Rosentale

Ch. I | A House in a Forest with Monsters

"Fald!" A voice rang through a far-away house. As the sound made its way outside the white washed stone walls, a couple of crows hastily took flight leaving behind a couple of slowly falling black feathers. The first feather perched itself on a big boot that landed on the grass with a heavy thud. It gently tumbled off and landed between some grass straws as a the owner of the boot marched off to the garden outside, paying it no mind.

The owner of the boots, a tall man with a slight frown etched into his features, called out the name again. His feet steered him to the archway that served as an entrance to the garden just a way off from the house. Said archway had been built far before any of the current household members had moved in and it was definitely not made with someone of his length and stature in mind. The tall man had to duck slightly and turn his body sideway to carefully step through the opening without getting his horns all tangled up in the thorny bushes. It always ended up with a way too amused Fald having to gently coax the bushes to release him, and with said person nowhere in sight it was not a very tempting idea.

Well inside the garden, however, the tall horned man let his gaze sweep across the open area. The garden was encased in thorn bushes on all sides which would prick anyone who wandered too close but in the middle was a small, serene pond with various fish of different colors and variations that invited visitors closer. Surrounding the pond were several flower bushes, many with roses in full bloom, and two benches on opposite ends of the water. A grand old oak tree stood in one corner and provided shade to that part of the garden. The man ignored the old oak, knowing that the one he sought preferred to keep closer to the cool breeze of the water. Instead he looked over to one of the benches to find who he was looking for sprawled out across one of the wooden planks that formed the seat. The person was snoring lightly and had one hand off the edge, floating gently in the pond.

The tall man walked up right to where the other was dozing and crouched down to the point where his head was at eye-level with the other man. He waited a second, almost two and then let his rumbling voice out. "Fald." The result was immediate and hilarious. Fald, who had been peacefully resting in the sun, shot up. His line of vision was filled with the terrifying face of the horned man who had woken him up and with a shout he tumbled backwards, off the edge of the bench and... right into the fish-filled, murky water of the pond. He sputtered and scrambled to both get his bearing and out of the water, finally emerging with a visage close to that of a drenched cat. He scowled at the perpetrator.

"Go get stuck in a thorn bush, Eileer. What was that supposed to be good for?" Fald spat out, cursing the tall being of a man who was currently failing to hide the mirth dancing in his coal eyes. He wrung the water out of his clothes the best he was able to before shaking his silvery wings out behind. A cascade of tiny water droplets landed all around them, although the winged man made sure that Eileer was the target of at least some of it. The wings fluttered once, twice, thrice and then some more while the sun caused the remaining drops to make the silvery wings appear coated in rainbows. When Fald finally deemed his treasured wings dry enough to be functional, he carefully folded them back to where they usually were pressed against his back. His eyebrows were raised in equal curiosity and equal accusation as he faced the other man. Eileer made no move to answer the unvoiced question, tucking his hands into his dress suit pockets instead.

It was an unnerving experience for many, to be standing before the towering, horned man, meeting his stare head on. His coal eyes seemed to always burn bright, especially in the dark, and they certainly did not fit in with his deer-like face. Said face was also one of his most unnerving features what with how the parts that more closely resembled that of a deer seemed to sometimes merge, sometimes fight with the more human-like parts. When they first met and the initial fright had worn off, Fald had thought the man to be the victim of some twisted curse leaving him stuck between beast and man, neither one nor the other. Eileer himself, however, cared little about figuring out his own existence. As far as he was concerned, he had always been this way. Besides, he found considerable amusement in the many ways his appearance gave him an advantage in giving others a fright.