Candy-Coated Lies

A cacophony of deafening words. The ring gave a song to the inner truths of people. All those sweet whispers they would give were turned into violent bunches of words. Their thoughts become a melody revealing the truth of who they were and what they wanted. Some though had no desires, no song. Those were the ones that no amount of trust could be placed in. Are they even a person if they have no desires?

I wonder how the person who originally owned the ring could learn to trust the world around them. I wonder what desires they held in their heart. If any.

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We couldn't afford to have the rowboat stolen. With Joshua, not cut out for these types of missions, the brothers stayed back to watch over it. Leaving just myself and Arthur to complete the mission. We arrived at the docks undiscovered and we hope to keep it that way. We throw on our hoods and with a nod from Matthew we start our walk into the city.

"What do we do if they don't make it back?" Joshua asked nervously. He chewed his nails in a state of fear as if his life was in danger. His nails bleeding and deformed from the constant biting. It was the only thing that could give him immediate comfort in the world.

As Joshua stared at the retreating silhouettes of his comrades a shiver worked its way up his spine. A coldness seemed to permeate his body to his soul out of fear of what could happen. His pride shriveled up inside of him at the thought, blown out like a sole flame in a vast emptiness. "We run away."

The outskirts of the city looked just as lifeless as the people who inhabited it. The road, more akin to a dirt path, had numerous cracks and holes. No vehicle had a chance to be supported on its ground. The broken-down houses caked in multiple layers of soot hiding the original colors. The smog that constantly filled the air. It created a sense of gloom and doom that resided over the city. That no amount of sunshine, no amount of joy could exist in the city.

No one bothered to look our way as we made our way towards Veil. We looked as if we were natural inhabitants of this place. Concealed identities paying no regards to others business and going on with their own. "You know I pity the children here" said Arthur with glazed eyes. "They'll never turn out to be anything. They'll die on the street along with their rat parents."

"You know, I've never taken you for someone who cared for orphans. Let alone for anyone else but your sister." To me the man next to me was incapable of feeling the pain of others. The amount of suffering I've seen him commit against people would argue against anything he could say about his pity. "I don't think you'll ever understand the pain of not having food. The coldness in your body from not having a place to warm you. What it's like to not have anyone to love you. No one calls you theirs. They don't need your pity."

"I just think every child needs a good figure in their life. That's it." He still held an expressionless face but, he seemed to be a deep thought. I couldn't tell what he was thinking though it's not my business regardless. I usually limit what I say during missions but today being with him I couldn't hold it back. I'd rather him go back to calling me trash than feigning sympathy.

There was possibly a lot more to this conversation on both our ends, even so, continued on in silence though, I'd every now and then catch Arthur shooting me resentful glances. The walk through the dilapidated outskirts was long but it was nearing its end…

Mother was pacing the grounds again. I would always watch her from afar in my window. It was almost our daily routine set to repeat for neither know how long. After father had died mother was always aloof and distant. This was one of the few ways I could still lay eyes on my mother.

She had given me one thing before she had become so indifferent to me. It was an odd shaped ring. Gold, with a mockingbird on the top. It would've been beautiful if there wasn't a snake around the neck of the bird. I was to always wear it. Mother had said that it would protect me from the bad things of the world. Protect me so I wouldn't end up with a fate like my father, eternally still in whatever grave he's in.

Letting mother continue with her walk I leisurely strolled toward my mirror. I didn't look like my mother with her silver hair, and baby blue eyes. She was willowy and full, with curves to spare. She was known as beautiful. I was small and thin. With a tousled mop of long pitch-dark hair and sunken deep purple eyes, almost appearing black. I might not look like my mother but, at least I know her secrets. Of the many, at least I know she's not my real mother.

I never considered myself pretty but I was never very much interested in my appearance anyway. What interested me was the banging I heard on my door. I would assume it to be the servants of the estate. They had never treated me kindly, especially since my mother pseudo ghosted me. There was an extreme amount of envy and resentment that I could now hear from them. There was no candy-coating their true feelings. So I never tried to establish any sort of relationships or connections with any of them. Even when my father died they never showed compassion towards me, just simply acknowledged my existence and provided for me when necessary. I never held it against them. They just simply believed that a bastard child didn't deserve what I had.

To my surprise it was my mother. She was frantic and panting, as if she had seen a ghost. She was sweating profusely and white as said ghost. I couldn't gauge her thoughts because she was so erratic. She was scaring me a bit. "Mother, what's wrong, are you hurt?" I tried to comfort her but she just pulled away scared and shaking. She felt cold to the touch.

"I think they've finally come back for me. They've come back for the ring!" She yells in complete hysterics.

I stare at my mother as I try to put together what she's just said. Unbeknownst to her I know she has many enemies that wanted her dead but, if they were after the ring they were after me too. The ring couldn't be taken off. After mother had given me the ring for some reason I was never able to remove it. Almost like it was a part of me now.

I don't want to die. This thought popped into my mind because I know they're goal is not me along with the ring but just the ring instead. How much value could this little thing have? I look at my mother, who is in a complete frenzy at the moment. I couldn't afford to panic. I needed to assure our safety at the moment. "Mother, please don't worry. We have guards everywhere. They won't let anyone hurt us. We won't end up like father."

She started bawling. I knew this was her biggest fear. I took her strangely cold hands and held them towards my chest. I spoke to her as calmly and convincingly as I could. "We need to inform the guards that someone might be coming towards here. After that we'll find somewhere to hide and wait. Okay?" I could see the panic still littered on her face. I couldn't completely understand it. But slowly she came more to her senses and slowly nodded at my suggestion.

I lied to her about us having guards everywhere. They were never on the floor I lived on. No one was rarely here besides the occasional cleaning and service to me. That means we had to find them. They were usually patrolling the lower floor or outside the estate. So I proceeded to grab my mother's hand and we ran with all we had to find help.

We had a bit of a long run till we could find someone for help. The whole time I constantly assured my mother that we would be fine. We had fine knights in even finer armor. A couple of people wouldn't be able to get through them at all. Mother gained back some of her confidence and color when she listened to everything I said. She had a slight smile and agreed that no one would be able to hurt us.

We ran for a while and we were finally nearing the lobby. There was no one that we could find up until that point. Almost as if the whole house was vacant. Us two being the only people to exist. But that was out of the question. When we reached the lobby it was impossibly quiet. There was no bustling of brooms. No chatter from the servants. Nothing to show that this was a place that once held people who went through their lives. The only thing that was present was the unnatural cold that seemingly creeped through the door. But the door shouldn't be open.

My mind started racing from all of the possibilities of what could be happening. I was scared. Truly understanding what mother meant by how they were out to get us. My heart beating warm blood through my body but I was completely frozen in fear. Mother was shaking uncontrollably next to me. I don't know if it was from the chill in the air or from the situation that we might be in.

After a while of us standing there frozen in potential horror I convinced myself to look out the door. I start slowly tottering towards the door. Mother grabbed my arm and tried to convince me to wait here with her for the guards. This time I'm the one who pulled away. I assured her for one last time that everything would be alright. I continued to make my way slowly to the door. The air felt unbearably cold but I could only continue now. When I finally reached the door it looked as if it was a normal night. The sky was free of clouds and full of stars. The moon was waxing and it cast a luminous like light. It was a bit blinding, but soon I could see the scene that actually lay before me.

All of our knights. Our knights so strong who couldn't lose to anyone lay dead before me on the lawn. Some look like they've had their faces beaten in. some with perforated wounds. There was blood everywhere. Seemingly coming from every orifice of their bodies. Like someone dropped hundreds of tomatoes on them from above. Stepped on them and smeared them all over their bodies like it was some little game of finger painting you would play with your friends. Except no one was laughing. I just stood motionless at the view. Dread preventing any sort of movement or sound from me. That's when I noticed them standing next to all of their bodies. One was a tall man with blonde hair. It seemingly glowed in the light of the moon making him seem like someone you would only see in a dream. But the blood that stained his face and the smile he wore would be something you would see in a nightmare.

The second was a smaller man. He wore black shadowless hair that covered his eyes. He held no emotion as he gripped his spear dripping with the blood of our knights. At that moment he looked up at me seemingly snapping back to attention. I couldn't see his eyes but his gaze felt piercing. My world, now seemingly frozen in time, now felt icy-cold from the look of his. I felt numb. I felt true fear.