Cinder-knight (bxb) ||completed

25th rule| intervened

Wouldn't you just love to start your day with a smooth wake up call? Like, after you wake up from the tickles of honeysuckle scented winds that would waft through your nose, you would hear the flapping sounds of wings. When you look up, you would see tiny little putti flying around on top of your head, playing a wonderful symphony of harps and flutes.

And in front of you, would be the love of your life. Standing there with a smile on his face, he would offer you a plate of freshly baked brown butter tarts and a mouth-watering slice of strawberry cake with a cherry on top. Sounds amazing right?

But unluckily for our knight, he had to start his day with a wake up call that was the exact same opposite of what's referred above. By that, I'm not saying Eric had to wake up from the sounds of his order's second lieutenant banging two pans together while yelling, 'Rise and shine my little nuts!'- which, in truth seemed much better than what he actually had to face.

Waking up because of a rotten smell of something burning, Eric had to scream for his life as he was greeted with a sight of fresh cinders few inches away from his legs. He looked around and cried, seeing that his prince was not in the cave, he got a sick feeling that the ashes might be-

He stopped himself from thinking any further.

In a second, he was on his feet, quickly dashing out of the cavern in search of his prince. He was then dumbfounded to see Henry sitting on a boulder while eating soup from a fancy-looking ceramic tureen, the clanks of his spoon against the bowl ringing right next to the confused Eric's ears in snarky hisses.

And beside him, was Pase, also drinking the same soup while a huge basin of the said soup was getting boiled in front of them by a recently made fireplace. The ashes were getting blown towards every direction by the wind, and its smoke kept on stabbing at the entrance of Eric's nose, seemingly trying to murder his lungs. Some plants around the area were also in the middle of dying, and the knight was well aware of the reason why.

"What did you two.. put in it?" the ginger winced, staring at the way bubbles kept on popping and reoccurring over the top part of the gooey liquid. It was viridescent at the edges and glaucous parts of a vegetable like spinach or maybe broccoli, danced in the absurd mishmash of carrots, tomatoes, grass? and also a cherry on top, which sunk into the goo slowly.

Were there mashed potatoes in it too?

And for some reason, it smelled like a mixture of cow dunk and horse piss, but Eric chose to ignore that.

"Oh, love! Good morning!" Charming cheered, setting his plate aside and ambling up to the knight in enthusiastic steps as the latter's heart stuttered at the bright pink apron the prince was wearing. "I woke up early in the morning and searched all over the forest and found a lot of vegetables and fruits. By the way, since I didn't want to waste anything, I put all of it together!"

Eric felt his throat run dry when his eyes raked over the liquid again, "So uhm.. Is that supposed to be a... soup?"

The prince nodded.

"Well uhh- it looks quite lovely," the knight laughed uncomfortably as Henry's tender palm glided over his wrist before the prince tugged him towards where Pase was at, all while letting out soft giggles, "I can't wait to eat it... Ha. Ha."

By the corner of his eye, Eric saw how the two horses who were still hitched to a nearby tree, leisurely ate the goo with their maws shoved far into their respective pots. They let out continuous moans, seemingly loving the prince's culinary skills, making Eric wonder if they were perhaps overtaken by one of Pase's spells.

"Come on, sit here my love." Henry smiled, looking excited to serve his dish as the knight glanced at the flames that bursted from the fireplace and gulped. Thankfully, the boulder he had to sit on top of, wasn't any less than six feet away from the fire, so he was sure he wouldn't lose his cool and freak out if the cracks of red that constantly flared up from the hearth come his way.

"Thank you," Eric whispered, giving a half-hearted grin to the prince who offered him a tereen full of soup, and to make sure it wouldn't burn the knight's lap, he first took off his apron and folded it in two before laying it over the red head's legs. The knight couldn't help but blush, he looked up at the prince's eyes and there it was, the pattern of a heart that always glimmered over them.

The sight made Eric's heart break.

'Of course, he's doing this because of the spell. Don't think otherwise, Eric.' he reminded himself and looked down, bringing a spoon of the green fluid close to his mouth to drink.

Seeing the knight's reluctance to taste his food, Charming pouted a bit. He placed his hand on Eric's shoulder and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Drink it."

Eric swallowed harshly, his adam's apple bobbing at the lump of spit he forced himself to gulp. His ear that was still stinging with tingles because of the prince's breath, nagged at his mind asking him to stop being scared and taste the goddamn soup. In truth, what could a small spoon of soup possibly do to a young and wiry knight like Eric? Plus, the rest of the cult, including Avianthan, the other horse Eric didn't know the name of, and also Pase had drunk it. The prince had too.

And every one of them was enjoying it thoroughly, so what was there for Eric to fear? With a sigh, the knight stuffed the liquid into his mouth, expecting it to taste bland or nothing at all.

But oh hell, was he wrong.

In came a diabolic taste of metal, followed by waves of pure salt, as the knight felt his throat burn in absolute fury. The leftover soup in his spoon suddenly started smelling like period blood while the previously taken sip brought optimum havoc inside his body. Fireworks exploded, guns shot, and out of nowhere, bullets of overdosed spices hit Eric again and again.

Millions of flavors punctured his tongue, abusing every inch and pore of it, making his eyes go wide and the spoon fall down from his grasp- as dramatic as it sounds. He saw stars that did pirouettes around his head while a list of vegetables which he suspected to be in the soup, flashed before his sight.

There were carrots. Pumpkins. Leeks. Spinach. Cow dunk, and also a drop of horse piss. Let's not forget the cherry on top either.

"So.. Is it good?"

Eric snapped his eyes towards the prince and smiled wide, though the edges of his mouth were fighting hard to curve down, "Of course, my prince. It's the best!"

He could see the way Henry's grin widened, all the uncertainty in his eyes disappearing into nothingness as he walked back to the scorching basin and scooped up a whole ladle of soup, before pouring it into the knight's bowl with a wink, "Then eat it all, my greedy little boy."

Pase spat out the soup in his mouth and wheezed, while Eric was dying internally.