Blood Rose

Chapter 4: A Dark Vision

The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes without speaking confess the secrets of the heart.

-St. Jerome

The way Doogue smiled at Persephone soon became a far-off thought as the rest of the day went on. He had always been the town flirt after all, leaving countless broken hearts in his wake. Besides that, in Persephone's mind, she was a princess – she was made to be royal he was made to be servile.

—

The funeral for Queen Serrayah was held in the lotus beds- as per her request. The queen, maybe meaning it as a joke, had always said she just wanted to rot in the flowerbed when she died. Meccio had made it so.

The air hung thick with a steam that only happened on days that were going to be particularly humid and bugs buzzed against the ears of the kingdom's people. Nobody flinched or even sneezed- everyone seemed somewhere far away in their minds, especially King Meccio who now had several sizeable bald spots on his beard and head.

All the while the doctor's words were burning in the back of the princess's brain, there were so many pieces not adding up to her. As the casket was lowered into the water Persephone's vision went black. She heard a few screams and a splat as her face hit the swampy ground.

—

It was cold here, something she had never been able to feel in a vision before. A deafening high-pitched whirr was the only thing through the gloom. A moment later a scene formed in front of Persephone from the dark emptiness. The ground beneath her became hard and jagged; she found herself standing and had to look down to keep her footing.

Persephone was on a cliffside overlooking a dark ocean whose crashing waves cut through the whirring noise. Nobody was here; nothing but the ocean made a sound -not even an animal- but an eerily familiar purple smoke rose from a large hole by her feet.

Something wasn't right here. The princess tried her hardest to focus her mind and that's when she noticed she was not watching herself like normal- she WAS herself and her skin was transparent!

Caught off guard she slipped, and fell deep into the cave-like hole. Her body should have been broken against the hard ground, but as she stretched each limb she was pleasantly surprised to find each one in working order, "Ok, so I'm dead?" Her voice echoed around the cave.

In the center of this massive cave with many outlets; a giant black pot sat cooking, steaming purple. It felt so natural for Persephone to walk up to it and caress it's cool copper edges.

"Definitely dead, who uses a pot this big for cooking? Not even Trevyah gets pots this big for Belthadane!" the princess's stray strands of hair hit the surface of the brew and the steam cleared with a sizzle. Momentarily she savored the thought of Trevyah's buttery steamed oorah; it truly was Persephone's favorite holiday even if it was just for the food. Splashing from the pot brought her attention away from the thought of fire-roasted cattalama leg.

She watched with fascination as an image of the Lotus Kingdom rippled in the purple goo. It was hard not to marvel at the intricacy- showing every detail down to a small mouse who ran out from one house and into the next. Persephone jumped when it faded to the face of King Derrone. Fascination quickly turned to horror as the scene turned into something entirely new-

The sounds of puking echoed along the walls followed by the terrible odor of rotting flesh. Unable to turn away she stared in disbelief at scenes of crying children covered in black filth, desperate parents attempting to stop their babies from puking, while buckets rested by each person's head.

She tried to free her hands but her body wasn't under her control. More scenes of livestock with exposed ribs, overgrown fields, and empty rotting market stands formed and then bubbled away. A sick knot twisted in her gut as a giant pile of bodies, being collected to burn was set on fire, excreting purple fumes. When King Meccio and Doogue stared back at her with the same green tint her mother had, she found herself able to break free. Collapsing to her knees she dry heaved several times, yet she found she was still unable to cry.

This is where she lost control of her body and was forced to watch it all play, like a scene from a dream. A frame of mind where her wise mother had told her, no thoughts can take place. A frame of mind where the princess was taught she had to watch and dissect every piece of information.

Shadows broke their hold on the walls and came together around the pot. There were several loud crackles as the darkness came together in the shape of a large floating black blob.

This mass shook and screamed, several times a human-like limb or two would jet out, and finally, it exploded into glittering powder. Left in its place was a thin figure void of all color except shadow with two red things, that could only be described as twinkles, in the place where it's eyes should have been.

It reached it's largely disproportionate arms towards her in a slow and jerky manner; it was holding something in one hand. Every movement it made was lagged. This thing tried to use it's legs and although they were wobbly, like pieces that hadn't been used for a very long time, it managed to close the few feet between it and Persephone's body.

A whirring came from the creature and Persephone's consciousness watched in horror as it unfurled a smoky form of a hand. Nestled in the palm was a small lumpy ball of flesh with tiny bones sticking out. One of the dark mass's thin dark fingers stroked the top of the flesh which sent a quiver through the exposed marrow of the bones, blood squirted out in response. The whirring was growing ever more present as she realized it was not bouncing off the walls like her voice had.

Persephone made out a voice through the whirring. Derrone's voice, "Your kingdom will die and your daughter will die. I'm simply giving you a way to end all the suffering before you have to wake up and realize you did this to your people."