Chapter 5: Roses from Hell

The waters rise and cling to cobblestone inlaid in the paths like slaves with their hands trembling as they wretch back from their master's whippings. The water's crashing against the stones vaguely resembled the cries of the men who had their skin flayed off while their shadows trembled, moving against the waves as their eyes glimmer with tears and desperation.

Yet hidden behind it all is a vague sense of hope that fought like seamen when the waves were taller than even their homes, tying themselves to the masts as they get pushed around.

A knife stabs onto a crack in the wood of a simple ship, clinging on to it was a hand who knew well what it felt like to have your skin ripped off your back. Her wrists and ankles had wounds that ran around them like cuffs, sure to scar once they healed. Climbing into an empty bulwark, silencing her breaths as men's footsteps rang above the deck as she looked around.

"Gods, if it wasn't the king who ordered this, I would've punched whoever commissioned to get a ship ready and stocked for a 2 week's voyage on such short notice!" A voice said angrily as he hoisted down a heavy crate right above Danica, heaving a frustrated breath after slamming their hands down on the crate.

"I heard from Avia; the order was supposed to be sent sooner had the king not woken up late. Those upper powers take us for slaves I tell you! But to hell with it all, do you have any clue how much they're paying us!?" The other man replied as the floor boards creaked as he leaned forward

"They've told me nothing." The man spoke in a curious tone while the girl scrounged around the barrels for food, opening one filled with hard tack and another with dried meat. Treading carefully as she stuffed a loaf and a bundle of meat inside her bag, her stomach growled in anticipation as she snagged one of the first proper meal she would be having since the shackles that bound her were broken.

The other man paused for a moment as he looked around and began to whisper, "An anonymous sponsor had stepped in to tip our wages for the trouble. A generous 20 gold and 30 silver for each man who came in!" his ecstatic tone rang through the floor boards as he pulled in the man who was baffled with what he had just said. He stumbled over his words over and over again as the other man rocked him back and forth, making the floor creak as the girl finds an empty barrel, she would fit in.

Then suddenly, she heard a bell's chiming getting closer while a voice slowly began to pierce the noise.

"It's Mira! Come on, let's head over before those sharp eyes of his find a way to reprimand us again."

The man said timidly before walking off. And all at once like a stampede, footsteps shook the deck as they lined up somewhere near the side of the ship. The rumbling gradually fading as the small glimmers of light that leaked through the floor boards were completely blocked out.

"Your job here is finished! Please, speak to the man sitting on the stall to the right of the board to get your pay and leave… Your performance was passable today, thank you."

Light slowly began to come through again as the waves crashed against the side of the ship on the dock, rocking it as footsteps and voices slowly began to move away.

Mira looked around the ship with observant eyes, raising his hand outwards as his eyes glowed and his hair floated as a layer of shimmering dust came out from the surface of the deck, floating back down not a moment after, leaving the floor cleaner than how it was while the men had cleaned.

Yet still Mira's eyes grew weary. Snapping his fingers, a gust of wind blew from the center of the ship like an explosion that damaged nothing.

However the girl's ears rang as if a giant church bell had rung right next to her. The sound pierced her soul as her mouth foamed and her eyes went to the back of her head. Still she desperately clung to her consciousness, not even noticing that Mira had left as she lost all sense of direction for a few moments, soon falling unconscious.

Danica opens the door to a mystical forest that glowed from the bioluminescence of the plants and insects that had reigned through the dense clump of trees.

After hesitating for a moment, Danica begins to walk forward, looking around and noticing the animals and biodiversity that had lived inside the magical woodlands.

Their shapes were similar but not completely like the beasts that she had seen outside her old village. Their eyes glowed like a lion's when they felt threatened and their furry forms hid their destructive strength. Claws that made marks in the ground as they walked, fangs that cut through the trees that bled a royal blue liquid and traits that could only be described as strange, plagued each and every animal who were seemingly friendly to her as she passed through.

She walked towards a light that was warm and brilliant. The moss that hung behind the trees slowly began to hold more and more flowers that were white like ivory as she got closer, eventually coming across a section of the forest surrounded by a spread of flowers. In the center, was Vanier, reading a book in a rocking chair with the sun beaming down above him, making him look elegant as he flipped a page from it and passed a glance to Danica who stopped in her tracks when she met his eyes.

"Come closer and your legs will wither. Burn the flowers and you will die from the fumes. Going back in to the forest will only result in the animals you met feasting on you like an early lunch; I heard that trolls here toiled with women until rigor mortis kicked in too." Vanier closed his book and spoke with a thorny tone as he looked at Danica with a calm expression.

"Your lesson, for today, is to get to me without dying. Apply whatever lessons Norris gave you and go for it."

He smiled like the sun, his eyes were twin moons, and his playful posture acted as if he treated this like another game. The trees whistled and the flowers blew closer, enchanting what looked like a fox into the bed, making it wither and pulling it into the ground as it struggled and screamed.

Its eyes popped out of their sockets and its long retractable claws were pierced by roots that crawled into it and wrapped around the bones under the fox's skin. Its loud and valiant cries quickly became whimpers as it was enveloped in a sarcophagus of thorny roots, pulling it under the ground as soon as its flesh quickly began to fall off and turn to ash.

Danica dared not look back, knowing what Vanier said was probably completely true. Yet she felt the gaze of hundreds of pairs of eyes on her as the wind blew threw her hair and the silence shook her to the bone.

She looked up to see the field of flowers grow vast, as if she was a child. Looking at Vanier who only gave a cold and steady look towards her as her heart raced and her hands trembled as if she was about to contract frostbite.

Then, reluctantly, she covered herself in magic of surprising density as she stepped forward. She felt the withering effects of the flowers claw at her feet, failing to get past the thick barrier that surrounded her like water.

Yet the longer she moved forward, the harsher the effects became, as if she was walking towards deeper waters. Her breaths shortened, her eyes began to water and beads of sweat dripped from her forehead more and more as she took one step after another.

Roots began to encroach upon her feet, gripping on her foot lightly as if their energy was drained from their form. Yet even still, thorns dug into the skin of her ankles like shackles, opening up old scars as she pulled her leg out and took another step.

Danica felt as if water would rush into her lungs if she dared breath. A tight pressure surrounded her body as she struggled to see what was in front of her because of the miasma that became blinded her more and more with every step she took.

And finally, in what felt like an eternity, she had made it to the final step. Her legs shook and bled from the thorns that wrapped around her ankles and wrists while her eyes were in a daze as she focused on trying not to stop breathing. The miasma wrapped around her skin like she was in the bottom of the ocean and she was blinded by it, not noticing that Vanier had been standing in front of her, waiting for her to take the last step so he could pull her in.

The sunlight that washed down her back like a river did nothing to aid the suffocating cold that pierced her very core nor help her perception even as it shone down with its incredible brilliance.

The thorns that wrapped around Danica's arms and legs tried to coil harder as she leaned forward, dragging herself forward through the beautiful bed of flowers that faced her and watched her struggle as sweat dripped down her chin, as she cried out and took the final step to safety.

Her heart raced unimaginably fast out of her chest as she gasped for air and her sight came back to her. Tears flowed out like a river from her eyes as she choked on her own breaths and held on to her wrists and ankles as she trembled like a child while she barely kept conscious, even taking a moment before standing up, trying desperately not to throw up as Vanier patted her back.

Moments pass and Vanier assists Danica to sit down on the chair, putting bandages on her wrists and ankles as she hyperventilated, comforting her as she prepared something for her to drink. He asks if she could drink it herself, being answered by nothing but her panting he raises her chin and makes her drink the liquid that flowed down her throat like honey, calming her breaths and sating the trembling in her hands as she slowly regained her sanity.

The warmth of the sun felt unimaginable as it embraced Danica while she trembled. The wind blew towards her as if to whisper affirmation into her ears, holding on to the bandaged wounds on her wrists and ankles. And the forest looked beautiful as Danica peered towards it. Its warm and comforting image was befitting of its title. Danica cleared her throat before beginning to speak, tears welling up again as she barely recalls what had just occurred

"What in the world were those flowers!?" Danica asks, shouting loud enough to make Vanier step back as tears continued to flow like rivers

"Malisya magnifique. It grows in sunlight in mystical forests like this one…they're carnivorous plants that have evolved to be able to use a rather potent magic."

"That fox was pulled down into the dirt as if the flower bed was sentient!" Danica says, dragging herself up the chair as her legs trembled, bringing her to her knees as the flowers danced with the wind.

"Don't you think you're understating whatever the hell those flowers are?!" Danica cried out as she looked up at the analytic Vanier.

"Horus planted them, and I raised them. Second to Horus, I know these flowers better than anyone. Now sit down and listen." Vanier said as he hoisted Danica up with a single hand and placed her back in her chair.

"You can stop the flowers simply by placing a barrier around yourself. Norris has taught you well for you to figure that out in such a short span of time… Are you literate?" Vanier began as a board coated in a special lacquer erupted from the ground. Roots wrapped around the sides as it hoisted itself upwards till it was above Vanier's head

Danica nods, biting her lip, frustrated at Vanier's disposition as she gripped her own hands.

Vanier writes and draws runes and symbols on the board with haste, drawing the samples so identical to reality that it looked like a photograph.

"These flowers have no common name, which is why you can think of a name for it yourself if you wish. They feast on magical and non-magical forms alike, emanating a field that withers whomever enters it at an illogical pace. But more than that, as you have suspected, they are sentient. Though they are not as intelligent as a human, they remember the profile of your magic, adapting to it and making the potency of its magic stronger as it feasts on more organisms." Vanier continued to talk as he wrote and wrote, filling up a quarter of the board with his beautiful handwriting.

"I, use them to test people like you. New troops are entrusted to me and to Norris to train, and this is was your first assessment. You will come here everyday and pass through this bed of flowers over and over until it is no longer an issue to you, then once is all said and done, you shall face me."

Vanier's eyes become terrifying for a second as he glances towards Danica, the final pebble of chalk in his hands falling out his grip as it coats his fingers white.

"Now, point your attention to this board. I'll be drilling information like this into your head for the next week. These are contemporary topics as well as manners when concerning the nobility. Though I assume you're already well versed in the latter."

Vanier explained and dissected everything he wrote on the board, speaking of political endeavors, pathfinding, rivalries, rules, history, and finally magic. Danica was immersed in every word that Vanier spoke as he did not stutter nor stop as he talked and talked. All the information she should need simplified and elaborated to an incredible degree as the sun watched her along with the flowers that swayed towards her with the wind.

Vanier made Danica stand up and face him, making her drink a glass off water before he started. His eyes were serious yet encouraging as he took a thick piece of cloth from a root that brought it to him.

"Now, you need to close your eyes and place your focus on everything you can sense. Fill your mind with their sound, sense everything that stifles the air, everything that touches your skin, and everything that shakes the ground around you until your heart begins to rumble, as if it was beating out of your chest as time moves ever so slow."

"As your senses begin to overload, imagine seeing through the clouds, seeing through the thickets of the forest, and seeing through the land itself until you begin to see magic flying around you like dust." Vanier says as he takes the blindfold and ties it on Danica before steering her towards the edge of the flowerbed.

"Do you see the magic?" Vanier asks politely as he grips on Danica's shoulder

"Yes, sir." Danica replies, trembling as she recalls what had happened to her earlier

"Good. Now while the flowers are extremely toxic when burned, the magic it releases isn't. Try to burn a path in front of you by setting only the particles of decay ablaze, then walk with a thick barrier of magic on yourself."

Danica heaves a breath as she puts her hand forward, feeling the cold particles of magic that float around like dust prickle her hands as she gathers magic towards the center of her palm.

She feels her heartbeat like a drum inside her chest as magic flows through her veins and out her hand, burning the specks of dust that comes towards her hand, as the center of her palm begins to glow like molten metal

"You aren't trying to release that magic into the open air. Control it and let it propagate through the dust like roots."

Danica flinches for a moment before realizing her mistake and correcting it. This time, as she stretches her hand forward, she tried to perceive the dust that was in front of her clearer, she saw as it flowed upwards like a waterfall, and she felt as her hand breached the quiet stream of dust that cut her hand like knaves as she began to release her magic.

This time, the area around her hand began to glow. Slowly growing brighter and brighter as Danica keeps track of her breaths, setting the dust ablaze and burning it away into nothing.

"Keep going, slowly increase the amount of magic you release until you feel you can move further into the flowerbed."

Danica adjusts her focus one last time, sensing a hole in the waterfall of dust, blocked by a blue cloud of fire that spread in all directions, she increases her output till she felt her eyes begin to warm up, creating a hole big enough for her to fit through.

She puts up a barrier on herself as she did previously and walked forward while Vanier slowly pushed her forward because of her blindfold.

Danica feels the roots decay near her ankles as they try to constrict her, while the magic surrounded her as she made it midway through burned in a blue fire.

The wind blew towards her face, drying the sweat that beaded on her forehead while the sun encouraged her with its warmth as she took one step after another. The flowers clapped with the gusts that swept above them as she slowly trudged through until she finally felt the river of dust disappear from in front of her.

"You can take the blindfold off." Vanier says with an endearing tone as he takes his hands off her shoulders.

Danica's arm aches and trembles as she removes the blindfold from her eyes to see herself outside the bed of flowers. Not noticing Vanier's smile as she begins to celebrate. Her breaths stagger as she falls to the ground and her ears ring from focusing for so long on a single thing.

It felt like nothing was around her anymore as she only thought of burning the dust that wished to erode her being to the point that the rain could crack her bones.

Her eyes shook and her ears rang as if she was a new born experiencing everything for the first time after she ended her intense focus. She coughed on her own saliva as she lied on her back to see the vast blue sky with the filled with bright stars even as the sun still shone in majesty, hidden behind white clouds as Vanier sat beside her, relaxing for a moment before handing something over to Danica.

"All our lessons for today are finished. Please, once you wake up, fill up the blanks with the pen on your nightstand and give it to me when you find me again, sitting on my rocking chair with a book in my hand. For now, cherish your rest." Vanier says as he hands Danica a scroll with a seal, looking deep into the forest as he contemplates on something.

"What do you mean…?... what… rest…?" Danica staggers over her words as she begins to lose consciousness, her sight becomes blurry as she tries to move her body to no avail, looking towards Vanier as her conscience slowly slips away and she passes out on the grass.