Upon opening his eyes, Ezera found himself in a strange place. It appeared to be a hedge maze, though everything was in a black and white haze.
"Huh? Where am I?" He thought confused as he began wandering.
"Hurry and paint the roses red!" A voice exclaims in the distance.
"Hurry before the flowers wither!" Another voice follows soon after.
"Hurry! We have to paint them all red!" Yet another voice follows the other two.
"Paint... the roses?" Ezera thought and went in the direction of the voices, only to come across an even stranger sight. Three humanoid cards, all clovers of Ace, Two and Three, were by a rose bush painting the white roses red with paint.
"Why're you painting the roses?" He asks as he approaches the strange card men, who upon hearing his voice turned to him, all with surprised looks on their faces.
"Why you ask? Well, the truth is we made a mistake and ended up growing white roses." The two of clovers begins.
"The queen loves only red. If she sees white, then she'll have our heads!" The ace follows after.
"What?!" Ezera exclaims horrified while clutching his own neck.
"Indeed. Which is why we're painting the white roses red." The three then finishes. Ezera looks at the painted white roses, touching one with red paint staining.
"What a shame... Red roses are beautiful, but what's wrong if they stay white?" He thought then things slowly turn black and it all fades away.
~*Twisted Wonderland*~
"Huh...?" Ezera says as a knocking sound startled him awake. "Who's knocking at the door at this hour?" He thought confused as he sat up in bed.
"Ugh... What-? Oh, sounds like we have a late night visitor." Grim says sleepily, as another knock was heard. "You think it's those ghosts? Man they just don't know when to quit." He adds annoyed.
"I doubt it's them, Grim." Ezera says, just as another knock sounded. "Anyway, we should go down to see what's going on." He says with a yawn and gets out of bed. With Grim in tow, he makes his way downstairs to the foyer, a small flame in hand to light his way while the loud knocking echoes throughout the building.
"Yes. Who is it?" He asked once he and Grim reached the front door.
"...It's me, Ace. Can I please come in?" Ace said from the other side of the door.
"Ace? What's he doing here so late?" Ezera thought confused as he opens up the door. "Of course, come on in... What the, Ace?!" He began then shouts in surprise upon seeing the strange collar around the red-head's neck.
"Huh? Ezera, what's...? Whoa! Ace, what's with the collar?!" Grim shouts when he sees Ace's strange new collar as well. The heart boy then sighs.
"I'm never going back to Heartslabyul. Starting today, I'm joining Ramshackle!" He then exclaims.
"Huh?!?" Ezera and Grim exclaimed at the same time. After they snapped out of their shock, they all moved to the lounge.
"Okay, first, Ace what happened? What's with the collar?" Ezera asks the boy.
"Hang on, I think I recognize the collar." Grim then says. "Ezera, remember at the entrance ceremony where that red-haired guy tried to cast something on me, but you pulled me away in time?" He asks the roma boy.
YOU ARE READING
The Romani of Night Raven
FantasyEzera Hearn is a young Romani (lit: gypsy) boy, who since loosing his parents to sickness when still young, has been forced to live and survive all alone on the cold streets of the city of Notre. While on good days, he manages to make enough money f...
