viceofvoices

Once upon a time, in the beautiful kingdom of Higalla, the king was having some trouble. Thanks to his foolhardy love of opulence and excess, he had drained the royal coffers dry and taxed his people to near starvation. Thinking himself superior to his advisors and even his own mother, the king refused all advice and help, continuing his hedonism until the people rallied and revolted.

In order to save his own head, the king of Higalla called upon an ancient, nearly forgotten tradition. The royal family had long ties to the old days of magic and mystery, the first king of Higalla being the favored friend of the fair folk. In times of trouble, the kings could always offer up one of their own in exchange for favor and riches.

Thus the king's only daughter was sent to the edge of the Crystal Grove, the ancient forest in the east with trees so big and old that the bark had turned to rock that glimmered like crystal in the strange lights that floated through the shadows. Everyone knew not to go into those woods -- no one who did was ever seen again.

Princess Elodie knew her duty. She had done her duty all her life, trying in vain to make up for not being born a boy as her father had clearly wished. It was never enough. Though she hungered to learn and grow as the boys in the castle did, she was constrained by her sex, learning decorum and embroidery when she could be learning arithmetic and fencing. Still, she was compelled to excel, even in these narrow margins: if she must be only a gentlewoman, she would be the best.

And so when her father the king told her she must go with these men to the woods for the good of the people, she didn't even bat an eye. She shed no tears, made no pleas. Her handmaidens wept for her, but Elodie was a lady of iron.

What else could she do?

Night fell dark and quiet, the moonless sky fathomless, the shadows so deep and rich that one almost expected to reach out and touch something solid within them. Dressed in a mauve and purple gown and protected by the chill with an ermine cloak, the princess rode to the forest on a white steed, guided by a trio of knights. The Crystal Grove was eerily silent in a way no forest should be, but still the princess was silent, chin stubbornly lifted as if to dare the darkness to find her lacking in anyway.

The horse reared a bit and one knight murmured, "My lady, we must venture here by foot." He held his hand out for her to help her down, and as Elodie slid to the ground on slippered feet, she could feel the knight's fingers shake around her delicate hand.

"You may stay out here if you wish," she said breezily, taking her hand away and squaring her shoulders to face the woods. "I know what I must do."

"Your Majesty..."

She turned back the knights, expression cool, grey-blue eyes like steel. "Be wary, gentlemen, of my father. Loyalty is admirable, but loyalty to the wrong man is destructive." Leaving the knights wordless in conflicted shock, Princess Elodie turned and walked boldly into the ancient copse of trees and into the darkness that swallowed her in seconds.

The town of Somersbridge was peaceful, idyllic. Like many places in the northeast, it was riddled with history, some of said history darker than the natives cared to remember, and old, deep forest surrounded it on all sides. The hills and distant mountains would become a fiery canvas of reds and golds and bright yellow in the fall, and people from all over would come to see the leaves change and camp in the cabin resort just outside of town before the air turned too chilly.

But for the townies, Somersbridge was just another place. Main Street stood the same it always had, with Jerry's Diner a hot spot for teens on their way home from school; Smith's Hardware; The Moon and Cat pub; some high fashion boutiques for the more well-to-do families that had lived in Somersbridge for generations. Families that had built the town.

Families with secrets and bad blood.

It was this ancient history that drew Bishop to the place, he was certain of it. With so many secrets in the dark underbelly of this town, there was sure to be a feast one way or the other.

And speaking of feast...

He smirked down at his burger. The greatest thing about being in this realm was enjoying human food. No wonder so many of them sinned through gluttony! And it seemed like Jerry's Diner was happy to oblige, with the size of the burger and huge amount of fries before him.

All but wiggling in the booth, the demon picked up the burger and bit into it with a groan.

Clearwater University was the most prestigious Ivy league school on the coast, its white stone buildings standing proudly by the bay for nearly two hundred years. Only the very rich or the very gifted were granted access to its hallowed halls, and Seren certainly wasn't in the first category.

Born to a fisherman and a midwife, he'd grown up in this very city since birth, in a little one-story house on a strip of beach too rocky and wild for tourists. Under his strict father's tutelage, he could have easily followed his footsteps, sailing out into untamed waves and wrestling with the elements, but his heart belonged elsewhere.

His heart was enthralled by science, in part thanks to his mother. But he was born a genius, far smarter than any boy his age for miles and miles, and when he wasn't doing chores for his old man, he was reading and experimenting.

And that's when he took the step from science, to magic. Of course magic existed! In Seren's mind, magic was really just the next step of science, but when his mother caught him one night casting a spell on the family dog, he learned a hard lesson: most people weren't ready for that much knowledge.

So Seren grew into a young adult, got himself a scholarship to the best school that would take him and kept his dabbling in magic to secret, stolen moments. There would be time later to focus on that, once he graduated with his Masters in chemistry.

And once his goddamned guild beat the boss they'd been stuck on for weeks!

"Get the adds!" he yelled into his mic in the darkness of his dorm room as he hunched before his computer wearing a t-shirt and boxers. "You fuckin' idiots, stop hittin' the boss and get the goddamned adds!"

Snakewood Grove was well known to be a deadly, cursed forest that even the most stalwart adventurer would avoid. Entire books had been written about its history and the bloody deaths that occurred within it, to say nothing of mysterious vanishings. Even the village some miles away seemed to suffer from its proximity, the land stubborn in its harvest, the people resentful and petty.

Situated under the craggy, massive peaks of the Gnawed Rise, the forest was dense and ancient, full of towering old pines and sprawling oaks. There was supposedly a lake within its thick shadows but no one could say for sure where -- no completed maps had ever been made. The few who survived a trek within Snakewood Grove were forever changed afterwards, either going mad or becoming recluses.

So Seren understood the village's reaction when he told the general supply shopkeeper what he intended, but it didn't make it any less annoying. She refused to sell him any goods, and the news spread fast enough that everyone else in the miserable little hovel snubbed him or threatened him. The mayor himself told him bluntly that he was not welcome in their town again, and he could keep his bloody cursed self in the forest if he wanted to be so stupid.

Thus, with only the supplies he already had in his bag, Seren ventured into the woods, annoyed but eager. There was no such thing as curses, just ignorance, and no stupid fantasy was going to stop him from finding the most elusive reagent known to man -- Goldenglow.

"Come on, you piece of garbage," Seren An'glr muttered, balancing on the nose of his smoking little spaceship as he tore out melted pieces of engine from under the hood. The incandescent bulb that bobbed at the end of an antennae growing out of his head did little to light up the details of his work, and though his glowing eyes seemed to help him out in the dim light of this backwater planet, it was still a pain in his freckled ass.

With his heavily gloved hand, he grabbed a metal tube and pulled, but the part stuck fast, and he muttered curses under his breath as he strained so hard he was leaning back from his ship at a 45 degree angle. "I ain't...gettin' stuck...here! Whoa!" The part popped off without warning and he went flying into nearby shrubbery he could only pray wasn't poisoned.

Tie the knot
Tie the noose
Here we lie
in love and truth
in a coffin built for two
When all that's left
is skin and bones
I'll still have love for you

Rest in peace
Rest with me
Through the dark
and through the light
I'll hold you close
I'll hold you tight
Forever yours, forevermore

So close your eyes
for one last time
If tonight we fall asleep
I'll pray my soul be yours to keep

=====

Emily Pritchard's coming out ball is the talk of the town for weeks before the night itself -- Lord Pritchard is known to dote upon his only daughter with such excess that even the most ridiculous rumors of what entertainment could be found at the ball were still probable. A full menagerie to be found on the lawn? Acrobats from the farthest reaches of the Orient? A gown sewn from mulberry silk and studded with the rarest jewels? No one can guess what wonders might be at the young woman's ball, and thus everyone wants to come. The fact that Pritchard is exclusive with who he allows around his precious daughter just makes the invitations that much more coveted.

So when the night of the ball arrives, only the powerful, fascinating, beautiful and honorable people walk the steps up into the manor, their glittering carriages lining up. Lord Pritchard himself stands at the entrance to warmly greet those arriving, tall and commanding, once the most eligible bachelor in the city and now one of the most respected men in the clubs and in the court.

In the early morning hours, Rrhys Cyraeni leaves a basket of fresh morel mushrooms before his colleague's door along with a note:

Llyradh,

I finally have some spare gil to lose at the Saucer. Why don't we see what trouble we can get into? Meet me at the airship landing in Ul'dah at the seventh bell on Darksday and be my good luck.

I miss you,

Rrhys

---

On the evening of their date, Rrhys stands at the landing wearing the garb of the deserts -- a loose, thin robe-like top tucked into a sash wrapped around his hips, a duster over that. He can't quite make himself wear the traditional short pants, vain man that he is, so he pairs it with white cotton breeches that won't make him sweat more than he already is. He does wear sandals, though. It's too hot not to!

He sighs softly, trying not to stare eagerly at the landing's entrance as he waits for Llyradh.