Chapter 10

Theseus and Pryalis kept waking deep inside the forest . There were magical mushrooms glowing on the side and Pryalis was so busy watching them that she failed to notice the small pit in the land . Her leg landed on it and twisted making her wince. 

"Argh!" She groaned. 

"Walk properly sweetheart. It hurts to see beautiful people wounding themselves" Theseus told her while trying to mask his concern by flirting. Truth to be told , someone very close to his heart was an omega too and he had a specific soft corner for them .

"Oh..it's fine. It's just a small twist" Pryalis said while crouching down and rubbing her ankle to soothe down the pain . She tried to take a few steps ahead , but her leg pained so she started limping towards the forest. At first Theseus decided to ignore it , but then he noticed how it was really hurting her so he looked at her.

"Why don't we sit for a while?" He asked.

"Oh...I am fine, trust me . We can continue our journey"Pryalis told him but he just looked at her while rolling his eyes with a sarcastic look on his face.

"I am saying it because I am tired , not because of you okay ? So just sit down . Riding the whole day long and walking is way too much for me to do in a single day" Theseus told her and she nodded while being a little embarrassed because she assumed things way too quickly.

'Stupid me ! I am bound to embarrass myself' She thought to herself.

"Meanwhile we are resting here. Why don't you put some light on your talent or hobby?" Theseus asked while pulling up a bottle full of water from his bag . He sipped it, making Pryalis frown.

"Vampires can drink water ? Wait...you ate food back there too right ? So does it mean vampires can eat too?" Pryalis asked . 

From the tales and fables , she has heard that Vampires can never eat or drink anything which is not blood.

"Well...they can't but this vampire can" Theseus told her proudly while pointing towards himself.

"Are you a Pricolici ?" She asked him . Theseus shoot a look at her. Needless to say he was offended by her words.

"No . I am not . I am just blessed with magical powers by the witches of the empire to quench my thirst and hunger from anything. I have the best of two worlds" Theseus told her.

'Yeah...I should have thought that after all how could a Vampire prince be Pricolici? I have heard that royals never tolerate any kind of intermixing in their bloods with humans too , so how could they even agree to accept the child of a vampire and werewolf in the castle?' she pondered deeply.

"I am sorry. I should have thought about this before straightaway speaking" Pryalis kindly apologize.

It made Theseus look at her for a few moments with unsaid emotions in his eyes. Since childhood, he was treated as an outcast and nobody ever apologized to him , but this girl , who just called him a Pricolici by mistake, was apologizing . What was more surprising was that it wasn't because of fear but guilt.

For Pryalis it must be normal words but for Theseus it meant a lot.

"Do I have something in my eyes?" She asked while touching her face subconsciously to check if there was something wrong with her and he just shook his head.

"It's nothing " Theseus told her and tore his gaze away from her eyes.

"Well...you didn't answer my question" Theseus told her to change the topic and she chuckled nervously.

"Oh right about my past...I play piano and I am good at cooking perhaps " Pryalis told him.

"Do you enjoy these?" Theseus asked her.

"Huh?"

"Well being great at something is a talent but do you enjoy doing all this ?" He asked her and she thought for a while.

Both were the things which she did as a job and weren't something which she really enjoyed or was passionate about . 

"I don't think so" Pryalis honestly told him.

"Okay...then what is the thing which you really love ? Which makes you feel euphoric ?" 

"I don't know . I believe I have to find out once we reach the Academy" Pryalis told him.

With her new start , she decided to be honest to others and to herself too. 

"I see"

"What is your hobby apart from pulling pranks and causing trouble?" Pryalis asked him.

"I like to pick up fights and arguments. I like to drive my bike at full speed in the mortal world and things like that" Theseus told her, making Pryalis wonder if he could actually think like a peaceful person for a second.

"Are you a Vampire only ? Or the god of discord and chaos ?" Pryalis asked him as a joke.

"Well...I am not that yet , but I believe if I was that would be the coolest thing possible" Theseus said . 

Like this...they chatted for a while under the dark sky . Pyralis was really enjoying herself , it felt as if she was a completely new person after exiting her hometown.

After some time, Theseus noticed how the fireflies were glowing and going in a certain way . He realized that he had lost track of time due to talking .

"Follow me!" He told her and started to quickly walk towards the area following the fireflies.

"Walk slowly please" Pryalis told him while trying to catch up with his speed.

"I can't, otherwise we will lose track of the flies . Try to catch up Pryalis" he told her and she groaned and started following him with her constant foot ache .

Fireflies were the only way through which this shop could be tracked . Mr Rustic Blooms, the owner of the shop kept these as pets and released them per day . When the shop opened , they started to head towards their forever home. It was an easy way to locate the magic shop as it kept changing its position . Every night , it shifted to another part of the Enchanted forest .

The pain finally came to an end , when the fireflies started to circle around a small Hut which was in the center of the forest . Behind it was a small lake.

Theseus smiled in victory as he finally reached here . He thought he would not be able to make it today.

A loud bell rang and the shop's door glowed in a bright purple color. Pryalis quickly hid herself behind Theseus not knowing what was actually happening . She expected it to be a normal shop where an Alchemist used to sell potions, not an enchanting glowing house.

The door opened and a beautiful shop was revealed. It was made of wood .

Theseus grabbed the wrist of Pryalis and walked inside the shop while slightly dragging the hesitant girl.

As they reached inside the door closed, making Pryalis panic . She ran towards the door and started to knock on it frantically.

"Why is it not opening?" She asked Theseus while trying to pull it hard this time. 

"It won't open until we get the solution to the problem we came for . This isn't a magic shop for absolute no reason after all" He told her and grabbed her wrist while pulling her towards the main counter. 

The whole shop was surrounded by old racks which had bottles of potions and magical components filled inside it . It was filled with an eccentric smell which was similar to that of old books mixed together with smokes arising from potion making. It added to the mystic touch of the shop.

"Mr Rustic Blooms !" Theseus called the owner . An elf emerged from below the counter . He was old and his loose skin was hanging down his face. He was wearing round spectacles which were supported by his long nose.

"How can I help you both ?" The old man asked them while pulling down his dirty spectacles and cleaning them.

"We need a potion from you" Pryalis told him while gulping down the nervousness.

"I have many potions. Which one do you want to buy ?" He asked her and Pryalis stopped in her tracks for a few seconds while trying to remember the name of the potion which Theseus told her about.

"Uh..the Citrus potion" She told him, making Theseus chuckle.

"Circuplis potion" Theseus corrected her and the elf went towards his rack to pull out the bottle of potion.

"In my defense…it was a tongue twisting name" Pryalis told him while scratching her nape with a chuckle.

"Of Course I believe you with my second heart," Theseus told her .

"Oh thank–wait…Vampires don't have a second heart ! Does it mean you don't believe me?" 

"Urm No. The name was not difficult. It's just that your memory is that of a goldfish" He teased her but Pryalis just rolled her eyes at his words.

"Mean" she mumbled.

"Mind repeating what you said?" He asked her and she fake laughed while shaking her head as if it was nothing special.

"Come on…be honest . You called me mean right?" He asked her with a fake scowl on his face and she shook her head curiously.

"I said Silly Me !" She lied .

Theseus decided to not tease her further because the elf was coming towards them.

"Here you go" he said and put the potion on the table.

"What's the price?" Theseus asked him.

"It's 4 gold coins like always" The elf told him .

It made Pryalis turn and stare at Theseus for a few moments. 

'What does ' like always ' mean ? Why would a vampire need such a potion?' 

but she decided to shrug her thoughts aside . 

'He must have used it on some other omega or wolf...who knows? Or maybe all the potions in his shop cost 4 gold coins' 

Pryalis started searching for the coins she put in her bag . She pulled those up in her palm and counted the coins carefully. During the middle of the journey , she specially put these 4 coins separately in her purse so that it won't get mixed with the fees money.

"One..two...three.."She counted the coins on her palm with a slight frown 

"Wait..where is the fourth one?" She mumbled.

"Just pay it to me later" Theseus said while adding one gold coin from his own pocket.

Pryalis looked at him for a few seconds.

"Just give me five minutes . It must be here" Pryalis told him.

"Oh come on...this shop closes very quickly. We don't have much time" Theseus told her and took the three coins from her palm and put it on the table of the Alchemist while adding his own one coin.

"Thank you Mr Bloom " Pryalis told him and the alchemist smiled . 

Theseus grabbed her wrist and walked towards the door which opened as soon as they reached there. 

"It's open !" Pryalis gasped.

"Yes.. because we found the solution to our problem. Now let's go" He told her and they got outside the hut. 

As soon as they reached outside , the shop's door closed and it disappeared in thin air.

"Where did it go ?" Pryalis asked him.

"It changes its address every night" Theseus told her.

"Oh...indeed it is a magical place then" Pryalis whispered and Theseus started to walk towards the direction where they came from.

"You know this shop has a stupid tale revolving around its past " Theseus told her.

"Really what is that?"

"The tale says that the Alchemist was a great wizard prince who everyone feared. He was the greatest magician of all time and even went as far as killing those who refused to obey his orders"

"Wait...but he looks like a sweet old man"

"Yes...but the tale isn't finished yet" Theseus told her.

"Oh.. please continue. Pardon me for my interruption" Pryalis apologized.

"One day while roaming around in the woods , he met a beautiful ballerina. Her name is Bloom. He fell in love with her as soon as he saw her dancing . He started coming there everyday to meet her , and the ballerina realized that too , but she kept dancing .

One day , she faced him and asked him the reason behind his actions. He simply replied that he loved watching her dance. She asked him to come in front of her everyday and watch her dance as she loved performing in front of people. 

After one evening, Mr Rustic asked her to go on a date after mustering up all of his courage and she agreed. They started dating in no time , and this liking soon turned into love. They got married soon and he changed his ways because of her and became a nice man . He left his empire and started living in the woods with her . 

But one day , the unfortunate time came and she passed away when he wasn't at home. When he reached home , he only found a letter saying ,

 We belonged to different worlds just like the night and moon do. My time came and I have to go now , but your time is still left on this earth. Just be the wonderful man you became after you met me , this way with each breath of yours , I will also live . 

And that way , He kept his wife's name as his last name , thus started being called by the others as Rustic Blooms " 

"Gosh...that's so bad. I feel so sad for Mr Rustic . Have you ever asked him about this?" Pryalis asked him while feeling sadness in her heart towards Theseus nodded.

"What did he say about this? He must have broken down" Pryalis wondered . 

She was soft hearted and hated sad endings even in stories and the fact that it happened in someone's life made her heart clench.

"Look we finally reached the place we started from" Theseues said while ignoring her questions.

"Oh yes...that's so nice" She dryly said while still feeling sad for the alchemist. 

When Pica saw her , she flew towards Pryalis and the omega catched her in her arms . Pica rubbed her face in Pryalis cheek while meowing continuously.

"Yes...I missed you too," Pryalis told Pica while pecking her forehead with love.

"Let's go now...we have to find a motel to sleep too" Thesues told her and Pryalis nodded and they soon walked out of the forest. 

The pain in Pryalis leg had increased due to not taking a lot of rest , but she tried her best to not let it reflect on her face.

She got on the top of her wagon carefully and put Pica on the back seat. Pryalis glanced at Theseus from the side who was sitting on his horse.

"Can I ask you something Theseus ?" She asked him and he nodded.

"What did Mr Rustic say ? You didn't answered my question back there" Pryalis asked him and Thesues bit his mischievous smile and said in a serious voice ,

"He said...'who told you about this?" He started.

"Who's spreading such stupid rumors about me ? I have been single since birth " Theseus mimicked his voice while cracked up after saying the last part and bursted into a laughter making Pryalis look at him in disbelief.

'I must really appreciate him for lying with such a serious face . He is really a trickster,' Pryalis thought while feeling stupid to feel bad for a fake story.

After laughing , Theseus drove his horse away . He loved playing such tricks. He couldn't believe that Pryalis believed his words this quickly even after him already dropping hints about his nature. 

'It will be fun to pull pranks on her once she enters the Academy' He thought to himself .

"Why are you such a lier?" Pryalis asked him after her horse finally matched the speed of Theseus's horse.

"Huh how did I lied ? I clearly told you it's a tale roaming around the market . I never said it's true" Theseus said with a fake innocent look on his face.

They joked around and headed towards their next location , which was the Motel .