Across Space and Time: Ruikasa Week 2024!!!

DAY 1: Singing of a Flower

PROMPTS:
PROMPT CHOSEN: White Lily + Black Lily/ Stage of Dazzling Light
SUMMARY: A timid pianist meets a mysterious boy as he plays in the forest. His outfit seems very elegant, as if he was royalty- but why would a noble take interest in a commoner?

Reminder: The first chapter is always the worst 😭 i had no idea what I was doing this entire time my bad guys

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Torpe took a deep breath, his fingers hovering over the pristine white and black keys of the piano. He never knew why there was a piano in the middle of the forest, but he had taken a liking to it. Despite finding it years ago, Torpe had managed to take care of it well. When he first found this piano, it was dirty and out of tune, vines growing along the legs and bugs crawling all over it. Admittedly, it was a bit terrifying having to clean the piano with all those icky, disgusting creepy crawlies, but in the end, it turned out well, so he didn't regret it one bit. When cleaning it, Torpe had discovered just how detailed this grand piano was. There were little music notes and stars carved onto it, and they even made a song, Torpe realized, when he decided to see if he could play it and test it out.

It was a very nice piano.

Sometimes, animals would come around to listen to Torpe as he played, practicing over and over again. With the help of them, he even managed to gain the courage to finally play in front of a crowd- and now he was apart of a band. They've already done a few shows together, actually! Torpe was glad that he was confident enough to play in front of a crowd.

Sometimes, he would think he was a bit insane though. Turns out, he was the only one who could hear the animals speak. Torpe wasn't hallucinating, he swore! They really were talking to him. Maybe it was just something to do with his magic..?

Maybe.

But. um.

See, for the past few weeks, Torpe swore he felt someone watching him whenever he went to the piano. It wasn't the animals, no, it was something (someone?) else, watching from a distance. But every time Torpe whipped his head around to check if anyone was there, that feeling disappeared.

And it came back right after.

Torpe had called out a few times, asking if someone was here, watching him. Every time, he would get no reply.

Today, after playing, when Torpe began to make his way out of the forest and back to his house, his eyes widened in surprise when he saw something strange and new.

On the ground, sprouting above the grass and greenery, was a single flower.

There were never any flowers here, on this trail, at least. There were some flowers in the clearing where the piano was, but never had Torpe seen a flower here out of all places. And never had he seen.. what kind of flower was this?

Torpe bent down to check. It was a black lily.

..He had never seen a black lily here before.

He raised an eyebrow, looking at the flower more closely. It was strange how this flower had suddenly appeared- Torpe knew it wasn't here before. He had been coming to this same spot for years on end, he had practically memorized the layout and all the flowers surrounding the clearing.

Lilies were not one of them.

Perhaps it was someone's magic that had caused the flower to grow here..? Maybe it was his mysterious watcher (which really did scare him, he was just trying to be calmer about it) who made it. But was this on purpose or was it accidental?

Torpe sighed. Either way, there wasn't really anything he could do about it. In the end, it was just a flower, just like all the others.

The blond shook his head, standing back up and making his way home once more. All he knew was that he had to start being careful. After all, there was someone watching him while he practiced.