Viena and the Black Mirror

[ 7 ] - 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐚

      Sen waved his hand in front of a frilly dressed woman who pouted as she watched couples sweep across the dance floor. He couldn't be more invisible if he tried.

"Leave the poor woman alone and let's get out of here," Fleaya huffed. She fluttered away and landed atop the spiraling gold door-knob to the main doorway, waiting for someone else to open it.

Sen and the others followed her, dodging people as they went. "I was just checking."

Fleaya scowled like an angry kitten. "I can't tell if you're being doubtful, or just wanted to joke around."

"You'll never know." Sen maneuvered himself around the guards without accidentally brushing against their armor. He ducked underneath their spears and cracked open the large door next to Fleaya. "After you."

Fleaya rolled her eyes as she zipped into the hall, Paulné and Faul soon after. Faul took the longest as he tried to figure out the best way to move past the guards without touching them or their weapons.

It was eerie how no one except for themselves heard or saw each other. Let alone notice when the door opened and closed.

"Sen, Fleaya, can you smell anything?" Paulné glanced around the empty hallway, sniffing the air.

"Not exactly," Sen said. " It's very faint."

Fleaya shrugged, searching through the air. "Usually I'd be able to sense something. But everything feels kind of... muted and foggy."

"So we'll have to keep walking in a general direction until we find something stronger?" Paulné asked.

Fleaya hummed, tapping her chin with a frown. "Sadly."

"B-but the castle is so large!" Faul whined.

"And the Forest is bigger. Don't worry, this shouldn't be too hard." Sen scanned both directions of the hallway, tilting his head left and right as he sniffed the opposing sides. "For now, we should go right. I think."

"You think!?" Faul screeched.

"We should go right," Sen reworded. He turned down the hall as his friends followed.

"Oh Terra. Something's going to go wrong, completely and utterly wrong."

"You're so dramatic," Paulné said. She made a quick left at the end of the hallway, unfurling her wings to catch up with Fleaya, who had taken upon herself to check inside every opened door.

"Why can't we just use another spell, a tracking one?"

"A tracking spell would only work if we had a solid trail of magic," Paulné scoffed. "Besides, tracking spells are botched anyway. Using magic to find different magic, it's stupid!"

"O-oh."

Sen frowned at the two of them. "Let's keep it friendly, okay guys? I'm pretty certain we have to go up the stairs, anyway."

"On it!" A trail of sparkling dust zoomed up the staircase before they could blink. It took a second, but they too rushed up the marble steps.

"Slow down Fleaya! Not all of us have wings!" Sen stumbled at the slipperiness of the spotless material.

"You better run faster, then," Paulné jeered. She snapped her sleek black wings open, soaring over the stairs and turning the corner.

"They always band against us." Sen huffed, jogging up the rest of the steps.

Faul followed soon after, out of breath as his claws dragged against the floor. "Y-yeah," he wheezed.

Sen chuckled, patting Faul on the back. He sniffed the air, noticing that the scent was a little stronger up here.