Xelqua Rising || The Lost One AU

3.Listeners

Re-edited 10/24/23.

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Grian found himself walking to the gardens of the temple. Miesall had only gestured to the entrance of it, seemingly having decided that it was not important. Large, white doors almost twice his size bared his path, hiding what lay behind them. He gripped the handle and pulled. It barely budged. He pulled again, this time much harder, and the door slowly opened up, revealing that it had been a full meter solid of quartz. No wonder why it had been so heavy! He slipped outside, letting go of the door and letting it fall into place, a loud thump echoing throughout the temple inside.

He now looked to the gardens. His breath was taken away that instant. Rows and rows of flowers stretched out as far as he could see. Brilliant reds, gorgeous yellows, extravagant purples, fantastic pinks, wonderful oranges; flowers appearing in every color of the rainbow and in every style of flower he could have possibly imagined. Not a single flower dipped, not a single leaf out of place, not a single problem with any of it. Grian could barely believe his eyes— how could something be so beautiful? So perfect?

Pearl would love this, he thought. Then he froze, remembering that he would never see her or any of the others ever again. Well, actually he would, but they would never see him. They would never interact with each other. They would never hang out, have fun or pull pranks on each other again. All his friendships had broken into slivers of nothing and he now did not have a single friend here in the Downside Up. No one even cared about him here in the slightest! They just saw him as an incompetent fool, only a little better than an animal.

He let out a sharp breath as his face began to turn a bit red and tears came to his eyes. No, he could not cry again. He was just proving them right by doing that. He closed his eyes, fighting the tears. He took long, steady breaths for a few minutes, until he had calmed himself down once more.

Opening his eyes, he once again set his focus on the garden. Its beauty quickly flushed out any terrible thoughts that had just been flowing through his mind despite ironically having had caused them. He rushed over to a white daisy and got close to it to admire it. It was in full bloom, the exact fleeting moment in time where it had opened fully, yet also had not started to decay in the slightest. He breathed it in, taking in the scent of it. He took the time to appreciate each and every detail of the flower. After a few minutes, he walked over to a yellow medium sized tulip that had appeared to be dipped in red. It almost did not look real— the chemistry of the two intermixing colors seemed too good to be true, but it was indeed natural. He studied an indigo bluebell, an orange lily, a purple orchid, on and on the list went until he had lost track of just how many flowers he had admired.

He didn't know how much time had passed when he was suddenly snapped back into reality. Behind him, he heard two voices talking to each other. They were speaking in a language that he had never heard before and he knew instantly that it must be the language Miesall had mentioned.

He turned to find two Watchers looking away from one another but continuing to speak nonetheless. Their body language, having turned away from each other and neither attempting to even glance at the other, implied that they were not deep into conversation. Yet, they continued to speak to each other, on and on without stopping, completely ignoring Grian. His ears could barely even register the sounds that they were making. It was, most definitely, inhuman. He couldn't help but stare at the two as they talked, trying to make sense of it. More curiously, the one closest to him was moving her left hand quite a bit, making some kind of signals with it as she spoke. He looked to the other, finding that he was also doing the same thing, but only when he spoke. It was then that he wondered if whatever language the Watchers used was not just a spoken language, but also a nonverbal one. But then again, why would they be signing to one another if they had their backs turned, and what was the point of speaking in two ways at once when one way would suffice?