Bloom

Chapter 5: An unwritten letter

Please don't look at the date of the last published chapter-

On a side note, I brought you guys a little bit of plot as an apology for making you wait so long :D

I'd like to say we were quick to leave the eerie catacombs, but as it turns out, no one can teleport out of here- we have to walk to the exit. We have Ghost Steve to lead us, thankfully. I don't know what we would've done without the guy.

Rainbow isn't doing that well, the machine clearly affected him. He's leaning on me for support and breathing rather heavily for the two minutes we've been walking. I̶̶̶ ̶d̶̶̶o̶̶̶n̶̶̶'̶t̶̶̶ ̶f̶̶̶e̶̶̶e̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶a̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶w̶̶̶e̶̶̶l̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶e̶̶̶i̶̶̶t̶̶̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶r̶̶̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶b̶̶̶u̶̶̶r̶̶̶n̶̶̶e̶̶̶d̶̶̶ ̶f̶̶̶l̶̶̶o̶̶̶w̶̶̶e̶̶̶r̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶d̶̶̶ ̶v̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶e̶̶̶s̶̶̶ ̶f̶̶̶e̶̶̶e̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶l̶̶̶i̶̶̶k̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶c̶̶̶a̶̶̶n̶̶̶d̶̶̶e̶̶̶s̶̶̶c̶̶̶e̶̶̶n̶̶̶t̶̶̶ ̶m̶̶̶e̶̶̶t̶̶̶a̶̶̶l̶̶̶ ̶o̶̶̶n̶̶̶ ̶m̶̶̶y̶̶̶ ̶s̶̶̶k̶̶̶i̶̶̶n̶̶̶ no, that doesn't matter. We'll be fine.

Still, even with him and Rainbow by my side, this place has chills crawling up my spine. Each tunnel feels darker than the last, the only light sources around here being redstone torches and the occasional lava seeping through the floor, neither of which fill me with confidence.

It probably doesn't help that we just passed through a red steve graveyard. Even putting aside the eerie feeling that gives us, who in their right mind sees a resting place for their own people and goes 'yeah, this is the perfect place to bring some people I just kidnapped'? This only convinces me even more that Reverse is a lunatic.

"Are we there yet?"

Well, at least Rainbow feels the same way about this place.

"No, we still have another few minutes of walking." Ghost Steve takes a quick, worried glance at Rainbow, who is currently leaning on me for support. "Are you sure you don't need to stop for a second? You're not looking too good."

"No, I'm fine. I can keep going for another-" He pauses. "Do you guys hear that?"

A quick exchange of looks with Ghost Steve tells me that he heard it too.

Lightning is striking in the catacombs.

Our ashy new friend promptly turns around and leads us in a different direction. Rainbow breathed out a few profanities and leaned on me more as I picked up the pace, his colorful hair now getting in my face. My headache is growing progressively worse and I'm starting to feel rather dizzy. I swear it's bound to happen in the worst moments possible.

Ghost leads us through a much narrower tunnel (probably a shortcut he built himself at some point) hidden behind some vines. It's somewhat nicer than the rest of the labyrinth, mostly because it was overgrown with moss and even a few glowberries that I quickly grabbed. Rainbow can no longer lean on me because of how narrow it was, but since nobody would be looking for us here anyways, we finally slow down the pace.

It didn't take long to reach a small stream seeping through the wall. Rainbow hasapparently just decided that that was enough walking for now and sits down next to it. Ghost Steve still hasn't dropped that worried look, but he also sits down without a word and takes out some cookies. Getting some sugar in our systems is enough to brighten the mood a little bit.

Eventually, we get up again, with the promise that there are only two or three minutes left of our walk. We reach a second curtain of vines and are back in the boring tunnels. Well, not so boring anymore.

Over on the stone brick floor, a little further away, there's a loosely wrapped up bouquet, seemingly forgotten by whoever left it. I slow down my pace and pick it up to inspect it. It's made up of orange anemones with a single blood red begonia in the middle and dark green leaves around it. It almost looks like it was made to fit this labyrinth, matching with the lava bubbling in small cracks and the moss growing in between the stone bricks. Despite that, what bothers me more is the fact that the flowers aren't wilted or withered at all, suggesting that whoever left it might still be close by. Maybe it was whoever summoned that lightning.

"Sabre, come on. You have flowers at home." Rainbow says, and I can feel the eye-roll without even looking at him.

"But how often do you find random flowers in a labyrinth?"

"Look, I might be tired and hurt, but I still have things to threaten you with."

"Alright, alright. Let's go." I answer, dropping the flowers.

Man, poor Ghost looks so confused right now.

"Is that really all it took? I thought you said you're obsessed with flowers."

"Well yeah, I am, and Rainbow's gonna take away my garden privileges for the week if I don't listen to him."

Ghost Steve stares at me for a bit. "You just got kidnapped, yet you're threatened with the loss of garden privileges...?"

"Well yeah. You see, I need that garden for my well being. It's socializing, but for the plants."

"How does that- you know what, I'm not gonna ask. Let's just keep going."

Yeeeeah that's fair.

thunk

thunk

thunk

It took a while for my colorful friend to finally doze off, even more so as I had to patch us both up. It's now almost completely dark outside, and I told Rainbow I'd be sleeping too, but I can't. I took one of those bouncing balls Rainbow has a concerning amount of and started throwing it into the wall, it makes good entertainment when I'm trying to get my thoughts together. For example, right now I'm thinking of that bouquet we found.

thunk

The one book I always have on me, and was lucky enough to be holding onto when I ended up here, is sitting open in front of me. "The Victorian Floral Code" is not so much of a novel, but rather a list of flowers and their symbolism, the messages one can send with them. I would usually write down what each flower meant on a card when giving someone flowers, I always thought it's a nice touch. Most of the time I'll get lost in the description and history of a flower or another for hours on end, but not this time. This time, I was the one looking for the meaning.

Flower: Anemone

Color: orange

Meaning: Forsaken; Withered Hopes; Illness

And a few pages further...

Flower: Begonia

Color: red

Meaning: Dark Thoughts