Heaven Door | The Finale of the Dragon Children Trilogy.

16 | Beautiful Pain, Ugly Death

The girl facing Rose stared directly into her eyes. Rose's smile was filled with nervousness, as she looked into the girl's green eyes. "Heh.. So, this is the energy, huh?" She replied in a stern voice. "I have died 2 times before. I shall not die again." Rose put her fists up. "Tryna distract me with a sob story? It's not going to work. Not to brag, but I'd say my life was more depressing than yours." The throne of vines began to lower. "Oh? Is that so? What could have made your life so much more sad than mine?" Rose rolled her eyes. "Now's not a good time, really. But.. I assume you, yourself, have never been kidnapped, and forced to be a queen at 10?" The girl pulled out a lighter from her pocket, and a packet of cigarettes from her other. "Indeed, I haven't." She lit the cigarette, and inhaled the smoke once it was in her mouth. "But I would've loved it. Huff. Say, aren't you supposed to be stronger than Simetra? How, exactly, is that possible? The only two people to ever surpass his strength are the Former Royalty, Ethel and Julius." Rose smirked. "You would be surprised at my past." The girl took the smoke out of her lips and threw it on the ground. "Tsk. Right, well, now is not a time for chit-chat." Her hands went to her sides, and raised up, bringing up a beautiful greenhouse around her. "Unfortunately, even if you were to have a past that explains this behaviour, it would do nothing to my moral compass. I will end you, here and now." One of her hands pulled back, almost as if she was controlling the greenery. "Now, Rose, I have some business with Simetra. If I were you, I would get out of the way." Rose looked deep into her eyes, reading her thoughts. "I see.." The girl stayed silent. "Simetra used his Darkness to manipulate you. And now, you're back to take revenge on him.. and take back someone else he has under his control. Who is this mystery boy.. no, who are you?" The girl replied. "Your god." All of a sudden, she vanished. Rose looked around, in panic. "Shit! Where has she gone..?!" Thorns dropped from above, in a string-like movement. "THERE!" Rose jumped out of the way, rolling on the ground. "Tch! Who is this girl?!" The vines came from all directions. When it came from the right, Rose swerved to the left. When it came from above, she rolled to the side. When it came from the left, Rose dashed to the right. "Gnh.. I can't keep this up for much longer.. just where are you?!" Rose had been at this rabbit and fox game for 10 minutes. After some time, the vines had stopped. "Keh.. Ran out of energy, eh?!" She shouted out in confidence. "Come on out!" ... The ground beneath her rumbled. She looked around. In every direction, there was nothing. "Where the fuck.." She screamed. "ARE YOU?!" The ground beneath her cracked. "No.." A hole appeared. "IT'S FROM BELOW!" She attempted to jump out of the way, but it was too late. The thorns picked her up, and wrapped itself around her arms, and legs, pulling her apart. "Gnh.." The girl came out of the ground, surrounded in lush greenery. "Painful, isn't it?" Rose shouted. "LEMME GO!" The girl tutted. "Tsk, tsk. Shush that mouth of yours." Her hand swerved to the left, controlling the thorns to cover her mouth.

"Don't these thorns remind you of something? They look beautiful.. but they hurt, don't they?" Rose began tearing up. The feeling of the thorns digging into every inch of her skin pained her. "See, that's exactly the situation I was in.. I thought Kraghon was beautiful." She looked down, at her hand. "But, no. No, it wasn't. I fought for the wrong side. The kingdom was corrupt. The companies took from people, robbing them of their ownings. You wanna know more? The people. Oh, the fucking people. They never shut up. All I had was Naphtali.. but he.. he wasn't there. He had his mind set on Faolan. Fuckin' goody-two-shoes Faolan." She looked back up at Rose. "Have you heard stories of the Garden of Eden?" Rose nodded, tears dropping down her cheeks. "It's supposed to be beautiful, isn't it? That's what I thought too.. until I found out, everything that is beautiful hurts." She squinted her eyes. "That's why I am ugly. Because I do not hurt anyone. No one. So.. why does no one love me? What have I done wrong? Tell me, Rose.." She lifted herself up, so she would be on eye level with Rose. "We have both been named after nature.. haven't we? You, Rose.. and I.." She stared directly into her eyes, with a menacing, terrifying stare. "Eden." Rose couldn't breathe. Eden frowned. "Oh, I'm sorry, Rose. Am I hurting you? Here." She let go of Rose, dropping her to the ground. She lowered herself down, as Rose knelt down, holding onto her throat, attempting to catch air. "Rose. Would you say you're ugly? Or beautiful?" Rose barely let her words out. "I-I'm.. I'm beautiful.." Eden raised a single eyebrow. "So you hurt people. Right? Which means you deserve an ugly death." Rose put up her hand. "No, no! Wait! I don't!" Eden lowered her eyebrow. "So what are you?" "..." Rose stayed silent. "Say it." "..." Silence, once again. "I said.. say. It." She raised a group of thorns above her head. "I-I'm ugly! I'm ugly! I'm horrid! I .. hate myself!!" Eden smiled. "Good.. good. So, you deserve a beautiful death, then?" Rose nodded. "Then.. stand up and fight." Eden jumped back. "Fist to fist." Rose stood up. "Yes.. and this time, I won't lose." They both rushed at each other. Rose used her powers to read her mind. She's swinging from the left.. I'll just have to put up my right! Rose raised her right arm up, blocking Eden's fist. She raised her leg and kicked Eden back. "Guh!" Eden flew back. "Heh.. so.. you wanted a beautiful death, correct? Then I shall give you one."