune barrier. His barriers, in the small and inconsequential eight years of his existence, had always been impenetrable and yet to disappoint him. But somehow, this little pest had walked in.

Second off, there was no way Iris could have seen him standing without Vasil removing his invisibility seal all by himself. His spellwork, even at his tender age, had always been immaculate. But somehow, this little pest had seen him.

Third off, no Lumines followed her to even hint her approaching presence. Which gives way to Vasil's 'Iris being a supreme sorceress' theory. Lumines are designed to sense even the faintest, almost non-existent, and most times, in case of children, even just potential manna to follow and provide them with light. A mediocre child of Iris' age would never be able to cast a defensive spell of enough power to camouflage herself from the Lumines. Unless, she was some supreme sorceress. But, Vasil had scratched the thought right off there because Iris did not look like one. She couldn't be one. He was positive she isn't one because they don't exist. Never had.

He should have been suspicious at that precise moment, but he was too busy being caught up in her audacity. Vasil's plan to activate the necklace had to be moved a whole day ahead because of Iris' outburst at the bridge. He was in higher risk to be located now, because some pest couldn't keep things to themselves.

The second time Vasil met Iris was at Lake Virae. Once again, he had no felt any humanly presence approach him until Arcel had called him out. He should have been suspicious again, but his stupid self had been caught off guard again and he had dropped the necklace in the Lake, hence accidentally activating it.

That was when Vasil had lost the necklace. And before he could have retrieved it, Arcel had him distracted! Only then, how had Vasil not noticed it before ?! — Iris had jumped over the Alruna crystals to jump into Lake Virae!

She must have had wanted the necklace!

But...why?

He hadn't suspected Iris as of then because she had no motive involved! What possible use could she have had from the necklace?! But it was crystal clear, in plain sight now. She had jumped into the lake to retrieve the necklace. She has it, on herself, that is why Vasil wasn't able to feel its presence anywhere else!

Was drenching him in Unicorn vomit a ploy?! Had Arcel been in cahoots with Iris all along? How can Vasil be so easily distracted by two kids younger than him?! This is disappointment and exasperation on his part! Disasperation! Exaspointment!

The whole story swept to light when Lady Crimson uttered that there was a "bounty over the necklace." Seeing Iris, muttering about money the night before and getting excited for getting paid— she was obviously after the reward money! She was too unruly to be working with a Church and if she had started working for Arabella after her trial, Iris sure was good at betraying.

Because Arabella is still showing the symptoms. The pretty Duchess was tipping her hat of sanity, lower with every minute.

There is no way the Duchess got the necklace back and had deactivated it. She merely gave up the search and accepted her fate— but why? The Maynards he had heard about were not ones who give up or give in. They were, what Iris had accurately called Arcel a, 'selfish and self conceited opportunist' family.

Now that he knows where the necklace is, it is time he tests his theory.

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A cold splash of water startles Aurora's consciousness back into the disappointing world of the living. Just this time, she is sure she isn't dead and in heaven for it was more than obvious in Vasil's scowling face and the autumn forest enveloping them. Her back rests against a rough tree bark and to her utter surprise she scrutinizes to find that she wasn't restrained at all.

"It's always water, isn't it?" Aurora croaks out an observation she'd rather make no progress with more than the three times already; breathing through her nose and cupping her neck to ensure everything was unscathed. If all her limbs were intact. Vasil waits as Aurora buffers to find her voice and croak out soulless noises, grumbling something about 'notes' and 'vocal cords going to hell.'

"Did you save me?" Aurora inquires, face contoured in discomfiture as she realises her legs were spread out in an unladylike manner. She joins her knees to a side, crossing them at her ankles and sits up straight.

Vasil raises an annoyed eyebrow, still scrutinizing her frame.

"I guess not. This a game of abductor and abductee and you will make me guess your motive, right?" Aurora sighs, resting her back against the bark of the tree in front of which Vasil had dropped her. She was correct in her suspicions of this person.

"It's not a game. Why are you not afraid and crying?" Vasil demands, his piercing gold of eyes drilling through Aurora's amused stance.

"Is that what you're into?" The ravenette jokes, laughing out loud without any ladylike pretences in sight. "Trust me, I know better," she muses, mind reeling back to all the times she had played the 'perfect damsel in distress.' Aurora was quite certain that she knew all ins and outs of kidnappings at this point. Probably. Though only the Earthly kind.

"You are the most suspicious person I have come across, Iris," Vasil utters, bending over to Iris' line of sight. His eyes search answers in her clueless brown ones.

"You're one to say," Aurora scoffs in Vasil's face. The autumn air brisks about a chilly dance around their faces, mocking their private conversation by invading it. "You go around stealing necklaces, losing them, befriending your potential victims, disappearing when you are needed, not tying people you kidnap. I must say, you're pretty bad at your craft." Aurora pleasantly challenges.

Vasil smirks a charismatic smirk. "And you go around seeing things you shouldn't see, knowing the Imperial alphabet but playing dumb with the layman language, opening doors that are not yours to open, startling people you aren't meant to be around of and stealing necklaces, as well, I believe."

Ah— he knows — she's screwed-!!

The quick widening of Iris' brown orbs is enough confirmation for Vasil's assumptions. His words are a mere whisper now, forcing the conversation to not be leaked into the air. "The Lumines don't follow you, the Alruna runes haven't scorched you, your presence is magically undetectable, you are money hungry, the snow covered leaves disappear in your hands and you don't leave behind footsteps. What are you?"

Iris opens her mouth and closes it in exasperation. "My dude—Excuse me— what are you getting at?! You sound like an absolute stalker right now, dammit!" She gasps, eyes wandering away from contact.

Vasil pulls back, regaining his stance as he stands straight. A golden flame erupts in his left hand, the embers slowly molding themselves into a spear head. Aurora gasps at this sudden escalation. She tries getting up to escape but Iris' small frame is caged by Vasil putting a swift hand on the bark and between Aurora's escape route. Well shitè.

"Woah— dude— aren't you acting a little rashly?! Think of all the time we have spent together!!" Aurora flails her hands in his face, trying to get the peace-loving (probably) and nerdy Vasil back. "Are you going to kill me for reals?! What would Arcel think?!" Aurora protests.

"It's not about killing, you just happen to have something of mine and I like to prove my point with actions," Vasil smiles, scarily enough, looking down on Iris' form as the spear head gets bigger in his hand.

"But— like, um— If you kill me! Then you won't be able to know where the necklace is!!" Aurora shouts, grasping on a last minute ray of hope that was swiftly escaping her. It only leads to a villainous laugh echoing through the forest. It catches her off guard. Why does a child even have a villainous laugh to begin with?! "Are you fucking okay?! Or are you possesse—"

"So, you knew it is about the necklace. Perfect!" Vasil cuts in with a grin, mania taking over him. His golden orbs narrow to slits as he propels his hand forward.

Aurora shields her face with her elbows.

The autumn woods bask in a healthy glow of gold.

And Vasil's spear hits Aurora's chest.